Our Farming Ancestors
While fewer farming family can be found today than many years ago, they still remain an important concept for any genealogist to understand.
Social Work Traditions and Jane Addams
Was Jane Addams a social worker? Donald Breiland explores in a piece that delves into the definitions of social work today and yesterday.
Preserving the Past: Natural History in North America
A look at early natural history collection methods.
A Plan to Get the Poor to Eat Healthy Food—in the 1890s
Early efforts to get Americans to eat healthy food started with targeting poor citizens.
Why Antitrust Progressives Didn’t Curb the Power of Big Business
The limits of Progressive ideology in curbing antitrust practices in the U.S.
Ballpoint Pen CSI
A short history of the ballpoint pen and early debates about its impact on handwriting.
James Truslow Adams: Dreaming up the American Dream
Background on James Truslow Adams, who coined the phrase The American Dream.
The Lusitania Effect
How the Lusitania Effect impacted German-American relations in pre-World War I German.
The Influenza Epidemic of 1918 and Your Ancestors
The Influenza Epidemic of 1918 was a global catastrophe that is estimated to have killed between 40 and 50 million people.