University of Nebraska Press

Tuesday Trivia Answers

1. Bosnia
2. Nefertiti
3. Queen Victoria
4. Zero
5. Jadwiga
6. Japan
7. The Nine Days Queen
8. Portugal
9. Six days old
10. Maleficent

Tuesday Trivia: February 17, 2009

New from the University of Nebraska Press: Queens and Power in Medieval and Early Modern England, edited by Carole Levin and Robert Bucholz.

Queens and Power provides a forum for the underexamined, anomalous reigns of queens in history. These regimes, primarily regarded as interruptions to the “normal” male monarchy, have been examined largely as isolated cases. This interdisciplinary study of queens throughout history examines their connections to one another, their constituents’ perceptions of them, and the fallacies of their historical reputations.

You’ve probably already guessed the topic of this week’s Tuesday Trivia....queens.  Our focus is a bit broader than just those of medieval and early modern England. Ready?

1. Helen the Tough ruled which country from 1395, after her husband’s death, to 1398, when she ceded power to her stepson? Hint: She was the only queen to rule this country.

2. Which ancient Egyptian queen is best known for her iconic bust, which is currently on display at Egyptian Museum of Berlin?

3. Which U.K. queen became known as the Grandmother of Europe after arranging marriages for her children and grandchildren with other young royals from throughout the continent?

4. Queen Elizabeth ruled Russia from 1741 to 1762. Her reign was unique, in part, for the number of executions during her tenure as queen. How many executions were there?

5. Which queen, who ruled Poland from 1384, when she was just 12, until she died of complications from childbirth in 1399 is the patron saint of queens?

6. Empress Go-Sakuramachi, who ruled from 1762 to 1771, is the most recent reigning queen of which country?

7. Lady Jane Grey ruled England and Ireland for just nine days in 1554, when she was not yet 20 years old. The brevity of her reign led to Grey being known as what?

8. Queen Maria, was also known as Maria the Pious, Maria the Mad because of her intense religious beliefs and her struggle with melancholia. What country did she rule?

9. How old was Mary, Queen of Scots, when she became queen?

10. Bonus question: What is the name of the evil queen in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty?

Do you know as much about queens as you thought you did? Check back tomorrow for the answers, and be sure to check out Queens and Power for a more in-depth look at some of England’s most influential women leaders.

Tuesday Trivia answers

1. Fur traders
2. About 20
3. California Gold Rush
4. River beds
5. Chimney Rock
6. Fort Kearny
7. 300,000
8. Cholera
9. The completion of the first trans-continental railroad
10. About 1,000

Tuesday Trivia: February 10, 2009

New from the University of Nebraska Press: Searching for Tamsen Donner, by Gabrielle Burton.

One summer in the 1970s, Burton, her husband, and their five daughters piled into the family station wagon and meticulously traced the path of the Donner Party, stopping at places the ill-fated pioneers stopped, visiting their graves and trying to understand that long-ago journey. Burton, a fledgling writer, intended to write a novel about Tamsen Donner, the wife of party leader George Donner. Decades later, Burton wrote instead about her summer searching for Tamsen, and what that journey meant for her family, and for her development as a writer.

This week’s Tuesday Trivia is about the California Trail (which the Donner Party followed), as well as the Oregon and Mormon trails.

1. Parts of the Oregon/California/Mormon Trail route were discovered and first used in the late 1820s by which group of people?

2. The first settlers to make the journey to Oregon did so in the 1830s. During that decade, about how many total settlers followed the trail to Oregon?

3. Use of the trails remained relatively low through the 1840s. What event in the late 1840s cased traffic along the trail to spike?

4.  What natural geographic features did the Oregon, California and Mormon trails follow?

5. What Nebraska landmark is among the most famous of those along the trail?

6. Which spot in Nebraska was a California Trail hub, where several branches met?

7. About how many settlers are estimated to have traveled one of the three trails?

8. It is estimated that between 8,000 and 16,000 (and possibly far more) of those who attempted to cross the Oregon, California and Mormon trails died during the journey. What was the most common cause of death?

9. What 1869 occurrence caused traffic on the trails to all but disappear?

10. The trails were so well-used, and the wagons that traveled them so heavy, that ruts remain in several states, including Nebraska, Kansas, Wyoming, Utah, California, Idaho and Nevada. About how many miles of trail are still visible?

How did you do? Check back tomorrow for the answers. And for more information on this facet of American history, be sure to check out Searching for Tamsen Donner.

