Andrea Arnold, OBE (born 5 April 1961) is an English filmmaker and former actor. She won an Academy Award for her short film Wasp in 2005. Her feature films include Red Road (2006), Fish Tank (2009), and American Honey (2016), all of which have won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Arnold has also directed four episodes of the Amazon Prime Video series Transparent, as well as all seven episodes of the second season of the HBO series Big Little Lies. Her documentary Cow premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival and played at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival.

Early life
Arnold was born in Dartford, Kent, the eldest of four children. She was born when her mother was only 16 years old and her father was 17, and they separated when she was very young. Growing up on a council estate, she spent her youth days constantly exploring the "chalk pits, fields, woods and motorways" of Dartford. Her mother had to bring up all four children alone, which is reminiscent of the narrative in Arnold's third short film, Wasp. When asked if the story is in any way autobiographical, Arnold replies "I grew up in a working class family, so I guess you could say I write from what I know."

As a young girl, she was writing dark stories about human experience. In an interview, Arnold speaks about how when she was 10 years old, she wrote her first play that expressed her "horror" of the slave trade, and a few years later while studying for a dance GCSE, she made a performance piece; "I took quotes from The Diary of Anne Frank and read them aloud as I moved around the room. All the other kids would just bung on some pop music and dance. I remember the examiners sitting there looking at me, perplexed." Arnold left school when she was 16, when she was drawn to becoming an actor. When Arnold was 18 years old she began working as a host and actor for a children's TV show called No. 73. She worked in TV for the next 10 years while continually writing on the side. Arnold realized she could turn her stories into films so she studied at the American Film Institute of Los Angeles, where she gained experience in the film industry. In explaining why she moved from London to study film in the U.S. she states, "I felt my lack of education and accent always held me back in the eyes of the gatekeepers". After finishing her studies and returning to Britain she had her daughter, Coral, and began making short films for TV.

Career

Early TV work
After leaving school in the late 1970s, Arnold got her first TV jobs as a dancer on shows that included Top of the Pops. She first came to prominence as an actor and television presenter alongside Sandi Toksvig, Nick Staverson and Neil Buchanan in the 1980s children's television show No. 73. This Saturday morning show on ITV, in which she played Dawn Lodge, had a similar premise to that of The Kumars at No. 42 in the way that the show was part sitcom, part chat show and based at a domestic residence. In addition to these parts, the show had the usual mix of music, competitions and cartoons that was in keeping to the formula of British Saturday morning children's TV of the 1980s. After a couple of years of experience in front of the camera, Arnold realized, "Television was great fun and I went along for the ride, but I never felt that comfortable in front of the camera".

In 1988 No. 73 had morphed into 7T3, with the set being moved from the Maidstone house (in fact in TVS studios in Kent) to that of a theme park. This revamp would only last the season, but Arnold would be seen for another two years in the same timeslot as part of the Motormouth presenting team. In 1990 she presented and wrote for the environmental awareness show for teens, A Beetle Called Derek. This also featured Benjamin Zephaniah and gave exposure to The Yes/No People of Stomp fame.

Directing
After retiring from her career as a television presenter, Arnold studied directing at the AFI Conservatory in Los Angeles and trained in screenwriting at the PAL Labs in Kent. Her early short films included Milk (1998), which premiered at the International Critics' Week Cannes, and Dog (2001). She won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for Wasp, in 2004.

She was named a Screen International Star of Tomorrow. Also in 2003, she directed an episode of the Channel 4 series Coming Up titled "Bed Bugs", though she is sometimes erroneously credited as "Andrew Arnold" for the work.

Red Road is the first instalment of Advance Party, a planned set of three conceptually-related films by different first-time directors. Set on a housing estate in Glasgow, the revenge-themed story centres on a CCTV (security TV cameras) operator who develops an obsession with someone she observes, for reasons that become clear through the progress of the film. The picture has won the British director comparisons with established names such as Michael Haneke and Lars von Trier. Screen International critic Allan Hunter said the film was "likely to emerge as one of the discoveries of this year's Cannes Film Festival (2006)." It went on to win the Jury Prize at Cannes that year.

She won the 2007 BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for directing Red Road. In 2008, Arnold was reported to be directing an adaptation of Gillian Flynn's novel Sharp Objects for French production company Pathé, but the project never materialized. In 2011, she was reported to be working on a television project with writer Danny Brocklehurst called Dirty, but this project also failed to materialize.

Her 2009 film Fish Tank premiered at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival, where she once again won the Jury Prize. The film also went on to win the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film in 2010. In 2011, she completed shooting an adaptation of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, produced by London's Ecosse Films. The film was shown in competition at the 68th Venice International Film Festival in September where it won the Golden Osella for Best Cinematography.

She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to the film industry.

In 2015, it was announced that she would direct two episodes of the Amazon Studios series Transparent.

Wasp
Initially released in 2003, Wasp was a short (26 minutes) written and directed by Arnold. It stars Natalie Press as a struggling single mother determined not to let her four young children prove an obstacle in the pursuit of igniting a relationship with an old friend (Danny Dyer). Arnold's native Dartford is the setting. The film was commissioned by the UK Film Council and the Britain's Channel 4. It won the Sundance Short Film Prize in 2005, and won Arnold an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.

Red Road
Red Road was a 2006 film that is a part of a creative series proposed by the Advance Party of Filmmakers to create three films using the same characters, all directed by different new directors. It tells the story of a CCTV security operator who observes through her monitors a man from her past. It is named after, and partly set at, the Red Road flats in Barmulloch, Glasgow, Scotland which were the tallest residential buildings in Europe at the time they were built. It is shot largely in a Dogme 95 style, using handheld cameras and natural light.

One rule was that if any of the directors decide to incorporate a new main character, then all of the other films must incorporate that character as well. All three directors cast together so they could all see who they believed would fit their film as well as the others. Arnold mainly used first-time actors, stating that "I always want the world that I create to be its own universe. When you have really famous people, I find that it is very hard to transcend that awareness. I am always aware of who they are. When you see someone for the first time, that universe feels even more real. I like the idea of working with either unknowns or people that haven't even acted before." Red Road cost $1 million to make and was shot digitally on a schedule of six weeks. The film was accepted into competition for the Palme d'Or in Cannes and received the Jury Prize.

Fish Tank
Fish Tank premiered in 2009 and was accepted into competition for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and received the Jury Prize. In its initial production, distributor Artificial Eye had acquired the UK theatrical rights, while ContentFilm International handled the worldwide sales. The film was backed by the Limelight Fund, BBC Films and the UK Film Council's New Cinema Fund. The film was shot entirely on location in the UK. Arnold was adamant about shooting the film in chronological order, so that the journey of the film would make sense to new coming actor Katie Jarvis. She would only give her a day's worth of script to study so that she could take it day by day. The film originally premiered on around 45–50 screens in Britain, making them less accessible to the general public. In regards to this, Arnold said, "I definitely feel sorry more people don't get to see my films. They aren't inaccessible, and if people got the chance to see them, I know they'd like them. I wish cinema [owners] could be braver, or had more money to help them show films like mine." The film cost around $2 million to make, which is still a relatively low budget for a feature-length film. Fish Tank won many awards including the best film award at the Evening Standard Film Awards. Fish Tank was released on 11 September 2009. The film and Arnold were honoured at the 20th Annual Women in Film and TV Awards in 2010.

Wuthering Heights
Arnold's third film was based on Emily Brontë's 1847 novel and starred Kaya Scodelario and James Howson. This is the first film that Arnold has directed which she did not write herself, though she did co-write the screenplay. Originally, the film adaptation was set to be directed by Peter Webber, who directed Girl with a Pearl Earring, but Arnold was asked to take over and gladly accepted. The film was made in 18 months, which is half the amount of time Arnold used to make Red Road and Fish Tank. Oscilloscope Laboratories picked up the North American distribution rights to the adaptation, which won Best Cinematography at the Venice Film Festival in 2011, being praised for its visuals.

American Honey

Arnold's fourth film, American Honey, revolves around a group of young adults traveling across the country selling magazine subscriptions. The meandering plot focuses on the journey of the mag-crew kids as they drink, smoke, dance, joke around, and have various conversations in their van. The film had its world premiere and competed for Palme d'Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. It won Arnold her third Jury Prize. The film features a mix of both professional and non-actors, with all the non-actors being found through construction sites, parking lots, and on beaches. Out of the 15 youth actors cast, 11 had never acted before. The lead Sasha Lane was spotted by Arnold on a beach during spring break. Arnold shot the film in chronological sequence, not telling her actors where they were going next. The film was released in the United States on 30 September 2016, and in the United Kingdom on 14 October 2016, by A24 and Focus Features respectively.

Cow
Arnold's 2021 documentary Cow is a portrait of a dairy-farm cow's life span.

Bird
In June 2023 Arnold began filming her new project Bird in Kent, with Barry Keoghan in a leading role.

Work with film festivals
Arnold has been very active in working with film festivals around the world. She has been described as a "film festival regular even between films." In 2012 she was a member of the Jury for the Main Competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. In 2013 she was named as a member of the jury at the 70th Venice International Film Festival. In 2014 Arnold was announced as the chair of the jury for International Critics' Week at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. In 2016, Arnold was chosen to take part in a public conversation about her career as part of the Tribeca Film Festival's "Tribeca Talks" programme. Arnold was a jury member of the 2017 Sheffield Doc/Fest.

In September 2013, Arnold was named the New York Film Festival's inaugural "Filmmaker in Residence." As the first "Filmmaker in Residence," Arnold was responsible for "creating a template for the programme." The programme is designed to "further the goals of filmmakers at an earlier stage in the creative process." Through the programme, Arnold was given the "opportunity to focus on developing or refining new work, and participate in master classes, mentorships or cultural exchange and enrichment film programmes with the Film Society of Lincoln Center members, the film community and the public."

Andrea Arnold was named to as Chair of the European Film Festival of Les Arcs, which ran from 16 to 23 December 2017.

Styles and themes
Throughout all of her films, Arnold is known for giving her actors almost total control in creating their characters. Her directorial style provides support and reassurance to her actors in an effort to create their most pure reflections of themselves. Sasha Lane, star of American Honey, describes that "She constantly told me to be who I was. There wasn't really any teaching.  More like, 'Sasha, you're fine.'"

