Federal Writers’ Project: Chronicling American Life During the Great Depression By Donna K. Keesling During the Great Depression, as many as one out of four Americans were without work. Through [...]
Freedmen’s Bureau – Bringing Freedpeople to Full Citizenship By Donna K. Keesling On January 1, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring "that all persons held as slaves" [...]
To 2026 or not to 2026? That is the question… With the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution approaching, many historians, teachers, historic sites, and museums are considering how to [...]
The Statue of Liberty – A Universal Symbol of Political Freedom and Democracy By Donna K. Keesling You probably know her as the Statue of Liberty or Lady Liberty, but [...]
Fresnel Lenses: Illuminating the Seacoast By Donna K. Keesling From the earliest times, man attempted to light the shoreline so that seagoing vessels would have a safer passage. But it [...]
Radio City Music Hall – “The Showplace of the Nation” Turns 90 By Donna K. Keesling In late 1929, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. decided to build a complex of [...]
Tutankhamun: 100 Years Since Carter’s Wonderful Discovery By Donna K. Keesling When British archaeologist Howard Carter declared that he saw “wonderful things” when he peeked into the tomb of Tutankhamun, [...]
Valley Forge: A Place of Transformation for the Continental Army By Donna K. Keesling In Dember of 1777, the Continental Army established its winter encampment in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Historian [...]
Pullman – America’s First Planned Industrial Community By Donna K. Keesling What comes to mind when you hear the word “Pullman?” Do you think of elegant railway sleeper cars from [...]
The WASP – First American Women to Fly for their Country By Donna K. Keesling In the late summer of 1942, twenty-eight experienced civilian women pilots volunteered to ferry aircraft [...]
Dr. Robert Krim’s work over the past 20 years has been focused on Boston’s four centuries innovation. He worked with a team to establish a very broad organization – The [...]
Chautauqua Institution: A Model for Life-Long Learning By Donna K. Keesling Founded in 1874 as a summer assembly to train Sunday school teachers, Chautauqua Institution evolved into an active community [...]
Camp David – The Presidential Retreat By Donna K. Keesling The president of the United States lives a very public life, especially when he is at the White House. Each [...]
Fred Harvey: Defining Hospitality in the American West By Donna K. Keesling Fred Harvey, a nineteenth century entrepreneur in the hospitality industry is credited with standardizing food service along the [...]
USS Constitution Proves Its Mettle By John Allison It took Naval Constructor George Claghorn and his crew of shipwrights three tries to launch the USS Constitution. On a cold October [...]
Commanding USS Constitution By Donna K. Keesling USS Constitution is the world’s oldest commissioned warship afloat and is the oldest sailing vessel worldwide that can still sail under her own [...]
Friendship 7: NASA’s First Manned Orbital Spaceflight By Donna K. Keesling Sixty years ago, on February 20, 1962, an Atlas 6 rocket was launched at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station [...]
Towns of the Swift River Valley – Lost to the Quabbin Reservoir By Donna K. Keesling Four towns – Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott – were incorporated in the Swift [...]
Sparrows Point: From Steelmaking to Distribution Center Hub By Donna K. Keesling In the mid to late 1800s, the railroad industry was laying new tracks and spurring industrial growth in [...]
Operation Torch: Striking Back in North Africa By Donna K. Keesling “You have embarked for distant places where the war is being fought.” President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote these words [...]
The Gettysburg Address Still Resonates Today By John Allison Why should we care about the Gettysburg Address? Lincoln wasn’t the keynote speaker at the dedication of the National Cemetery on [...]
Still Searching for the “Lost Colony” By Donna K. Keesling “CRO” and “CROATOAN,” carved into a tree and a post were the only clues that Englishman John White found when [...]
The Battle of Gettysburg – Crucial Turning Point By Donna K. Keesling The town of Gettysburg, in southcentral Pennsylvania, was laid out with two hundred and ten lots by James [...]
Celebrating the Smithsonian Institution’s 175th Anniversary By Donna K. Keesling On August 10, 2021, the Smithsonian Institution celebrated its 175th anniversary. You probably know the Smithsonian by its many artifacts [...]
America’s First Fourth of July By J. L. Bell, boston1775.net As the latest The Pursuit of History Historical Moments mailing quoted, John Adams praised the Continental Congress’s vote for independence [...]
A Trip Down History Lane: Reading My Way Through the Pandemic By Dr. Michael Shire The innocent question asked by grandchildren to their grandparents, ‘What did you do during the [...]
Katharine Gibbs: Pioneering American Business Executive By Rose Doherty Women will be in public life from now on. However, this societal change did not happen quickly and was the result [...]
National Parks Posters from the WPA Era By Joanna Wendel In honor of The Pursuit of History’s limited edition screenprint of Fort Ticonderoga, designed in the iconic style of [...]
The Lafayette Trail Traces a Noteworthy Path By Joanna Wendel The Marquis de Lafayette played a major role in the American Revolution and helped build an enduring friendship between France [...]
Nellie Tayloe Ross: The First Female Governor By Joanna Wendel January 2021 will be remembered as the inauguration of Kamala Harris, the United States’ first female vice president. But this [...]