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By: Amber Paranick
Happy Birthday to the Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room! The reading room, located in the James Madison Building of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, opened to the public on May 11, 1982.
Posted in: Headlines & Heroes
By: Thomas Beheler
What do whale hotels, cat pianos, and malaria pills all have in common? They represent an era when medicine was less of a science and more of an art (for better or for worse). One of the things I do as a reference librarian is answer questions from researchers all over the world. This tends to be rewarding work and sometimes, I even stumble across articles throughout history riddled with fun facts. So today, I'm going to share some stories I've found featuring some of the strangest medical (mal)practices of the past few centuries.
Posted in: Headlines & Heroes
By: Joanna Colclough
The printing press has always been a marvel of human invention. Take a look at this brief history of how newspapers were published over 500 years!
Posted in: Headlines & Heroes
By: Malea Walker
How did U.S. newspapers report on the events of the Holocaust? What is History Unfolded? Read more about it and how you can contribute, become a researcher, and learn how to use the historic newspapers in Chronicling America!
Posted in: Headlines & Heroes
By: Heather Thomas
160 years have passed since the Battle of Shiloh was fought over April 6-7, 1862, and what we do know is that the Confederates were driven back and away from the battlefield on April 7, leading to a Union victory, and though the casualty numbers were alarmingly high, the estimated total for both sides was closer to over 23,000.
Posted in: Headlines & Heroes
By: Mike Queen
Behind the Byline is a new blog series that will profile significant newspaper journalists in American history. Though most remembered for his short stories that provided the inspiration for the Broadway musical Guys and Dolls, Damon Runyon considered himself first and foremost a newspaper man. Born Alfred Damon Runyan on October 3, 1880, in Manhattan, …
Posted in: Headlines & Heroes
By: Amber Paranick
Toni Stone was the first woman in history to play regularly in a major men’s professional baseball league.
Posted in: Headlines & Heroes
By: Amber Paranick
In February 2022, 1,224 new pages from 103 African American newspaper titles throughout 28 states and the District of Columbia were added to Chronicling America.
Posted in: Headlines & Heroes
By: Amber Paranick
Alice Guy-Blaché is a name you likely have never heard. She was a pioneer of the French and American film industries during the silent era and the first woman to have a career as a director, yet her work and career have largely been overlooked throughout history. She was among the very first to use …
Posted in: Headlines & Heroes
By: Thomas Beheler
There are few couples who have made headlines in quite the same way as Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. The two criminals are known for a series of bank robberies, murders, and kidnappings that took place between 1932 and 1934, the height of the Great Depression. Their romance has also been the inspiration for films, songs, and even a musical. Even during their lives they were the subject of fascination, and tens of thousands reportedly viewed their bodies as they lay at separate funeral homes.
Posted in: Headlines & Heroes