In general, Arnold's films are characterized by the themes of deprivation and impoverishment. For example, both Fish Tank and Wuthering Heights are dramas featuring teenagers living in the poverty-stricken English edge-lands.

Personal life
Arnold lives in Greenwich, London, with her daughter.

In 2012, Arnold embarked on an impulsive road-trip of the continental United States which she states partially inspired the premise of her 2016 feature American Honey.

Filmography

Film

Television

Selected awards and honors

 2005 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film – Wasp
 2006 Jury Prize at Cannes – Red Road
 2007 BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer – Red Road
 2009 British Independent Film Award for Best Director of a British Independent Film – Fish Tank
 2009 Jury Prize at Cannes – Fish Tank
 2010 BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film – Fish Tank
 2011 Officer of the Order of the British Empire
 2012 FIPRESCI Prize at International Istanbul Film Festival – Wuthering Heights
 2013 New York Film Festival Filmmaker in Residence
 2015 Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Sussex
 2015 Masterclass Lecturer at Falmouth University
 2016 Jury Prize at Cannes – American Honey

Further reading
Director Leaps From Shorts to Longing, The New York Times 1 April 2007
 Dark depths of Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights The Telegraph 5 Nov 2011
Film: Andrea Arnold interview The Scotsman 28 August 2009
Arnold, "I Wish Cinema Could Be Braver" The Telegraph 28 August 2009

See also
 List of film and television directors
 List of female film and television directors
 List of British film directors
 Women's cinema

References

External links

 Andrea Arnold at the British Film Institute
 Cannes director urges CCTV debate, BBC News Online, 20 May 2006
 'I like darkness', The Guardian, 18 October 2006
 Cannes Film Festival, Andrea Arnold

1961 births
Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer BAFTA Award winners
Directors of Live Action Short Film Academy Award winners
Sundance Film Festival award winners
AFI Conservatory alumni
English women film directors
English television actresses
English television presenters
English women writers
British women screenwriters
English screenwriters
Living people
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
British women film directors
English television directors
British women television directors
WFTV Award winners
People from Dartford
Actresses from Kent

Andrea Arnold


Canoe sailing refers to the practice of fitting an Austronesian outrigger or Western canoe with sails.

Austronesian sailing canoes

The outrigger canoe was one of the key technological innovations of the Austronesian peoples. Although there is little archeological evidence due to perishable building materials, comparative reconstructions indicate that Austronesians already had the distinctive outrigger and crab claw sail technology from at least 2000 BCE. These boats (as well as derivative technologies like the catamaran) enabled them to colonize the islands of Southeast Asia and then later on to Madagascar, the Pacific Islands, and New Zealand.

Outrigger canoes like the va'a, paraw, jukung, vinta, and proa are still used today by traditional fishermen and traders in most of Southeast Asia and Madagascar, and in parts of Oceania. They are constructed from traditional materials, though most incorporate motor engines instead of a sail.

In other regions like Hawaii, Tahiti, and New Zealand, outrigger canoes are generally restricted to sport sailing and racing. Modern sailing outrigger canoes are usually made from glass-reinforced and carbon fiber-reinforced polymer, with sails made from Dacron and Kevlar.

Hōkūlea is a modern interpretation of a Polynesian voyaging canoe. It is made from modern materials such as fibreglass, plywood, resin glue, terylene sails and ropes with modern fittings and safety equipment. In contrast with smaller outrigger canoes meant to stay within sight of land, Hōkūleʻa and other double hulled canoes are large and capable seagoing vessels typically in excess of 40 feet in length. A wide array of these double hulled or voyaging canoe are documented in ethnohistoric sources which note a wide variety in size, hull shape, rigging style, and aesthetics. These large voyaging canoes are the main mechanism by which the wider Pacific Ocean was first peopled and in their modern capacity often serve as educational tools both preserving and communicating ancient voyaging techniques. While Hōkūleʻa is undoubtedly the most famous Austronesian sailing canoe, there are many other examples across the Pacific.

Modern sailing canoes

John MacGregor of Scotland is generally believed to have developed the first modern sailing canoes. During the 1860s, he had at least seven boats built that he called Rob Roys and sailed and paddled them in Europe, the Baltic and the Middle East. He also wrote a book which popularized the design and the concept: "in walking you are bounded by every sea and river, and in a common sailing-boat you are bounded by every shallow and shore; whereas, ...a canoe [can] be paddled or sailed, or hauled, or carried over land or water" (1000 Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe).

MacGregor founded the British Royal Canoe Club (RCC) in 1866.

The New York Canoe Club followed about six years later.

The American Canoe Association (ACA) was founded in 1880. In 1883, ACA Secretary Charles Neide and retired sea captain "Barnacle" Kendall paddled and sailed over three thousand miles from Lake George, New York to Pensacola, Florida.

In 1886 the ACA and the RCC held the first international canoe sailing regatta.

In 1991 American Howard Rice sailed and paddled a sailing canoe solo around Cape Horn, Chile considered historically to be the Mount Everest of sailing challenges. He was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Chilean Navy and inducted into the Cape Horners Society.

There are several racing classes of sailing canoes: Cruising Class or 4 Meter, C Class or 5 Meter, International Decked Sailing Canoe, and the American Canoe Association Class.

See also
Log canoe, a type of sailboat used in the Chesapeake Bay region
Periagua, an 18th century term for sailing canoes in the Caribbean

References

External links
Canoe Sailing Resources 2005
International Canoe Sailing - International Website
Open Canoe Sailing Group
SailboatsToGo.com  A supplier of canoe sail rigs.

Canoeing disciplines
Sailing
Scottish inventions
Austronesian culture

Canoe sailing


The Master of Hoogstraeten (c. 1475 – c. 1530) is the Notname given to a Flemish painter or a collective of painters active in Antwerp in the early 16th century.  The master created principally religious paintings and is considered a member of the Antwerp Mannerists.

Identification
The identity of the Master is not known, although attempts have been made to link him with Passchier van der Mersch, a Flemish painter who was a pupil of the leading Antwerp painter Hans Memling.  Because of a clear Dutch influence on his work, it has also been surmised that the Master was in fact originally from the Northern Netherlands.

The notname Master of Hoogstraeten was coined by the historian of Early Netherlandish art Max Jakob Friedländer after a set of seven panels each depicting one of the Sorrows of the Virgin that originally hung in the church of Saint Catharina in the town of Hoogstraten (now in the Antwerp province of Belgium).  The panels believed to have been painted in 1505 remained in the church until the beginning of the 19th century and are now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp.

The Master may have been a pupil of Hans Memling himself, but his work also shows the influence of Flemish artists like Gerard David (1460–1523) and Hugo van der Goes (1440–1482).  Madonna and Child with Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Barbara, now in the Uffizi Gallery, was once attributed to Hugo van der Goes, but is now claimed to be a work of the Master of Hoogstraeten.

Work

He is known for religious works.

The Antwerp Mannerists typically depicted religious themes, which they interpreted generally in a more superficial manner than the Flemish artists of the previous century in favour of a more fluid form and an abundance of meticulously rendered details. They also show a preference for a changing palette.  Their compositions are typically shock-full with agitated figures in exotic, extravagant clothes.  The compositions typically include architectural ruins.  The architecture is initially Gothic but later Renaissance motifs become dominant.  The earlier works included Gothic architecture but in later works Renaissance structures became prevalent. The paintings appear to combine Early Netherlandish and Northern Renaissance styles, and incorporate both Flemish and Italian traditions into the same compositions.

Most of the artists of Antwerp Mannerism have remained anonymous and only some of the artists have been identified. They include Jan de Beer, Adriaen van Overbeke and the Master of 1518 (possibly Jan Mertens or Jan van Dornicke).  The anonymous Antwerp Mannerists have been given notnames based on external knowledge about the works such as an inscription, a previous owner, the place of preservation, former attributions or a date found on the work.  This has led to names such as the Pseudo-Bles, the Master of the Von Groote Adoration, the Master of Amiens, the Master of the Antwerp Adoration and the Master of 1518. Works that cannot be attributed directly to a named master are attributed to Anonymous Antwerp Mannerist.

Many of the panels or triptychs produced by the Antwerp Mannerists depict scenes of the Nativity of Jesus, usually situated at night, the Adoration of the Magi and the Crucifixion.  The theme of the Adoration of the Magi was in particular dear to them as it allowed the artists to give free rein to their preoccupation with ornament and the simulation and imitation of luxury products.

Notes

External links

1470s births
1530s deaths
Flemish Renaissance painters

Master of Hoogstraeten


Trond Botnen (30 November 1937 – 21 January 2019) was a Norwegian printmaker, painter, sculptor and poet.

Botnen was born in Porsgrunn to Olav S. Botnen and Snefried Gudbrandsen. He resided in Drøbak. He attended the
Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry  and made his  debut exhibition in 1963.

He is represented at the National Gallery in Oslo, at the Norwegian Museum of Contemporary Art, at Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Lillehammer Art Museum and other galleries. His poetry collections include Nattordbok from 1970 and Gruver Toms hytte from 1971.

References

1937 births
2019 deaths
People from Porsgrunn
People from Frogn
20th-century Norwegian painters
Norwegian male painters
21st-century Norwegian painters
Norwegian printmakers
Norwegian sculptors
Norwegian male poets
20th-century Norwegian male artists
21st-century Norwegian male artists
20th-century Norwegian male writers
21st-century Norwegian male writers

Trond Botnen


The Canadian Hurricane Centre (CHC; ) is an organisation that monitors and warns of the threat of tropical cyclones such as hurricanes and tropical storms. CHC is a division of the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC), which is in turn an agency of Environment Canada. Founded in 1987, CHC provides guidance to MSC's weather centres in eastern and Atlantic Canada, and is based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.  CHC frequently consults with its United States counterpart, the National Hurricane Center in Miami, to coordinate the tracks and positions of storms that pose a threat to Canada.

History
1985's Hurricane Gloria and its less-than-expected damage prompted Environment Canada to create the CHC due to confusion between information received from the US National Hurricane Centre and US media and on-the-ground information and observations. Its first hurricane warnings were issued in 2008 for Hurricane Kyle, which struck near Yarmouth, Nova Scotia on September 28, 2008, and quickly became extratropical while maintaining much of its strength into New Brunswick and Labrador.

