On May 7, 1915, the RMS Lusitania was torpedoed off the Irish coast, killing over 1,200 people. This article reconstructs the disaster as it was experienced and reported at the time, drawing on survivor interviews, official cables, and contemporary newspaper coverage.
Drawing on letters, dispatches, and archival records, this article reconstructs how female journalists—the ‘D-Day Dames’—fought for the right to cover World War II, what they witnessed, and the barriers they overcame to report from the front lines and the home front.
A practical guide to using government documents—census records, congressional reports, hearings, and more—as primary sources. Learn how to interpret these records, avoid common pitfalls, and find them in depository libraries and digital archives.
Explore how the telegraph-driven, partisan newspapers of the 1860s shaped public understanding of the Civil War, from the first shots at Fort Sumter to the final surrender, and how they both informed and misled a nation hungry for news.
Drawing on letters, newspaper reports, and personal diaries, this article reconstructs how the 1918 influenza pandemic was experienced and understood by those who lived through it, revealing the fear, confusion, and resilience of the era.
Drawing on 1978 newspaper coverage, eyewitness memoirs, and biographical accounts from the era, this article reconstructs how Ayatollah Khomeini rose from a quiet religious scholar to the leader of Iran’s revolution, as seen through the eyes of those who lived through it.
Drawing on declassified White House records, CIA documents, and contemporary press reports, this article reconstructs the U.S. economic blockade and covert campaign against Salvador Allende’s Chile, revealing how Nixon ordered the CIA to ‘make the economy scream’ and how the world saw the unfolding crisis.
In the summer of 1888, 1,400 women and girls at Bryant & May’s match factory in London’s East End walked out, sparking a movement that reshaped women’s labour rights and inspired the formation of the Matchmakers’ Union.
Drawing on contemporary press accounts, eyewitness reports, and the Chicago Daily News photo archives, this article reconstructs how local newspapers covered the 1968 Democratic National Convention—the protests, the police response, and the city’s descent into chaos—and what readers knew at the time.
A primary-source reconstruction of the June 22, 1969 fire that burned Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River, showing how contemporaries reported, exaggerated, and ultimately transformed a local incident into a national symbol of environmental neglect.