[Ads-l] Antedating of "Iron Curtain"

Wed Sep 7 18:59:51 UTC 2022

Thanks for your efforts, Pete.

The first link you provide points to a document which Google Books
(GB) assigns a date of 1894. This date is probably incorrect. The
document is restricted to snippet view. This is suspicious for a
document before 1926. The title is French, but the snippet text is in
English. This is also suspicious.

On January 1, 2022 works published in the U.S. in 1926 or before moved
into the U.S. public domain (usually). Works published outside the
U.S. have different rules.

A reduced size image of the title page indicates that the title is
really “Our National Culture In Jeopardy” by Gardner Read.  Searching
for this title in the document suggests that the document corresponds
to an address “given at the 90th Commencement of Doane College in
Crete , Nebraska, in June, 1962”.

When you scroll backward from the location of the second link you
discover that the quotation appeared in the January 15, 1902 issue of
“The Dental Review” which contained a report on a meeting held in
January 1901.

[Begin excerpt]
FOURTEENTH ANNUAL BANQUET OF THE ODONTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY OF CHICAGO
The fourteenth annual dinner of this Society was held at the Sherman
House Monday evening January 21, 1901.
At 9:45 p. m. the meeting was rapped to order by Dr. Thomas L. Gilmer.
[End excerpt]

The phrase “iron curtain” was used by Rev. Dr. Joseph K. Mason, pastor
of St Paul's Universalist Church Chicago. Mason suggested that an
“iron curtain” blocks one from knowledge of one’s future fate.

