Well I finished a while ago but never made commit.

Bibliography.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Bibliography
 
-Wow,[@AdamsMemBiog08] look[@FlemPicHist95] at[@JackHors92] all[@LeporeThese18] these[@WeiseDis84] references![@KirsNor98]
+[@AdamsMemBiog08] [@FlemPicHist95][@GreeneLife37] all[@] these[@] references![@KirsNor98]
 
 \pagebreak
 

Paper.md

@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 ---
 header-includes:
     - \usepackage{setspace}
+    - \AtBeginEnvironment{quote}{\singlespacing}
     - \doublespacing
-title: "Norumbega: The Lives of a Myth"
+title: |
+ \huge Eben Norton Horsford
+ \huge and the Legend of Norumbega
 author: Jacob Signorovitch
 ---
 
@@ -13,23 +16,23 @@ unusual structure rises among the trees; a forty foot stone tower, complete
 with spiral staircase and ramparts, weathered and stained with time, looking
 distinctly out of place within earshot of I-95. The story of how it came to be
 there involves Vikings, a baking soda magnate, the discovery of America, and,
-at the center of it all, the mythical city of Norumbega. As one explores the
+at the center of it all, the Legend of Norumbega. As one explores the
 surrounding area, the name appears again and again: a map will tell you the
 structure's name is Norumbega Tower, and running alongside is Norumbega Road.
 Further south, one finds a Norumbega Park, and another road called Norumbega
-Court. This paper will explore how one man in the late 19th century, Eben
-Norton Horsford, combined Norse saga and a mythical New England city into a
+Court. This paper will explore how one man in the late nineteenth century, Eben
+Norton Horsford, combined Norse sagas and a New England *El Dorado* into a
 theory for the original discovery of America, what motivated him to do so, and
 the legacy he left behind.
 
-The myth of Norumbega originated in the sixteenth century, during the Age of
+The Legend of Norumbega originated in the sixteenth century, during the Age of
 Exploration. To European explorers, it was variously a town, city, or country,
 somewhere along the coast of New England, inhabited by amiable and civilized
 natives. First given the name *Nurumberg* by Giacomo Gastaldi in a 1548 edition
 of Ptolemy's Geography,[@KirsNor98, 34] the myth can be traced back to a
 conflation of two separate accounts. The first is that of Giovanni da
 Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer under King Francis I of
-France.[@GreeneLife37, 4-7] He was one of the first Europeans to explore the
+France. He was one of the first Europeans to explore the
 area around Narragansett Bay in 1524[@KirsNor98, 36, 39], and recounted his
 experiences in a letter to the king. He described a pleasant harbor inhabited
 by friendly and civil natives.[@KirsNor98, 39] They practiced "more systematic
@@ -37,10 +40,10 @@ cultivation [of crops] than the other tribes," and were "very like the manner
 of the ancients [i.e., western antiquity]."[@KirsNor98, 39] In the letter,
 Verrazzano names the place *refugio*, "on account of its beauty."[@KirsNor98,
 39] Despite Narragansett Bay being quite far from where Norumbega would
-eventually be described, geographical ambiguity allowed his account to become
+eventually be described, geographical ambiguity would allow his account to become
 "at the heart of the Norumbega legend."[@KirsNor98, 39] Specifically, the
-mention of a "more civilized" tribe of natives would become a core aspect of
-the mythical city in all future renditions. The second account, which lends the
+mention of a "more civilized" tribe of natives would continue to be a core aspect of
+the legend in all future renditions. The second account, which lends the
 myth its name and location, is that of Jean Alfonce de Saintonge, a pilot on
 Jacques Cartier's exploration of the Penobscot Bay area.[@KirsNor98, 41]
 Sailing up the Penobscot River, which he called the *Norenbègue*, he described
@@ -48,7 +51,7 @@ Sailing up the Penobscot River, which he called the *Norenbègue*, he described
 words which sound like Latin and worship the sun, and they are fair people and
 tall."[@KirsNor98, 41] These two accounts, Varrazzano's *refugio* and
 Saintonge's *Norombegue*, eventually merged into a single myth, canonized by
-the cartographer Gastaldi, of an advanced Native American city more similar to
+the cartographer Gastaldi, of an advanced Native American city which shared more in common with 
 Europe than its neighbors.[@KirsNor98, 41]
 
