The stories of our families are told through many forms of documents. Family photographs, however, are unique because they have visually captured moments in time that now only live as memories. A discarded photograph album lead a writer in New York to the story of black families that lived in the Crown Heights neighborhood of…
History - Page 3 of 4
The History of Santa Claus
The holiday season is full of traditional events and practices, many of which revolve around the figure of Santa Claus. But who is this figure? What is his history? That story goes back to 280 CE in Myra, an area now in modern Turkey, where Saint Nicholas lived and worked as a bishop. After his…
Celebrating Veterans Day
Veterans Day, originally known as Armistice Day, was first set as a U.S. legal holiday to recognize the end of World War I. This "armistice" took place on November 11, 1918. In 1938 legislation was past to formally dedicate November 11 to the "cause of world peace." With the urging of veterans organizations, the U.S.…
Fashion books in GVRL
Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) contains a large variety of reference books available for reading online. One of the subjects we have is fashion. You can look through the complete range of titles for adults here: Gale Virtual Reference Library Primary Research. Some individual titles are Clothing and Fashion: American Fashion from Head to Toe,…
Color Images of America in the Great Depression
In response to the economic turmoil of the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt called for the creation of several assistance agencies. One of these was the Resettlement Administration (RA) created in 1935. The Farm Security Administration (FSA) was created out of the RA in 1937. This agency was formed to help struggling farmers and sharecroppers.…
Women’s Work in World War I
Women have always participated in support work during wartime. This was especially evident during World War I. Women served in a variety of capacities sometimes very close to the front lines. The National Archives holds a vast collection of photographs in its collection of War Department records. You can see several photographs of women at…
Roads of Yesterday
Summertime in most areas of the United States heralds road construction season. But what was it like for automobile drivers 100 years ago? This video prepared by the Ford Motor Company shows how the Model T was built and what it was like to drive in those early days of the automobile age. Most roads…
Home Movie Day
Older photographs and home movies are rich treasures of family history. Have you been wanting to look at and preserve your older home movies? The Center for Home Movies has designated October as the month to do just that. Over 100 museums and film societies across the world are hosting special events where people can…
Britannica Library
The Library now subscribes to the excellent and authoritative Encyclopedia Britannica's online presence, Britannica Library. Explore thousands of topics in science, social studies, language arts, and mathematics for school projects, review concepts taught in the classroom, or learn something new. Very impressive are the more than 90,000 images, videos, and audio clips. There are 3 levels -…
Flying the Flag – the right way!
It’s that time of year, when Old Glory is proudly displayed. The United States Flag is one of the most visible and important symbols of our country and the United States Flag Code spells out proper use of the flag. From a staff, the union (the blue field) should be at the peak, unless the…
