|
Arcadia Sets Portsmouth History on Fire |
Seacoast Blog #31
February 8, 2009
What a pleasure to discover an advance copy of Steven Achilles new photo book "Portsmouth Firefighters" in my mailbox this weekend. Every time I think I know Portsmouth history, someone proves me wrong. Achilles has been a member of the Portsmouth Fire Dept. since 2000. Like so many history buffs turned authors, his family nourished a respect and interest in the past. Parents who marinate their kids in history give a special gift to the community. Now we are the benefactors. (Continued below)
Portsmouth Firefighters Book Coming February 28
I’ve only had a chance to skim the new book, and will definitely give it a separate web page soon. It draws largely from the extensive collection of fire images at the Portsmouth Fire Department, from private collections, and from images housed at Strawbery Banke. The exciting part for local historians is that few of these pictures have ever appeared in a book before, making this volume especially valuable.
I’m always surprised when Arcadia Publishing releases yet another book of Portsmouth images. I have seven or eight now of this city alone, not to mention volumes on Rye, Hampton, Eliot, Dover, the Isles of Shoals, etc. There is an entire book just on Portsmouth gravestones, another on Seacoast cemeteries and another on The Music Hall. There is a book of Davis Bros images from the Portsmouth Athenaeum collection, one on maritime heritage, one drawing from the Mason’s Whaley Library and another from Bill Warren’s private collection.
This is what Arcadia does best. Perhaps the most successful history publisher going today, they depend on dedicated specialists like Mr. Achilles, a career firefighter, to do all the heavy lifting. These are really published photo albums, rather than written history. The authors locate the images, obtain the publishing rights, sort, research & scan the photos, design the page layouts and write the captions. For this yeoman service, I believe, they receive about a dollar per book in an edition that usually runs about 2,000 initial copies that retail for about $20. For those without a calculator, that’s less than 5% return for the guy who does 90% of the work.
READ: Why Writer's Starve
These books are, therefore, labors of love. The history text here is encapsulated into just two introductory pages. The message is in the captions and, having written almost 400 captions for my own last book, I can tell you that it is not an easy task. This is not a full-blown history of fire and Portsmouth. That is a much bigger story that has yet to be told. A detailed analysis of the three devastating downtown fires in the early 1800s would fill an entire book – but that would be a book without pictures since cameras came later.
READ: Portsmouth Fire and Ice
But this is one more very important piece of the story. Achilles work segues nicely with Prof. Richard Candee’s scholarly study of the "Brick Act" that followed the three city fires, and shaped the look of Portsmouth today. Joyce Volk has written extensively on the social aspects of fire in early Portsmouth and its connections to crime. We have, of course, Charles Brewster’s dramatic recollections of fires as told to him by Portsmouth citizens who were there at the time. We have those fascinating leather fire buckets that you see in all the historical houses and now sell – sadly -- for upwards of $20,000. And, of course, we have the Portsmouth Fire Society, founded in 1789 (or is that the Mechanics Society?) that still meets in their tuxedoes annually.
This is not a sociological study, but a book for hardcore fire fighting fans. This is the book about the trucks, the buildings, the equipment, and especially about the people, largely men, who risk their lives each day protecting our community. Those are the key elements that historians often neglect. This is a book for the boys at the firehouse, for their families, and for the fire alarm junkies.
This is also a book about the fires themselves, and that is a bonus. For the most part the local newspapers have lost their photographic records. Researching 20th century fires usually leaves us with a fuzzy-dot-screened image copied from a microfilm reader at the local library. Achilles has tapped into a collection of crisp photographs apparently preserved by the fire department itself. His chapter six "Spectacular Blazes" speaks for itself.
Upcoming book signings for "Portsmouth Firefighters" include February 27 (4-7pm) Mainely New Hampshire, February 28 (1-3 pm) Barnes & Noble, April 1 (7pm) Portsmouth Public Library.
Copyright © 2009 by J. Dennis Robinson. All rights reserved.
