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Posted by: Heather Thomas
This is a guest post by Michelle Strizever, photography and digital content specialist in the Office of Art and Archives of the U.S. House of Representatives, and contains information from An Annual Outing: The Congressional Baseball Game. What began as a casual game among colleagues has evolved into one of Congress’s most anticipated annual pastimes. …
Posted in: Baseball, Digitized Newspapers, Newspapers, Sports
Posted by: Valerie Haeder
The flags decorating the theater box where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated were almost an afterthought, but they became central to the legend and lore surrounding his assassination. On April 14, 1865, just hours before the President arrived at Ford’s, John Ford, the proprietor of the theater, thought it appropriate to adorn the box where …
Posted in: Holidays, Mystery, Newspapers
Posted by: Malea Walker
With one of the biggest comic book collections in the world, we take our role of preserving comics seriously. But we also know that comic books are seriously fun to read! Which is why we are now trying to make our collections more accessible.
Posted in: Comic Books
Posted by: Arlene Balkansky
In 1860, the 3rd edition of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass received a wildly varying reception in newspapers. At opposite ends of the spectrum, it was advertised as “America’s First Distinctive Poem” and reviewed as “armless, witless, pointless.” The advertisement was from the volume’s …
Posted in: Digitized Newspapers, Newspapers, Walt Whitman
Posted by: Megan Halsband
This is a guest post by Nathan Yarasavage, a digital projects specialist in the Serial and Government Publications Division. This week we celebrate an exciting milestone. Chronicling America, the online searchable database of historic U.S. newspapers, now includes more than 15 million pages! Since 2005, libraries, historical societies, and other institutions throughout the country have …
Posted in: Digitized Newspapers
Posted by: Amber Paranick
Cyclist Marshall W. “Major” Taylor was the fastest man on earth. He won thousands of dollars as a bicycle racer and became the most famous African-American in the United States. This was the golden age of cycling, and bicycle racing was a premier sporting event. Thousands of fans packed indoor velodromes to watch races and many …
Posted in: African American History, Biography, Digitized Newspapers, Newspapers, Sports
Posted by: Heather Thomas
Monkeys and woodchucks and cats, oh my! Discover all the critters great and small who made their contribution to the history of aeronautics. A gray tabby named Kiddo was the first cat to attempt to cross the Atlantic in 1910. The cat stowed away in a lifeboat on the airship America before takeoff, leading to the …
Posted in: Animals, Digitized Newspapers, Newspapers
Posted by: Megan Halsband
This year May the Fourth, a day to revel in all things Star Wars, coincides with Free Comic Book Day, an annual celebration of comic books! And on this May the Fourth, we’re particularly remembering Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew who died on April 30, 2019. He made Chewbacca one of the best-loved Star Wars characters. …
Posted in: Biography, Comic Books, Crime, World War I
Posted by: Valerie Haeder
The picture of May Day with merry lads and lasses dancing around the May Pole stands in stark contrast to the May Day parades held in the former Soviet Union when the top brass brought out their nuclear warheads to the (forced) delight of the comrades. How did the bucolic rites of changing seasons become …
Posted in: Digitized Newspapers, Holidays, Newspapers