One generation after the Declaration of Independence launched the democratic American experiment, the young nation appeared to be thriving in 1840. The United States popu...
As America pushed westward, old divisions over slavery deepened — setting the stage for Civil War.
America was halfway through its first full century as a free nation in ...
America may seem more divided today than ever, but the 1860s remind us the nation has endured much worse.
It’s no exaggeration to say the American Civil War (1861-1865) w...
As 1870 dawned, America was still reeling from the trauma of the Civil War. More than 600,000 lives had been lost, cities and farms across the South lay in ruins, and tho...
A Second Industrial Revolution — driven by coal, steel, manufacturing and transportation — was rapidly building the nation.
Fueled by the capital and vision of titans lik...
From New York’s many New Year’s “sports and entertainments”—including football games, an open house at the Young Men’s Christian Association and an exhibit by the Society...
As the sun rose on Monday, Jan. 1, 1900, Americans awoke to a new decade — the first in what would be called an “American Century.”
Things were changing. George M. Cohan...
The Seattle Star, on a crowded front page of its Saturday, Jan. 1, 1910, edition, reported that one Charles W. Peterson had been robbed of $150 and a watch while celebrat...
President Herbert Hoover and first lady Lou Hoover hosted the traditional New Year’s Reception at the White House on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 1930. Covered extensively in the p...
The Washington, D.C., Evening Star reported Monday, Jan. 1, 1940, that “merry crowds” had gathered in the nation’s capital to greet the new year. They were in good spirit...