Joomla! Debug Console
session.client.forwarded ⇒ 10.3.184.74
session.client.browser ⇒ Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)
password_clear ⇒
groups ⇒
com_rsfirewall.geoip ⇒
6.18 MB (6,482,440 Bytes)
62 Queries Logged
SELECT `data`
FROM `rabbul_session`
WHERE `session_id` = '5f5b11017e553b311e9062048d95201f'DELETE
FROM `rabbul_session`
WHERE `time` < '1793685337'SELECT `session_id`
FROM `rabbul_session`
WHERE `session_id` = '5f5b11017e553b311e9062048d95201f'
LIMIT 0, 1INSERT INTO `rabbul_session`
(`session_id`, `client_id`, `time`)
VALUES
('5f5b11017e553b311e9062048d95201f', 0, '1793686237')SELECT extension_id AS id, element AS "option", params, enabled
FROM rabbul_extensions
WHERE `type` = 'component'
AND `element` = 'com_users'SELECT b.id
FROM rabbul_usergroups AS a
LEFT JOIN rabbul_usergroups AS b
ON b.lft <= a.lft
AND b.rgt >= a.rgt
WHERE a.id = 1SELECT id, rules
FROM `rabbul_viewlevels`SELECT folder AS type, element AS name, params
FROM rabbul_extensions
WHERE enabled >= 1
AND type ='plugin'
AND state >= 0
AND access IN (1,1)
ORDER BY orderingSELECT extension_id AS id, element AS "option", params, enabled
FROM rabbul_extensions
WHERE `type` = 'component'
AND `element` = 'com_languages'SELECT `query`
FROM `rabbul_admintools_wafexceptions`
WHERE (`option` IS NULL OR `option` = '')
AND (`view` IS NULL OR `view` = '')
GROUP BY `query`
ORDER BY `query` ASCSELECT `value`
FROM `rabbul_admintools_storage`
WHERE `key` = 'cparams'SELECT `path`
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_ignored
WHERE `type`='ignore_folder' OR `type`='ignore_file'SELECT `file`
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_hashes
WHERE `type`='protect'SELECT *
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_configurationSHOW FULL COLUMNS
FROM `rabbul_sef_config`SELECT *
FROM rabbul_sef_config
WHERE `id` = '1'SELECT non_sef_url,alias
FROM rabbul_sef_alias
WHERE published='1'
ORDER BY idSELECT m.id, m.menutype, m.title, m.alias, m.note, m.path AS route, m.link, m.type, m.level, m.language,m.browserNav, m.access, m.params, m.home, m.img, m.template_style_id, m.component_id, m.parent_id,e.element as component
FROM rabbul_menu AS m
LEFT JOIN rabbul_extensions AS e
ON m.component_id = e.extension_id
WHERE m.published = 1
AND m.parent_id > 0
AND m.client_id = 0
ORDER BY m.lftSELECT *
FROM rabbul_sef_redirect
WHERE CONVERT(source USING latin1) COLLATE latin1_general_cs = 'arcadia-sets-portsmouth-history-
on-fire/?print=1&tmpl=component'
AND published='1'
LIMIT 1SELECT id
FROM rabbul_menu
WHERE alias='arcadia-sets-portsmouth-history-
on-fire'
AND published=1SELECT id
FROM rabbul_categories
WHERE path='arcadia-sets-portsmouth-history-
on-fire'
AND extension='com_content'SELECT id,catid
FROM rabbul_content
WHERE alias='arcadia-sets-portsmouth-history-
on-fire'
AND state>0SELECT id,catid
FROM rabbul_content
WHERE alias='arcadia-sets-portsmouth-history-
on-fire'
AND state>0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_menu
WHERE type='component'
AND published='1'
AND link LIKE 'index.php?option=com_content&view=article%&id=2258'
ORDER BY idSELECT id
FROM rabbul_menu
WHERE type='component'
AND published='1'
AND link LIKE 'index.php?option=com_content&view=categor%&id=258'
ORDER BY idSELECT `id`
FROM `rabbul_usergroups`SELECT parent.id, parent.lft, parent.rgt
FROM rabbul_usergroups AS parent
ORDER BY parent.lftSHOW FULL COLUMNS
FROM `rabbul_assets`SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT b.rules
FROM rabbul_assets AS a
LEFT JOIN rabbul_assets AS b
ON b.lft <= a.lft
AND b.rgt >= a.rgt
WHERE (a.name = '')
GROUP BY b.id, b.rules, b.lft
