Everything I ever learned and didn’t want to know about menstruation came from an educational video from 1953.
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“What about dancing, Miss Jensen, can I do that while menstruating?”
Tag: History
Historic newspaper circulation data: how many fewer newspaper readers are there?
Okay, we get it, newspaper circulation is down. Everyone is ditching print for online.
But, I get the feeling it is a bit exaggerated. I’ve already posted here that we’re simply living through what we’ll someday call the newspaper bubble, the market swinging the industry nearer to a healthy environment.
I would love to really investigate the rise and fall of newspaper circulation numbers through generations, but the numbers are kept fairly private by those who have the best access, groups like the Audit Bureau of Circulations, a nonprofit that was formed in 1914 by publishers and advertisers wanting to provide the industry regulated, reputable circulation data – and they aren’t giving it out to me.
So, we tend to mostly guess from reports in newspapers that provide some information. I did find some great numbers from the Newspaper Association of America, though the data is only up to 2003, perhaps before industry fears went public and the newspaper bubble had clearly burst. After that date, the NAA makes you pay for the information.
Rather than forking out the $50, let’s just crunch what we have.
Continue reading Historic newspaper circulation data: how many fewer newspaper readers are there?
The Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents’ Association: a brief history
When I am done at the end of August, I will have reported with top-flight state political reporters from the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the Allentown Morning-Call, the Harrisburg Patriot-News and the online-only subscription service Capitolwire.
What unites them all is that they are members of the Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents’ Association. The nearly 115-year-old organization doesn’t do much to promote itself because it is mostly an informal collection of members from a struggling industry, so I didn’t know much about it when I got here.
I have learned plenty and thought many might be interested, too.
Continue reading The Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents’ Association: a brief history
Learn how to go on a date the right way
DO YOU WORRY about going on a date? Of course you do. So why not learn from educational films of the 1940s?
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Anniversary of first walk in space by man
On this day, March 18, in 1965, Cosmonaut Alexey Leonov (depicted at right above) became the first man to walk in space. See video of that monumental step by the Russian below.
Vintage Philadelphia baseball video
I stumbled upon this and thought it pretty cool.
This silent film claims to be, and I have no reason to suggest otherwise, a home movie of the 1929 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Athletics, a series the Philadelphia team won four games to one.
The video owner described it as such:
Home movie footage of 1930 Flag Day followed by the 1929 World Series played between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Chicago Cubs. Both games were played at Wrigley field. The World Series was played on either October 8 or October 9, 1929. It includes opening ceremonies, crowd shots, and a few pitches.
Finally, cartoons sell what's important: cigarettes
Check out this old commercial, date unknown to me.
The Temple News loves CREED!
I have been cleaning, organizing and scanning many of the 86-years of archives of The Temple News, the college newspaper for which I work, and every once in a while you come across a gem.
Remember Creed? Of course you do. Well, in 1998, while Creed was at its peak, the band came to Philadelphia and TTN was there, with a review, interview and plenty of love. Rock it out, my friend.
Yes you read that headline right, ‘Creed continues to rise!’
What do you think?
A video tribute to George Washington's birthday
Today, Feb. 22, is the 276th anniversary of George Washington, the dude who is recognized as the first president of the United States. Good for him.He is dead now, though, died Dec. 14, 1799, according to my calendar. Still, he died a long time ago, so it isn’t that sad. Let’s celebrate him with, perhaps, a decidedly strange song in his honor?
I saw this on Digidigidigi on President’s Day.
Check out presidential hair
All those years you spent collecting other people’s hair might not be as weird as we previously thought.
For President’s Day weekend Feb. 16 to 18, The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia will be displaying a scrapbook that has locks of hair from each of the first 12 U.S. Presidents, according to the Associated Press.
This collection comes from Peter Arvell Browne, a Philadelphia attorney and scholar of natural sciences, collected thousands of samples of animal and human hair in the mid-1800s.
He wrote to the families of each president and asked for the samples, which wasn’t – they tell me – as strange as it might seem today. In the 19th Century, many families kept hair from deceased relatives.
The scrapbook will only be open to George Washington’s brown and gray hair, though photographs of the others will be on display.