Duties
The organization gathers information on tropical and post-tropical cyclones (systems in the process of becoming extratropical cyclones), predicts their evolution and assesses their potential impact on Canada. Their area of responsibility is bound by the Canada-United States border and extends into waters offshore Canada to . Like other hurricane centres, the Canadian Hurricane Centre makes presentations about tropical cyclones to schools, businesses, the media, and other governmental agencies.  They also coordinate with the public concerning additional queries about hurricanes in Canada.

Frequency
While hurricanes are relatively uncommon in Canada, they do approach or strike from time to time.  Recent occurrences include:
Hurricane Bob, which struck Campobello Island, New Brunswick, in 1991.
Hurricane Luis, which struck Newfoundland in September 1995.
Hurricane Hortense, which struck Nova Scotia in September 1996.
Hurricane Michael, which struck Newfoundland in October 2000.
Hurricane Juan, which struck Nova Scotia in September 2003.
Hurricane Igor, which struck Newfoundland in September 2010.
Hurricane Dorian, which struck Nova Scotia in September 2019.
Hurricane Larry, which struck Newfoundland in September 2021.
Hurricane Fiona which struck Nova Scotia in September 2022.
Hurricane Lee, which struck Nova Scotia in September 2023.
Also of note due to its rarity and the damage caused is Hurricane Hazel which hit Toronto, Ontario in 1954, and remained a strong storm even after crossing over the U.S. East Coast.

See also
 Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA)

References

External links

 Official open data services for Canadian hurricane forecast data
Official Canadian weather warnings
Hurricane bulletins for wireless devices

Meteorological Service of Canada
1987 establishments in Nova Scotia
Government agencies established in 1987

Canadian Hurricane Centre


Samuel May Williams (October 4, 1795 – September 13, 1858) was an American businessman, politician, and close associate of Stephen F. Austin, who was an Anglo-American colonizer of Mexican Texas. As a teenager, Williams started working in the family's mercantile business in Baltimore. He spent time in South America and New Orleans, fleeing the latter because of debts. He landed in Mexican Texas in 1822, having learned French and Spanish. Stephen F. Austin hired Williams for his colony in 1824. Williams first worked as a clerk, and later assumed the title of secretary to the ayuntamiento, a local government established for the colony by the Mexican state of Coahuila and Texas.  He worked for Austin for about a decade.

In 1834, Williams quit as secretary of the Austin Colony to work as a merchant, then formalized a partnership with Thomas F. McKinney. The next year he also made deals with the provincial government in Monclova for a bank charter and for large tracts of land in Texas. At that time he was a representative in the Coahuila and Texas legislature. However, by 1836, Williams and his partner, Thomas F. McKinney, supported the Texas Revolution against Mexico. Williams borrowed money against his family's lines of credit, which the partners applied to ships and ammunition on behalf of the rebel government.

After Texas gained independence, Williams focused most of his business activities in Galveston, and represented Galveston County for one term in the Republic of Texas legislature.  Through his partnership with McKinney he was invested in the Galveston City Company, and established diverse business interests there. The partnership ended when their business was acquired by Henry Howell Williams in 1842.

After 1842, Williams worked toward establishing a bank in Texas. He briefly returned to public service when he accepted a diplomatic mission to negotiate a treaty with Mexico, which had still not recognized the sovereignty of the Republic of Texas. In the first year of Texas statehood, he ran twice for the U.S. House of Representatives, losing both times. In 1848 Williams succeeded in introducing the first bank in Texas: the Commercial & Agricultural Bank (C & A Bank).  This was the only institution to legally issue paper money, though his charter and the bank's practices faced legal challenges throughout its existence, including anti-banking legislation and scrutiny from various Texas Attorneys General. Favorable decisions rendered by the district courts saved Williams and his bank for about four years. C & A Bank remained solvent during the Panic of 1857, but anti-banking politics were on the rise. Many of Williams' friends and allies distanced themselves from the bank and encouraged him to give up the project, but he resisted their advice.  He died in 1858 after a short illness.

Early life
Samuel May Williams was born October 4, 1795, in Providence, Rhode Island, to Howell and Dorothy (Wheat) Williams. His ancestors arrived in New England in the 1630s, and his family tree included a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a president of Yale University. Williams had four brothers and three sisters. His immediate family consisted of sailors and merchants; Howell Williams was a ship captain, and Samuel's uncle, Nathaniel Felton Williams, was a commission merchant in Baltimore. After some schooling in his native city, Samuel apprenticed to Nathaniel. A younger brother, also named Nathaniel Felton Williams, succeeded him as their uncle Nathaniel's apprentice.

The Williams family conducted a robust trade with Argentina, shipping food in exchange for cash or hides. Williams left Baltimore to oversee freight bound for Buenos Aires, where he stayed to conduct further business in South America. There Williams learned the Spanish and French languages, and his business dealings gave him experience in navigating Spanish business and political customs. In 1818, Williams boarded at a hotel in Washington, D. C. (where pirate and New Orleans denizen Jean Lafitte had been a resident), and the next year, Williams was living and working in New Orleans. Historians disagree about the timing of Williams's return to the United States from South America. While Joe B. Frantz and Ruth G. Nichols estimate his arrival to New Orleans as the year 1815, Margaret Swett Henson disputes this as a possibility, though she is less certain about timeline.

Career

Gone to Texas
The Panic of 1819 in the United States forced many Americans into insolvency. By 1822, the opening of Mexican Texas to Anglo-colonization offered these distressed families an opportunity to escape debts by moving outside the jurisdiction of American law. Sometimes these debtors abandoned their property and wrote the letters "GTT" on their doors, an acronym for Gone to Texas. Though Williams sold tobacco to the Karankawa people on Galveston Island in 1821, he joined the ranks of the immigrant debtors in May 1822. He and a female companion left New Orleans and the United States to escape debts and poor economic prospects. They registered under the names of Mr. and Mrs. E. Eccleston, and passed over the gangplanks of the sloop Good Intent. The sailing ship met a storm in the Gulf of Mexico, and finally made landfall at the mouth of the Colorado River on June 18.

At this time Texas was a part of Mexico. Moses Austin had negotiated a contract to colonize part of Texas, but his death in 1821 put the deal in limbo. As Williams first arrived in Texas, Stephen F. Austin, the son of Moses Austin, traveled to Mexico City in order to reinstate the contract and facilitate implementation of the Austin Colony. During Austin's visit, word reached Mexico City of a Mr. Eccleston, who was literate in English, Spanish, and French. By late 1823, Austin had returned to Texas and met Eccleston, who had established a local reputation by clerking and teaching school. Austin hired him in November. This is around the time that Williams reverted to his birth name. For a time both Williams and Austin had lived and worked in the same area of New Orleans, but there is no direct evidence that they had known each other prior to their meeting in 1823.

Stephen F. Austin Colony

Williams was with Austin when the new empresario selected a location for his colonial headquarters, San Felipe de Austin. Austin first hired Williams as a translator and clerk, whose language skills, both in English and Spanish, were necessary to fulfill his responsibilities. Another critical skill was his handwriting. In an era when all documents were written by hand, the ability to write legibly was critical to properly reading them later.  Williams' knowledge of Mexican culture and Spanish business practices were also assets. In the fall of 1824, Austin appointed Williams as a recording secretary for the Austin Colony. Though Mexico had not yet established an ayuntamiento (local government) in the colony, Austin had told Jose Antonio Saucedo about his intention to establish the recording secretary position with all of the responsibilities of a secretary for an ayuntamiento. Also in 1824, Williams received his own headright, which included two leagues (about 4,428 acres each) and three labores (about 640 acres each). Austin had promised Williams an annual salary of $1,000, ($24,434 in 2019) but the colony was not generating much revenue.

Williams continued to accept additional responsibilities at the Austin Colony. He managed the Public Land Office, and he served as its postmaster from 1826. He served as secretary of the ayuntamiento from 1828 to 1832, a post requiring him to record official documents in Spanish and send them to the state government. Austin later claimed that Williams had been underpaid for his service and later compensated him with  of land in Texas. With his existing land grant of , Williams had accumulated more than  of land in Texas.

After the Austin Colony
Early in 1834 Williams co-founded the partnership of McKinney and Williams, setting up a warehouse at Brazoria, then relocated to Quintana at the mouth of the Brazos River. The firm operated small steamboats on the Brazos and used its warehouse to manage transfer of freight to and from the larger ships operating on the Gulf of Mexico.

An internal political battle in Mexico caused the state of Coahuila and Texas to split into two capitals. Those loyal to Santa Anna (santanistas) controlled the original capital, Saltillo, while the rival federalistas established their capital at Monclova. During meetings at the state capital, Williams bought 100 leagues of land in northeast Texas from the Monclova government at an eighty percent discount. During the trip he also secured a bank charter, while selling $85,000 (~$ in ) worth of its stock. However, back in Anglo-Texas, the Consultation nullified the land deal when it declared all large land grants voided in November 1835.

In 1835, Williams was elected as a delegate to the Coahuila and Texas Legislature, representing the district of Brazos. That legislature offered for sale 3.5 million acres of land in the Mexican state, an action which many Texians (ethnic Anglos living in Mexican Texas) perceived as corrupt. His participation in the Monclova government aroused the resentment of such persons, many of whom were already suspicious of Williams because of his former position of power in granting land in the Austin Colony. From the perspective of Williams, a member of the federalist Monclova government, the massive land sale was a justified state action in defense of the Mexican Constitution of 1824, which was challenged by Santa Anna and the Saltillo government. The Monclova government was raising money to prepare for a possible civil war in Coahuila.

Texas independence

With santanista General Martín Perfecto de Cos marching from Saltillo, the Monclova legislature ended its session in late-May 1835 with most of its members fleeing the region. Many of the federalists were captured, including Williams who was taken after crossing the Rio Grande River at Presidio, Texas. He was incarcerated at San Antonio, but escaped on horseback in a plot engineered by his friend, José Antonio Navarro. Williams arrived in San Felipe de Austin as an enemy of Santa Anna and Cos. At the same time, his actions in Monclova made him unpopular with Anglos in Texas.

