Presenting feel-good news stories to round out our posts for the year and say farewell to 2020 on a positive note! Hopefully, these uplifting, heartfelt, funny, and touching stories from yesterday’s news in Chronicling America* serve as a diversion from the darker news of this year… In 1947, after scouring newspaper stories around the country, …
This post was written by Rachel Gordon, Visitor Services Specialist in the Library’s Center for Learning, Literacy, and Engagement. It was originally published on Minerva’s Kaleidoscope: Resources for Kids & Families Blog and is the latest in her series “Cooking Up History,” which explore historic recipes in the Library’s collections. “It just wouldn’t be the …
How do you get what you want for Christmas? Write a letter to Santa, of course! Combing through "Dear Santa" letters published in historical newspapers, you can glean tips and tricks on how to write a letter of your own.
When was the last time you curled up with the Sunday comics section of your local newspaper? Below are some good ol’ jokes presented to you through comic strips available on the Library’s website through Chronicling America* and the Prints and Photographs Division. You might recognize some of these characters, but others might be new …
Though our holiday seasons will look different this year, some traditions can still be preserved. Read more about the history of Thanksgiving Day parades and see pictures from our historic newspapers!
Tales of hauntings around Washington, D.C., are a tradition that goes back hundreds of years. From presidents and soldiers to local residents, the ghosts are said to haunt both official buildings and houses. Read more about where to find these ghosts and spooks.
This post was written by Rachel Gordon, Visitor Services Specialist in the Library’s Center for Learning, Literacy and Engagement. It was originally published on Minerva’s Kaleidoscope: Resources for Kids & Families Blog. For Halloween 2020, we’re all going to be staying much closer to home than is the norm. That made me wonder what we …
On July 5, 1852, eminent African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivered a brilliant speech that was a powerful indictment of American slavery and racism. Read the speech as printed within days in his own newspaper.
