Hero of the (r)Evolution

Tennessee v. John T. Scopes Trial: John Thomas Scopes, originally uploaded by Smithsonian Institution.

During 1925, Watson Davis (1896-1967), Science Service managing editor, took numerous photographs while covering the State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes trial as a reporter. In what was dubbed "The Trial of the Century," Scopes was tried and convicted for violating a state law prohibiting the teaching of the theory of evolution.

Nice glasses and boater. What's up with the stylish scientists 80 years ago? See previous post.

The Scientific Gaze

Mildred Adams Fenton (b. 1888), originally uploaded by Smithsonian Institution.

Mildred Adams Fenton (b. 1888) trained in paleontology and geology at the University of Iowa. She coauthored dozens of general science books with her husband, Carroll Lane Fenton, including Records of Evolution (1924), Land We Live On (1944), and Worlds in the Sky (1963).

She looks fantastic. I want to draw her.

Thragnar the Troll King and Dame Guenevere

Thragnar the Troll King and Dame Guenevere, originally uploaded by punalippu.

By Frank C. Pape; from Jurgen by James Branch Cabell (1919).

I first found this picture more than 15 years ago in a German book, Lexikon der Symbole by Wolfgang Bauer, Irmtraud Dümotz and Sergius Golowin. It was used to illustrate (ironically, I assume) the threat of modern society against the sacrosanctity of the family...

Funny if you have read the original story, which it was used to illustrate. It is in the public domain, I believe; the entire text can be read at the University of Virginia's website dedicated to Cabell.