Williams went on a tour of the eastern United States in order to raise capital for his bank. Williams was selling stock in New York when he read about a possible war in Texas. He pivoted toward Texas independence while relying on financial assistance from his brother, Henry Howell Williams. He borrowed against his brother's credit to obtain the 125-ton schooner Invincible in support of a Texian naval force. In May 1836, Williams returned with ammunition and supplies loaded on his schooner, along with as many as 700 volunteers on three other boats. Mostly as a result of procurements Williams made in the United States in 1835, the McKinney and Williams partnership had contracted $99,000 (~$ in ) in short-term debt on behalf of the Republic of Texas. The new government was not able to repay the debt. These loans to the Texas cause had been leveraged by letters of credit from Henry Howell Williams. Thus the Republic of Texas mounted substantial debt from the account of the McKinney and Williams partnership, which in turn had at least of portion of its financial backing from Henry Howell Williams. After independence, Williams served the Republic of Texas as its loan commissioner while serving simultaneously as a procurement officer for the Texas Navy, serving both the Sam Houston and Mirabeau Lamar administrations.

Galveston

Mercantile business

McKinney and Williams were investors and co-founders of the Galveston City Company with Michel B. Menard. Menard hatched the development scheme in 1833, coordinating to acquire a Mexican title to bayside land at the east end of Galveston Island from Juan Seguin. The next year Galveston City Company purchased from Seguin a league and a labor, or about 4,605 acres. The McKinney and Williams investment was initially a fifty-percent share. In December 1836, the Republic of Texas announced it would validate this title in exchange for $50,000 (~$ in ) in cash or merchandise. While there is no evidence of any payment to the Texas government, this action transferred land on the east end of the island to the Galveston City Company. Both Williams and McKinney joined the company's board of directors, and voted with the board to make lots available for sale on April 20, 1838.

McKinney and Williams relocated its headquarters from Quintana to Galveston in 1838. The firm already operated a diverse set of businesses on the island: they owned a race track, operated a tavern and stables, and offered houses for let, and they owned the Tremont hotel, for which Henry Howell Williams was the managing partner.  The Tremont continued operating in Galveston through 1865.  Their principal developments were their three-story warehouse and the wharf at Twenty-fourth Street. In 1839, McKinney and Williams received goods from Liverpool, England, and loaded the same ship with Texas cotton, establishing direct trade between England and the Republic of Texas. McKinney and Williams divested their commission business in 1842, selling it to Henry Howell Williams, who ran it as a division of his commission house in Baltimore.

In 1839, Williams represented Galveston County in the lower house of the Congress of the Republic of Texas. McKinney and Williams used their commission house to support the Williams campaign. They offered to buy Texas Treasury notes (redbacks) for 50 cents on the dollar just as rival commission houses offered only 37.5 cents on the dollar. Substantively, he campaigned based on a conservative monetary policy in response to the Republic's devaluing currency.

Williams once used his position in the House to assert the interests of the Galveston City Company, challenging the election of John M. Allen, the town's first mayor. He led the passage of a bill to change Galveston's charter, which imposed a requirement of land ownership in order to vote in municipal elections. Effectively this reduced the number of eligible voters by half, and this paved the way for the "conservatives" to elect John W. Walton over the "liberal" John M. Allen in 1840. Allen transported the town's archives and stored them in his home, which was guarded by two artillery pieces. McKinney recruited a group of men to recapture the archives, and Allen surrendered them without incident.

Williams chaired the finance committee for the lower house, and served as a member of the naval affairs committee. Williams allied with Sam Houston's faction against President Mirabeau Lamar's spending proposals and his Indian policy. He issued a finance report and proposal on January 12, 1840, which included two Hamiltonian recommendations: the recall of older debt instruments and stopping further issuance of unsecured debt. In addition, he proposed that Texas only accept payments in cash from importers and suggested a broad fifteen percent tariff on imported goods. This proposal was a political success, as all of its recommendations were adopted. However, inflation continued into 1841, as Texas redbacks traded at 37.5 cents on the dollar before he went to Austin and later depreciated to 12.5 cents. He sponsored a successful bill which established a state charter for the city of Galveston and another to build a local lighthouse. Williams promoted a bill to emancipate Cary McKinney, a slave of his business partner. Cary was just one of two enslaved persons emancipated in recognition of service to the Republic of Texas. Though Cary's family was not emancipated, he was able to reunite his family by purchased his family members himself.

President Sam Houston selected Williams for a diplomatic mission to Mexico. As late as 1843, Mexico did not recognize the sovereignty of Texas, while Santa Anna offered a general amnesty and other concessions to Texas provided it agreed to re-incorporate itself into Mexico. Houston agreed to a cease fire and peace talks. He appointed Williams and George W. Hockley as envoys, charging them with entertaining a proposal which was unpopular in Texas. The two envoys accepted their official orders in September 1843, but they lacked the authority to stand behind their own agreements, which would be subject to approval by the President and the Texas Congress. According to the Secretary of State, Anson Jones, their job was to extend the process as long as possible. Meanwhile, unknown to Williams and Hockley, Texas negotiated an annexation treaty with the United States and appealed for sovereign recognition from Great Britain. The Texas War Department, on the other hand, instructed them to demand demilitarization of the Nueces Strip, the corridor in south Texas between the Rio Grande and Nueces rivers. Diplomatically, Mexico claimed all of Texas as its sovereign territory; militarily, Mexico fortified at the Nueces River. Withdrawing from the Nueces Strip was an untenable position for Mexico, though Jones had told them that Mexico would agree to it. Williams and Hockley sailed for Laredo in early October, but the venue changed to Sabinas while they were in transit. After arriving, an illness postponed the meetings, so negotiations did not start until December. Their counterparts, Cayetano Montero and Alexander Ybara, did not consent to the Texans' proposal that Mexico withdraw troops beyond the Rio Grande River.

Williams acquired a sugar plantation in 1844. This 1,100 acre parcel was located near the coast and west of Quintana, at the San Bernard River. Joseph and Austin Williams, two of his sons, managed the plantation for a brief period before its sale in 1850.

Williams ran for US Congress twice. A special election in 1846 was necessary to determine representation for Texas for the few months remaining of the Twenty-ninth Congress. Williams was one of six candidates for the Texas Second district while running on a platform of national assumption of Texas's debt. Texans would benefit from the passage of such legislation; however, Williams and his former business partner had not been repaid by the Republic of Texas for its war debt. He finished second to Timothy Pillsbury. He challenged Pillsbury for the seat in November and lost by a wider margin; it was the last time he ran for public office.

Commercial and Agricultural Bank

Williams was president of the first incorporated bank to operate in Texas. The Commercial and Agricultural Bank opened in Galveston on December 30, 1847, and later established a branch in Brownsville, as well as agencies in New Orleans, New York City, and Akron, Ohio. Williams continued as the bank's president until his death. Williams exploited his latent 1835 Mexican bank charter and an old resolution from the Republic of Texas. He had permission to open a bank during the Texas Republic, but did not use this privilege. The Texas bank inspector, Niles F. Smith, never had an opportunity to execute his duties in 1837, but he was never officially relieved of his appointed post. Williams recalled inspector Smith in 1847, who certified the bank's assets in Galveston, New Orleans, and New York. Williams operated out of a building at the corner of Market and Tremont streets.

Three months later the Texas Legislature proscribed the distribution of paper money, creating a civil fine of $5,000 per offense. Despite this law, $30,000 of the Commercial & Agricultural bank notes had been circulating in New Orleans that year, with another $18,000 distributed in Texas. Meanwhile, Williams maintained a large cache of specie to cover redemptions of his notes. Two members of the Texas Congress headed an opposition to the C & A Bank: Guy M. Bryan and Elisha M. Pease. Attorney General and Pease-ally John W. Harris filed a lawsuit against Williams, who retained Galveston-attorney, Ebenezer C. Allen. Harris filed a total of four suits against Williams with $75,000 in fines. In 1849, a District Court ruled that an 1841 law that gave Williams banking privileges was still valid.

In 1849, Williams gained an ally in the state congress. His former partner in the mercantile trade, Thomas McKinney gained a seat in the lower house and sought to repeal the 1848 banking laws. McKinney also found common cause with Williams in relation to the incoming Attorney General, Andrew Jackson Hamilton. For McKinney it was personal, and for Williams it was business. Hamilton had prosecuted the case against Williams in district court and was then the official in charge of enforcing the 1848 banking act. McKinney took over as chairman of a special investigations committee, which determined that Hamilton had failed to report "widespread corruption". After the legislature passed a reform bill to change the office of Attorney General into an elected one, McKinney campaigned for the election of Ebenezer C. Allen, Williams's lawyer.

Liquidity in Galveston conferred an advantage for local business interests to finance large infrastructure projects. The C & A bank financed the Galveston and Brazos Navigation Company, chartered in 1850. The company cut a channel through the shallow, sandy bottoms, from the coast at the west end of Galveston Island to the mouth of the Brazos River.

In March 1852, the Texas Supreme Court ruled on the state's appeal in the Williams case. The prosecution strategy was based on challenging the legality of the charter, but the court affirmed the 1835 charter and the 1841 relief law. In response to the decision, Bryan and Hamilton devised a new strategy, emphasizing the illegality of paper money issuance, and fining anyone who issued or circulated paper money. By the end of the year, a new attorney general, Thomas J. Jennings sued officers of the C & A Bank, though it was dismissed by District Judge Peter W. Gray. Jennings continued to file similar suits against two Galveston financiers into the next year, while Gray continued to dismiss them.

Early in 1857, District Judge Gray fined Robert G. Mills $100,000 after a jury found him guilty of violating the 1848 banking act. The jury in the Williams trial was deadlocked, but his legal team recommended that he consent to a fine of $2,000 with a guilty plea. A few weeks later, Gray lost his election bid for the Texas Supreme Court to Oran M. Roberts, with the court seating an anti-banking, pro-agrarian judge. The political climate did not favor Williams and his banking interests in 1857, but an economic panic was a greater threat. A bank closed for business in New York that August, and by October, three banks in New Orleans stopped paying in specie. This triggered a mass of demands for redemptions at both Galveston banks, which prompted Williams to refuse to honor some depositors' checks. An early closing triggered a sharp discount on his bank notes, but local fears were allayed after local merchants honored the Williams notes at par, and Williams reversed his policy, resuming payments in specie. Williams survived the Panic of 1857. However, political and legal prospects for his bank did not improve. Williams persisted in the banking business despite the legal challenges, and he resisted the advice of family and friends to divest of C & A Bank.

