James R. Coffey - History Defined

Inside Eastern State Hospital: America’s first official mental hospital

Eastern State Hospital, founded in 1773 in Williamsburg, Virginia, has the unique distinction of being the first hospital built in America specifically for the confinement and treatment of the mentally ill. Before the construction of this facility, individuals who suffered mental illness were not diagnosed by a physician knowledgeable in such conditions but judged by […]

Inside Eastern State Hospital: America’s first official mental hospital Read More »

The Meteoric Rise of Snoopy: An American Pop Icon

On October 2, 1950, a relatively unknown cartoonist named Charles M. Schulz introduced America to the comic strip world of Peanuts, initially inhabited by just three kids: Charlie Brown, Shermy, and Patty. Two days later, however, on October 4, a fourth character, an unnamed dog, joined the little gang. Though remaining unnamed until the November 10

The Meteoric Rise of Snoopy: An American Pop Icon Read More »

The Milgram Experiment: Testing Blind Obedience to Authority

The 1950s and 1960s were the proverbial heydays for behavioral psychology experiments in the United States. Harry Harlow’s Rhesus Monkey Experiments tested the effects of maternal separation and social isolation. The Solomon Asch Conformity Experiments tested the power of conformity in groups. Finally, the New York Child Development Center’s Child Development Twin Study examined the effects of twins raised apart. These

The Milgram Experiment: Testing Blind Obedience to Authority Read More »

Does the Legendary Elephant Graveyard Actually Exist?

While it’s virtually impossible to trace the origin of this curious legend, it’s quite evident that famed adventure, sci-fi, and fantasy writer Edgar Rice Burroughs was instrumental in bringing the “elephant graveyard” to popular culture through this heroic character, Tarzan. First in his Tarzan adventure novels (beginning in 1912), then through film adaptations (starting in

Does the Legendary Elephant Graveyard Actually Exist? Read More »

The Controversial Life of Sexologist Alfred Kinsey

In a very true sense, it all began with bugs. Gall wasps, to be specific. Building on his childhood fascination with insects, Alfred Kinsey chose the mating habits of the gall wasp as the subject of his Doctor of Science dissertation after completing his Bachelor’s degrees in biology and psychology. But it wasn’t his findings

The Controversial Life of Sexologist Alfred Kinsey Read More »

Lost in Time: The Incredible Story of the Lykov Family of the Siberian Wilderness

Besides a clear, cool stream, a solitary shelter stood. Blackened by weather and time, the structure was piled high on all sides with rubbish. If not for a window the size of a shoe box, it would have been impossible to imagine that people lived inside. But they did. And the arrival of outsiders had

Lost in Time: The Incredible Story of the Lykov Family of the Siberian Wilderness Read More »

The Mysterious “Red Paint People” of Prehistoric Northeastern North America

Until the early 19th Century, the mysterious race known as the “Red Paint People” existed only in the realm of mythology; phantasmal beings said to have roamed the forests of New England and Atlantic Canada thousands of years in the past. Folkloric fodder. Their one prominent characteristic was their bright red skin. The myth began

The Mysterious “Red Paint People” of Prehistoric Northeastern North America Read More »

Mutiny on the Bounty and the Scandalous History of Pitcairn Island

The mutiny of the HMS Bounty on April 28, 1789, is unrivaled in the annals of rebellions in Naval history. Brought to mainstream awareness, primarily by three highly-successful major motion pictures (in ’35, ’62, and ’84) based on the Charles Nordhoff and James Hall historical novel Mutiny on the Bounty, these films focus primarily on the events that

Mutiny on the Bounty and the Scandalous History of Pitcairn Island Read More »

The Schist Disk: Egypt and “Advanced” Technology

Since discovered in 1936 in the Egyptian village of Saqqara, the so-called “Schist Disk” has been used to support the widely-held contention that the ancient Egyptian culture acquired technology far superior to their own at some point in their development from an outside source. And while this disk may not be definitive proof of that

The Schist Disk: Egypt and “Advanced” Technology Read More »