65 years ago, Ayn Rand published her novel Atlas Shrugged. From novels to newspapers, pulp fiction to periodicals, read more about how the popular and controversial author made her voice heard.
The following is a guest post from Meg Metcalf, a reference librarian in the Main Reading Room, currently on detail in the Serial and Government Publications Division. “Margaret Jessie Chung has Aspirations,” the Los Angeles Herald headline read on October 10, 1905. Margaret was a 16-year-old, first-generation Chinese American who was teaching English in the …
The ski slopes are busy and the Winter Olympics are just over the horizon. Soon men and women from all over the world will compete in a variety of skiing events including alpine skiing and ski jumping. The U.S. won its first medals for skiing at the Olympics in 1948. Did you know that the …
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.
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. On May 29, 1851 at the Woman’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth delivered what would …
As COVID-19 changes our world, we rely on our medical community to care for us and our loved ones more than ever. But their names rarely make the headlines despite their tireless efforts and personal risk. So in honor of National Nurses Week, we are dedicating this issue to all of those nurses who are …
In a time of extreme racism and yellow journalism, documenting and speaking the truth about lynchings in the South was a rare and dangerous act. But that did not stop journalist Ida B. Wells.
For 82 years people have tried to solve the mystery Amelia Earhart's disappearance, but in 1937 America remembered her as the brave pioneer woman who conquered flight.
Before she became our First Lady, Jacqueline Bouvier wrote for the Washington Times Herald newspaper as the "Inquiring Camera Girl," asking questions of the public and publishing their photographs and opinions.