Capturing the Civil War
The images, diaries, and ephemera in Grand Valley State University’s Civil War and Slavery Collection reveal the cold realities of Abraham Lincoln’s world.
The Post Office and Privacy
We can thank the postal service for establishing the foundations of the American tradition of communications confidentiality
Harvey Houses: Serving the West
In 1875, Fred Harvey had an idea for improving dining on passenger rail lines. He changed the face of food service in the West forever.
Fredric Wertham, Cartoon Villain
Wertham convinced 1950s America that comic books led to depravity. He also used his extremist views to raise money for an anti-racist clinic in Harlem.
Before Palmer Penmanship
The creation and propagation of standard penmanship in the American education system is almost as old as the United States itself.
Archival Adventures in the Abernethy Collection
An archival collection shared by Middlebury College invites the curious to make connections across the history of American literature.
Renewable Energy and Settler Colonialism
What can we learn from colonial legacies in pursuit of sustainable futures?
The Fashionable Tour: or, The First American Tourist Guidebook
Offering advice for visiting Sarasota Springs and other sights, Gideon Davison combined the travel narrative and road book to create a new type of travel guide.
Taking Slavery West in the 1850s
Before the Civil War, pro-slavery forces in the South—particularly the future president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis—tried to extend their power westward.
Webster’s Dictionary 1828: Annotated
Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language declared Americans free from the tyranny of British institutions and their vocabularies.