A Window into Manhattan’s Golden Nights This postcard captures more than just a location. It holds a slice of New York City’s vibrant nightlife in the early 1900s, frozen in time. Dozens of sharply...
Latest Articles
The Gravedigger’s Path: Beneath the Surface
Of all the jobs people avoided, feared, or whispered about, the gravedigger stood near the top of the list. Working in quiet corners of churchyards, behind iron fences, or in the shadows of city...
Ashes, Bones, and Grease: The Rag-and-Bone Collector
Long before cities had garbage trucks and recycling centers, there were the rag-and-bone collectors—wandering figures with pushcarts, sacks, and sharp eyes trained on the gutters and alleys of the...
The Tanner’s Trade: Skin, Stink, and Skill
Of all the historical occupations that could be found in a family tree, few were more pungent, more physically difficult, or more socially isolating than tanning. While farmers, blacksmiths, and even...
The Founders Still Speak: Lessons in Liberty, Courage, and Conscience
As the United States marks its 249th year of independence, it’s a fitting time to pause and reflect—not just on fireworks and parades, but on the remarkable clarity of vision held by those who...
Coal Dust and Danger: Life as a Miner in the Family Tree
Coal built the modern world. It powered trains, lit homes, fueled factories, and kept furnaces burning during the coldest winters. But that power came at a steep cost. For every train that ran and...
The Night Soil Man: Digging into the World of Human Waste
Before the comforts of indoor plumbing and municipal sewage systems, someone had to do the dirty work. And by dirty, we mean truly revolting. The Night Soil Man was the one tasked with removing human...
Unpuzzling Your Past. The Best-Selling Basic Guide to Genealogy (Book Giveaway ENDED)
This giveaway has concluded. Stay tuned for our next giveaway. This free book giveaway is available again! I picked four winners last time, but none of them got back to me, so I guess they didn’t...
Schuyler Colfax: Speaker, Scandal, and the Shadow of What Might Have Been
As we continue our journey through The Forgotten Seconds, we pause to examine the life of Schuyler Colfax—a name once associated with optimism, eloquence, and the future of the Republican Party...
Hannibal Hamlin: Lincoln’s Overlooked Right Hand
As we continue our series, The Forgotten Seconds, we take a closer look at those vice presidents who, despite standing one heartbeat away from the highest office, never became president themselves...