ORDER BY b.lftSELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT rules
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE id = '1'SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets
WHERE parent_id = 0SELECT u.*
FROM rabbul_user_usergroup_map m
RIGHT JOIN rabbul_users u
ON (u.id=m.user_id)
WHERE m.group_id IN (6,7,8)
GROUP BY u.id
ORDER BY u.username ASCSHOW FULL COLUMNS
FROM `rabbul_rsfirewall_logs`SELECT *
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_hashes
WHERE (`type`='2.5.28' OR `type`='protect')
AND `flag`!='C'SELECT *
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_snapshots
WHERE `type`='protect'SELECT `ip`,`reason`
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_lists
WHERE (`ip`='10.3.184.74' OR `ip` LIKE '%*%')
AND `type`='1'
AND `published`='1'SELECT `ip`,`reason`
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_lists
WHERE (`ip`='10.3.184.74' OR `ip` LIKE '%*%')
AND `type`='0'
AND `published`='1'SELECT *
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_exceptions
WHERE `published`='1'SELECT extension_id AS id, element AS "option", params, enabled
FROM rabbul_extensions
WHERE `type` = 'component'
AND `element` = 'com_content'SELECT *
FROM rabbul_languages
WHERE published=1
ORDER BY ordering ASCSELECT id, home, template, s.params
FROM rabbul_template_styles as s
LEFT JOIN rabbul_extensions as e
ON e.element=s.template
AND e.type='template'
AND e.client_id=s.client_id
WHERE s.client_id = 0
AND e.enabled = 1SELECT a.rules
FROM rabbul_assets AS a
WHERE (a.id = 1)
GROUP BY a.id, a.rules, a.lftSELECT b.rules
FROM rabbul_assets AS a
LEFT JOIN rabbul_assets AS b
ON b.lft <= a.lft
AND b.rgt >= a.rgt
WHERE (a.name = 'com_content')
GROUP BY b.id, b.rules, b.lft
ORDER BY b.lftSELECT a.id, a.asset_id, a.title, a.alias, a.title_alias, a.introtext, a.fulltext,
CASE WHEN badcats.id is null THEN a.state ELSE 0 END AS state, a.mask, a.catid, a.created, a.created_by, a.created_by_alias,
CASE WHEN a.modified = 0 THEN a.created ELSE a.modified END as modified, a.modified_by, a.checked_out, a.checked_out_time, a.publish_up, a.publish_down, a.images, a.urls, a.attribs, a.version, a.parentid, a.ordering, a.metakey, a.metadesc, a.access, a.hits, a.metadata, a.featured, a.language, a.xreference,c.title AS category_title, c.alias AS category_alias, c.access AS category_access,u.name AS author,(
SELECT MAX(contact.id) AS id
FROM rabbul_contact_details AS contact
WHERE contact.published = 1
AND contact.user_id = a.created_by) as contactid,parent.title as parent_title, parent.id as parent_id, parent.path as parent_route, parent.alias as parent_alias,ROUND(v.rating_sum / v.rating_count, 0) AS rating, v.rating_count as rating_count
FROM rabbul_content AS a
LEFT JOIN rabbul_categories AS c
on c.id = a.catid
LEFT JOIN rabbul_users AS u
on u.id = a.created_by
LEFT JOIN rabbul_categories as parent
ON parent.id = c.parent_id
LEFT JOIN rabbul_content_rating AS v
ON a.id = v.content_id
LEFT
OUTER JOIN (SELECT cat.id as id
FROM rabbul_categories AS cat JOIN rabbul_categories AS parent
ON cat.lft BETWEEN parent.lft
AND parent.rgt
WHERE parent.extension = 'com_content'
AND parent.published <= 0
GROUP BY cat.id) AS badcats
ON badcats.id = c.id
WHERE a.id = 2258
AND (a.publish_up = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR a.publish_up <= '2026-11-03 06:10:37')
AND (a.publish_down = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR a.publish_down >= '2026-11-03 06:10:37')
AND (a.state = 1 OR a.state =2)SELECT c.*,
CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(c.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(':', c.id, c.alias) ELSE c.id END as slug
