The Zodiac Killer letters & cryptograms turned the case into an intricate puzzle that has confounded investigators for over half a century.
Historic events
Gain insights into the struggles and aspirations of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Drafted in secret during the summer of 1787, the Constitution of the United States established the government of the United States. Here, the original US Constitution text.
Over 100 years have passed since the shocking Titanic tragedy in 1912. Here we’ve assembled some essential Titanic facts and stats about the ship, as well as those who traveled on her doomed maiden voyage.
The story of the Titanic sinking is a tragedy that has captivated audiences for over a century. Despite the passage of time, our fascination with the event and its aftermath has hardly diminished.
Here’s a look back at snow removal 100 years ago, so you can see how much work went into clearing cities after blizzards and other big winter storms.
“I have a dream” by the Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, President, Southern Christian Leadership Conference March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom –
Since “loose lips sink ships,” keeping people from oversharing during WWII was a huge deal. These posters were created specifically to remind people to keep quiet about what the military was doing.
When Florence Nightingale died, tributes poured in from around the world — including ones from American sources like this one.
In 1922, Washington DC had their biggest blizzard in 34 years, and in many ways, it brought the city to a halt. Here’s a look at the nation’s capital covered in snow so long ago.
What did the Titanic ship look like inside? Check out several different Titanic cross-section views, and get an idea of the size and the layout of the doomed vessel.
Before air conditioning and refrigerators existed, see some of the ways people managed to stay cool during the great New York heat wave of 1911!
Look back at the biggest news in the universe on July 20, 1969 – the day we first landed on the lunar surface, walked on the moon, then went for a drive.
Tales of courage about people who died on the Titanic fascinate us to this day. Here are stories about some of the ship’s most prominent passengers.
There’s so much *story* packed into the history of the American flag & how its design adapted over nearly 200 years — in step with the evolution of our union.
Look back at these D-Day pictures and remember that a German nation with super-race delusions once actually planned to conquer the world.
Charlotte Collyer lived through the tragic disaster the world remembers more than 100 years later. Here, read about what happened in this dramatic and compelling first-person account from a Titanic survivor.
April 22, 1970, was set as the first Earth Day across America – the culmination of demonstrations and teach-ins protesting the deteriorating state of the country’s environment.
Below are a few photos of actor/assassin John Wilkes Booth, along with some theater advertisements that appeared in newspapers during the years leading up to President’s Lincoln’s murder.
Here are some accounts from Titanic survivors of the mid-ocean disaster, who managed to be rescued from the doomed ship back in 1912.
Here are some front pages of newspapers around the country, showing very first breaking Titanic news on the night she sank. There was very little information available at the time, and some news reports were, sadly, completely inaccurate.
Here’s a look back at Abraham Lincoln’s funeral and the entire funeral procession, where millions of people came out to see the President’s hearse pass by on the way from Washington DC to Chicago.
Below are several chapters from a book that was issued the same year as the Titanic disaster, and was called simply Titanic. While many aspects
When the infamous zeppelin airship Hindenburg caught fire and crashed as it was landing in New Jersey back in 1937, the spectacular disaster was caught on film and audio. Here’s how it went down.
To this day, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York on March 25, 1911, remains the deadliest industrial disaster in the city’s history,
On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 took off for the moon – a historic mission for Americans, and for people all around the globe. See vintage newspaper headlines from that day here!
In June 1919, a peace treaty with Germany was signed in France, and formally brought an end to the Great War, which we now call World War I.
From the middle of the destruction after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, these detailed accounts of the damage were published in the city’s newspaper the very next morning.
Ad Astra… to the stars! John Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth, and he did it on the Mercury spacecraft named Friendship 7, on February 20, 1962. Here’s how it went.
The Civil War wasn’t going well for the Union in the early weeks of December 1861 – and it was going still worse for William Tecumseh Sherman. Find out why here.
In the late 1930s, aviator Amelia Earhart mysteriously vanished on her flights around the globe. See original newspaper reports at the time of her disappearance and a look back at the mystery 25 years later.
Although it was an incredibly close race, Richard Milhous Nixon conceded victory to President-elect John Fitzgerald Kennedy in the early hours of the morning on the day after the election.
There have been tales of what happened at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota in 1890. Here, see original vintage news reports of the battle, plus a historical review of the events from 1976.;
See what it looked like inside the Titanic – the interiors of fancy lounges, dining rooms, first-class cabins and other luxurious delights – before the ship sunk to the ocean floor on her maiden voyage in 1912.
When the Titanic sank, it was the biggest ship in the world – and although the movie industry was still young, many cameras were able to cover the disaster. Here’s a look.
Back in 1871, The Great Chicago Fire killed an estimated 200 to 300 people, destroyed more than three square miles of the city, and left 100,000 people homeless.
Question: Did any feminist ever burn a bra in protest? Find out more about the history of this often-mentioned protest move here!
The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 – the deadliest natural disaster in United States history – after which floods swept thousands of people to their death, and many more left homeless as millions of dollars worth of property was destroyed.
Even astronomers were wondering if Halley Comet in 1910 would live up to the spectacular sky shows it had given on its previous 75-year cycles. They weren’t disappointed.
What is VJ Day? It means “Victory in Japan” day – the celebration that marked the end of WWII when Japan finally announced its surrender to Allied forces in the summer of 1945. Here’s a look back.
In August of 1969, actress Sharon Tate and four others were found dead in what police said resembled a ritualistic mass murder. Four months later, Charles Manson and the Manson ‘family’ would be charged with the crime. Here’s how it all happened.
Take a few minutes to reflect on the awesome and terrifying power unleashed on the world in the summer of 1945 during the atomic bombing of Nagasaki while remembering the lives lost – and those possibly saved.
Below are terrifying and telling sketches of the Titanic’s last moments, drawn by Lewis P Skidmore, who was a passenger on the rescue ship Carpathia
Juneteenth is a celebration of Black freedom. The celebration fell out of favor for decades, and has made a couple of comebacks. Find out more here!
See what it took to get the Golden Gate Bridge built, plus see dozens of pictures of the construction, and the celebration when it finally opened in 1937.
The president’s walk across the bridge with cannon accompaniment from forts and ships The big bridge open: Two cities join in making a mammoth holiday
Back in 1961, a little 37-pound chimpanzee named Ham helped pave the way for human astronauts to launch into space.
A doctor smashed his way into a locked bedroom, and found Marilyn Monroe dead in bed. Here’s what else he found, and how the first news stories broke.
Take a look at the original WANTED poster that was distributed far and wide to help catch President Lincoln’s killer – John Wilkes Booth, and two of his accomplices.
In 1906, a short film called ‘A Trip Down Market Street’ ended up being a valuable record of old San Francisco just before the huge earthquake and fire destroyed much of the city.
Here’s the true story of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, as reported at the time of his murder at the hand of actor John Wilkes Booth.
In 1883, the volcano of Krakatoa erupted in cataclysmic fashion. Considered the single largest natural explosion in recorded history, the eruption killed upwards of 36,000 people.
