Copy of poster advertising “Grand Buffalo Hunt at Niagara Falls” with Bill Hickok, August, 1872

James Butler Hickok (1837-1876), also known as “Wild Bill” Hickok, was an American gun-fighter, scout and spy. He was involved in altercations with others while working for the famous express company Russell, Majors and Waddell (in 1861), and later while working as a wagon master, scout, and spy for the Union forces during the Civil War. These altercations resulted in the deaths of 4 people, but Hickok was acquitted in all cases. An embellished article written about him in Harper’s magazine helped contribute to his reputation as a western hero. He served as a deputy U.S. marshal and sheriff in Kansas in the late 1860’s, helping to bring law and order to a previously lawless area. He gambled considerably, and during a card game on August 2, 1876, was shot and killed. The cards he was holding (two aces, two eights, and a jack) became known as the "dead man's hand."

The Midnight express phenomenon : a historical materialist approach to the reception of the film Midnight express /

This thesis examines the Midnight Express phenomenon focusing on the film's reception by audiences in Europe, North America, and Turkey between 1978-2003. Using and enhancing the "historical materialist approach" to film reception developed by Janet Staiger, the thesis considers the historical determinants of the film's nationally and culturally differential readings in different periods and of the transformations in those readings. The thesis argues that while Midnight Express was most likely read in the late 1970s as an attempt to reaffirm American social identity by projecting Turks as an instance of the negative Other, there has been an important shift in the reception of the film in the West during the 1990s due to the changes in the discursive contexts in which the film has been circulating. One does not observe any specific reference to Turkish prisons as a part of the issue of human rights violations in Turkey in the initial reception of the film by European and American critics, whereas these issues appear to be important constituents of a particular reception of the film in the West in the present. The thesis explains this shift by pointing to the constitution of a particular discourse on human rights violations in Turkey after 1980, and especially throughout the 1990s, which has become a part of the discursive repertoires of the Western audience. Therefore, the thesis argues that today, Midnight Express functions as a more legitimate political statement about Turkey in the eyes of some Western audiences than it had been in the 1970s. On the other hand, parallel to the increasing desire of Turkey to connect itself to the West, particularly to become a member of the European Union, one observes an immense increase in the belief in and defense against the negative effects of Midnight Express on Turkey's international representation since the 1990s. The historical and current discourses that audiences, both in Turkey and abroad, bring into play suggest that these audiences engage with Midnight Express by assuming or denying not only the subject positions constructed by the film text but also certain history-specific extra-filmic subject positions produced by other social and discursive formations.

The Ontario and St. Lawrence Steamboat Company's hand-book for travelers to Niagara Falls, Montreal and Quebec, and through Lake Champlain to Saratoga Springs.

"Illustrated with maps, and numerous engravings from original sketches."

Canadian Niagara Power Company fonds

Power at the Falls: The first recorded harnessing of Niagara Falls power was in 1759 by Daniel Joncairs. On the American side of the Falls he dug a small ditch and drew water to turn a wheel which powered a sawmill. In 1805 brothers Augustus and Peter Porter expanded on Joncairs idea. They bought the American Falls from New York State at public auction. Using Joncairs old site they built a gristmill and tannery which stayed in business for twenty years. The next attempt at using the Falls came in 1860 when construction of the hydraulic canal began by the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Co. The canal was complete in 1861 and brought water from the Niagara river, above the falls, to the mills below. By 1881 the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Co. had a small generating station which provided some electricity to the village of Niagara Falls and the Mills. This lasted only four years and then the company sold its assets at public auction due to bankruptcy. Jacob Schoellkopf arrived at the Falls in 1877 with the purchase of the hydraulic canal land and water and power rights. In 1879 Schoellkopf teamed up with Charles Brush (of Euclid Ohio) and powered Brush’s generator and carbon arc lights with the power from his water turbines, to illuminate the Falls electrically for the first time. The year 1895 marked the opening of the Adam No. 1 generating station on the American side. The station was the beginnings of modern electrical utility operations. The design and operations of the generating station came from worldwide competitions held by panels of experts. Some who were involved in the project include; George Westinghouse, J. Pierpont Morgan, Lord Kelvin and Nikoli Tesla. The plants were operated by the Niagara Falls Power Company until 1961, when the Robert Moses Plant began operation in Lewiston, NY. The Adams plants were demolished that same year and the site used as a sewage treatment plant. The Canadian side of the Falls began generating their own power on January 1, 1905. This power came from the William Birch Rankine Power Station located 500 yards above the Horseshoe Falls. This power station provided the village of Fort Erie with its first electricity in 1907, using its two 10,000 electrical horsepower generators. Today 11 generators produce 100,000 horsepower (75 megawatts) and operate as part of the Niagara Mohawk and Fortis Incorporated Power Group.

Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge Company fonds, 1875-1876, 1878, 1884

In 1846, the governments of Upper Canada and the State of New York initiated the creation of two companies that would be authorized to build a bridge over the Niagara River. The bridge was to be owned by both companies, respectively known as the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge Company (Canadian) and the International Bridge Company (American). A suspension bridge was completed in 1848. This bridge was later replaced by a second suspension bridge that accommodated railways, built in 1853-54. However, the increasing weight of trains made it necessary for the bridge to be redesigned, and a third bridge was completed in 1886. Eventually, this bridge was replaced by a steel arch bridge, which was completed in 1897.

The Death of Brock at Queenston Heights, 1812: Imperial Tobacco Company silk card

General Isaac Brock was a British Army officer and administrator who was promoted to Major General. He was responsible for defending Upper Canada against the United States. He died at the Battle of Queenston Heights during the War of 1812. Bartholome Houde and George E. Tuckett (Tuckett was mayor of Hamilton Ontario in 1896) manufactured and sold tobacco before Confederation. In 1841, the company was called B. Houde and Grothe. When Houde retired in 1822 his son in law, Francis Xavier Dussault took over the company. In 1903, the company was called B. Houde and Company Ltee. and it was run by Dussault’s two sons J.A. Dussault and J.E. Dussault. The B. Houde Company had become part of American Tobacco Ltd. which merged with Empire Tobacco Co. Ltd. to form the Imperial Tobacco Company in 1908 in the St. Henri district of Montreal. In 2008, the company celebrated their centennial. Cigarette silks were either enclosed in packets of cigarettes or were redeemable by mail. People would sew these silks together to create quilts or table covers. Some cigarette packages even included instructions for making these items.

Canadian Niagara Power Company fonds, 1901, 1925, no date.

The Canadian Niagara Power Company was created in 1892, in large part due to the efforts of William Birch Rankine, a businessman who pioneered the development of hydropower on both the Canadian and American shores of the Niagara River. Numerous delays and problems postponed the construction and operation of the company's powerhouse, which was formally opened on January 2, 1905. Upon opening, the powerhouse boasted the largest generators of their kind in the world, with a capacity of 10,000 electrical horsepower each. The company was acquired by FortisOntario in 2002. In 2009, the company���s water rights expired and the Canadian Niagara Powerhouse building, also known as the Rankine Generating Station, was turned over to the Niagara Parks Commission.

Interrogation of Prisoner - Heaquarters 1st Division, American Expeditionary Forces, 27 May 1918

A prisoner interrogation report dated 27 May 1918. The report reads: "I. PRISONER X. 1st. Battalion, 272 Res. Rogt., 82d Res. 1. CIRCUMSTANCES OF CAPTURE; Captured, while attempting to raid our trenches, at point 1719 at about 7A.M. 2. INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM PRISONER (a) Between point 1814 and point 175242 the German trenches appear to be held by three companies, each numbering 3 platoons, each platoon numbering about 40 men. Each company has 4 light machine guns in the first lines, these machine guns distributed along the first trench (one of them in particular is located at bond in hostile trench at point 17215 and another at about 17245. Each company, furthermore, has one platoon (weak in numbers) in support in the ravine north of Cantigny. These platoons are in dugouts dug into the side of the hill approximately between points 28215 and 2223. Each of these support platoons has two light machine guns at its disposal. Company commanders dugout is at some point along the line of dugouts occupied by the support platoons. Another company commander's dugout (Co.3) is at point 1815 about 15 meters behind the German trench which runs along the edge of the town of Cantigny. There is a communication trench between the cemetery at 2018 and the front line at 18179. It is believed that there is a machine gun at point 17245 kept in a dugout dug under the road. The reserve battalion is believed to be at a fairly great distance from the front (near Bouillancourt). The prisoner, on the other hand, states that it may have been moved up."