When Little League Became Big News
Started in small-town Williamsport, PA, as a pastime for boys, Little League’s popularity exploded after WWII as hundreds of leagues started up and the Little League World Series became a major event.
Archive for 2021 (31 posts)
Pickleball in the Press
Like the bicycle, the marathon, and the roller-skating crazes that came before it, the pickleball (sometimes “pickle-ball” in newspapers) craze is sweeping the nation. Though it has elements of ping-pong, tennis, and badminton, it is a unique sport of its own. According to USA Pickleball’s website, three neighbors “Congressman Joel Pritchard, Barney McCallum, and Bill Bell […]
Chronicling America Historic Newspapers Joins Twitter!
Dueling newspaper editors! Spring frocks of 1899! Baseball’s Opening Day (in 1921)! Discover them all by following our newly launched Twitter account @ChronAmLOC highlighting news and articles from the Chronicling America online historic newspaper collection.
Women’s Fashion History Through Newspapers: 1921-1940
From the Roaring Twenties to World War II, women’s fashion moved from the shorter, calf-revealing dresses of Flapper style to lowered hemlines and Hollywood glam. This is part 2 of a 3-part series that will span fashion history from 1900 to 1960.
Althea Gibson: Tennis Turmoil and Triumph
Althea Gibson dominated women’s tennis in the 1950s, winning titles at all of the major tournaments. But as the first African American woman to win those events, and in some cases, the first to be allowed to play in them, the road was rough.
Let’s Talk Comics: LGBTQIA+ Titles
June is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQIA+) Pride Month. LGBTQIA+ is an acronym used in the Library’s collection policy statement to signify lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual. In honor of Pride Month, I wanted to highlight titles and anthologies within our collection that either include queer characters, were created by LGBTQIA+ talent and creators, or serve as memorable firsts in comics history.
Women’s Fashion History Through Newspapers: 1900-1920
Women’s fashion has a long and colorful history and, in the 20th century, newspapers captured it all! You can find full newspaper pages with photographs of the latest fashions from Paris, department store advertisements with drawings of the popular frocks of the day, and articles covering social events and what fashionable people in attendance were […]
Tulsa Race Massacre: Newspaper Complicity and Coverage
The following is a guest post by Arlene Balkansky. Arlene recently retired from being a librarian in the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room, and was a regular writer for Headlines and Heroes. One hundred years ago, Greenwood, a prosperous Black neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, described as Black Wall Street, was destroyed by white mobs in […]
Before Brown v. Board of Education, There was Tape v. Hurley
Tape v. Hurley (1885) is one the most important civil rights decisions that you’ve likely never heard of. The parents of American-born Mamie Tape successfully challenged a principal’s refusal to enroll their daughter and other children of Chinese heritage into the Spring Valley Primary School in San Francisco, California, seven decades before the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education.
An Old Book, a Former Student, and Research Strategies
The following post, written by Peter DeCraene, the 2020-21 Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow at the Library of Congress, was originally posted to the Teaching with the Library of Congress Blog. Books often surprise me – plot twists, different historical perspectives, or deeply drawn characters – but recently, I found a different kind of surprise […]