FROM rabbul_categories as c
LEFT JOIN rabbul_categories AS s
ON (s.lft <= c.lft
AND s.rgt >= c.rgt) OR (s.lft > c.lft
AND s.rgt < c.rgt)
LEFT JOIN (SELECT cat.id as id
FROM rabbul_categories AS cat JOIN rabbul_categories AS parent
ON cat.lft BETWEEN parent.lft
AND parent.rgt
WHERE parent.extension = 'com_content'
AND parent.published != 1
GROUP BY cat.id) AS badcats
ON badcats.id = c.id
WHERE (c.extension='com_content' OR c.extension='system')
AND c.access IN (1,1)
AND c.published = 1
AND s.id=258
AND badcats.id is null
GROUP BY c.id, c.asset_id, c.access, c.alias, c.checked_out, c.checked_out_time,
c.created_time, c.created_user_id, c.description, c.extension, c.hits, c.language, c.level,
c.lft, c.metadata, c.metadesc, c.metakey, c.modified_time, c.note, c.params, c.parent_id,
c.path, c.published, c.rgt, c.title, c.modified_user_id
ORDER BY c.lftSELECT a.alias AS article
FROM rabbul_content AS a
WHERE a.id = 2258UPDATE rabbul_content
SET hits = hits + 1
WHERE id = 2258UPDATE `rabbul_session`
SET `data` = '__default|a:9:{s:15:\"session.counter\";i:1;s:19:\"session.timer.start\";i:1793686237;s:18:\"session.timer.last\";i:1793686237;s:17:\"session.timer.now\";i:1793686237;s:24:\"session.client.forwarded\";s:11:\"10.3.184.74\";s:22:\"session.client.browser\";s:103:\"Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)\";s:8:\"registry\";O:9:\"JRegistry\":1:{s:7:\"\0*\0data\";O:8:\"stdClass\":0:{}}s:4:\"user\";O:5:\"JUser\":25:{s:9:\"\0*\0isRoot\";b:0;s:2:\"id\";i:0;s:4:\"name\";N;s:8:\"username\";N;s:5:\"email\";N;s:8:\"password\";N;s:14:\"password_clear\";s:0:\"\";s:8:\"usertype\";N;s:5:\"block\";N;s:9:\"sendEmail\";i:0;s:12:\"registerDate\";N;s:13:\"lastvisitDate\";N;s:10:\"activation\";N;s:6:\"params\";N;s:6:\"groups\";a:0:{}s:5:\"guest\";i:1;s:13:\"lastResetTime\";N;s:10:\"resetCount\";N;s:10:\"\0*\0_params\";O:9:\"JRegistry\":1:{s:7:\"\0*\0data\";O:8:\"stdClass\":0:{}}s:14:\"\0*\0_authGroups\";a:1:{i:0;i:1;}s:14:\"\0*\0_authLevels\";a:2:{i:0;i:1;i:1;i:1;}s:15:\"\0*\0_authActions\";N;s:12:\"\0*\0_errorMsg\";N;s:10:\"\0*\0_errors\";a:0:{}s:3:\"aid\";i:0;}s:20:\"com_rsfirewall.geoip\";s:0:\"\";}'
, `time` = '1793686237'
WHERE `session_id` = '5f5b11017e553b311e9062048d95201f'
41 Query Types Logged, Sorted by Occurrences.
SELECT Tables:
15 × SELECT id
FROM rabbul_assets3 × SELECT extension_id AS id, element AS "option", params, enabled
FROM rabbul_extensions3 × SELECT id
FROM rabbul_menu2 × SELECT id,catid
FROM rabbul_content2 × SELECT b.rules
FROM rabbul_assets AS a
LEFT JOIN rabbul_assets AS b
ON b.lft <= a.lft
AND b.rgt >= a.rgt2 × SELECT `ip`,`reason`
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_lists1 × SELECT *
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_hashes1 × SELECT rules
FROM rabbul_assets1 × SELECT *
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_snapshots1 × SELECT u.*
FROM rabbul_user_usergroup_map m RIGHT JOIN rabbul_users u
ON (u.id=m.user_id)1 × SELECT *
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_exceptions1 × SELECT c.*,
CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(c.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(':', c.id, c.alias) ELSE c.id END as slug
FROM rabbul_categories as c
LEFT JOIN rabbul_categories AS s
ON (s.lft <= c.lft
AND s.rgt >= c.rgt) OR (s.lft > c.lft
AND s.rgt < c.rgt)
LEFT JOIN (SELECT cat.id as id
FROM rabbul_categories AS cat JOIN rabbul_categories AS parent
ON cat.lft BETWEEN parent.lft
AND parent.rgt1 × SELECT a.alias AS article
FROM rabbul_content AS a1 × SELECT a.id, a.asset_id, a.title, a.alias, a.title_alias, a.introtext, a.fulltext,