 Over the centuries that followed, more accurate maps and exploration revealed Norumbega
@@ -69,36 +72,43 @@ monument building would be repeated several times throughout Horsford's life,
 culminating in Norumbega Tower. Horsford's most famous accomplishment, and how
 he was able to fund these projects, would come in 1856 with his invention of a
 revolutionary new baking powder recipe without a fermentation
-step.[@JackHors92, 343] He founded the Rumford Chemical Works, named after the
-Rumford Professorship position he held at Harvard, which would make him a
-fortune.[@JackHors92, 343] While in Cambridge, Horsford became fascinated by
+step.[@JackHors92, 343] He founded the Rumford Chemical Works, named after a
+position he held at Harvard, which would make him a fortune.[@JackHors92, 343] While in Cambridge, Horsford became fascinated by
 the possibility of Vikings in New England. This idea had some
 precedent;[@FlemPicHist95, 1079] in 1841, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote *The
-Skeleton in Armour*, a poem about a Norse warrior whose body was discovered by
-Fall River, Massachusetts.[@LongBall41, 29-41] But it was with Horsford the
+Skeleton in Armour*, a poem interpreting a body discovered in
+Fall River, Massachusetts[^2] to be that of a Norse warrior.[@LongBall41, 29-41] But it was with Horsford the
 idea came to be most associated.[@FlemPicHist95, 1080] In 1887,[@HorsDisc87,
 10] Horsford wrote the dedication for a large bronze statue of
-Erickson,[@GuttVal18, 86] commending him for his early discovery of America. To
+the Viking Explorer Leif Erickson,[@GuttVal18, 86] commending him for his early discovery of America. On
 this point, modern scholars agree; archaeological evidence at L'Anse aux
 Meadows in Newfoundland constitutes a "pre-1492 presence of Europeans in the
 Americas."[@LedgeHorz19, 2] According to Icelandic sagas, it was here Erickson
 built the settlement of *Vinland*. Horsford, however, believed Erickson to have
 sailed far further south after making the continent, all the way down to Cape
-Cod. He explains his reasoning:
+Cod. He defended his reasoning by referring to the sagas:
 
-> ...if you will be kind enough to hold up to your mind's eye, now for a
-> moment, any familiar map of North America. Look at the east coast. From
-> Greenland, along the line to the southwest, you will notice three projections
-> into the sea. They are Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Cape Cod.[@HorsDisc87,
-> 9]
+> I might dwell at some length, if time would permit, upon other interesting
+> features of the relations of the Sagas:
+> 1. For example, one of very great significance is that of the extraordinary
+>    height of the tide at high water [...] In the bottom of Massachusetts Bay,
+>    as you know, the tides rise from ten to twelve feet, while south of Cape
+>    Cod peninsula they rise but from three to five feet.
+> [...]
+> 5. Of the grapes which the German Tyrker, who was of Leifs crew, discovered,
+>    and of which, as a native of a wine country, weary of his ship's rations,
+>    he doubtless over-ate, there were then, as now, a plenty on the shores of
+>    Massachusetts Bay and along the St. Lawrence. Jacques Cartier speaks of
+>    them as early as 1535.
 
-He disregards Newfoundland as an option, saying "[it] is bold, rocky,
-mountainous, of meagre vegetation, and with few beaches."[@HorsDisc87, 10] How
-Horsford was received in the moment, if those around him were surprised by this
-theory, is unclear. But when he published the dedication, titled *The Discovery
-of America by Northmen*, his theories drew the ire of contemporary historians.
-One author, Justin Winsor, found issue with Horsford's theory that Vikings had
-left a noticeable imprint on Native American language:
+Here, Horsford also mentions that he has read the accounts of Cartier; this may
+have helped him later make the connection between Vikings and Norumbega. But
+for now, he was only interested in Erickson. When he published the dedication,
+titled *The Discovery of America by Northmen*, his theories drew the ire of
+contemporary historians. Presumably, many were upset a professor of Chemistry
+thought himself more knowledgeable in their field than they were. One
+author, Justin Winsor, found issue with Horsford's theory that Vikings had left
+a noticeable imprint on Native American language:
 
