The Public Domain Review: Latest Newsletter


Race and the White Elephant War of 1884

Feuding impresarios, a white-but-not-white-enough elephant, and racist ads for soap — Ross Bullen on how a bizarre episode in circus history became an unlikely forum for discussing 19th-century theories of race, and inadvertently laid bare the ideological constructions at their heart.

The Civil War Sketches of Adolph Metzner (1861–64)

Remarkable collection of sketches, drawings, and watercolours left to us by Adolph Metzner, during his three years of service with the 1st German, 32nd Regiment Indiana Infantry.

Source: Latest Newsletter | The Public Domain Review