Personal life

Family life
In 1822, Williams and a female companion arrived in Texas under the assumed names of Mr. and Mrs. E. Eccleston. He left unresolved debt in New Orleans, but there may have been other reasons for his departure. The couple lived together in San Felipe de Austin, but there is no indication of their marital status or even her name. They had a son together named Joseph Guadalupe Victoria Williams, who was born in San Felipe de Austin in 1825. The next year Williams split up with her, and she left the colony, taking their son with her. After her death, Williams brought Joseph back to Texas and raised him as a member of his family.

Williams married Sarah Patterson Scott on March 4, 1828, at San Felipe de Austin. A native of Kentucky, she emigrated to Texas with her parents William and Mary Scott in 1824. Sarah Williams gave birth to nine children, five of whom survived to adulthood. By 1829, Samuel and Sarah Williams were caring for two children: their newborn daughter Sophia Caroline Williams and his four-year-old son "Vic" from the previous relationship. By 1830, Williams had already moved his family from Calle Commercio to a lot on the outskirts of town, and added onto this wood-framed house, then finished it with locally milled siding and brick, and with imported sash from New Orleans. In addition to his annual salary of $1,000, (~$ in ) he received a seven-league bonus in 1830 for service to the ayuntamiento. He selected seven leagues scattered throughout the colony.

After escaping from jail in June 1835, Williams moved his family from the seat of the Austin Colony to Quintana. While Samuel was in the United States, Sarah fled her home during the Runaway Scrape early in 1836. By that time, the Williams's had already relocated from San Felipe de Austin to Quintana, the site of the McKinney and Williams warehouse, where the McKinneys also lived. Thomas McKinney and William H. Jack transported a small contingent of people from Quintana over the Gulf to McKinney's warehouse at the mouth of the Neches River.

For the four years ending in the summer of 1839, business travels on behalf of his own interests and in support of the Texas cause kept him occupied in the United States. He only resided with his family for eight months during this period.

Freemasonry
The Independent Royal Arch Lodge No. 2, Free & Accepted Masons initiated Williams in New York City on November 21, 1835. Williams received the first three degrees of Freemasonry that same night. Four days later, on November 25, 1835, he received all the degrees of the Royal Arch chapter in Jerusalem Chapter No. 8, Royal Arch Masons. Six days later, on December 1, 1835, he received the orders of Masonic Knighthood in Morton Commandery No. 4, Knights Templar. A week after that, on December 8, 1835, the General Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, meeting in Washington, D.C., granted Williams a charter for a chapter of Royal Arch Masons to be known as San Felipe de Austin Chapter No. 1, it being the first Royal Arch chapter in Texas, and he was installed as its first presiding officer.

As a Freemason, Williams became a member of a fraternity that included a number of other early Texas patriots like Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston, Jose Antonio Navarro and Lorenzo de Zavala. Williams "was the moving spirit" behind the formation of the first Masonic lodge in Galveston, and is considered "the father" of Galveston's Harmony Lodge No. 6. Williams represented Harmony Lodge at the annual Grand Lodge meeting in December 1839. At that meeting, he was elected the third Grand Master of Masons in Texas, succeeding Anson Jones and Branch T. Archer. An avid proponent of Royal Arch Freemasonry, Williams was instrumental in the formation of the Grand Chapter of Texas, Royal Arch Masons, and, on December 30, 1850, he was elected its first presiding officer.

Samuel May Williams House

Thomas McKinney managed the construction of Williams's house and his own on a large nearby suburban lots outside of Galveston, a project he started in 1839. The family took residency sometime in 1840. The large tract included a pasture, a vegetable garden, and several outbuildings. They kept henhouse and a cowpen for their own consumption of eggs and other dairy, as well as stables and a carriage house. The Williams' owned slaves, perhaps all from the same family, who worked in the house and other parts of the property. Allegedly a cook attempted to poison the family in 1842; however, there is no record to indicate any punishment, legal or otherwise.

This suburban area near the Williams house was home to several local merchants during the 1840s. In addition to the McKinney house, his neighbors included Michel Menard, John Sydnor, and two of the Borden brothers. Menard was a co-founder of Galveston with McKinney and Williams, and engaged as a merchant with J. Temple Doswell. Sydnor was a commission merchant, and is known to have auctioned enslaved persons, though there is a question about whether this was a regular part of his business. Thomas and Gail Borden Jr. co-published the Telegraph and Texas Register before moving to Galveston. Thomas surveyed land in the Austin Colony before the Texas Revolution. Gail, during part of his stay in Galveston, was a collector of customs, but he is best known for inventing a process for condensed milk. Despite the population growth of Galveston through 1850, this neighborhood ceded its popularity among the wealthy to the Broadway corridor in the next decade.

Death and legacy
Williams died on September 13, 1858, after an illness of about two weeks. Local Knights Templar and Royal Arch Freemasons led his funeral proceedings. Many flags were flown that day at half mast, while many Galveston businesses closed to honor his memory. He left four surviving children and his wife. He and his wife are buried at the Trinity Episcopal Cemetery in Galveston. The original grave sites cannot be identified, but the State of Texas installed a cenotaph in their memory. Since he had not recorded a will, he left a contested estate which included large tracts of undeveloped land in addition to other assets valued at $95,000. His Galveston home, the Samuel May Williams House, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Early in 1859, the Texas State Supreme Court invalidated the bank charter of 1835 used to support the C & A Bank. The ruling had three consequences for the bank: it made the bank responsible for paying a large fine imposed by the lower court, it lost the ability to issue notes, and all notes outstanding were to be redeemed and destroyed. This effectively killed the bank, though Williams did not live quite long enough to witness its ending. Biographer Margaret Swett Henson writes, "The ten-year court battle with its political overtones had eroded his once robust health, and despairing of vindication, he relinquished the struggle and allowed despondency to triumph." Journalist Gary Cartwright claims that Williams "died a bitter and frustrated old man, emotionally, physically, and financially drained."

Williams, through his business partnership with McKinney, supported the war for independence with cash, and with goods and services in-kind, including ships, mercenaries, and ammunition. Williams died in 1858, without seeing any repayment by the Republic or by the State of Texas. McKinney continued to assert the claims of the partnership, but died in 1873 before succeeding in this advocacy. Upon his death, the state acknowledged $17,000, a small portion of the claim, but did not remit any funds to his estate. The State of Texas finally acknowledged the legacy of the Williams and McKinney contributions through a repayment in 1835.

Texas historian Joe Frantz characterizes the partnership of McKinney and Williams as "Underwriters of the Texas Revolution," since, "without their aid [Sam] Houston's army conceivably would have lacked clothes, provisions, and most especially, arms." Yet Cartwright notes a lack of acknowledgement of the legacy of Williams in his adopted hometown: "Today hardly anyone in Galveston remembers his name or what he did. The city of Galveston is tireless, almost shameless, in its devotion to its heroes, but there is no street, no park, no school or building or monument that bears the name Samuel May Williams." He also cites examples of actions by Williams which were corrupt, or at least, perceived to be corrupt by dint of their association with what many Texans considered to be unsavory business and political dealings. Williams was labelled a "Monclova speculator" by some of his Texian contemporaries, a reference to his advantageous land acquisitions from the rebelling anti-Santanista faction in Coahuila. After Texas independence, the Republic brokered a deal acknowledging a legacy land grant from the Monclova government and conveying it to the Galveston Town Company, which included Williams as one of its business partners. Cartwright alleges that Williams was conscious of his own standing in Galveston when he ran for the Congress of the Texas Republic in 1839. Leading up to the election, McKinney and Williams offered favorable exchange rates for Texas treasury notes compared to their local business rivals, which Cartwright suggests was a successful attempt to buy votes.

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

1795 births
1858 deaths
Politicians from Providence, Rhode Island
Republic of Texas politicians
American bankers
American emigrants to Mexico
Businesspeople from Providence, Rhode Island
People from Galveston, Texas
American city founders
19th-century American businesspeople
Mexican civil servants
American slave owners
State legislators of Mexico
Texas postmasters

Samuel May Williams


Yidisher Kultur Farband ( ,YKUF, rarely called by its English [translated] name, the Jewish Culture Association) was a Communist-oriented organization, formed for preserving and developing Yiddish culture in Yiddish and in English, through an art section, a writers' group, reading circles, and publications. YKUF was founded in Paris in September 1937 by Jewish Communists and their supporters as an international body to disseminate ideology to the Yiddish-reading and Yiddish-speaking community.

The organizing meeting was an international congress of Yiddish culture, the first to be held since the 1908 Czernowitz Conference for the Yiddish Language; about 100 delegates attended, including 11 from the United States. The first chairman of YKUF was the non-Communist writer Alexander Mukdoni; the secretary (to 1957) was the poet Zishe Weinper, an efficient fundraiser for YKUF and, according to Melech Epstein, a "secret member of the Communist Party." In the U.S., financial support also came from the Jewish People's Fraternal Order, the Jewish section of the International Workers Order. At the time of the non-aggression pact between Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler in August 1939, many of the non-Communist artists and writers affiliated with YKUF left the organization.

Branches of the international YKUF were established in various countries. The U.S. branch, founded in 1937, ceased operation soon after the death of Itche Goldberg on December 27, 2006.

Prominent cultural figures, such as Kalman Marmor and Nachman Meisel, saw to it that Farlag YKUF, the organization's New York-based publishing house, issued highly regarded anthologies and studies of Yiddish literature. It published more than 250 books, including Yiddish fiction and poetry, memoirs (by Reuben Brainin, among others), history, and anthologies such as America in Yiddish Literature (1961). The U.S. YKUF began publishing the journal Yidishe Kultur in 1938, initially a monthly, in recent decades it appeared bimonthly or seven times a year. Meisel, who was not a Communist Party member and had edited a Polish literary magazine, became its first editor; in 1964, he was succeeded by Itche Goldberg, who edited it since that time to 2004. With Goldberg's death, the magazine ceased publication.

