The Black Cowboys Of Florida
Florida Cowboys Week: Part OneTo Mary K. Herron and others, the history of black cowboys in Florida is a venerable element of the state's past.To that end, Herron, who is director of development at the...
View ArticleThe 'Indian Cowboys' Of Florida
Florida Cowboys Week: Part TwoThe state of Florida has a rich and diverse tradition of cattle ranching. Recently we explored the black cowboys of Florida.
View Article1840s: Hunger For Gold And Galapagos Tortoises
The legendary Gold Rush of the late 1840s was a game changer in American history.The promise of overnight wealth — and the industries that rose up around the wealth-seekers — lured legions of people...
View Article3 Crazy Crazes Of The Late 1800s
Fin-de-siecle America — in the final years of the 19th century — was fanatical about fads."There is something about the end of a century that sets people to thinking about their collective prospects...
View ArticleBefore Or After 1900? A History Game
History can be tricky. Something that you think has never happened before has, actually, happened before. Someone who seems thoroughly modern actually lived long ago. And a quote that sounds...
View ArticleWho Does Donald Trump Remind Us Of?
Historians are telling us that we have seen Donald Trump before — well, parts of him anyway. In other words, the man who wants to be the American president has some American precedents.Trump has been...
View ArticleHow Many Daily Meals Did We Once Eat?
For several years now, a popular purveyor of tacos has suggested that Americans who get the munchies late at night are participating in a contemporary dining ritual called "Fourthmeal."New research...
View ArticleRare Film Is Glimpse Of A Distant America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIedxxNrLC4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw4Dc7LTT0shttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBCpiGHCQGIhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emSPu6VoJjE
View Article4 Outrageously Expensive Dinners Of The Past
The tradition of lavish, super-indulgent dinners in America, says Becky Libourel Diamond, author of the soon-to-be-published book The Thousand Dollar Dinner, comes from the fact that our country has...
View ArticleDoes America Really Need The National Mall?
Just a few weeks ago, the nonprofit Trust for the National Mall staged a music festival — featuring Drake and the Strokes — to benefit the remarkable public space in Washington, D.C., that includes...
View Article12 Etiquette Screw-Ups In 1896
Manners still matter.Later this month in Los Angeles, at the annual convention of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society — a group that focuses on making systems, devices and machines more...
View ArticlePop Quiz: Who Was The Only President To ...
Only is a lonely word. It sets people apart and places them at a back-of-the-cafe table for one. When speaking of the 43 men who have been president of the United States — a rarefied roster already —...
View ArticleAmerican Women Who Were Anti-Suffragettes
With the new movie about the British suffrage movement, Suffragette, scheduled to be released this week, recollections of protest and debate concerning a woman's right to vote in the U.S. are...
View ArticleA Very Weird Photo Of Ulysses S. Grant
Swim around enough in the oceanic photo archives of the Library of Congress and you will spot some strange things — including old doctored photos of two-headed humans and a man-monster...
View ArticleHalloweens Past: Wacky Pranks With Wagons
When America was younger: Ladies wore hats, men sported spats and Halloween could be hard on the family buggy or wagon.By the late 19th century, All Hallows Eve had become – all across the country — a...
View Article5 Best-Selling Female Writers You May Not Have Heard Of
A handful of popular female writers of 19th century America — such as Louisa May Alcott and Harriet Beecher Stowe — continue to be widely taught and read.
View ArticleThomas Jefferson's 10 Rules Of Life — Mocked
Thomas Jefferson was a great one for giving out advice. As Anna Berkes points out on the Monticello website, the third U.S. president often took the opportunity to advise family and friends on...
View Article6 Jokes From 19th Century America
There were some mighty funny folks in 19th century America: writers Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce, for instance. And, by some accounts, stage comedians Fanny Rice and Marshall P. Wilder.For a while,...
View ArticleCivil War Leaders — In An 1880s Insurance Ad?
Take a look at this photo. It's a handsome group portrait of, according to the Library of Congress, President Abraham Lincoln, flanked by Adm. David G. Farragut and Gens. William T. Sherman, George...
View ArticleWhat Do We Do Now In America The Same Way We Did It 100 Years Ago?
Can we crowdsource a history story?Often you add insightful information to stories I have posted and sometimes you suggest new stories for me to write. I feel like we are in a partnership.So, I...
View Article18 Rules Of Behavior For Young Ladies In 1831
"This is indeed," the Adams Sentinel in Gettysburg, Pa., proclaimed on Feb. 24, 1830, "the age of improvement."The proclamation was part of a story about the Moral Encyclopaedia, a set of self-teaching...
View Article'Masking' Memories: Thanksgiving In Disguise
These days it seems like the holidays are running together — at least commercially speaking — when Halloween masks start popping up around Labor Day and Christmas trappings are for sale in the stores...
View ArticleThe Peculiar Parade Of Thanksgiving Traditions
Time was in America that stores routinely closed on Thanksgiving Day.
View ArticleA Forgotten Presidential Candidate From 1904
Despite what you read in some history books — such as the Biographical Dictionary of Congressional Women— Rep.
View ArticleBuilding The Library Of Congress — In A GIF
Contracted by the government between 1880 and 1896, photographer Levin C. Handy documented the construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress on Capitol Hill.Handy, who was...
View Article12 Pranks Of Christmas Past
Ah, the holiday season: Glad tidings. Comfort. Joy. Pranks.Say what?For some earlier Americans, Christmas was the yearly open season for playing practical jokes on other people — filching wagon wheels,...
View Article5 Statements On The Wrong Side Of History
Every day smart folks make assertions — about Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and issues of all sorts. "Our emphatic prediction is simply that Trump will not win the nomination,"opined Nate Silver at...
View ArticleHoliday Pop Quiz: Who Was The President ... ?
The annual heavily choreographed PBS presentation Christmas in Washingtonhas been canceled.But there was a holiday season in the nation's capital long before the revue and there will be one for years...
View ArticleRediscovering Mr. And Mrs. Henpeck
Ah, the Henpecks.Jokes about a married couple with a domineering wife and subservient husband — named Mr. and Mrs. Henpeck — made the rounds in the late 19th century. She is the strong one; he's the...
View ArticleThe Sad, Happy Life Of Harry Whittier Frees
Tucked away in the archives of the Library of Congress is a curious set of photos from the first half of the 20th century — animals, mostly kittens and puppies, dressed as people and doing peopley...
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