On this day in 1948, the first U.S. and British pilots fly to Berlin bearing food, medicine, water, clothing and fuel in response to the Soviet Union blockade of the western section of the city.

Known as the Berlin Airlift, the operation brought around 2500 tons of supplies daily and continued to do so for four months after the blockade was lifted in May 1949.

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Don’t have a library? Never fear—the library will come to you. Such was the thought in eastern Kentucky, 1935, when the Pack Horse Library initiative began.

The job was no walk in the park. The lack of library access was often due to how remote these places were, and access to them was found through stony creeks, mud-caked footpaths, and on the skirting edges of cliffs. The librarians often had to walk on foot, leading their horse behind them, for the safety of themselves and their mounts. Library headquarters would be set up in the various counties in whatever building would offer room, and from here the librarian would stock up, travel with a pocket-full of adventures or recipes or romances, and later return to get a fresh batch to circulate.

“She” in this instance is Grace Caudill Lucas, who worked as a pack horse librarian

The Pack Horse Libraries lost their funding in 1943 and were forced to close up shop. Fortunately, bookmobiles were not far behind and took the reins—so to speak—in 1946 as a modernized version of the “horsemobile” libraries of the Great Depression. But for a decade, thousands of Kentucky residents had these brave women to thank for caring enough about literacy, education, and imagination to traverse the craggy Kentucky countryside with their bags full o’ books.

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On this day in 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to vote “yea” on the debate of ratifying the U.S. Constitution, officially making it law.

More states would follow suit later, but only nine of the thirteen existing states had to accept for the Constitution to become valid.

Fun fact: While the United States is a fairly young country compared to others worldwide, it has the oldest written constitution still in use today.

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This interesting little article found in Washington D.C.’s The Evening Times in 1899 seems to have left out a good number of clarifying details.

One wonders where they get the poker?

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Today in 1967, the Beatles release their album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, generally considered the first “concept album.” The album marked a shift in the group’s career as they moved from being crowd-pleasing stage performers to more studio-focused artists.

The album got a pretty decent reception, receiving mostly positive reviews to match its commercial success. It topped the US Billboard 200 charts for 15 weeks after release.

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On this day in 1897, Bram Stoker’s sensational novel Dracula is released upon the London public.

…and it was pretty well received! By most, anyway. Though some reviewers found the novel not to their taste, many remarked on Dracula‘s ability to capture your attention from beginning to end.

Dracula has since become one of the quintessential classical Gothic novels and has inspired countless other stories in the years since its release.

Have you read Bram Stoker’s Dracula? What’s your favorite vampire story?

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Whoops! I think they must have counted themselves lucky that this mistake didn’t turn out much worse.

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There can be no argument that mothers across the world play an incomparable role in raising, teaching, helping and loving their children and the children around them. In honor of Mother’s Day, here are three mothers whose contributions to their families and to history were truly remarkable.

Candy Lightner

Founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving:

As the article above (from The Town Talk, 1985) says, Lightner’s teenage daughter was struck and killed by a drunk driver in 1980. The organization has only grown since then and continues the fight to end drunk and drugged driving and offer support to those affected by these avoidable tragedies.

Abigail Adams

 First Lady

Abigail Adams is recognized as an extraordinary woman whose strong intellect, attention to politics, and fierce support for women’s rights and the abolition of slavery made her a true trailblazer. Public sentiment at the time shows similar respect for her hard work in every area of life…
….and whose opinion can be trusted more than that of her own son?

Irena Sendler

Mother of the Children of the Holocaust

A fearless woman who was as much a mother to the children around her as she was to her own, Irena Sendler risked her life to save thousands of others.

As an employee of the Social Welfare Department in Warsaw, Sendler had permission to enter the Ghetto to conduct inspections. Instead, she used her time there to smuggle out young Jewish children and babies in whatever ways she could, with the help of a small network of volunteers. Around 400 of these children were aided by Sendler directly, a risk for which she eventually paid when she was arrested, beaten, and sentenced to death in 1943.

A friend bribed the guards to let Sendler go and she was freed…after which she jumped right back into helping those who couldn’t help themselves.

Of course there are countless more amazing mothers who could not all be mentioned here. Why not try a search today on Newspapers.com for other famous mothers or a relative? Or feel free to browse the papers—who knows what sort of interesting things you might stumble upon?

Happy Mother’s Day!

Ah, to live in the 19th century when people wore hats and pocket watches, automobile technology was on the horizon, and a husband could sell his wife and child to another man for dollars.

You’ll have to click through to the full article for the whole story. But the gist of it is that Mr. Rosengrant was annoyed by a remark made by his wife after a streak of bad luck with his business ventures, so he decided to shuffle her off to someone else and make some money in the process. Below is a copy of the contract made with his cousin, Raymond Parmer.

July 5 1900 Raymond Parmer Bought Gorge Rosengrant woman of him for 300 dolers and the little girl throw in and he agread to not Bother me nor me to Bother him X Gorge Rosengrant

Raise your hand if you’re not surprised.

Find more strange and interesting articles like these in the pages of Newspapers.com with a search or using the browse feature. And big thanks to Ann Sinton on Facebook for bringing our attention to this incredible article.

On this day in 1933, a monstrous modern legend was born in the waters of Loch Ness. The first claims of a sighting mentioned a large reptilian creature rolling around in the lake, a description that carried on through dozens of subsequent reports. The claims were met with pretty heavy skepticism, which continues today. But then again, so does the legend.

The monster captured the attention of locals and tourists alike, drawing those who just wanted a glimpse as well as those with bigger aspirations.

Today, the Loch Ness monster has taken ranks with other mythical marvels and continues to be a source of curiosity, real or not.

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