Drive-In Theaters: Movie Night Under the Stars
Drive-In Theaters: Movie Night Under the Stars By Donna K. Keesling “Here the whole family is welcome, regardless of how noisy the children are apt to be” said Richard Milton [...]
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07, 2023
30
06, 2023
Great Camps of the Adirondacks: A Grand Life in the Wilderness
Great Camps of the Adirondacks: A Grand Life in the Wilderness By Donna K. Keesling In the late 19th century and early 20th century, wealthy families vacated their New York [...]
30
05, 2023
Federal Writers’ Project: Chronicling American Life During the Great Depression
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 [...]
25
04, 2023
Freedmen’s Bureau – Bringing Freedpeople to Full Citizenship
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" [...]
20
03, 2023
The Statue of Liberty – A Universal Symbol of Political Freedom and Democracy
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 [...]
19
12, 2022
Radio City Music Hall – “The Showplace of the Nation” Turns 90
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 [...]
26
09, 2022
Pullman – America’s First Planned Industrial Community
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 [...]
29
08, 2022
The WASP – First American Women to Fly for their Country
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 [...]
25
07, 2022
Chautauqua Institution: A Model for Life-Long Learning
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 [...]
27
06, 2022
Camp David – The Presidential Retreat
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 [...]
20
05, 2022
Fred Harvey: Defining Hospitality in the American West
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 [...]
26
04, 2022
USS Constitution Proves Its Mettle
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 [...]
14
03, 2022
Commanding USS Constitution
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 [...]
22
02, 2022
Friendship 7: NASA’s First Manned Orbital Spaceflight
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 [...]
24
01, 2022
Towns of the Swift River Valley – Lost to the Quabbin Reservoir
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 [...]
22
11, 2021
Operation Torch: Striking Back in North Africa
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 [...]
25
10, 2021
The Gettysburg Address Still Resonates Today
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 [...]
25
10, 2021
Still Searching for the “Lost Colony”
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 [...]
28
09, 2021
The Battle of Gettysburg – Crucial Turning Point
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 [...]
20
08, 2021
Celebrating the Smithsonian Institution’s 175th Anniversary
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 [...]
22
07, 2021
America’s First Fourth of July
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 [...]
21
06, 2021
A Trip Down History Lane: Reading My Way Through the Pandemic
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 [...]
21
05, 2021
Katharine Gibbs: Pioneering American Business Executive
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 [...]
29
03, 2021
National Parks Posters from the WPA Era
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 [...]
23
02, 2021
The Lafayette Trail Traces a Noteworthy Path
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 [...]
25
01, 2021
Nellie Tayloe Ross: The First Female Governor
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 [...]
22
12, 2020
Honoring a Remarkable Life: The William B. Gould Memorial Project
Honoring a Remarkable Life: The William B. Gould Memorial Project By Joanna Wendel Over the summer, as he watched statues fall around the country, Brian Keaney began to think about [...]
15
12, 2020
Why Do You Love History?
I have loved history my whole life. I love the story of history – that’s what connects us to it because the story is how we relate to people in [...]
16
11, 2020
Gravestone Girls: Bringing New England Cemeteries to Life
Gravestone Girls: Bringing New England Cemeteries to Life By Joanna Wendel Most people take their Halloween decorations out of storage every October and then pack them away until the following [...]
28
09, 2020
The Lucy Burns Museum: Shedding light on a dark episode in the history of women’s suffrage
The Lucy Burns Museum: Shedding light on a dark episode in the history of women’s suffrage By Joanna Wendel August 18, 2020 marked the centennial of the ratification of the [...]