See more vintage stuff tagged with history at Click Americana

Scenes of Old Salt Lake City in 1900: Pictures of Utah at the turn of the century

In bright and beautiful color, see some of the most beautiful sights in and around Utah's Salt Lake City in 1900 - including the Mormon Temple, the Tabernacle, the Salt Palace, and the impressive Victorian Saltair Pavilion!

Amerigo Vespucci - Martin Waldseemüller map in color

How did America get its name? Find out, plus see some of the oldest maps of the United States

How did America get its name? The man from whom the continents got their names was an especially fascinating character of the late 15th century.

History of Halloween - glowing Jack O lanterns - carved pumpkins

How did Halloween start? The strange history of Halloween – including trick or treating and carving jack-o’-lanterns – goes way, way back

The ghosts and goblins, witches and spirits that are so much a part of every October now, have their roots in superstitions from many centuries ago. Here's a look at the strange history of Halloween!

Nikola Tesla on an iPad - Click Americana

100 years ago, did Nikola Tesla predict the iPad, Skype, mobile phones & more? (1915)

How much of today's tech did Nikola Tesla predict a century ago? Here's a look back at some spot-on predictions from Nikola Tesla -- along with a few, that, well... we haven't quite seen yet.

Thomas Alva Edison holding an incandescent lightbulb c1911

Thomas Edison says electricity will cure everything (1914)

Electricity will cure all the ills of the world, predicts Thomas Edison, whose inventive genius is responsible for the widespread application of electricity.

Old silent movies: Why so many classic films have been lost

Silent movies were not part of a primitive style of filmmaking, but an alternate form of storytelling - with artistic triumphs equivalent to or greater than those of the sound films that followed.

The ’50s Hula Hoop fad gets millions twirling and whirling (1958)

A simple and inexpensive new toy - known as the Hula Hoop - has thousands of the nation's children and many of its adults shaking their hips to make the hoop spin.

Last known photo of the Titanic before it sank

The Titanic’s last desperate SOS messages sent as the ship was sinking (1912)

Repeated, desperate SOS calls were heard by at least 10 ships, which rushed to the scene as the Titanic, the biggest most luxurious ship in the world, sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

Unidentified husband and wife - Portrait c1855

Researching genealogy: The new rise of interest in ancestors (1923)

The United States is now old enough to afford ample material for those researching genealogy, and many people now engage the services of a genealogist for help in tracing family lineage.

President Nixon resigns - farewell speech 1974

President Nixon’s last 17 days in office: Desperate search for a way out after Watergate (1974)

Nixon's final presidential crisis was thrust upon him by the ruling that he could no longer withhold 64 disputed White House tapes from the Watergate prosecutors. Here is the story of those last 17 days of his presidency.

colorful genealogical chart for recording marriages

Genealogy: How far back can you trace your family tree? (1967)

A Crusader in your past? A bank robber? Join the great ancestor hunt to map your genealogy, and find out just how far back you can trace your family tree.

Meet Josephine Garis Cochrane, inventor of the dishwasher (1892)

The inventor of the dishwashing machine The patron saint of the emancipated woman of the future will be Josephine Garis Cochrane, the inventor of... Click to read more...

Damaged fire escape at the Triangle shirtwaist factory

How 146 people died needlessly in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (1911)

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,

War declared: American newspaper headlines from the very start of WWI in 1914

WAR DECLARED: See 31 consecutive front page headlines from DC from those tumultuous weeks leading to the outbreak of hostilities in WWI back in 1914.

Alex Haley’s ‘Roots’ comes to life, and TV will never be the same (1977)

I am at loss for the proper word to use to describe what television has done with Haley's book Roots. "Enhance" will not do, nor is "heightened" sufficient. There is no word that is adequate.

Louis Gossett Jr. (Fiddler) and LeVar Burton (Kunta Kinte)

A guide to Roots: The TV miniseries, night by night (1977)

The story 'Roots' spans six generations and 100 years. Here's a day-by-day synopsis of Roots: The TV miniseries.

Kerner Commission: Racism confronted after months of soul-searching (1968)

Racism is very difficult for any of us to admit, even to ourselves. But gradually and inevitably we had to conclude that the basic cause of America's racial disorders is white racism.

