About Learning Crumbs

My son once asked whether I used to write on a typewriter. To him, the past is one flat place where I might as well have been chiselling stone tablets. Answering him properly took me from correction fluid to keyboards, to printing, to paper, to papyrus. This site is that walk, written down, so anyone can follow it.

How it works

The site is laid out like a museum. Each gallery begins with a real question. Each exhibit has a label, a short text board, and a list of sources. At the bottom of every exhibit, a few crumbs lead to related exhibits, often in a different gallery. Follow them and you will end up somewhere you did not expect.

How we curate

Every exhibit is written fresh in our own words. We check the facts against reliable sources and list them at the foot of the page, so you can read further and judge for yourself. Where historians disagree, or a popular story is probably a legend, we say so.

Images

We only use images that are in the public domain or released under open licences, from places such as the Smithsonian, The Met, the Library of Congress and Wikimedia Commons. Each one carries its credit and licence. Until an exhibit has a suitable image, it shows a lettered plate instead.

Spotted a mistake?

Knowledge keeps changing, and so will this site. If something here is wrong or out of date, please tell us.