Searching for Valentine's Day on the Web: Reaction

Finding information on the origin of Valentine’s Day using only internet sources did not prove to be a challenge. After looking at a number of sites, most seemed to support the same theories, with only minor variations. Because of the ambiguous nature of the origin of Valentine’s Day in the first place, it is harder to assess the validity of the sources and thus my comfort level in using them. My biggest concern with using sources from the internet is the uncertainty in knowing who was directly responsible for writing the text and where he and/or she obtained his or her information—what sources did they use? How much research was conducted? While it is equally true that you cannot trust printed sources for many of the same reasons, at least there is generally an author and documented list sources that can be traced. However, it could be argued that if in looking at a number of sources they all support, generally, the same theories, there must be some truth to what is being written. Because of this, I was more comfortable using a combination of three of the sources to create an essay. For this essay I pulled the information from Wikipedia—searching for St. Valentine and Valentine’s Day, The History Channel, and americancatholic.org. I felt by using sources from three very different perspectives (collective history, commercialized history and religious history) I would cover the broadest possible range of theories. Though I would not feel comfortable citing any of these sources in a more serious research paper, because they do reconfirm one another, I feel relatively comfortable with their accuracy for the purposes of the assignment.

The Origins of Valentine's Day: An Online Investigation

While there are few people in the United States, and many other countries around the world, who don’t know that February 14^th is Valentine’s Day, perhaps there are less that actually can claim to know the true origins of this day of love and affection. It seems that no one has been able to pin down exactly who St. Valentine was and how this Saint’s day became known as a day to display and pledge one’s affection to loved ones. Regardless of its mysterious origins, however, Valentine’s Day has become a holiday celebrated by many and thrives despite the uncertainty.

Saint Valentine is thought to be one of a possible three men named Valentinus martyred during the third century A.D. Legend has it that he is either a Roman priest, a bishop of Interamna or martyr in Roman Africa. The most conferred upon opinion seems to be that St. Valentine was Roman priest in the Roman Empire during the rule of Claudius II. Claudius, of the opinion that married men did not make valiant soldiers, wanted to maintain a strong army. Thus, he made the decision to ban young men from marriage. The priest Valentine, disturbed by this law, began to perform marriage ceremonies in secret for the young men and women of Rome. Once he found out about Valentine’s actions, Claudius II had him jailed. It is believed that Claudius II worshipped a pagan religion and when Valentine attempted to convert Claudius to Christianity, Claudius had him killed. The date of his execution is thought to be February 14, 270 AD.

The tradition of sending Valentine’s cards to loved ones is also thought to be traced back to this priest. It is believed that while in jail, Valentine fell in love with a girl—possibly the jailer’s daughter—and wrote her a love note signed “From your Valentine.” The tradition of sending cards or small notes continued throughout the centuries, and, with time, the advent of mass produced printing made giving printed cards, instead of home made notes, increasingly popular. Due to the ambiguous nature of the true identity of St. Valentine, the Catholic Church removed St. Valentine’s Day from the church calendar as an official holiday in 1969.

Another Valentine’s Day legend is that it was a day created to pre-empt the Roman pagan fertility festival called Lupercalia, celebrated for over 800 years on February 15. The tradition of Lupercalia held that young women placed their names in an urn and the young men would take turns choosing a name in a type of lottery. Whatever female he chose would then be his sexual companion for the year. Pope Gelasius, disapproving of this ritual, changed the tradition to a lottery system where both men and women would pick the name of a Saint to emulate throughout the coming year. Roman men, however, clung onto the day as one to chase the affections of young women and did so by giving small tokens of affection and hand-written notes to the women of their desire. The Pope declared that Saint Valentine would be the patron saint of this new feast and declared February 14 St. Valentine’s Day in 498 A.D.

Regardless of its true origins, by the middle-ages St. Valentine’s Day was one of the most popular saint’s days in France and England. Men and women would exchange hand written notes—declarations of love. Charles, Duke of Orlean is credited with sending the first true Valentine in 1415. It was sent to his wife while he was imprisoned in the tower of London. It was also believed by the French and English that the middle of February was when mating season for birds began—another reason to associate the day with love. The tradition of Valentine’s Day were most likely brought to the United States by the British in the 19^th century. Over time, the exchanging of cards and notes led to the exchange of gifts by the second half of the 20^th century, increasing the commercialization of the holiday. Today over one billion Valentine’s cards are sent each year, and the holiday is celebrated throughout the world in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, France and Australia. Though the true origins of Valentine’s Day and the mysterious identity of St. Valentine may never be confirmed, Valentine’s Day remains a widely celebrated and highly commercialized manifestation of a series of ambiguous legends, not likely to decrease in popularity anytime soon.

A Web of History: A Review of Four Historical Websites

There is no denying that history has made its way to the world wide web. One can find countless websites, blogs and discussion boards dedicated to the work of presenting history to the wide audience of Internet users. This essay will examine the ways in which four history websites: The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War, The History Channel, Do History and National Museum of American History have approached doing history on the web. Each takes a slightly different approach but in investigating these four examples, it becomes clear that the web can provide an outlet for history that can reach a wide audience and be a solid source for research, instruction and entertainment--sometimes all at once.

