In the first year of WWI an official truce for Christmas failed. But a sudden rise of the Christmas Spirit created a phenomenon—the soldiers decided not to fight on Christmas day. British and German soldiers left the trenches to celebrate together.
Winter is in full swing! The season’s shimmery first snow is always beautiful and exciting, but what about after the magic wears off? Icy temperatures, blustery winds, and inches upon inches of snow! This week, we look back on some of the nation’s biggest blizzards in history as reported by America’s newspapers.
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.
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 […]
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 […]
This is a guest blog post by Abbie Grotke, Assistant Head, Digital Content Management Section. It was originally posted to The Signal on October 29, 2020. You may have noticed that it is presidential election season in the United States, which means it’s also time for web archivists to gather once again to archive United […]
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!
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 – […]