The political roots of YKUF were more of historical note than ideological tendency in its last decades. In the mid-1990s, contact and rapprochement developed between YKUF and its historically socialist counterpart organization, the Congress for Jewish Culture, also based in New York, as well as the Congress's publication, Zukunft ("Future"). They subsequently cooperated in such activities as commemorations of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and memorials for the Soviet-Yiddish writers murdered in August 1952 in Moscow 's Lubyanka prison.

See also
 The Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring
 International Workers Order
 Habonim Dror

References

External links
 "First Steps (1911-1929)" by Moshe Cohen in Arise and Build: The Story of American Habonim
 Jew vs. Jew: The Struggle for the Soul of American Jewry by  Samuel G. Freedman.
 Museum of the City of New York''
 Yidisher Kultur Farband (New York) at Guide to the YIVO Archives

Jewish socialism
Jewish community organizations
Jewish clubs and societies
Insurance companies of the United States
Jewish educational organizations
Jews and Judaism in New York City
Yiddish culture in New York City
Companies based in New York City

Ethnic fraternal orders in the United States
Defunct socialist organizations in the United States
Organizations established in 1937
1937 establishments in the United States

Yidisher Kultur Farband


Louis Adrian Montrose was an American literary theorist and academic scholar who retired from the academy in 2010 to pursue a career as a photographer.  His scholarship addressed a wide variety of literary, historical, and theoretical topics and issues, and significantly shaped contemporary studies of Renaissance poetics, English Renaissance theatre, and Elizabeth I.  Montrose was an influential early proponent of New Historicism, especially as it applied to the study of early modern English literature and culture.  He was a professor of English Literature at the University of California, San Diego.

External links
Louis Montrose's Homepage
Professing the Renaissance
Miriam Chen's notes on Professing the Renaissance

Living people
University of California, San Diego faculty
American photographers
American literary theorists
1950 births

Louis Montrose


Needlework is decorative sewing and textile arts handicrafts.  Anything that uses a needle for construction can be called needlework. Needlework may include related textile crafts such as crochet, worked with a hook, or tatting, worked with a shuttle.

Similar abilities often transfer well between different varieties of needlework, such as fine motor skill and knowledge of textile fibers.  Some of the same tools may be used in several different varieties of needlework.

According to the Ladies' Needlework Penny Magazine:

There are many women who persuade themselves that the occupations particularly allotted to their sex are extremely frivolous; but it is one of the common errors of a depraved taste to confound simplicity with frivolity. The use of the needle is simple, but not frivolous.

Background

Needlework was an important fact of women's identity during the Victorian age, including embroidery, netting, knitting, crochet, and Berlin wool work. A growing middle class had more leisure time than ever before; printed materials offered homemakers thousands of patterns. Women were still limited to roles in the household, and under the standards of the time a woman working on needle work while entertaining the parlor was considered beautiful. According to one publication from 1843: "Never is beauty and feminine grace so attractive as, when engaged in the honorable discharge of household duties, and domestic cares."

Fancy work was distinguished from plain sewing and it was a mark of a prosperous and well-managed home to display handmade needlework. While plain sewing was often handed over to servants, even in middle class households, fancy work would often be done while entertaining guests, in the afternoons, evenings, or on Sundays. The types of goods that could be decorated with needlework techniques was limited only by the imagination: knitted boots, embroidered book covers, footstools, lampshades, sofa cushions, fans and on and on.

Types
 Appliqué
 Bead weaving: loom and off-loom
 Braiding and tassel making
 Crochet
 Embroidery
 Knitting
 Lace-making/Needle lace
 Lucet
 Macramé
 Needlepoint
 Quilting
 Sewing
 Tapestry
 Tatting

See also
 Royal School of Needlework
 Kasidakari

References

External links

 Art in Needlework: A Book about Embroidery by  Mary Buckle and Lewis F. Day, available through Project Gutenberg
 Beeton's Book of Needlework by Isabella Mary Beeton, available through Project Gutenberg
 Encyclopedia of Needlework by Therese de Dillmont, available through Project Gutenberg

Needlework


The physharmonica is a keyboard instrument fitted with free reeds, a kind of harmonium much used in Germany in the early 20th century.

Description
The physharmonica resembles a small harmonium, but is differentiated from it by having no stops, being without percussion action, having only a 4 octave compass, and not speaking readily or clearly. As with the harmonium, the bellows are worked by the feet by an alternate movement, which also affords a means of varying the dynamic force of the tone according as more or less energetic pedalling increases or decreases the pressure of the wind supply.

The physharmonica was invented in 1818 by Anton Haeckl, of Vienna; in the original instrument the bellows were placed right and left immediately under the shallow wind-chest, and were worked by means of pedals connected by stout wire. A specimen, having a compass of four octaves and a very sweet tone, is preserved in the collection of Paul de Wit, formerly in Leipzig, transferred to Cologne and then back to Leipzig's Grassi Museum.

A patent for improvements to this type of instrument was granted to Anton Reinlein 1824. Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann also built similar instruments at least by 1828. There were also others who produced these instruments such as Johann Caspar Schlimbach with Bernhard Eschenbach,  in Schweinfurt and  in Stuhl.

See also
 Aeolodion
 Hammond organ

Notes

References

External links
Le phyharmonica
on harmonium.forum

Sets of free reeds
Keyboard instruments

Physharmonica


A hollow structural section (HSS) is a type of metal profile with a hollow tubular cross section. The term is used predominantly in USA, or other countries which follow US construction or engineering terminology. In the UK, or other countries which follow British construction or engineering terminology, the term HSS is not used. Rather, the three basic shapes are referenced as CHS, SHS, and RHS, being circular, square, and rectangular hollow sections. Typically, these designations will also relate to metric sizes, thus the dimensions and tolerances differ slightly from HSS.

Related pages
 Structural pipe fitting

Engineering

Hollow structural section


Dr. H. Winter Griffith (1926–1993) was an American physician who authored 27 popular medical books. His books include The Complete Guide to Symptoms, Illness, and Surgery and Complete Guide to Prescription and Nonprescription Drugs. Multiple editions have been published, even after his death, and these books are the basis for the health library on the popular web site MDadvice.com . Griffith's books have been renowned as easy for patients to read and understand.

Griffith was a graduate of Emory University medical school. He ran a family medical practice for 20 years, and taught at Florida State University and University of Arizona College of Medicine.

Griffith, during his lifetime, suffered many health problems of his own, including heart disease and cancer. He underwent many treatments, including a heart transplant. He died in 1993 at the age of 67 from bone cancer.

An award, known as the H. Winter Griffith Award, is offered in recognition of an individual's or organization's contribution in patient education materials. It was created in 1990, and includes a $500 prize and a $300 stipend for its recipient.

References

20th-century American physicians
American medical writers
Emory University School of Medicine alumni
Florida State University faculty
University of Arizona faculty
1926 births
1993 deaths
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American male writers
American male non-fiction writers

H. Winter Griffith


The Battle of New Market was an American Civil War battle fought on May 15, 1864 over control of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. The battle was part of the Union Army Valley Campaigns of 1864. Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant had ordered General Franz Sigel to take his army into the Shenandoah Valley and clear it of Confederate forces. Siegel had about 9,000 men when he started up the valley, but for some reason split his army. When he arrived outside the town of New Market, he had with him a force of about 6,500 Union soldiers. The Shenandoah valley was the breadbasket of the Confederacy and provided food to feed General Robert E. Lee's hungry army. Lee sent General John C. Breckinridge with about 4,100 men to stop Siegel and force the Union Army out of the valley. Breckenridge, with Lee's permission, called up the 500 cadets from the nearby Virginia Military Institute (VMI), some as young as 15 years old. The Confederates won the battle, defeating Siegel's larger force.

Background
For some time during the war, the Shenandoah Valley had been a series of problems for the Union Army. In 1862, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson, in a series of six small battles, had tied up federal forces that could have been used against Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital. Just a year later, Lee's army had used the valley to move north to invade Pennsylvania. In addition to providing the food necessary to keep Lee's army going, it remained a very real threat to Washington, D.C.. The Shenandoah Valley was strategically the left flank of Lee's defense of Richmond. Jackson had said early in the war, "If the Valley is lost, Virginia is lost."

Grant placed Major General Philip Sheridan in charge of clearing the Shenandoah Valley. He gave Sheridan the order "to put himself south of the enemy and follow him to the death…" Siegel, under Sheridan's command, was ordered to march up the valley to Staunton from Martinsburg (now in West Virginia). Siegel was a political general and had not been trained at West Point. He had been appointed to his position to attract support from German Immigrants for the Union cause. Siegel had shown poor tactical and strategic skills and had lost a number of battles. Also, when he was under stress, he would bark out his orders in German, confusing his men. Yet he was Grant's choice for this mission. Confederate General Brekenridge was also a political general, but proved to be more than Siegel could handle.

The battle

Siegel was sent into the Shenandoah Valley while Grant was fighting Lee, first at the Battle of the Wilderness then at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. Siegel's main purpose was to prevent Breckinridge from reinforcing Lee.

As Siegel crossed the Shenandoah River north of New Market, he started making mistakes. He sent some of his force after the Confederate cavalry in the area. He ordered two regiments of troops to stand guard over the bridges (apparently in case he had to retreat). Meanwhile, Breckinridge had managed to scrape together only two brigades of Confederate infantry, a few cavalry, and 247 cadets from VMI in nearby Lexington, Virginia. On the morning of May 15, Breckinridge decided to remain on the defensive since he had fewer soldiers and held the high ground. Siegel attacked but was quickly pushed back. Breckinridge saw he had an advantage and attacked the Union line in the afternoon during a heavy rainstorm. He had intended to keep the cadets in reserve but now he needed them. Siegel was forced back across the Shenandoah and this time burned the bridge behind him.

Aftermath
There were about 831 Union casualties. About 96 were killed, 479 wounded, and 256 were reported captured or missing. The Confederates had about 577 casualties. Of these, 43 were killed, 534 were wounded, captured or missing. In total, 10 VMI cadets lost their lives. The Battle of New Market is mainly remembered for the VMI Corps of Cadets who fought there and for those who died there. Beginning in 1878, VMI has held a formal ceremony every year. About the same time they began the French custom of the roll call (reading the names out loud) of the dead who had been killed at New Market. At each ceremony, a cadet is selected to answer for each of the 10 cadets who were killed. On the name being called, the cadet answers: "Died on the field of honor."

