Lesseps, Ferdinand de, 1805-1894

Philippe Bunau-Varilla, an engineer of the Panama Canal, writes to the New York Evening Post to clarify publicly why he dropped his libel lawsuit against the newspaper. As Bunau-Varilla counters recent negative remarks made by the Post, he recounts his role in the Panama Canal’s construction, discusses the injustice of the Dreyfus Affair, and asserts that he is indifferent to further attacks from this newspaper.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-07-31

Creator(s)

Bunau-Varilla, Philippe, 1859-1940

Colorized postcard showing a steamer traveling through the Suez Canal. Several buildings are seen on the distant bank and another boat is on Lake Timsah in the background. Text on the reverse of the postcard provides information about the history and the location of the Suez Canal.

Collection

Charles C. Myers Collection

Creation Date

Unknown

Creator(s)

Unknown

Michael F. Moran chronicles the Theodore Roosevelt Association’s (TRA) Panama Canal Centennial Strenuous Life Adventure of March 2014. Moran describes the itinerary of the group, highlighting its passage through the canal on a cruise ship and its stop at various offices and sites associated with the construction of the canal. Moran also refers to figures prominent in the building of the canal such as John F. Stevens. Moran describes the condition of Colon, Panama, highlights the group’s bird watching expedition, and notes the costumes of the native Embera Indians.

Twenty photographs and a map appear in the text while a photo album of seventy-two color photographs arrayed in twelve pages follows the article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2014

In the “Book Notes” column, John A. Gable reviews two books that cover different aspects of the era of Theodore Roosevelt. He praises David McCullough’s The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914 for its “careful research, balanced judgment, and good prose.” Gable compares McCullough’s verdict on Roosevelt’s actions regarding the Canal with the work of other Roosevelt scholars, and he gives over much of his review to an extended quote from a letter McCullough wrote to President Jimmy Carter supporting passage of the 1977 Canal treaties.

Gable endorses, with some reservations, They Were Ragtime, a popular history of the United States in the Progressive era written by Warren Forma. Gable lists many of the personalities from entertainment, the arts, and the business world who populate Forma’s work, and he argues that the work is valuable for its look at popular culture in turn of the twentieth-century America. 

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Poultney Bigelow compares the challenges Ferdinand de Lesseps faced constructing the Suez Canal to those of the Panama Canal. He argues that real-estate ownership among canal officials is responsible for the crowded, unsanitary conditions of Colon and that the government has failed in its administration of the canal zone.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09

Creator(s)

Bigelow, Poultney, 1855-1954

John Bigelow, a former ambassador to France from the United States, has recently published a pamphlet on the Panama Canal. Bigelow criticizes the inflated costs of the project, as well as the slow pace of the work. The initial French plan consisted of an initial, preliminary canal which after its completion would be widened into the final form, but the United States rejected this plan in favor of completing the canal in one go.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908

Creator(s)

Unknown