Alabama contributing Author, Joyce Ray Wheeler, shares a personal July 4th in Kentucky that turned out quite differently than expected. JULY 4TH FIREWORKS By Joyce Ray Wheeler (b. January 4, 1926- d. November 1, 2012) A tragedy for our tiny Kentucky town occurred at midnight on July 4, 1941, when I was fifteen years old. […]
Those old small refrigerators didn’t hold much as Alabama Author, Inez McCollum depicts in this story. OPEN REFRIGERATOR EMBARRASSMENT BY INEZ MCCOLLUM A recent program of Anthony Bourdain told of his visiting an American-Okinawan while in Okinawa. The young man had returned with his mom to Okinawa at age 9. While in America, his Mother […]
The Dust Bowl, also known as the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the US and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The migrants moved from terrible living conditions back home to not much better living conditions in California. The photographs below were taken by […]
Most Americans probably do not know the reason behind the celebration of Cinco de Mayo, yet t’s one of the biggest nights of the year for many Mexican restaurants in America. Some people believe it is Mexican Independence Day, but that is incorrect. Mexico declared its independence from Spain on September 15, 1810, and south […]
Plane travel is so common today that it is hard to imagine a time when it was new. It wasn’t until around 1939 that inter-continental flight was even available for the average travelers. Here is a transcription of a newspaper article of what a trans-Atlantic flight was like in June of 1939. This may have […]
Though their prospects were bright in 1937, many of these grads would be involved in World War II after December 7, 1941. JOBS AWAITING COLLEGE GRADS (Transcribed from The Tuscaloosa News June 4, 1937) CHICAGO, June 4—(AP)— Industrial talent scouts are back on the American college campuses in boom time numbers and most seniors are […]
This may be the earliest film of a baseball game made in May 20, 1898 by Thomas A. Edison, Inc. from the Library of Congress. Notes about the film state: Photographed from one camera position behind home plate, the film shows a baseball game in progress. The action includes two players running toward the camera; […]
Modern surgery techniques worried doctors in 1890. WONDERS OF THE KNIFE (Transcribed from the Philadelphia Press 1890) An operation 1890 US naval yard Detroit Publishing (Library of Congress) “Modern surgery,” said a practitioner, “gives men new eyes, even robbing rabbits for that purpose with success, gives them new blood, tapping to that end the veins […]
Do you still spring clean like this. Alabama Author, Jean Butterworth, brings back wonderful memories. Memories by Jean Butterworth Springtime is here! Memories of my Mother doing her spring cleaning involved pulling all the mattresses off the beds and placing them on wooden sawhorses in the back yard to get a “good sunning”. Then, of […]
My how times have changed! This commercial for the 1940 Chevrolet and the new Chevrolet gear shift is so funny. It was made at a time when women used to be looked down upon as the “weaker sex” and though it was obviously meant to show that women are more capable than we think, it falls well short […]
