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We can learn a lot about the society from what they expect children to read and learn.

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“Reading” Primary Sources on the History of Children & Youth

Nineteenth-Century American Children & What They Read

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Period Reading Materials

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Nature Study Movement::

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1305: Execution of William Wallace

On this day in London, William Wallace was executed for treason, condemned for leading Scottish resistance forces during the first years of the long and ultimately successful struggle to free Scotland from English rule.


1856: Eunice Foote’s research on global warming is presented publicly

Eunice Foot was a scientist, inventor and women's rights campaigner. Her research first argued that increased CO2 in the atmosphere would increase Earth's temperature. As a woman and amateur scientist, her research was overlooked until being rediscovered by scholars in 2011.


1973: Birth of the term "Stockholm syndrome"

A botched bank robbery in Stockholm resulted in a hostage situation, and after the course of a six-day standoff, a psychologist Nils Bejerot coined the term "Stockholm syndrome" after one of the hostages, Kristin Enmark criticized him on Swedish radio for endangering their lives by behaving aggressively and agitating the captors.


2000: First “Survivor” finale airs

The first season of the U.S. version of the reality TV game show Survivor ended, with Richard Hatch being pronounced the winner.

Source:
On This Day
History.com
Wikipedia

The Woman Suffrage Cookbook was one among many published between the 1880s and 1920 to advocate the cause of universal suffrage. They are weapons to popularize and defend their cause from the critics who screamed that suffragists have abandoned their household responsibilities so weren't worth listening to. Quite a number of recipes include their authors' names, so we can remember and celebrate these women' effort to fight for a more equal future.

The recipe of Suffrage Angel Cake came from Eliza Kennedy Smith, a 20th-century American suffragist, civic activist, and government reformer. She helped founded the Allegheny County Equal Rights Association and held the president position to her death. She also worked with her sister to uncover Pittsburgh city government corruption and led to the conviction of Mayor Charles H. Kline.

Suffrage Angel Cake
(a la Kennedy)

11 eggs
1 full cup Swansdown Flour (after sifting)
1½ cups granulated sugar
1 heaping teaspoon cream of tartar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 pinch of salt

Beat the eggs until light—not stiff; sift sugar 7 times, add to eggs, beating as little as possible. Sift flour 9 times, using only the cupful, discarding the extra flour; then put in the flour the cream of tartar; add this to the eggs and sugar; now the vanilla. Put in angel cake pan with feet. Put in oven with very little heat. Great care must be used in baking this cake to insure success. Light the oven when you commence preparing material. After the first 10 minutes in oven, increase heat and continue to do so every five minutes until the last 4 or 5 minutes, when strong heat must be used. At thirty minutes remove cake and invert pan allowing to stand thus until cold.

Further Reading:
The Forgotten Cookbooks That Fueled Women’s Suffrage
Cook like a suffragette: fine dining from century-old political recipes
How Suffragists Used Cookbooks As A Recipe For Subversion

It was considered taboo to speak of the given names of emperors and their direct ancestors, one's own ancestors, and respected people like Confucius. To avoid offence, one may change the character to a similar character, leave the character blank or omit the final stroke in the character.

For example, the Chinese moon goddess Chang-Er was originally called Heng e (恒娥). However, as the Emperor Wen of the Western Han Dynasty was called Liu Heng, her name was changed to avoid the naming taboo.

Emperor Gaozong of Song Dynasty was named Zhao Gou 趙構. As Gou has the same sound as the Chinese character 狗 (which means dog), people are forced to use the synonym 犬 to replace the character 狗 in speech or text.

The naming taboo of the state (taboo against given names of emperors and their direct ancestors) could be a life and death matter in ancient China. In 1777, Wang Xihou, wrote the Qianlong Emperor's name without leaving out any stroke in his dictionary as required. This resulted in his and his family's executions and confiscation of their property. Imperial exam students must remember the naming taboo of the state so as not to give offense and ruin their life.

As the taboo was so strict, historical people and locations could be renamed if they happened to share a name with the emperor in power (or previous emperors of the same dynasty) when the text was written. Thus, the study of naming taboos could date an ancient Chinese text.

The taboo to speak of the given name of one's own ancestors was called the naming taboo of the clan. In Jin Dynasty, when Wang Chen visited Huan Xuan, he asked the servants to warm up the wine 温酒 (pin yin: wen jiu).
However, Huan Xuan's father was called Huan Wen 桓温 so Wang Chen accidentally broke the naming taboo of Huan Xuan's clan.Huan Xuan immediately cried loudly as required by the custom.

Wang Chen panicked and wanted to leave, but Huan Xuan said, "It the naming taboo of my clan, so it isn't your fault." Wang Chen praised his open-mindedness . In general, it was gravely offensive to deliberately speak of given names of your conversational partners' direct ancestors.

The naming taboo of the clan could be career ruining. In Tang Dynasty, poet Li He attempted to take the Imperial Examination. However, his jealous rivals tried to disqualify him because his father was named Jinsu 晉肅 , and the first character was a homonym of the first character (進) of Jinshi (進士), the name of the degree that would have been conferred on him had he passed.

Poet Han Yu wrote 諱辯 "The Argument Against Naming Taboo" to defend him, but at the end Li He wasn't successful in the Imperial Examination (some said he didn't take it at the end because of the pressure)

The naming taboo is the origin of the famous Chinese idiom "只許州官放火，不許百姓點燈" (lit. "to only allow the prefectural official to set fires, but not allow the common citizens to light their lamps).

In Song Dynasty, an prefectural governor called Tian Deng forbade any mention of lamps, because the character for lamp was a homonym of his given name. Therefore people of the prefecture referred "lanterns" as "fire". One year during the Lantern Festival, the prefectural officials published a notice saying that they would "set fire" (set up lanterns) for 3 days according to tradition. Nowadays this idiom meant "the authorities can do what they like, but the common people are not allowed the slightest bit of freedom".