Fort Sumter and Gilmore's Charleston Bombardment
A long retrospective contrasts Gen Gilmore of Morris Island with Grant, praising bold island seizure and covert construction to mount heavy guns. It details the July 1863 Morris Island assault, the stealthy sandbag fortifications, and a seven day bombardment that shattered Fort Sumter, yet notes limited fires and significant civilian impact.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Gilmore
Charleston
Detroit
Thich
Hunter
Beauregard
Morris Island
Sumter
Gregg
Wagner
Morris
James Islands
Fort Sumter
Grassy Island
Fort Bunter
Fort
Gilmore’s Island
Stono
Edisto
The Charms of Chewing Gum in New York Sun
A portrait of chewing gum’s social reach in New York City. Dyspeptics actors singers and others use gum for relief and voice care. Manufacturers discuss sapodilla sap gum varieties and toy like designs, while teachers and former users recall childhood gum memories.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York Sun
Third Avenue
New York
America
Murray Street
Sentestimnery
Chambers Street
Amaranth Dramatic Society of
Brooklyn
Union National Bank
Wall Street
Vesey Street
Ene
Chikren
New England
Portland
Thompson Street
Deserted Oil Towns A Desolate Oil Boom Ghost Town
Burdette in Burlington Hawkeye paints a desolate oil town abandoned after the boom. Describing tilted derricks, shattered windows, vacant houses, and emaciated rooms, the piece notes the absence of crowds and the quiet decay. It observes lingering residents too poor to move, who scavenge wood from neighbors’ properties, and ponders what keeps them from leaving this ghostly settlement.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Burdette
Burlington Hawkeye
George Washington
Green Snow Reported In Montana Mountains
Helena independent reports a rare pale green snow sighting atop a Meagher county mountain summit. A traveler notes green coloration melted from his pocket, with protococcus viridis cited as the likely cause, a plant producing green oily globules that tint nearby snow.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Helena Mont
Pole
Meagher County
Helena
American Eyes and the British Oculist on Broadway Eyes
A British ophthalmic expert praises American ladies’ eyes as the finest in color and variety, with Baltimore singled out for the purest English type. The piece catalogs eye shapes and shades seen in New York society, critiques eye behavior, and debates color categories, noting blue, orange, gray, and rare black eyes across diverse populations.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Mromnne
An —T. B. Aldrich
Paris
Occidental
United States
Baltimore
New York
Philadelphia
Boston
America
Poe
Lord Byron
Broadway
Fifth Avenue
Root of fashionable folly and Lent praise in society
A historical critique argues Lent reveals fashionable vice, urging true reform by exposing women's lack of liberty in choosing their own paths. It condemns male control over women’s roles, education, and occupations as the root of social excess and medieval morals.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
George William Curtis
Harper's
Temple
Dame
Demoiselle
Goa
Mida’s
Clara Vere de Vere
Are Handsome Men Conceited Opinion Letter to the Times
A reader argues handsome men are vain and egotistical while women are less swayed by praise. She recalls teachers' views, notes many handsome men she knows are weak, and vows to flirt with handsome men to mock their impact on other girls.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Philadelphia Times
A New Penal Code and Public Censure
The Wall Street News discusses a revised penal framework noting that theft and embezzlement aren't precisely defined by degrees but are judged by amount. It lists terms like Breach of trust and Default in mismanagement tied to financial irregularities and references Charles Reade's praise and critique of women in his writings.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Wall Street
Unbottled Spirits and the Rise of Spiritualism Founding
A retrospective tracing spiritualism from ancient oracles to modern table tipping. The Fox children at Hydesville sparked a nationwide craze with rappings and the alphabet ghost writings. The movement spread to England, France, and beyond, fueling mediums, circles, and sensational public lectures.
The Enchanted Pipe Two Hours in Infernal Realms
A writer recalls a surreal afterhours encounter in a private den with a Chinaman host, smoking a pipe that induces vivid visions of paradise and a later descent into hellish torture. The scene shifts from ethereal minxes and lavish luxuries to brutal torment as the writer endures a gruesome sequence before a clock reveals time passage and a return to reality.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
John
Smokee
Paradise
Hades
A Happy Hermit Dwells Beyond Cheyenne
A correspondent describes a lone hermit near Cheyenne who staffs horse relays for the stage. In a waterless, barren region he keeps life cheerful with humorous signs on his shack such as Hotel de la Starvation and Fifteen miles to water. He sees no one daily except the coach.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Cheyenne
His Wife Shied in Arkansas Traveller Style
An old tale recounted by a governor as a man laments his wife running away and shying the wagon causing a sprained shoulder. The speaker notes his wife is stout enough to pull twice a horse, and references a preacher met on the road.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Old Isom
Hoss
Oman
BRIC-A-BRAC. My Jewels. Mrs. M. P. Handy.
