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Posted by: Amber Paranick
Still searching for that last-minute present? Use Chronicling America for tips/suggestions. Dolls are so last season. If you want to win points this year, give a teddy bear instead. For those with discriminating taste… Or, how about the gift that keeps on giving? (Be careful what you wish for…) Treats like chocolates are easy …
Posted in: Digitized Newspapers, Holidays
Posted by: Amber Paranick
The Brooklyn Bridge opens as the longest suspension bridge in the world and is regarded by some as the eighth “wonder of the world.” The “forerunner of the giants” still stands and is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. When architect John A. Roebling first proposed building a bridge to span the …
Posted in: Comic Books, Digitized Newspapers, Newspaper Comic Strips
Posted by: Amber Paranick
Canadian-born Gladys Louise Smith was just 5 years old when her father died, plunging her family into poverty. Gladys’ mother, Charlotte, a classic stage mother of the day, pushed her young children– Lottie, Jack, and “Baby Gladys” — into the theatre in hopes of making money. Gladys soon caught the eye of Broadway impresario, David …
Posted in: Biography, Digitized Newspapers, Women's History
Posted by: Amber Paranick
Elsie de Wolfe was an interior decorator before there was such a thing. And if she wasn’t making headlines for covering 18th century footstools in leopard print, she was in the newspapers for her eccentric blue hair, her affinity for small dogs (see here, here, and here), and unique preferences for physical fitness. Born in New …
Posted in: Biography, Digitized Newspapers, Women's History
Posted by: Amber Paranick
What are you afraid of? “Subways!” Mabel Stark, renowned Bengal tiger trainer, told the New-York Tribune in 1922. “Trains roaring through the tunnel terrify me more than any beast I’ve ever met,” she said. Following a nervous breakdown, the former nurse sought a “simpler & easier” profession: training wild jungle cats for the big top. …
Posted in: Animals, Biography, Digitized Newspapers, Newspapers, Women's History
Posted by: Amber Paranick
The flapper bursts onto the American scene in the early 1920s and becomes America’s post-Great War aesthetic ideal. She’s daring, with a sassy and independent spirit and exists at a time when the entire world’s a stage—and she’s the “It” girl. This new modern girl might drive cars, smoke cigarettes, vote, drink hooch, and kick …
Posted in: Newspapers, Women's History