Documents are milestones and markers of human activity, part of who and what we are. Our story can be told through the objects, profound and trivial, famous and forgotten, by which we remember and are remembered. Documents That Changed the Way We Live examines dozens of compelling stories that describe these documents; their creation, motivation, influence, importance, historical and social context, provenance; and their connections to contemporary information objects, technologies, and trends. These documents include the following: *"Exaltation of Innana," a Sumerian hymn composed c. 2300 BCE by the high priestess Enheduanna, likely the first known author...of anything *The "We Can Do It!" poster everybody knows is Rosie the Riveter calling women to work in the factories in World War II. Except it's not, and she isn't *Joseph McCarthy's "list" of Communists that ruined lives and careers, because it was believed - even though it never existed *The "He has waged cruel war..." passage on slavery, deleted from the Declaration of Independence *The poorly designed Palm Beach County "butterfly ballot," on which the 2000 U.S. presidential election may have hinged *And the lesser-known stories behind the Zapruder Film, the Watergate tapes, the Obama birth certificate, airplane black boxes, Thanksgiving, IQ tests, the Star-Spangled Banner, why Americans spell the way they do, Nobel Prizes, Wikipedia, and how you're cooking dinner tonight
Gregorian Calendar, 1582/Gutenberg Indulgence, 1454 2. Exaltation of Inanna, c2300 BCE 3. Rosetta Stone, 196 BCE 4. Donation of Constantine, c750 5. Liber Abaci (Arabic numerals), 1202 6. Annals of the World, 1650 7. Philosophical Transactions, 1665 8. The Riot Act, 1714 9. Declaration of Independence Deleted Passage, 1776 10. What Is the Third Estate?, 1789 11. "The Star-Spangled Banner", 1814 12. Webster's Dictionary, 1828 13. The Book of Mormon, 1830 14. First Women's College Diploma, 1840 15. John Snow's Cholera Map, 1854 16. Rules of Association Football (Soccer), 1863 17. Alaska Purchase Check, 1868 18. Robert's Rules of Order, 1876 19. Alfred Nobel's Will, 1895 20. First X-Ray, 1895 21. Fannie Farmer Cook Book, 1896 22. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, c1900 23. IQ Test, 1905 24. Zimmerman Telegram, 1917 25. The Nineteenth Amendment, 1920 26. Statistical Significance, 1925 27. Stock Market Ticker Tape, 1929 28. Richter Scale, 1935 29. Einstein's Letter to Roosevelt, 1939 30. FDR and Thanksgiving, 1939 31. "Letters of Transit," 1942 32. "We Can Do It!" Poster, 1943 33. Joseph McCarthy's List, 1950 34. Mental Disorder Diagnosis Manual, 1952 35. Airplane "Black Box," 1958 36. Space Needle "Sketch,", 1959 37. Obama Birth Certificate, 1961 38. Zapruder Film, 1963 39. Quotations of Chairman Mao, 1965 40. The 18 1/2 Minute Gap, 1972 41. Internet Protocol, 1981 42. Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 1982 43. AIDS Quilt, 1987 44. Nupedia, 2000 45. Palm Beach County "Butterfly" Ballot, 2000 46. Pope Benedict XVI's Resignation, 2013