A short humorous verse about sapphires and a playful prompt to reveal them, followed by a note from Chicago Tuter-Ocean. A New York woman quarrels with her husband after he abandons her claiming she induced the marriage while drunk, implying risks of liquor influence on young women.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Chicago
New York
Eyo
Adam's Last Repose and London's Church Bells Echo
In a fragment from a French poem Adam wakes to witness his former side as flesh and bone. A London Sunday morning vignette follows two men noting bells loud from a new road shortening the way to town, then a playful tale of hat-room staff in hotels and a Buffalo youth’s bewildered curiosity.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Adam
Eden
London
Buffalo
Buffalonian
The Night Hath a Thousand Eyes and a Courtship Dream
A verse opening contrasts night and life with love's ending. A young woman rejects sepulchre old beaux and their flaws, favoring lively suitors with good circulation. She has not yet wed, but imagines a romance where a lover embraces her in a conservatory and whispers beloved words.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Charles Reade
Nate
Nightfall in a May Harper musings
A reflective verse fragment recalls a martial setting in May Harper’s column, contrasting heroic rhetoric with intimate longing. The speaker envisions lovers walking together but finds the crowding darkness swallowing their presence, leaving the narrator alone and aging.
Sweet Forgetfulness in Louisville Letters Gone Missing
A Louisville girl writes to her New York friend after losing a letter during sleigh riding. She asks for the address again to reply, promising to share many happenings since her friend departed. The tale ends with the quip that Annie has no Irish blood.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Louisville
New York
Fannie
Annie
April Is Here The Season Of Blossoms And Dreaming
The verse evokes April’s arrival with hints of summer, wind carried scents, and visions of blossoms. It imagines pansies pimpernel roses lilies and clover in meadow rows as the mower passes and birds sing. The speaker dreams of sun and sweetness associated with the coming season.
Why Felix Left Commercial Life
Felix McCluskey was tasked with winding the office clock but failed to regulate it. He claimed a large clock in the cellar with a small face and three hands, which was actually the gas meter, set him off. The misunderstanding ends with his departure from commerce and entry into politics.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Felix
Felix McCluskey
Silent Aprils and Winter Lovers in Verse
Fragmentary poem lines describe April and spring contrasted with winter imagery. The speaker invokes waxen darlings, emerald dusk leaves, and perfumes rarer than musk, weaving a lush, archaic mood of beauty and season. The fragment hints at cycles of summers and fragrant leaves, with sacraments of scent from tender lips.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Arabia
Arcadia
Nun or Notion: A Cautionary Tale of Love and Promises
A young man asks a beautiful girl to marry him but requires a vow she will quit certain habits. She refuses to promise and chooses to become a nun rather than surrender a single liberty. She then marries a butcher, leaving the man sorrowful as the moral warns girls to be careful in life.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Broadway
Gil Blas
Louis XIV
Earth
Dante
Byron
Toronto
Also Mentioned on This Page
Grant
Sherman
Adirondacks
Zene
Pennsylvania
Bulwer
Dickens
Obenreit
Eulatte
England
Mohammed
Beresford Hope
Thomas Moore
Cincinnati Enquirer
Delphi
Port
Greece
Cassouis
Apollo
Tertullian
Church
Valens
Rome
Rushton Hall
Northhamptonshire
Eng
Tresham
Elizabeth
Thomas Treshaim
Sir Thomas
Northamptonshire
Thomas Tresham
Fulcis
Nilkton
Wesleys
United States of America
John D. Fox
Hydesville
N.Y
Margaret
Kate
Farmer Fox
Garret
Rere
Kate Fox
Rochester
More
Fox
Dods
Penobscot
Judge Edmonds
Supreme Court of New York
France
Russia
Germany
Home
Herbert E. Clarke
Rose Terry Cooke
This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!