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 is a collaboration with Dr. Christina Burr, Associate Professor in History at the University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, where she teaches courses in North American Popular Culture, Women’s History, and a Graduate Seminar on the Modern Girl. Dr. Burr and I met while she was conducting research on-site at the Library …
One hundred years ago, the world was a very different place. But many things from 1920 changed the course of history and, in a lot of ways, helped to shape the world we live in today.
One hundred years ago this week, on November 2, 1920, the United States presidential election was held. It was the first presidential election held after the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. Incidentally – and as holders of the Library’s main newspaper collections, we can’t <not> mention it – …
We’re excited to announce that our research guide, American Women: Resources from the Serial & Government Publications Collections, is now available online!
Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood was an American feminist and lawyer who was the first woman admitted to argue a case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. Her work “blazed the way for independent womanhood, often in the face of ridicule as well as contemptuous opposition.” At the time of her death, she was the …
Maria Mitchell (1818-1889) is an astronomer, educator, librarian, activist, and the first nationally recognized woman scientist in the United States. She discovers a new comet, which bears her name, and calculates its orbit, and adds several new nebulae to sky maps. She also teaches at a prominent women’s college and fights to advance the cause of …
This year’s celebration of Pride Month wrapped up this week and we wanted to highlight an important figure in the history of blues music whose story has often been overlooked. Gertrude “Ma” Rainey was hailed as the “Mother of the Blues” and was a bisexual Black singer who has and continues to inspire generations of musicians. …
In honor of Juneteenth, we highlight our Headlines and Heroes blogs focusing on African American history and culture, ranging from a look at fugitive slave ads to our acquisition of a rare comic book series, Negro Romance.