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Archive: August 2018 (4 Posts)

Harry Houdini Goes to Washington

Posted by: Heather Thomas

Never before had a congressional hearing been described as “UPROARIOUS,” until master magician and escape artist Harry Houdini provided expert testimony in which he delivered a lively and compelling case against the supernatural. For years, Houdini had worked tirelessly to debunk spirit mediums who claimed to communicate with the dead. He viewed them as “ghost …

A child carrying a bundle of newspapers in one hand, the other arm held high with a copy of the Anchorage Daily Times, the headline reading

Getting the Picture

Posted by: Megan Halsband

Could a picture be worth more than a thousand words? For anyone trying to find an elusive photograph, illustration, or comic in a historic newspaper – the answer might be yes! Searching for these types of images is dramatically easier thanks to digitization efforts, such as the National Digital Newspaper Program, which makes millions of …

A child carrying a bundle of newspapers in one hand, the other arm held high with a copy of the Anchorage Daily Times, the headline reading

Hungry for Hippo?

Posted by: Malea Walker

If hippopotamus was on the menu, would you try it? That’s what America almost did in 1910! Corporate beef monopolies, stricter regulations, and meat shortages all combined to create soaring meat prices nationwide.  Senator Robert Broussard proposed a solution: import African animals to the U.S. for meat (61st Cong. 2nd sess. H.R. 23261). Broussard brought …