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The Troubling History of the Fight to Honor Leif Erikson—Not Columbus—as the Man Who 'Discovered America'

It wasn't simply a matter of getting the history right.
by Olivia B. Waxman via TIME on October 5, 2018

When the Fourth of July Was a Black Holiday

After the Civil War, African Americans in the South transformed Independence Day into a celebration of their newly won freedom.
by Ethan J. Kytle, Blain Roberts via The Atlantic on July 3, 2018
Drawing of Ann Reeves Jarvis carrying blankets in a hospital.

The Mother of Mother's Day

The American commercialized version of Mother's Day isn't what the founder intended.
by Allyson Shwed via The Nib on May 11, 2018

The Heart of the Matter: A History of Valentine Cards

A digital exhibit from the collections of the Strong National Museum of Play.
by Strong National Museum Of Play via Google Arts and Culture on April 11, 2018
Intricately painted Easter eggs.

Why Easter Never Became a Big Secular Holiday like Christmas

Hint: the Puritans were involved.
by Tara Isabella Burton via Vox on March 29, 2018
Title page and verso of the first edition of "A Christmas Carol."

A Plea to Resurrect the Christmas Tradition of Telling Ghost Stories

Though the practice is now more associated with Halloween, spooking out your family is well within the Christmas spirit.
by Colin Dickey via Smithsonian on December 15, 2017

The Unintended Consequences of Veterans' Day

In hindsight: A day created to commemorate peace has been transformed into one that perpetuates war.
by Paul Steege via Hindsights on November 10, 2017

When Halloween Mischief Turned to Mayhem

Nineteenth-century urbanization unleashed the nation's anarchic spirits.
by Lesley Bannatyne via Zócalo Public Square on October 26, 2017

The Necessity of Juneteenth

The most famous Emancipation holiday is more necessary now than it has ever been.
by Vann R. Newkirk II via The Atlantic on June 19, 2017
Billy McComiskey (right) performing Irish music at the Library of Congress with his sons Mikey McComiskey (left) and Patrick McComiskey (center) in 2016. Library of Congress photo by Shawn Miller.

A Few Examples of Dads’ Traditions

Stephanie Hall provides examples of folklore and storytelling within a fathers' relationship to music.
by Stephanie Hall via Library of Congress on June 16, 2017

Cinco De Mayo Isn’t What You Think it Is

It’s not just “Cinco De Drinko,” and it isn’t Mexican Independence Day.
by Allyson Shwed via The Nib on May 5, 2017

Informed Archives: The Environmental Action Coalition and the Birth of Earth Day

January 2017's Women's March wasn't the first time Fifth Avenue in New York City hosted an enormous demonstration.
by Meredith Mann via New York Public Library on April 20, 2017
Person carrying live Thanksgiving turkey
partner

American as Pumpkin Pie: A History of Thanksgiving

Why Pilgrims would be stunned by our "traditional" Thanksgiving table, and other surprising truths about the invention of our national holiday.
via BackStory on November 25, 2016
Godey's Lady's book cover, 1867.
partner

All Hale Thanksgiving

In the 1820s, Sarah Hale, a New England widow and the editor of Godey’s Ladies Book made it her mission to get Thanksgiving recognized as a national holiday.
via BackStory on November 15, 2016
partner

A Brief History of the Holiday Card

Americans purchase approximately 1.6 billion holiday cards a year. Why is this tradition so popular?
by Ellen F. Brown via JSTOR Daily on December 20, 2015

Juneteenth and Barbecue

The menu of Emancipation Day
by Daniel Vaughn via Texas Monthly on June 16, 2015
Woman holding a turkey on a platter.
partner

The Modern Invention of Thanksgiving

The holiday emerged not from the 17th century, but rather from concerns over immigration and urbanization in the 19th century.
by Anne Blue Wills, Livia Gershon via JSTOR Daily on November 26, 2014
Engraving of the 1886 Haymarket protest

When Labor Day Meant Something

Remembering the radical past of a day now devoted to picnics and back-to-school sales.
by Chad Broughton via The Atlantic on September 1, 2014

Happy Captive Nations Week!

We're supposed to celebrate one of the weirdest artifacts of the Cold War.
by Charles King via Slate on July 24, 2014
Firecracker box with "Santa Claus" theme

Kaboom! 10 Facts About Firecrackers That Will Blow You Away

Firecrackers are essentially un-American, even though we associate them with our most deeply patriotic celebration, the Fourth of July.
by Lisa Hix via Collectors Weekly on July 3, 2014
Painting of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin while writing the Declaration of Independence.

How the Complete Meaning of July Fourth Is Slipping Away

John Adams would not be happy to see what Independence Day has become.
by Gordon S. Wood via The New Republic on July 4, 2011
Thanksgiving card featuring a turkey with a carving knife and fork in its back.

Talking Turkey

A conversation with food historian Andrew F. Smith on his new book, "The Turkey: An American Story."
by Andrew F. Smith, Jeffery Kastner via Cabinet on November 1, 2006
A collage graphic featuring the couple from "American Gothic" at a cookout.

Labor Day in America: Or, the Day That is Not in May

America’s ambivalence about labor is nothing new. In the colonial era the ruling class had nothing but contempt for anything that could be justly called "work."
by Edward G. Gray via Commonplace on October 1, 2006
“The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers,” an 1885 parody of an 1850 painting by Charles Lucy.

Thankstaking

Was the 'first Thanksgiving' merely a pretext for the bloodshed, enslavement, and displacement that would follow in later decades?
by Jane Kamensky via Commonplace on January 1, 2001
Haymarket riot, as depicted in Harpers Magazine.

May Day is a Rust Belt Holiday

Forged in the cauldron of Chicago’s streets and factories, born from the experience of workers in the mills and plants of Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland.
by Ed Simon via Belt Magazine on April 29, 2024
A presidential portrait of George Washington.

The Enduring Power of Purim

Since colonial times, the Book of Esther has proved a powerful metaphor in American politics.
by Stuart Halpern via Tablet on March 21, 2024
Shipwreck nicknamed the "Christmas Tree Boat," which disappeared beneath Lake Michigan waters in November 1912.

The ‘Christmas Tree Boat’ Shipwreck That Devastated 1912 Chicagoans

Marine archaeologists are beginning to understand what really happened to Captain Santa's ill-fated ship, nicknamed the Christmas Tree Boat.
by Jonathan Feakins via Atlas Obscura on December 13, 2023
Santa catches the trolly to Bloomingdales.

In the 1800s, a Group of NYC Artists and Writers Created the Modern-Day Santa Claus

See how Washington Irving, Clement Clarke Moore and Thomas Nast made Santa the merriest man in Manhattan.
by Lucie Levine via 6sqft on December 8, 2023
Charles Dickens as he appears when reading, Harper’s Weekly (December 7th, 1867).

A Christmas Carol In Nineteenth-Century America, 1844-1870

What were Americans' immediate responses to "A Christmas Carol," and how did Dickens' reading tours and eventual death reshape its meaning?
by Thomas Ruys Smith via Comparative American Studies on July 27, 2023
Police beating young people with nightsticks.

"A Trap Had Been Set for These People"

A companion to a new PBS film, "The Memorial Day Massacre," the first oral history exploring the murder of 10 workers in Chicago.
by Greg Mitchell via Between Rock and a Hard Place on May 13, 2023
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