Notes

References

Other websites
 The Battle Of New Market: 150th Anniversary; YouTube
 Battle of New Market: Field of Lost Shoes; YouTube

New Market
1864 in Virginia
May 1864 events

Battle of New Market


Varvara Osipovna Massalitinova (; July 29, 1878 – October 20, 1945) was a Russian and Soviet stage and film actress.

Life and career
Born at Yelets in Oryol Governorate, she began acting at an amateur theatre club in the Siberian city of Tomsk. She then moved to Moscow and studied acting under Aleksandr Lensky at the Moscow Theatrical school, from which she graduated in 1901 as an actress.

From 1901 to 1945 Varvara Massalitinova was a permanent member of the troupe at Maly Academic Theatre in Moscow. There she worked on stage with such actors as Maria Yermolova, Elena Gogoleva, Aleksandra Yablochkina, Vera Pashennaya, Alexander Yuzhin, Alexander Ostuzhev, Vladimir Davydov, Konstantin Zubov, Stepan Kuznetsov, Nikolay Annenkov, Mikhail Tsaryov, Igor Ilyinsky and many other notable Russian actors. She became famous in 1902 after her powerful stage performances as Korobochka in Nikolai Gogol's classic drama Dead Souls. Among her best-known stage roles were such classic parts as the officer's widow in the 1903 staging of The Government Inspector, Merchutkina in Jubiley (1904), based on a play by Anton Chekhov, and Kukushkina in the 1911 staging of A Profitable Position. Over the course of her stage career Massalitinova established herself as one of the best performers in the classic plays by Alexander Ostrovsky.

In 1922 Massalitinova made her film debut in a small role in a silent movie Polikushka. Then she worked with director Yakov Protazanov in the first Russian sci-fi experiment, Aelita (1924), where she appeared alongside Mikhail Zharov and Igor Ilyinsky among other fellow actors from the Maly Theatre. In 1939 Massalitinova received a state award for her portrayal of the grandmother of writer Maxim Gorky in the 1938 classic film trilogy by director Mark Donskoy based on Gorky's autobiographical books. Her best-known role was the mother of the Russian folk hero Buslai in the acclaimed film Alexander Nevsky (1938) by director Sergei Eisenstein, starring Nikolay Cherkasov and Nikolay Okhlopkov.

Varvara Massalitinova was designated as a People's Artist of the RSFSR and was awarded for her performances on stage and in film (Stalin Prize, 1941). She died on October 20, 1945, in Moscow and was laid to rest in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Filmography
Gorky 2: My Apprenticeship (1939) .... Akulina Ivanovna Kashirina
... aka Gorky Trilogy II
... aka My Apprenticeship
... aka On His Own (USA)
... aka Out in the World
Alexander Nevsky (1938) as Amelfa Timoferevna - Buslai's Mother
The Childhood of Maxim Gorky (1938) as Akulina Ivanva Kashirin, grandmother
Groza (1934) .... Marfa Ignatovna Kabanova, her mother-in-law
... aka Гроза (Soviet Union: Russian title)
... aka The Storm
Aelita (1924)
Morozko (1924)

External links
Энаменитости biography (in Cyrillic)

1878 births
1945 deaths
20th-century Russian actresses
Actresses from the Russian Empire
People from Yelets
Honored Artists of the RSFSR
People's Artists of the RSFSR
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Recipients of the Stalin Prize
Russian film actresses
Russian stage actresses
Soviet film actresses
Soviet stage actresses
Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery

Varvara Massalitinova


Red algae, or Rhodophyta (, ; ), are one of the oldest groups of eukaryotic algae. The Rhodophyta comprises one of the largest phyla of algae, containing over 7,000 currently recognized species with taxonomic revisions ongoing. The majority of species (6,793) are found in the Florideophyceae (class), and mostly consist of multicellular, marine algae, including many notable seaweeds. Red algae are abundant in marine habitats but relatively rare in freshwaters. Approximately 5% of red algae species occur in freshwater environments, with greater concentrations found in warmer areas. Except for two coastal cave dwelling species in the asexual class Cyanidiophyceae, there are no terrestrial species, which may be due to an evolutionary bottleneck in which the last common ancestor lost about 25% of its core genes and much of its evolutionary plasticity.

The red algae form a distinct group characterized by having eukaryotic cells without flagella and centrioles, chloroplasts that lack external endoplasmic reticulum and contain unstacked (stroma) thylakoids, and use phycobiliproteins as accessory pigments, which give them their red color. But despite their name, red algae can vary greatly in color from bright green, soft pink, resembling brown algae, to shades of red and purple, and may be almost black at greater depths. Unlike green algae, red algae store sugars outside the chloroplasts as floridean starch, a type of starch that consists of highly branched amylopectin without amylose, as food reserves outside their plastids. Most red algae are also multicellular, macroscopic, marine, and reproduce sexually. The life history of red algae is typically an alternation of generations that may have three generations rather than two.
The coralline algae, which secrete calcium carbonate and play a major role in building coral reefs, belong here. Red algae such as Palmaria palmata (dulse) and Porphyra species (laver/nori/gim) are a traditional part of European and Asian cuisines and are used to make other products such as agar, carrageenans and other food additives.

Evolution

Chloroplasts probably evolved following an endosymbiotic event between an ancestral, photosynthetic cyanobacterium and an early eukaryotic phagotroph. This event (termed primary endosymbiosis) is at the origin of the red and green algae (including the land plants or Embryophytes which emerged within them)) and the glaucophytes, which together make up the oldest evolutionary lineages of photosynthetic eukaryotes, the Archaeplastida. A secondary endosymbiosis event involving an ancestral red alga and a heterotrophic eukaryote resulted in the evolution and diversification of several other photosynthetic lineages such as Cryptophyta, Haptophyta, Stramenopiles (or Heterokontophyta), and Alveolata. In addition to multicellular brown algae, it is estimated that more than half of all known species of microbial eukaryotes harbor red-alga-derived plastids.

Red algae are divided into the Cyanidiophyceae, a class of unicellular and thermoacidophilic extremophiles found in sulphuric hot springs and other acidic environments, an adaptation partly made possible by horizontal gene transfers from prokaryotes, with about 1% of their genome having this origin, and two sister clades called SCRP (Stylonematophyceae, Compsopogonophyceae, Rhodellophyceae and Porphyridiophyceae) and BF (Bangiophyceae and Florideophyceae), which are found in both marine and freshwater environments. The SCRP clade are microalgae, consisting of both unicellular forms and multicellular microscopic filaments and blades. The BF are macroalgae, seaweed that usually do not grow to more than about 50 cm in length, but a few species can reach lengths of 2 m. Most rhodophytes are marine with a worldwide distribution, and are often found at greater depths compared to other seaweeds. While this was formerly attributed to the presence of pigments (such as phycoerythrin) that would permit red algae to inhabit greater depths than other macroalgae by chromatic adaption, recent evidence calls this into question (e.g. the discovery of green algae at great depth in the Bahamas).  Some marine species are found on sandy shores, while most others can be found attached to rocky substrata. Freshwater species account for 5% of red algal diversity, but they also have a worldwide distribution in various habitats; they generally prefer clean, high-flow streams with clear waters and rocky bottoms, but with some exceptions. A few freshwater species are found in black waters with sandy bottoms  and even fewer are found in more lentic waters. Both marine and freshwater taxa are represented by free-living macroalgal forms and smaller endo/epiphytic/zoic forms, meaning they live in or on other algae, plants, and animals. In addition, some marine species have adopted a parasitic lifestyle and may be found on closely or more distantly related red algal hosts.

Taxonomy

In the classification system of Adl et al. 2005, the red algae are classified in the Archaeplastida, along with the glaucophytes and the green algae plus land plants (Viridiplantae or Chloroplastida). The authors use a hierarchical arrangement where the clade names do not signify rank; the class name Rhodophyceae is used for the red algae. No subdivisions are given; the authors say, "Traditional subgroups are artificial constructs, and no longer valid." Many subsequent studies provided evidence that is in agreement for monophyly in the Archaeplastida (including red algae). However, other studies have suggested Archaeplastida is paraphyletic. , the situation appears unresolved.

Below are other published taxonomies of the red algae using molecular and traditional alpha taxonomic data; however, the taxonomy of the red algae is still in a state of flux (with classification above the level of order having received little scientific attention for most of the 20th century).

 If the kingdom Plantae is defined as the Archaeplastida, then  red algae will be part of that group.
 If Plantae are defined more narrowly, to be the Viridiplantae, then the red algae might be excluded.

A major research initiative to reconstruct the Red Algal Tree of Life (RedToL) using phylogenetic and genomic approach is funded by the National Science Foundation as part of the Assembling the Tree of Life Program.

Classification comparison

Some sources (such as Lee) place all red algae into the class "Rhodophyceae". (Lee's organization is not a comprehensive classification, but a selection of orders considered common or important.)

A subphylum - Proteorhodophytina - has been proposed to encompass the existing classes Compsopogonophyceae, Porphyridiophyceae, Rhodellophyceae and Stylonematophyceae. This proposal was made on the basis of the analysis of the plastid genomes.

Species of red algae
Over 7,000 species are currently described for the red algae, but the taxonomy is in constant flux with new species described each year. The vast majority of these are marine with about 200 that live only in fresh water.

Some examples of species and genera of red algae are:
Cyanidioschyzon merolae, a primitive red alga
Atractophora hypnoides
Gelidiella calcicola
Lemanea, a freshwater genus
Palmaria palmata, dulse
Schmitzia hiscockiana
Chondrus crispus, Irish moss
Mastocarpus stellatus
Vanvoorstia bennettiana, became extinct in the early 20th century
Acrochaetium efflorescens
Audouinella, with freshwater as well as marine species
Polysiphonia ceramiaeformis, banded siphon weed
Vertebrata simulans

Morphology
Red algal morphology is diverse ranging from unicellular forms to complex parenchymatous and non- parenchymatous thallus. Red algae have double cell walls. The outer layers contain the polysaccharides agarose and agaropectin that can be extracted from the cell walls as agar by boiling. The internal walls are mostly cellulose. They also have the most gene-rich plastid genomes known.

