One hundred years ago, on February 17, 1919, the African-American 369th Infantry Regiment, popularly known as the Harlem Hell Fighters, marched up Fifth Avenue into Harlem in a massive victory parade in their honor. “Hell Fighters” was the nickname the German enemy gave the 369th and the name stuck for good reason. They were among the …
Coined as the Hello Girls as early as the late 19th century, female telephone switchboard operators were widely known as having gentle and polite voices regardless of demanding and impatient callers. During World War I, French-speaking Hello Girls were enlisted to improve wartime communication, transmitting crucial information over a battlefield phone system to troops on …
Theodosia Burr Alston, the beloved daughter of disgraced vice president Aaron Burr, left the port of Georgetown, South Carolina on the schooner Patriot in 1812 and was never seen again. Throughout the 19th century, newspapers titillated readers with lurid stories of her alleged fate, including captivity, murder, and deathbed confessions of former pirates. Yet her …
One hundred years ago, on January 25, 1919, the delegates to the Paris Peace Conference approved a proposal to create the League of Nations. Nearly a year later, on January 16, 1920, the League held its first meeting with its stated principal mission of maintaining world peace. American newspapers presented conflicting views of the League …
By the late 19th century, children in the U.S. had begun mailing their Christmas lists in letters to Santa, but the Post Office regarded these letters as undeliverable. Around the same time, newspapers began encouraging children to send their ‘Dear Santa’ letters to them to be published, recognizing the emotional impact the letters would have on their readers.
The massive collection, World War History: Newspaper Clippings, 1914 to 1926, is now fully digitized and freely available on the Library of Congress website. The 79,621 pages are packed with war-related front pages, illustrated feature articles, editorial cartoons, and more. You can search by keywords, browse the content chronologically, and download pages. Coverage begins on June …
The Cherokee Nation became the first Native American tribe with a tribal newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix. The Serial & Government Publications Division holds a number of original issues of the Cherokee Phoenix, first published on February 21, 1828. The newspaper was printed “partly with English, and partly with Cherokee print; and all matter which is common …
On the last day of his life, millionaire Jim Fisk was embroiled in attempted blackmail, ongoing legal battles, and a contentious love triangle, all involving his mistress and his one-time closest friend. Little did he know that the drama would climax with his murder. Jim Fisk was the Gilded Age robber baron personified. He gained …
This Veterans Day is the 100th anniversary of the Armistice ending World War I. It is a particularly fitting time for us to focus on newspapers of the era, which provided the day-to-day news of the war. Not only was there no television, commercial radio had yet to be established.