CASE WHEN badcats.id is null THEN a.state ELSE 0 END AS state, a.mask, a.catid, a.created, a.created_by, a.created_by_alias,
CASE WHEN a.modified = 0 THEN a.created ELSE a.modified END as modified, a.modified_by, a.checked_out, a.checked_out_time, a.publish_up, a.publish_down, a.images, a.urls, a.attribs, a.version, a.parentid, a.ordering, a.metakey, a.metadesc, a.access, a.hits, a.metadata, a.featured, a.language, a.xreference,c.title AS category_title, c.alias AS category_alias, c.access AS category_access,u.name AS author,( SELECT MAX(contact.id) AS id
FROM rabbul_contact_details AS contact1 × SELECT a.rules
FROM rabbul_assets AS a1 × SELECT *
FROM rabbul_languages1 × SELECT id, home, template, s.params
FROM rabbul_template_styles as s
LEFT JOIN rabbul_extensions as e
ON e.element=s.template
AND e.type='template'
AND e.client_id=s.client_id1 × SELECT parent.id, parent.lft, parent.rgt
FROM rabbul_usergroups AS parent1 × SELECT id
FROM rabbul_categories1 × SELECT `query`
FROM `rabbul_admintools_wafexceptions`1 × SELECT `value`
FROM `rabbul_admintools_storage`1 × SELECT folder AS type, element AS name, params
FROM rabbul_extensions1 × SELECT id, rules
FROM `rabbul_viewlevels1 × SELECT `session_id`
FROM `rabbul_session`1 × SELECT b.id
FROM rabbul_usergroups AS a
LEFT JOIN rabbul_usergroups AS b
ON b.lft <= a.lft
AND b.rgt >= a.rgt1 × SELECT `path`
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_ignored1 × SELECT `file`
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_hashes1 × SELECT *
FROM rabbul_sef_redirect1 × SELECT `data`
FROM `rabbul_session`1 × SELECT m.id, m.menutype, m.title, m.alias, m.note, m.path AS route, m.link, m.type, m.level, m.language,m.browserNav, m.access, m.params, m.home, m.img, m.template_style_id, m.component_id, m.parent_id,e.element as component
FROM rabbul_menu AS m
LEFT JOIN rabbul_extensions AS e
ON m.component_id = e.extension_id1 × SELECT non_sef_url,alias
FROM rabbul_sef_alias1 × SELECT *
FROM rabbul_rsfirewall_configuratio1 × SELECT *
FROM rabbul_sef_config1 × SELECT `id`
FROM `rabbul_usergroups
OTHER Tables:
1 × UPDATE rabbul_content
SET hits = hits + 11 × UPDATE `rabbul_session`
SET `data` = '__default|a:9:{s:15:\"session.counter\";i:1;s:19:\"session.timer.start\";i:1793686237;s:18:\"session.timer.last\";i:1793686237;s:17:\"session.timer.now\";i:1793686237;s:24:\"session.client.forwarded\";s:11:\"10.3.184.74\";s:22:\"session.client.browser\";s:103:\"Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)\";s:8:\"registry\";O:9:\"JRegistry\":1:{s:7:\"\0*\0data\";O:8:\"stdClass\":0:{}}s:4:\"user\";O:5:\"JUser\":25:{s:9:\"\0*\0isRoot\";b:0;s:2:\"id\";i:0;s:4:\"name\";N;s:8:\"username\";N;s:5:\"email\";N;s:8:\"password\";N;s:14:\"password_clear\";s:0:\"\";s:8:\"usertype\";N;s:5:\"block\";N;s:9:\"sendEmail\";i:0;s:12:\"registerDate\";N;s:13:\"lastvisitDate\";N;s:10:\"activation\";N;s:6:\"params\";N;s:6:\"groups\";a:0:{}s:5:\"guest\";i:1;s:13:\"lastResetTime\";N;s:10:\"resetCount\";N;s:10:\"\0*\0_params\";O:9:\"JRegistry\":1:{s:7:\"\0*\0data\";O:8:\"stdClass\":0:{}}s:14:\"\0*\0_authGroups\";a:1:{i:0;i:1;}s:14:\"\0*\0_authLevels\";a:2:{i:0;i:1;i:1;i:1;}s:15:\"\0*\0_authActions\";N;s:12:\"\0*\0_errorMsg\";N;s:10:\"\0*\0_errors\";a:0:{}s:3:\"aid\";i:0;}s:20:\"com_rsfirewall.geoip\";s:0:\"\";}' , `time` = '1793686237'1 × SHOW FULL COLUMNS
FROM `rabbul_rsfirewall_logs1 × SHOW FULL COLUMNS
FROM `rabbul_assets1 × INSERT INTO `rabbul_session` (`session_id`, `client_id`, `time`)
VALUES ('5f5b11017e553b311e9062048d95201f', 0, '1793686237'1 × SHOW FULL COLUMNS
FROM `rabbul_sef_config1 × DELETE
FROM `rabbul_session`