Recent Articles

Heinrich Himmler (Collier’s Magazine, 1938)

A 1938 article covering the ascent of Reichfurhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler (1900 – 1945):

Himmler has dossiers on every man of substance in Germany. Nazi party functionary, business leader, churchman, diplomat, army officer or statesman; all are nicely indexed for the day when their case histories might be needed in a hurry. Because in Germany, everyone is suspect. Some Nazis will even tell you that Himmler has a dossier on himself.


Click here to read an eyewitness account of the suicide of Himmler.


Click here to read about the dating history of Adolf Hitler.

The Smiths in America (Pageant Magazine, 1959)

We were surprised to learn that even in this multicultural era of unenforced immigration laws – the last name Smith still stands as the most common surname in the United States – and as of 2021 there are 2,627,141 people with this last name living today. This article points out that there is always at any given time a Smith serving in Congress (currently that duty falls on the shoulders of Representative Chris Smith, who hails from the 4th District of New Jersey).

Enter Plastic (Literary Digest, 1937)

This article is about the chemist Dr. Leo Hendrik Baekeland (1863 – 1944) – who left the world a far more plastic place than when he had found it.

The American Sailor Uniform: An Explanation (The Literary Digest, 1917)

When watching the old newsreel footage from the two world wars you see a fair amount of American sailors going about their business. They wore a uniform that seemed to have its origins in the Nineteenth Century, with bell bottom trousers and an odd shirt called a jumper. The blue jumper of an American sailor is decorated with various white stripes, stars and topped off with a queer little black silk kerchief; this article seeks to explain what the origins behind them all were largely British.

The Two Lincoln Inaugurations (Inaugural Program, 1949)

Callously torn from the binding of the 1949 inaugural program were these pithy paragraphs describing the somber moods of both Lincoln inaugurals. The anonymous author noted that

when Lincoln delivered his Inaugural Address, four future Presidents of the United States stood on the platform near him: Hayes, Garfield, Arthur and Benjamin Harrison.


To read the text of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, click here .

U.S. Presidential Trivia Quiz

A printable trivia test of odd presidential facts regarding the assorted chief executives who have governed the United States at one time or another. Assembled herein is a list of real zingers that will put to the test your knowledge of U.S. history; do you know:


• Who the shortest president was?


• Which president first predicted a one-world government?


• Which president was the greatest student of the Bible?


• Which president kissed 34 little girls at his Inaugural parade?


(HINT: It wasn’t Clinton)

Unpopular Charles Lindbergh (Pageant Magazine,1952)

Written twenty years after the event, this article recalls that period when the Lindberghs returned to America after living in Europe for three years. While abroad, Americans were disturbed to read in the press that he chose to keep company with the Fascists of Germany and Italy; after a while American editors found his behavior so unimpressive, they chose not to write about him any longer. Upon his return, prior to the World War II, Lindbergh joined an isolationist movement called the America First Committee. It was at these functions when he began to make assorted racist comments in his speeches – remarks that the press corps could no longer ignore.

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