Garson

On Tue, Sep 6, 2022 at 9:51 PM Pete Morris <mr_peter_morris at outlook.com> wrote:
>
> I'm not sure if this is of interest, but I've located  several early
> instances of
> "iron curtain"  as a metaphor for a division between two cultures, not
> specifically  Soviet/ western division.
>
> An Iron Curtain is, by the way, a safety device that delays the spread
> of fire.
> Often used in theatres, lowered in front of the stage between
> performances
> and during the interval.  And it is in a theatrical context that I find
> the earliest
> use as a metaphor that I know of.
>
> Costumes de théâtre: catalogue des collections des costumes ...
> Google dated to 1894, probably about right
>
> https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22For+there+is+no+iron+curtain+between%22&biw=1113&bih=476&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3AJan+1_2+1890%2Ccd_max%3ADec+31_2+1920&tbm=bks&sxsrf=ALiCzsbMirHCl7HgzX2zEfpdCN4Smoeh4g%3A1662513906344&ei=8vIXY7_SFIe7gQby1Z9g&ved=0ahUKEwi_k8n2woH6AhWHXcAKHfLqBwwQ4dUDCAk&uact=5&oq=%22For+there+is+no+iron+curtain+between%22&gs_lcp=Cg1nd3Mtd2l6LWJvb2tzEAM6BAghEApQ3wpY4A1g5xZoAHAAeACAAWyIAf8BkgEDMi4xmAEAoAECoAEBwAEB&sclient=gws-wiz-books
>
> For there is no Iron Curtain between our performers and average citizens
> , and
> they make more friends than diplomats with lavish expense accounts . Now
> the
> magic that dissolves international barriers is our national culture ,
>
> ============================
>
> This one probably from circa 1902-4.   A slightly different meaning, a
> separation
> of present and future
>
> Dental Review - Volume 16 - Page 54
>
> https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Dental_Review/20NHAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22iron+curtain+that+separates%22&dq=%22iron+curtain+that+separates%22&printsec=frontcover
>
> From the earliest times to the present men have been seeking to peer
> into the future ,
> to penetrate the iron curtain that separates us from that which lies
> before us .
>
> ============================
>
>
> This one is google dated 1917, but it looks like 1918 from dates in the
> text.
> Transactions and Proceedings - Volume 16 - Page 17
> Japan Society of London
>
> https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Transactions_and_Proceedings/-405AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22iron+curtain+between%22&dq=%22iron+curtain+between%22&printsec=frontcover
>
> The brutal hand of war , while strengthening the bonds of alliance
> between his
>   native and adopted countries , has lowered an iron curtain between our
> world
> of grim realities and his Paradise of artistic romance
>
> ==================
>
> This one of uncertain date.  Searching dates in the document finds hits
> between 1918
> and 1947.  Could be any time between them.   Maybe pre-Churchill.
>
> https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Case_and_Comment/n4imAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22iron+curtain+between%22&dq=%22iron+curtain+between%22&printsec=frontcover
>
> Regardless of what is read, the very act of reading draws an iron
> curtain between counsel
> and the sympathetic attention of the court.
>
>
> ------ Original Message ------
> From "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Date 06/09/2022 14:32:40
> Subject Re: Antedating of "Iron Curtain"
>
> >Great finds, Fred and Garson.
> >
> >JL
> >
> >On Tue, Sep 6, 2022 at 1:36 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
> >wrote:
> >
> >>Interesting citation, Fred. Here is another precursor for “iron
> >>curtain”. The 1919 citation posted by Fred contained the phrase
> >>“prevent, as far as they could, all communications”.
> >>
> >>The 1915 instance below matches this notion semantically. It refers to
> >>an “iron curtain" of military censorship. I think the author of this
> >>passage is primarily referring to censorship in countries outside of
> >>Russia which is blocking news about developments within Russia.
> >>
> >>
> >>https://books.google.com/books?id=1bY4AQAAIAAJ&q=%22iron+curtain%22#v=snippet&
> >>
> >>Date: November-December, 1915
> >>Periodical: The Socialist Review: A Quarterly Review of Modern Thought
> >>Section: International Notes
> >>Subsection: Russia
> >>Quote Page 779
> >>Publisher: The Independent Labour Party, London.
> >>
> >>[Begin excerpt]
> >>RUSSIA
> >>"Behind the iron curtain of the military censorship, and obscured by
> >>the clash of arms, there are going on in the belligerent countries,"
> >>says the writer of "Political Notes" in Clara Zetkin's paper,
> >>Gleichheit, "extensive changes, changes that will be at least of as
> >>much importance to Europe as the immediate and direct effects of the
> >>war." The precise course of affairs in Russia is especially difficult
> >>to ascertain, but it seems clear that the prestige of Tsardom is
> >>gravely impaired, and that the bourgeois revolution, so long overdue,
> >>makes rapid progress. But conditions differ much from those which
> >>obtained in France at time of the Great Revolution, for in the large
> >>towns there already exists in Russia a comparatively instructed
> >>proletariat, and it is at least questionable whether, in the turmoil
> >>of the war and of the period of reorganisation, the workers may not
> >>secure important gains...
> >>[End excerpt]
> >>
> >>It appears that Lancelot Eden wrote the International Notes section
> >>because his name is listed on page 787. Philip Snowden published an
> >>article in this issue of “The Socialist Review”. Perhaps he saw the
> >>phrase “iron curtain” in this issue.
> >>
> >>Garson
> >>
> >>On Mon, Sep 5, 2022 at 10:23 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> >>wrote:
> >> >
> >> > I should add, however, that there is a difference of connotation between
> >>Buxton's usage and that of later users of the term.  In later occurrences,
> >>the Iron Curtain was something imposed by the Soviet Union, whereas Buxton
> >>was blaming Western governments.
> >> >
> >> > Fred Shapiro
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > ________________________________
> >> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> >>Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> >> > Sent: Monday, September 5, 2022 9:17 PM
> >> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> > Subject: Antedating of "Iron Curtain"
> >> >
> >> > The term "Iron Curtain," referring to a political divide between the
> >>Soviet Union (and countries dominated by it) and the rest of the world, is
> >>popularly credited to Winston Churchill, who used it beginning in 1945.  It
> >>has been known for some time, however, that Ethel Snowden used it earlier,
> >>in her 1920 book _Through Bolshevik Russia_.
> >> >
> >> > I have discovered an earlier occurrence of the term:
> >> >
> >> > 1919 _Haslingden (U.K.) Gazette_ 5 Apr. 3/3 (British Newspaper Archive)
> >>They [the British and French governments] wanted to prevent, as far as they
> >>could, all communications between the people so that an iron curtain, as it
> >>were, had fallen down between this nation and the great people of Central
> >>Russia.
> >> >
> >> > This article was an account of an address at Accrington given by Labour
> >>politician Charles Roden Buxton.  It is likely that Buxton is being quoted
> >>as using "iron curtain" in that address.  The phrasing is actually closer
> >>to Churchill's formulation than was Ethel Snowden's phrasing.
> >>Interestingly, the article about the Buxton address occurs in the newspaper
> >>immediately next to an article about an address by Philip Snowden, Ethel's
> >>husband.
> >> >
> >> > Fred Shapiro
> >> > Editor
> >> > Yale Book of Quotations (Yale University Press)
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >>------------------------------------------------------------
> >>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >
> >
> >-- "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
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>
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