Erin Blakemore

The 1886 blizzard imperiled settlers and left fields of dead cattle in its wake.

How the Plattsburg camps tried (and failed) to raise a volunteer army ahead of World War I.

In 1871, the Wisconsin town Peshtigo burned to the ground, killing up to 2,500. But due to another event at the time, many have never heard about the disaster.

Fears that teachers were indoctrinating kids were rampant in the 1950s. But the reality was more complicated.

The swift, often comfortable ride on the Transcontinental Railroad opened up the American West to new settlement.

About 8,500 women attended the camps inspired by the CCC and organized by Eleanor Roosevelt—but the "She-She-She" program was mocked and eventually abandoned.

At a time when questions about women's rights in marriage roiled society, women readers took to the pages of cheap books about husband-murdering wives.

“Conventional wisdom tells us that the gold rush was a male undertaking,” writes the historian Glenda Riley. But women were there, too.

From rum to cakes to rowdy parades, election day was a time for gathering and celebration.

Over 136,000 GM workers participated in the strike in Flint, Michigan that became known as 'the strike heard round the world.'

In the 50s and 60s, steamy novels about lesbian relationships, marketed to men, gave closeted women needed representation.

Poppy Northcutt planned the vital flight trajectories that got astronauts home from their missions to the moon.

The surprising story of the vigilantes who took it upon themselves to catch bank robbers in the 1920s and 30s.

The strange and convoluted history of why yellow ribbons became a symbol of the Gulf War in the 1990s.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, students at America’s elite universities were treated differently based on the social stature of their parents.

Passage of the ERA seemed like a sure thing. So why did it fail to become law?

For the frontier women of the 19th century, the experience of childbirth was harrowing, and even just expressing fear was considered a privilege.

Jane Addams, a leading Victorian-era reformer, believed dance halls were “one of the great pitfalls of the city.”

In Progressive-Era New York, a now-forgotten trend of public bathhouses was introduced in order to cleanse the unwashed masses.

Remnants of the dream of a coast-to-coast tribute to their vision of the South are still visible.

A desire to fish created an epic 1889 flood.

Lizzie Borden’s father and stepmother were brutally murdered, possibly by Lizzie herself, in August 1892. Why are we still dissecting the crime?

Today's diners would surprise a 1940s patron. These restaurants were once vulgar boy’s clubs before becoming today's family-friendly establishments.

Buying a necktie for your dad is a stereotypical way to celebrate Father's Day, but it's in keeping with the holiday's history.