The Valley of the Shadow website was put together by Southern historian Edward Ayers. The sight offers an extensive digital archive of two counties—one in Pennsylvania and one in Virginia—containing maps, diaries, letters, photos and records from antebellum years, the war years and postbellum. The website is simple in its presentation, but quite remarkable in its content. While it does offer teaching resources and a bit of interpretation, the site's is as an archive. Though very academic in its approach it is easy to navigate and very accessible to students, scholars and the "general public" interested in the Civil War. The site does not try to do too much beyond providing a vehicle to access primary source documents and set the stage for comparing Northern and Southern experience during the Civil War era. The site heeds the advice Roy Rosenzweig and David Cohen offer in their book, Digital History, in that it does not try to be all things for all people. It is an archive and a valuable resource for amateur and professional historians alike. The site also benefits from being the creation of a well-respected historian, increasing the credibility of the site for those who are aware of Ayers respectability in the profession.

The website for The History Channel is an altogether different web browsing experience than Valley of the Shadows. First and foremost, the site was created as a commercial entity, used to promote the television station and incite web browsers to tune into History Channel programming. However, The History Channel site also gives access to historical information. Different from the Valley of the Shadows, the site is propelled by its multimedia approach to presenting history. The site offers pod casts, clips of video and famous speeches and many images. This site is better suited to amateur history buffs and the general history consuming public. It is not specific to any one topic or even country, while the focus is the US, there are links to historic information of world issues. The History Channel’s approach to history is to inform by entertaining, but behind all of the useful facts and historical insight is the ultimate commercial interests to drive ratings. This commercial interest could be seen as an impediment to the credibility of the information presented.

Offering a completely different approach from both the History Channel and Valley of the Shadows is the website called Do History. Do History takes a very specific and narrowed approach to history on the web. The purpose of Do History is to instruct. The site uses a case study (Martha Ballard’s diaries) to show how to do primary source research. The visitor can view an archive of all available documents that historians have used to create both a film and movie about Martha Ballard. The point of the site is to offer a practical guide for students on how to successfully read and interpret primary source documents and apply that knowledge to reconstruct the past. The sight is interactive and extremely useful. It’s audience are students of history—but is user friendly enough to be of use to a wide range of burgeoning historians—from high school to college level. Do History is using history on the web to inform and instruct using archival resources and truly demonstrates the ways that the Internet can be used to reach and influence many students of history in an effective way.

The fourth site reviewed was website for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. This site’s approach to history on the web, much like that of the History Channel, is primarily to promote the museum and its collection. The Smithsonian's site offers something for everyone. One can access web exhibits, virtual tours, teaching resources, an archive, as well as interactive activities for kids. The site is accessible and useful to a wide range of audience members and is not focused on only one event or issue, but covers a breadth of historical information. As the site must consider its wide range of audience members, it does an admirable job of trying to offer a variety of resources. The downside of the site is that many of the interactive elements require a flash plug-in, limiting full access for some visitors. The site is also a bit confusing to navigate and finding the “history” is sometimes difficult.

While all four sites offer a slightly different approach to history, they all provide a wealth of information and creative ways of presenting history to the wide and varied audiences of the Internet. While some, like Valley of the Shadows and Do History offer a much more specific view of history, geared more toward students. They offer instruction, however, in a way that is effective and useful and provides a way to see the ways in which history can be interpreted and reconstructed. The more commercialized and generalist sites such as The History Channel and the Smithsonian offer a much more media-intense experience as they both need to attract a much broader audience that includes amateur history buffs, curious citizens, professionals, and children of all ages. These website are more appealing to the eye and offer good substance but also approach history as entrainment more than history as learning. Both ways of providing history on the web have a place and offer useful resources and increased accessibility to historical information and documents. These four sites provide beginning models for the way that the Internet can provide a successful medium for consumers to be informed and entertained by the world of history.

Women of the West Musuem

For a regional view of woman suffrage, I would recommend the website for a past exhibit of the Women of the West called "This Shall Be the Land for Women." The exhibit focuses on the woman suffrage movement in the West and includes a brief history, a timeline, links to each Western state for more specific information, a list of biographies and a list of additional resources. The website includes photos and a map of the West. The exhibit is part of the Museum of the American West, which is housed in the Autry National Center in Los Angeles. A very interesting site for information on the unique suffrage situation in the American West.

Alice Paul

The Alice Paul Institute is a good resource for learning about the suffragette, Alice Paul. Paul was the protagonist in the HBO movie, Iron Jawed Angels. The Institute webpage gives biographical information on Paul and the militant suffragettes. The Institute itself was formed to honor Paul and give recognition to other "organizations and historic sites that honor women." This website could use more pictures and would benefit from having links to other resources; however, it is a good place to get information on another important American woman from the suffragist movement.

Woman Suffrage and 19th Amendment

The National Archives offers a site for educators and students that includes documents from the woman suffrage movement. While there is not a great deal of background information, the site gives access to nine documents that pertain to the woman suffrage. These documents include a resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution and a petition from Susan B. Anthony to Congress. This website is a good starting place for primary documents.

Women's Rights National Historic Park

Even if you are unable to visit Seneca Falls, NY,the National Park Service's webpage for the Wesleyan Chapel where the first National Women's Convention was held, serves as a great substitute. The "History and Culture" link gives an outline of the "people, places, and stories" surrounding the historic Women's Rights Convention of 1848. The site also has resources for teachers that include activities and a Teaching With Historic Places lesson plan. A great site to learn more about the first Women's Rights Convention, though it would benefit from more pictures!