 > Nothing could be slenderer than the alleged correspondences of languages, and
 > we can see in Horsford's *Discovery of America by Northmen* to what a
@@ -120,13 +130,13 @@ and huts, or cots."[@HorsProb89, 14] He states they are arranged "'some nearer,
 some farther from the water,' as the sagas say,"[@HorsProb89, 14] again drawing
 on the sagas as his primary source. Outside of just Horsford, there existed a
 wider movement around the promotion of Leif Erickson in the late nineteenth
-century. Newspapers at the time rarely mention Leif without mentioning his
+century. Newspapers at the time rarely mention Erickson without mentioning his
 preceding Columbus,[^1] which may have been part of a widespread anti-Italian
 and anti-Catholic sentiment. Several other proponents of Vikings in New England
 also believed "the 'Aryan race,' in particular its 'Teutonic' [i.e., German]
 branch, was superior to all others."[@FlemPicHist95, 1078] Horsford, however,
-seems to have only been interested in Leif and never brings up racial
-superiority or a disdain for Columbus. In fact, he states that Leif's prior
+seems to have only been interested in Erickson and never brings up racial
+superiority or a disdain for Columbus. In fact, he states that Erickson's prior
 discovery of America "would dim, by the measure of the faintest Indian-summer
 haze only, the transcendent glory of the life-work of Columbus."[@HorsDisc90,
 16] So, while some of the enthusiasm around Horsford's work may have been
@@ -189,7 +199,7 @@ reasons:
 
 These convictions say much about the man Horsford was. As already seen from his
 comments on Columbus, he was not motivated by dislike of the Italians; rather,
-he sought to bring "the glory" of Leif's discovery to Massachusetts, his home
+he sought to bring "the glory" of Erickson's discovery to Massachusetts, his home
 for the majority of his working life. Second, he is remarkably humble in his
 theories; this is particularly evident in his second point, and to an extent
 the third. He accepts that "the trustworthiness of my conclusions
@@ -201,14 +211,24 @@ plaque at the base of the tower does not bear his name.
 Eben Norton Horsford would die two years after *The Discovery* was published,
 on January first, 1893.[@AdamsMemBiog08, 103] He believed himself a pioneer; at
 the cutting edge of discovery, the first breakthrough in a movement that would
-long outlive him. After his death, however, there seemed to be little interest
-around his ideas. His biographers mostly gloss over the veracity of his
-theories, focusing more on his achievements in chemistry, and his large and
-generous donations to various colleges in the area.[@JackHors92, 345] The tower
-remains. A century of wind and rain have made its words near impossible to
-read, and trees now obscure it from the river.
+long outlive him. After his death, however, there was little interest in
+furthering Horsford's ideas. His biographers mostly gloss over the veracity of
+his theories, focusing more on his considerable achievements in chemistry,
+large and generous donations to various colleges, and support for women's
+education.[@JackHors92, 345] The tower remains. Built to inspire an awe of
+history, it now draws confused second glances in the rear-view mirror. A
+century of wind and rain have washed out its words, and the trees it once
+dominated now cast it in shadow.
 
 [^1]: Springfield Weekly, 1893
+[^2]: Unfortunately the building the body had been stored in burned down, and
+    so did not last long enough to be identified by modern
+    science.[@HorsDisc87, 30]
+
+![*Norumbega Tower as it appeared in 1928, about forty years after its construction. Image in the public domain, accessed from* [wikimedia commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Norumbega_Tower,_Charles_River,_1928,_by_Leon_Abdalian,_from_the_Digital_Commonwealth_-_commonwealth_fj237442q.jpg&oldid=915801762)*.*](tower_old.jpg){width=80%}
+
+![*Norumbega Tower as it appears today, about 136 years after its construction. Image in the public domain, access from* [wikimedia commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Norumbega_Tower_-_Weston,_Massachusetts_-_DSC06645.jpg&oldid=596325156)*.*](tower_new.jpg){width=80%}
 
 \pagebreak
+\singlespace
 # References

bibliography.bib

@@ -184,3 +184,17 @@
     URL = {https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1907986116},
     annote = {From peer-reviewed acedemic journal.}
 }
+
+@article{WhiteLong42,
+    ISSN = {00365637},
+    URL = {http://www.jstor.org/stable/40915544},
+    author = {George L. White},
+    journal = {Scandinavian Studies},
+    number = {2},
+    pages = {70--82},
+    publisher = {[Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, University of Illinois Press]},
+    title = {LONGFELLOW'S INTEREST IN SCANDINAVIA DURING THE YEARS 1835-1847},
+    urldate = {2025-04-27},
+    volume = {17},
+    year = {1942}
+}