Kerner Commission: Prejudice – A name for racism (1968)

Prejudice - A name for racism Kerner Commission Report backstory, part 3: Prejudice. It's in all our hearts. What can we do about it? By Otto Kern... Click to read more...

Charlotte Collyer and daughter - Titanic survivors

How I was saved from the Titanic: A Titanic survivor’s story (1912)

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.

WWII newspaper headlines from the D-Day invasion of France (1944)

The Allies today sent their invading forces against Adolf Hitler's occupied Europe. The long-awaited invasion was announced by General Dwight Eisenhower with the promise that the high command would accept nothing short of victory.

New Amsterdam to now: Images of New York in the Colonial days

Here are images showing New York City's growth from a frontier settlement known as New Amsterdam to the metropolis of the western world --through the Colonial times, and in the early days of US independence.

About Mother’s Day: How it began, and who started it all (1909)

Have you ever wondered about Mother's Day -- like how it got started? In the early years of the 20th century, Anna Jarvis started a movement that spread throughout the world: the custom of observing the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.

America’s slave trade: Newspaper ads offering people for sale (1729-1800)

While books and articles on the American slave trade can provide important insights, actually seeing the ads that were placed in the newspapers of the era really brings it home.

How the railroads first crossed America (1968)

The most dramatic and best-known story of railroading in the United States is the connecting of the Atlantic and the Pacific by railroad in 1869, tying of the oceans together by rail across the heart of the United States

Photos from the day of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (1863)

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address speech was so brief, history has no photographs of President Lincoln actually saying those oft-repeated words on November 19, 1863. But here are the pictures we do have of the President that day.

Last name crests of American families - history

How our ancestors originally got the first and last names we use today (1903)

Did you ever think that every first or last name must originally have meant something? It originally meant something, and was intended to be applicable to the person who first bore it.

Newspaper front pages with the first Titanic disaster stories: April 15, 1912

Here are some front pages of newspapers around the country, showing very first reports of the Titanic disaster. There was very little information available at the time, and some news reports were, sadly, completely inaccurate.

The Titanic disaster, as seen in editorial cartoons (1912)

The Titanic tragedy, as seen through editorial cartoons (1912)

The Titanic was one of the most luxurious, well-appointed cruise liners ever, with seemingly no expense spared... except when it came to passenger safety in the event of an emergency.

Follow-up: Titanic survivor Charlotte Collyer (1912)

Response from Charlotte Collyer, survivor of the Titanic Mrs Charlotte Collyer's article, "How I Was Saved from the Titanic," printed seven weeks ago... Click to read more...

The Titanic’s terrifying last moments before sinking to the ocean floor (1912)

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 of the... Click to read more...

Tesla holding a phosphor-coated wireless light bulb

Nikola Tesla’s plan to give free electricity to everyone (1896)

Free electricity for everyone? It means that if Nikola Tesla succeeds in harnessing the electrical earth currents and putting them to work for man there will be an end to oppressive extortionate monopolies in steam, telephones, telegraphs and the other commercial uses of electricity

World wonders about first words after landing on the moon (1969)

Before the world heard the sentence that has since been etched into billions of memories -- "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for manki... Click to read more...

Big beautiful butterfly - Perspectives on our place in time from 1894

Scrapbooks as a history of life, of feeling, of the emotions of one’s heart: Perspectives on our place in time from 1894

Scrapbooks keep the cream, the gem, the one poem, or sketch, or speech or story that made us smile or weep; a biography, a history, a journal written by a thousand other hands, and yet our own.

The assassination of President Kennedy (1963)

Above: View of flowers on the backseat of Vice-President Lyndon Johnson's Lincoln convertible as it sits parked near the entrance of Parkland Hospita... Click to read more...

Death of an outlaw: First account of Jesse James’ murder (1882)

Get the true story behind 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' from 1882 -- when, Jesse James, the Missouri outlaw, was killed by a boy twenty years old at his temporary residence on Thirteenth and Lafayette streets, in this city.

Richard Nixon’s first Watergate speech – Text & video (1973)

Richard Nixon's first Watergate speech was broadcast live from the White House's Oval Office on April 30, 1973, starting at 9:01 pm Eastern. Below, see a video of his statements, followed by a transcript of the speech.

Tagged history