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Posted by: Heather Thomas
Never before had a congressional hearing been described as “UPROARIOUS,” until master magician and escape artist Harry Houdini provided expert testimony in which he delivered a lively and compelling case against the supernatural. For years, Houdini had worked tirelessly to debunk spirit mediums who claimed to communicate with the dead. He viewed them as “ghost …
Posted in: Digitized Newspapers, Newspapers
Posted by: Arlene Balkansky
While most children read about Helen Keller's childhood triumph over the difficulties of her deaf-blindness, many are unaware of her life as an activist and orator.
Posted in: Biography, Digitized Newspapers, Newspapers, Women's History
Posted by: Heather Thomas
Dead outlaw, will travel. In life, Elmer McCurdy was a hard-drinking drifter. In death, he crisscrossed the country touring the carnival circuit, hit the Hollywood scene, and even made it to TV! The bizarre tale of Elmer’s journey from varmint to traveling corpse started in Oklahoma when he and his gang of bandits robbed the …
Posted in: Comic Books, Crime, Digitized Newspapers, Newspapers
Posted by: Arlene Balkansky
How could my thoughts not turn to baseball on the day of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game? Plus it’s being played right here in Washington, DC. Plus it’s only a couple weeks after the opening of Baseball Americana, the major exhibit at the Library of Congress. My thoughts often turn to comics and newspapers …
Posted in: Baseball, Comic Books, Digitized Newspapers, Newspapers, Sports
Posted by: Heather Thomas
It takes a thief to catch a thief. That was how imprisoned mob boss Al Capone proposed to bring the kidnapped Lindbergh baby home safely. On March 2, 1932, from his cell in Cook County Jail in Chicago, one day after the son of famous aviator Charles Lindbergh had been kidnapped, “Scarface” Al Capone offered …
Posted in: Crime, Digitized Newspapers, Newspapers
Posted by: Arlene Balkansky
"The significance of this cannot be overstated. It is a new thing in our history" proclaimed President Wilson about the Selective Service Act passed May 18, 1917.
Posted in: Digitized Newspapers, Newspapers, World War I
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. …
Posted in: Animals, Biography, Digitized Newspapers, Newspapers, Women's History
Posted by: Megan Halsband
Before comic books, people read comics in their local newspapers such as Little Nemo, Mutt and Jeff, and the Yellow Kid. Read more about these early comics in the collections of the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room.
Posted in: Comic Books, Newspaper Comic Strips, Newspapers
Posted by: Heather Thomas
Why do we commoners get a kick out of royal weddings? Maybe it’s the garb: brides in white silk with laced veils, grooms decked out in full military dress. Or the pomp and circumstance: ancient rituals, gilded carriages, thousands of cheering spectators. Or it could be the simple desire to watch a fairy tale turn …
Posted in: Digitized Newspapers, Newspapers