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Category: Animals

three cats walking

7 Random Cat Facts

Posted by: Thomas Beheler

If you’re like me, then you can never get enough cats! Here are seven random facts about our furry feline friends, many of which we’ve brought to you from our historical newspaper archive, Chronicling America. 1. Cats at Sea! Friend or Foe? While cats were once valuable to sailors as “mousers” (because they caught mice) …

Newsboys Honor Late President with Statue of His Beloved Dog

Posted by: Heather Thomas

When President Warren G. Harding died suddenly in 1923, the newsboys of Massachusetts jumped into action. The newsboys had considered the president a friend; before Harding was president, he was a newspaperman and he had supported the causes of newsboys while in office. To honor the late president, the newsboys pledged to have a bronze statue commissioned of Harding’s beloved dog, Laddie Boy, paid for and made by the donated pennies of newsboys from across the United States. 

The Animals of Aeronautics

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 …

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

Mabel Stark: World Famous Trainer of Big Jungle Cats

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.  …