Billy Sunday

Pop-Culture Preaching in the 1910s

Billy Sunday was a charismatic preacher who brought in thousands to his vaudeville-inspired church services.
Woman doing yoga on beach

How American Buddhism is Like an Elephant

Researchers see a distinct difference between Buddhist immigrants and Americans of European ancestry who have embraced Buddhism's tenets.
yoga class being led by instructor

How America Embraced Yoga

More than a century ago, a blend of exotic stereotypes, trendy health advice, and new ideas about religion and gender built the foundations of the American yoga movement.
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

How Anti-Catholicism Created an American Saint

Elizabeth Ann Seton is known today as the first American Roman Catholic saint. Her road to canonization was no easy path.
Photograph: revelers in stylish Easter hats at the New York City Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival, 2015

Source: https://flic.kr/p/r2tGNN

The Religious Roots of the Easter Parade

The revival of Easter as a festival-type holiday coincided with a rise in Catholic immigration and relaxing religious standards in the 1880's.
Chick Tract

Chick Tracts and the Culture Wars

Jack Chick has been called the “most widely read theologian in history.” His Chick tracts have circulated for years. He was also vehemently anti-Catholic.
Anna Wintour Costume Center, Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Gallery
Image: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Women’s Expressions of Grief, from Mourning Clothes to Memory Books

Mourning clothes were a signal to the world that a family—really, that a woman had suffered a loss.