Cell structure
Red algae do not have flagella and centrioles during their entire life cycle. The distinguishing characters of red algal cell structure include the presence of normal spindle fibres, microtubules, un-stacked photosynthetic membranes, phycobilin pigment granules, pit connection between cells, filamentous genera, and the absence of chloroplast endoplasmic reticulum.

Chloroplasts
The presence of the water-soluble pigments called phycobilins (phycocyanobilin, phycoerythrobilin, phycourobilin and phycobiliviolin), which are localized into phycobilisomes, gives red algae their distinctive color. Their chloroplasts contain evenly spaced and ungrouped thylakoids and contain the pigments chlorophyll a, α- and β-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin. Their chloroplasts are enclosed in a double membrane, lack grana and phycobilisomes on the stromal surface of the thylakoid membrane.

Storage products
The major photosynthetic products include floridoside (major product), D‐isofloridoside, digeneaside, mannitol, sorbitol, dulcitol etc. Floridean starch (similar to amylopectin in land plants), a long-term storage product, is deposited freely (scattered) in the cytoplasm. The concentration of photosynthetic products are altered by the environmental conditions like change in pH, the salinity of medium, change in light intensity, nutrient limitation etc. When the salinity of the medium increases the production of floridoside is increased in order to prevent water from leaving the algal cells.

Pit connections and pit plugs

Pit connections
Pit connections and pit plugs are unique and distinctive features of red algae that form during the process of cytokinesis following mitosis. In red algae, cytokinesis is incomplete. Typically, a small pore is left in the middle of the newly formed partition. The pit connection is formed where the daughter cells remain in contact.

Shortly after the pit connection is formed, cytoplasmic continuity is blocked by the generation of a pit plug, which is deposited in the wall gap that connects the cells.

Connections between cells having a common parent cell are called primary pit connections. Because apical growth is the norm in red algae, most cells have two primary pit connections, one to each adjacent cell.

Connections that exist between cells not sharing a common parent cell are labelled secondary pit connections. These connections are formed when an unequal cell division produced a nucleated daughter cell that then fuses to an adjacent cell. Patterns of secondary pit connections can be seen in the order Ceramiales.

Pit plugs
After a pit connection is formed, tubular membranes appear. A granular protein called the plug core then forms around the membranes. The tubular membranes eventually disappear. While some orders of red algae simply have a plug core, others have an associated membrane at each side of the protein mass, called cap membranes. The pit plug continues to exist between the cells until one of the cells dies. When this happens, the living cell produces a layer of wall material that seals off the plug.

Function
The pit connections have been suggested to function as structural reinforcement, or as avenues for cell-to-cell communication and transport in red algae, however little data supports this hypothesis.

Reproduction
The reproductive cycle of red algae may be triggered by factors such as day length. Red algae reproduce sexually as well as asexually. Asexual reproduction can occur through the production of spores and by vegetative means (fragmentation, cell division or propagules production).

Fertilization
Red algae lack motile sperm. Hence, they rely on water currents to transport their gametes to the female organs – although their sperm are capable of "gliding" to a carpogonium's trichogyne. Animals also help with the dispersal and fertilization of the gametes. The first species discovered to do so is the isopod Idotea balthica.

The trichogyne will continue to grow until it encounters a spermatium; once it has been fertilized, the cell wall at its base progressively thickens, separating it from the rest of the carpogonium at its base.

Upon their collision, the walls of the spermatium and carpogonium dissolve. The male nucleus divides and moves into the carpogonium; one half of the nucleus merges with the carpogonium's nucleus.

The polyamine spermine is produced, which triggers carpospore production.

Spermatangia may have long, delicate appendages, which increase their chances of "hooking up".

Life cycle
They display alternation of generations. In addition to a gametophyte generation, many have two sporophyte generations, the carposporophyte-producing carpospores, which germinate into a tetrasporophyte – this produces spore tetrads, which dissociate and germinate into gametophytes. The gametophyte is typically (but not always) identical to the tetrasporophyte.

Carpospores may also germinate directly into thalloid gametophytes, or the carposporophytes may produce a tetraspore without going through a (free-living) tetrasporophyte phase.
Tetrasporangia may be arranged in a row (zonate), in a cross (cruciate), or in a tetrad.

The carposporophyte may be enclosed within the gametophyte, which may cover it with branches to form a cystocarp.

The two following case studies may be helpful to understand some of the life histories algae may display:

In a simple case, such as Rhodochorton investiens:

In the carposporophyte: a spermatium merges with a trichogyne (a long hair on the female sexual organ), which then divides to form carposporangia – which produce carpospores.

Carpospores germinate into gametophytes, which produce sporophytes. Both of these are very similar; they produce monospores from monosporangia "just below a cross-wall in a filament" and their spores are "liberated through the apex of sporangial cell."

The spores of a sporophyte produce either tetrasporophytes. Monospores produced by this phase germinates immediately, with no resting phase, to form an identical copy of the parent. Tetrasporophytes may also produce a carpospore, which germinates to form another tetrasporophyte.

The gametophyte may replicate asexually using monospores, but also produces nonmotile sperm in spermatangia, and a lower, nucleus-containing "egg" region of the carpogonium.

A rather different example is Porphyra gardneri:

In its diploid phase, a carpospore can germinate to form a filamentous "conchocelis stage", which can also self-replicate using monospores. The conchocelis stage eventually produces conchosporangia. The resulting conchospore germinates to form a tiny prothallus with rhizoids, which develops to a cm-scale leafy thallus. This too can reproduce via monospores, which are produced inside the thallus itself. They can also reproduce via spermatia, produced internally, which are released to meet a prospective carpogonium in its conceptacle.

Chemistry

The  values of red algae reflect their lifestyles. The largest difference results from their photosynthetic metabolic pathway: algae that use HCO3 as a carbon source have less negative  values than those that only use .  An additional difference of about 1.71‰ separates groups intertidal from those below the lowest tide line, which are never exposed to atmospheric carbon. The latter group uses the more 13C-negative  dissolved in sea water, whereas those with access to atmospheric carbon reflect the more positive signature of this reserve.

Photosynthetic pigments of Rhodophyta are chlorophylls a and d. Red algae are red due to phycoerythrin. They contain the sulfated polysaccharide carrageenan in the amorphous sections of their cell walls, although red algae from the genus Porphyra contain porphyran. They also produce a specific type of tannin called phlorotannins, but in a lower amount than brown algae do.

Genomes and transcriptomes of red algae

As enlisted in realDB, 27 complete transcriptomes and 10 complete genomes sequences of red algae are available. Listed below are the 10 complete genomes of red algae.

Cyanidioschyzon merolae, Cyanidiophyceae
Galdieria sulphuraria, Cyanidiophyceae
Pyropia yezoensis, Bangiophyceae
Chondrus crispus, Florideophyceae
Porphyridium purpureum, Porphyridiophyceae
Porphyra umbilicalis, Bangiophyceae
 Gracilaria changii, Gracilariales
 Galdieria phlegrea, Cyanidiophytina
 Gracilariopsis lemaneiformis, Gracilariales
 Gracilariopsis chorda, Gracilariales

Fossil record
One of the oldest fossils identified as a red alga is also the oldest fossil eukaryote that belongs to a specific modern taxon. Bangiomorpha pubescens, a multicellular fossil from arctic Canada, strongly resembles the modern red alga Bangia and occurs in rocks dating to 1.05 billion years ago.

Two kinds of fossils resembling red algae were found sometime between 2006 and 2011 in well-preserved sedimentary rocks in Chitrakoot, central India. The presumed red algae lie embedded in fossil mats of cyanobacteria, called stromatolites, in 1.6 billion-year-old Indian phosphorite – making them the oldest plant-like fossils ever found by about 400 million years.

Red algae are important builders of limestone reefs. The earliest such coralline algae, the solenopores, are known from the Cambrian period. Other algae of different origins filled a similar role in the late Paleozoic, and in more recent reefs.

Calcite crusts that have been interpreted as the remains of coralline red algae, date to the Ediacaran Period. Thallophytes resembling coralline red algae are known from the late Proterozoic Doushantuo formation.

Relationship to other algae
Chromista and Alveolata algae (e.g., chrysophytes, diatoms, phaeophytes, dinophytes) seem to have evolved from bikonts that have acquired red algae as endosymbionts. According to this theory, over time these endosymbiont red algae have evolved to become chloroplasts. This part of endosymbiotic theory is supported by various structural and genetic similarities.

Human consumption
Red algae have a long history of use as a source of nutritional, functional food ingredients and pharmaceutical substances. They are a source of antioxidants including polyphenols, and phycobiliproteins and contain proteins, minerals, trace elements, vitamins and essential fatty acids. Traditionally red algae are eaten raw, in salads, soups, meal and condiments. Several species are food crops, in particular dulse (Palmaria palmata) and members of the genus Porphyra, variously known as nori (Japan), gim (Korea),   (China), and laver (British Isles). Some of the red algal species like Gracilaria and Laurencia are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (eicopentaenoic acid, docohexaenoic acid, arachidonic acid) and have protein content up to 47% of total biomass. Where a big portion of world population is getting insufficient daily iodine intake, a 150 ug/day requirement of iodine is obtained from a single gram of red algae. Red algae, like Gracilaria, Gelidium, Euchema, Porphyra, Acanthophora, and Palmaria
are primarily known for their industrial use for phycocolloids (agar, algin, furcellaran and carrageenan) as thickening agent, textiles, food, anticoagulants, water-binding agents etc. Dulse (Palmaria palmata) is one of the most consumed red algae and is a source of iodine, protein, magnesium and calcium. China, Japan, Republic of Korea are the top producers of seaweeds. In East and Southeast Asia, agar is most commonly produced from Gelidium amansii. These rhodophytes are easily grown and, for example, nori cultivation in Japan goes back more than three centuries.

Gallery

See also
Brown algae
Green algae
History of phycology
Litostroma (1959)

References

External links
AlgaeBase: Rhodophyta
Seaweed Site: Rhodophyta
Tree of Life: Rhodophyta
Monterey Bay Flora

Proterozoic first appearances

Red algae