Tuesday Trivia answers

1. The Navajo

2. Geronimo

3. Coyote

4. True

5. Francisco Coronado

6. True

7. Oklahoma City

8. A gold rush

Tuesday Trivia: January 27, 2009

New this month from the University of Nebraska Press: Lt. Charles Gatewood & His Apache Wars Memoir by Charles B. Gatewood, edited and with additional text by Louis Kraft.

Lt. Charles B. Gatewood (1853–1896), an educated Virginian, served in the Sixth U.S. Cavalry as the commander of Indian scouts. Gatewood was largely accepted by the Native peoples with whom he worked because of his efforts to understand their cultures. It was this connection that Gatewood formed with the Indians, and with Geronimo and Naiche in particular, that led to his involvement in the last Apache war and his work for Indian rights.

Realizing that he had more experience dealing with Native peoples than other lieutenants serving on the frontier, Gatewood decided to record his experiences. Although he died before he completed his project, the work he left behind remains an important firsthand account of his life as a commander of Apache scouts and as a military commandant of the White Mountain Indian Reservation.

This week’s installment of Tuesday Trivia is about the Apache Indians. Ready?

1. The word “Apachean” describes Indian groups language and culture are similar to that of the Apache. Name another major Apachean Native American group.

Tuesday Trivia answers

1. Utah
2. Utah and Colorado
3. Northern Utes and Southern Utes
4. Beadwork
5. Light
6. When the Legends Die
7. Flute
8. The Four Corners Motorcycle Rally
9. Raoul Trujillo
10. Pueblo

Tuesday Trivia: January 20, 2009

New this month from the University of Nebraska Press: Southern Ute Women: Autonomy and Assimilation on the Reservation, 1887-1934, by Katherine M. B. Osburn.

After the passage of the Dawes Severalty Act in 1887, the Southern Ute Agency was the scene of an intense federal effort to assimilate the Ute Indians. The Southern Utes were to break up their common land holdings and transform themselves into middle-class patriarchal farm and pastoral families. In this assimilationist scheme, women were to surrender the considerable autonomy they enjoyed in traditional Ute society and become housebound homemakers, the “civilizers” of their fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons. Southern Ute Women shows that these women accommodated Anglo ways that benefited them but refused to give up indigenous culture and ways that gave their lives meaning and bolstered personal autonomy.

This week’s Tuesday Trivia will test your knowledge of Ute history and culture. Ready?

1. Which state derived its name from the word “Ute”?

2. Most Utes today live in two states. Which ones?

Tuesday Trivia Answers

1. Kevin Costner
2. Kansas
3. Wells Fargo
4. Rock Creek Station, near Fairbury
5. Doc Holliday
6. Dennis Quaid
7. Jack London
8. Deadwood
9. Wylie Burp
10. John Wayne

Tuesday Trivia: January 13, 2009

During his lifetime, Wyatt Earp wore many hats: buffalo hunter, bodyguard, detective, bounty hunter, gambler, boxing referee, prospector, saloon keeper, Dodge City lawman, and, most notably, participant in the famed 1881 shootout at O.K. Corral. Inventing Wyatt Earp: His Life and Many Legends, new this month from the University of Nebraska Press, explains how Earp lived a life (at times embellished) that became the stuff movies are made of. 

And in fact, a movie was made about Earp in 1994. And Earp had a link to Hollywood long before that movie was made. In his later years, Earp lived in Los Angeles, acting as an adviser on films set in the Wild West. This week, Tuesday Trivia will test your knowledge of both the Wild West and its cinematic representations:

1. Who played Wyatt Earp in the 1994 movie of the same name?

2. Dodge City, where Earp spent several years as a lawman, is in which state?

3. When Wyatt lived in Tombstone, he went to work for a company with a stagecoach line, the name of which is still in use today. What was the company’s name?

4. Earp claimed to have met notorious outlaw Wild Bill Hickok, who killed several men in fights during his lifetime. The first man Hickok claimed to have killed was in Nebraska. Where?

5. During the shootout at O.K. Corral, another famous Wild West character was also present. Who was it?

6. Who played that character in the movie Wyatt Earp?

7. In 1897, Earp ventured to Alaska to take part in the Klondike gold rush. There, he claimed to have met a famous author. Who?

8. A character named Wyatt Earp appeared in two episodes of a 2006 season of a cable drama series set in South Dakota. What series was it?

9. In the animated movie An American Tale: Fievel Goes West, a canine character has name similar to Earp’s. What is the name?

10. During the period that Earp spent working in Hollywood, he met a young actor who later said he based his portrayals of western lawmen on Earp. Which actor?

Check back tomorrow for the answers to this week’s quiz.