1700s

Get Benjamin Franklin's advice for better sleep
Get Benjamin Franklin’s advice for better sleep

While Benjamin Franklin may be known for ‘Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise,’ that wasn’t his only insight on the subject of sleep. In the summer of 1786, he wrote this, summing up his advice for better sleep.

Antique 4th of July postcard c1900s
How Americans celebrated July 4th long ago

How was Independence Day celebrated in the past? It varied a lot over the decades, but early on, there was cannon fire, great communal feasts in the village green, and all kinds of noisemakers and thundering sounds.