On July 10, 1938, aviation entrepreneur/movie director Howard Hughes, age 33, and a four-man crew, took off from a Long Island airfield in his Lockheed No. 14 Super Electra plane, named “New York World's Fair 1939.” It carried advanced radio and navigation equipment and newspapers reported that "Secret Army Aviation Devices" were also on board to collect information over foreign countries. The Hughes flight was intended to demonstrate the feasibility of international aviation while also promoting the impending New York World’s Fair. The three-day flight, covering almost 15,000 miles, broke aviation records, bringing Hughes trophies, a ticker-tape parade through Manhattan, and speaking engagements in official Washington and across the country.
2. Children in Maine’s canning factories, 1911.
Seventy-five canneries dotted Maine’s eastern coastline in 1900, producing canned sardines that were shipped across the nation. The work was seasonal, with intense periods coming in the fall which required many unskilled workers willing to work long hours. Rural families, then at the end of the fall harvest season, were recruited for this work; and entire families took these jobs, in keeping with the rural tradition that everyone, including children, contribute to the family’s economic well-being, even if that meant missing school. The seasonal nature of the work exempted canneries from Maine’s restrictions on child labor; and children as young as five worked in these places, sometimes in bare feet, using long knives to cut off the heads of sardines while other children packed them in tins and filled shipping cartons. OSHA and its regime of worker safety regulations were sixty years in the future. Accidental cuts and finger amputations were commonplace. [Lewis Hine photographs.]
3. Grant’s post-presidential trip around the world, 1877-78.
In May 1877, having left the presidency with neither an estate nor business to return to, fifty-five year old Ulysses S. Grant embarked on a world tour with his wife, Julia, their son, Jesse, and a veteran newspaper reporter. The journey was an idea that had long intrigued Grant and it started out as a personal affair; but the level of international enthusiasm for his visits surprised Grant and caught the attention of his successor, Pres. Hayes. For the people of Europe, Grant was the military genius who had saved the Union, and he was welcomed everywhere as a world statesman. As the reports of Grant’s enthusiastic welcomes on the European continent grew, Hayes encouraged Grant to extend his tour beyond Europe, to include Asia, and offered Grant the use of US Navy vessels to demonstrate Grant’s stature as a representative of the US government. In this remarkable two-year trip, Grant spoke with the major leaders of the world and saw all of the sights, including an overnight stay in Windsor Castle, the Sistine Chapel, the Louvre, the Egyptian pyramids, and the Great Wall of China. After returning to an enthusiastic public welcome in San Francisco, Grant traveled the US for the next two months and attended a Chicago reunion for 80,000 Civil War veterans. There, Grant met Mark Twain, who would become his close friend and provide crucial aid in Grant’s efforts to publish an autobiography. The national tour culminated in Philadelphia, where Grant and Hayes met for a two hour discussion of national and world affairs. Grant’s tour was a resounding American diplomatic success.
4. Southern life, 1935-40.
1/ Bog Trotters Band, Galax, VA. 2/ Square dance team, Ashville, NC. 3/ Alice "Judge" Richardson, Natchez, MS. 4/ Baptism, Mineola, TX. 5/ Valbertina, Minnie and Elizabeth, Stanton, TX. 6/ Uncle Billy McCrea, Jasper, TX. 7/ Black prisoners break rocks for road construction. 8/ Girls in San Antonio, TX. 9/ "Lightnin'" Washington singing with his group of fellow prisoners in the woodyard at Darrington State Prison Farm, TX. [Alan Lomax photographs]
5. Centennial celebration of Washington’s inauguration, 1889.
The 3-day celebration drew tens of thousands to New York City, the place where Washington's inauguration had occurred. Among them was Pres. Harrison, who was rowed ashore at the foot of Wall Street, as well as former presidents Hayes and Cleveland. The celebration featured several large parades, including on the first day, when 50,000 troops from every branch of the military passed in presidential review. Civic and industrial groups comprised later parades, and among the parade floats were replicas of Fraunces Tavern, where Washington had bid farewell to his officers in 1783, and Federal Hall, where he had taken the oath of office. Evenings were filled with outdoor concerts, receptions and fireworks displays across the city. Photos: 1/ Harrison comes ashore. 2/ The grand military parade. 3/ Temporary parade arch on Fifth Ave at 23rd St.
6. The Klondike gold field at the Alaska/Canada border, 1898.
Gold was discovered in the Klondike region of the Yukon Territory of northwestern Canada in 1896. Over the next three years, 100,000 people traveled to the region in search of riches. Many departed from San Francisco. Some of the hopeful were prospectors. Others set up retail operations to serve them. Few became wealthy. Photos: 1/ Women pull a cart of provisions. 2/ Miners work an underground shaft. 3/ A roadhouse for miners. 4/ Paying the bar tab with gold dust.
Thanks for taking a look. We’ll see you on Wednesday.
