ancestors

  • 250 Hometown Newspapers

    Mar 9

      The site 'SmallTownPapers' you have free access to more than 250 current small town newspapers in the United States. Look down the list of states and names of newspapers in that state available. From the newspaper's main page on the SmallTownPapers site, click the Scanned Archives tab and then the Browse icon to view the available years. Ne...

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  • Women’s History Month

    Mar 7

      There are several federal governmental agencies and museums honoring America's women during March. From the Library of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Besid...

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  • Leap Year–Leap Day

    Feb 29

      Every four years there is an extra day added to the calendar, always at the end of February and it is February 29. With the seasons and astronomical events (because the Earth does not orbit around the sun in precisely 365 days) changing over the years and only in whole numbers, it has become necessary to add the extra day every four years. ...

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  • Sticky Backs and Photo Booth

    Feb 19

      It is the early 20th century and in England a fellow named Spiro Grossi, from Brighton, England, was a young man in his 20s whose occupation was that of a 'Photographic Printer' in Liverpool. He then moved to Manchester, where Grossi operated two photographic studios, one at 5 Marsden Square, the other at 84 Market Street. He developed th...

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  • Symbols on Arlington National Cemetery Headstones

    Jan 29

      Whether you have any ancestors buried at Arlington National Cemetery or just have toured this magnificent place outside of Washington, D. C.; you might not have been aware of the different sections of the cemetery and especially the meanings behind the symbols on the white headstones. The military issued headstone does list the name of the...

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  • Posters Illustrate Around 1900 America

    Jan 23

    The New York Public Library has a large collection of posters now made digital on their site. There are some 2,027 scanned posters that were once used in magazines, newspapers, exhibitions, book covers, calendars, covering at the end of the 1890s, into the beginning of the 20th century. What a wonderful array of styles, fashions, public interests, ...

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  • One Name – Olde English Style

    Jan 21

    Nearly an 800 to 1000 years ago in England, most people simply used one name, not a given or names and a surname. Today we find a surname even made up of a person's father and mother's surname. However, back in olde England with much lower population, people managed with one name. Generally, the name was based on a person's occupation. So what wer...

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  • Twins

    Jan 19

    It is said that everyone has at least one other people on earth who looks like them. Figures have even stated as high as 7 people at any given time can look like you. That same idea with people who lived decades ago. What makes it even more strange, is that this look-a-like is not related to you. Has it happened to you? A stranger stops you and ...

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  • Identifying Those Who Sank on the USS Oklahoma

    Jan 19

    The USS Oklahoma was sunk during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A total of 429 men died when the ship capsized. The remains were recovered in 1943, but identification proved to be impossible at the time. Today, there is an effort being made to re-examine the bones and identify the those who sank on the USS Oklahoma. The USS Oklahoma as on ...

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  • New York City 1930s in Photos

    Jan 17

    Seeing photos of the places our ancestors lived, worked and spent their lives is always fascinating. Additional photos taken during the 1930s for New York City are now available online with the New York Public Library Digital Collections.   These are some wonderful black and white photos of all types of places, businesses and streets. If you ha...

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