H.L. Mencken

John Joseph Scocca, Hopkins biochemistry professor

2012-05-14 16:00:31

John Joseph Scocca, a retired Johns Hopkins biochemistry professor recalled for his keen critical eye, died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease May 10 at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. He was 72 and lived in Aberdeen. Born in South Philadelphia,...

Baltimore Sun in the news

2012-05-08 08:22:00

There's a fallacy that reporters detest being in the spotlight. If that were really true, articles would be published without bylines. But print journalists have found that it's easier and more fun to ask questions than it is to answer them. Nonetheless,...

Mencken's world and mine

2012-05-10 03:59:00

Locked in a metal filing cabinet in The Sun's library is a sheaf of manila folders packed with typed pages, copies of paste-up sheets and loops of pink, punched tapes — artifacts of H. L. Mencken's coverage of what he dubbed "the Scopes monkey...

Mencken House: A home, and legacy, to treasure

2012-04-30 08:58:57

Despite what you may have heard, the "house museum" is not dead in Baltimore City. The H.L. Mencken House (officially closed since 1997 by the bankruptcy of the City Life Museums) has had more than 100 visitors during two recent weekends. The Johns...

Preserving our past: Ownership isn't the issue

2012-04-03 10:31:00

What is the future for Baltimore's city-owned historic properties? The Baltimore Sun has reported that Baltimore City is hiring an appraisal firm to determine the "market value" of 15 city-owned historic properties. Baltimore Heritage has asked...

Emily T. Taliaferro

2012-04-07 00:00:00

Emily T. Taliaferro, an artist and former Friends School tennis coach, died of stroke complications April 2 at Roland Park Place. She was 82. Born in Baltimore, she was the daughter of Raymond S. Tompkins, a Sun reporter and later an official of...

Stanley Harrison, Mencken scholar

2012-04-14 12:52:00

Stanley Harrison, a communications and writing teacher who edited a scholarly journal about H.L. Mencken, died of cardiac arrest after a stroke April 5 at the home of a friend in Miami Beach, Fla. He was 81 and lived in Florida and Woodbine. Born in East...

Year of good news highlights Baltimore's rich beer history

2012-04-21 13:56:00

Baltimoreans like their beer, and so far it's been a good year. My colleague Erik Maza, who keeps his eye on the local brew scene, has been the bearer of malty good news. He has written about the Heavy Seas Alehouse, which opened earlier this year...

Panos' career in print and practice honored by press association

2012-04-23 15:37:00

During his more than 60 years in the news business, Timonium resident Lou Panos crossed paths with people from legendary Baltimore scribeH.L. Mencken to the Kennedy brothers — as in RFK and JFK. Along the way, Panos, 86, who was inducted last...

Were they all arabbers?

2012-03-16 08:16:00

I responded to a reader's query in 2007 about the peculiar Baltimore terms A-rab and Arabber for a street peddler or huckster, explaining that the term probably originated from the nineteenth-century term street arab, a homeless child living by his wits....

Say it ain't so

2012-03-28 07:08:00

Carol Saller has a disturbing post at Lingua Franca on difficult writers. It's quite a stunner. My experience has been almost exclusively with newspaper reporters, who display none of the obnoxious characteristics Ms. Saller describes. On the contrary,...

Sun coverage: H.L. Mencken, the 'Sage of Baltimore'

2012-01-31 10:01:43

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In 1925, when Tennessee high school teacher John Scopes was arrested on a charge of teaching his students about evolution, The Sun's reporting (and legal aid) made the case a national cause celebre. Covering the hearing, H.L.

2012-05-02 23:01:50

The first black American world boxing champion, Joe Gans was named the greatest lightweight boxer of all time by boxing historian and Ring Magazine founder Nat Nick Fleischer and called by H.L. Mencken "probably the greatest boxer who ever lived." Gans knocked out Frank Erne to win the title and

2012-05-02 14:07:48

History buffs will take kindly to Pratt Library's "Treasures at the Pratt" board. One popular post was a Valentine poem written by Virginia Poe to Edgar Allan on Feb. 14, 1846. A picture of a typewriter used by H.L.

2012-03-12 10:29:20