History and the New Year

When I launched Found History over the weekend, I didn't fully appreciate the timing. It only occurred to me yesterday in the supermarket that late-December is a great time to start collecting examples of non-professional history.  For the next two weeks or so, we will be bombarded by year-end retrospectives, "Best of 2005" lists, "Top 10" countdowns, and the like.  Considering that the Romans named next month after Janus, their god of change, this kind of mid-winter popular retrospection probably isn't a new phenomenon.  Maybe the winter solstice, which happens later today, naturally puts us in a historical frame of mind.  Whatever the reason, I think I'll be busy for the next two weeks taking snaps like this one.