Readex

Readex Readex provides easy access to a wealth of historical primary source materials. Our digital collecti

📜 What do heirs of a Revolutionary War veteran say when petitioning Congress for a pension in the 1800s?The answer is de...
07/18/2025

📜 What do heirs of a Revolutionary War veteran say when petitioning Congress for a pension in the 1800s?

The answer is deeply personal, richly rhetorical, and steeped in American historical memory.

Our new blog post spotlights one such document—preserved in the U.S. Congressional Serial Set—that shows how families advocated for recognition long after the final shots were fired.

➡️ https://ow.ly/XuVf50Wpvif




🚀 Our Readex colleagues reflect on the Apollo 11 launch   in 1969:"An off-year anniversary. 56 years ago, this morning, ...
07/16/2025

🚀 Our Readex colleagues reflect on the Apollo 11 launch in 1969:

"An off-year anniversary. 56 years ago, this morning, Apollo 11 lifted off. On the 20th, we watched a human being walk on the moon. In 8 years, NASA fulfilled JFK’s mission. All while the Vietnam War began to rage, race riots proliferated, assassinations, burning American cities, and on.
Despite it all, it truly was an incredible event. We witnessed history."

"To my mind, the most amazing thing about Kennedy’s challenge isn’t 'we will go to the moon' but rather 'and safely return home.' Getting the astronauts back to Earth was apparently the hardest part."

🤔 American's were awestruck but how did the rest of the world react to launch and moon landing?

🌐 Find more global media reaction in BBC Monitoring: Summary of World Broadcasts and Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports https://ow.ly/4zfg50WqByj

🇺🇸 “Devoted to his country when her soil was everywhere pressed by the foot of her enemy…”These stirring words don’t com...
07/15/2025

🇺🇸 “Devoted to his country when her soil was everywhere pressed by the foot of her enemy…”
These stirring words don’t come from a battlefield diary—but from a pension petition to Congress decades after the Revolutionary War.

The latest Readex blog post explores a document in the U.S. Congressional Serial Set that blends patriotic rhetoric, family memory, and the legal pursuit of recognition.

📖 https://ow.ly/oI3R50WpuJW





07/11/2025

On July 10, 1807, Solomon Northup was born a free Black man in New York. In 1841, he was kidnapped, enslaved, and forced to labor on Louisiana plantations for 12 years. After his rescue, he shared his harrowing story in the memoir Twelve Years a Slave—a vital firsthand account of American slavery.

📰 We’re revisiting Northup’s legacy through three powerful primary sources:
📖 The 1854 first edition of Twelve Years a Slave
🗞️ An 1855 newspaper letter praising his public lectures
🎭 A rare 1863 playbill for a dramatic adaptation featuring Northup himself

Academic librarians and educators—how do you teach with narratives like his? How do performance, print, and voice shape memory and truth?

👇 Drop your thoughts below or share how you’ve used Northup’s story in your instruction.

👗 “Shed Underwear Says Suffragist"👠 Read about fashion as social commentary in the 19th and early 20th centuries: https:...
07/09/2025

👗 “Shed Underwear Says Suffragist"

👠 Read about fashion as social commentary in the 19th and early 20th centuries: https://ow.ly/ZAMS50WmChf

John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil, "money mad," "militant business man of his day," and a lifelong philanthro...
07/08/2025

John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil, "money mad," "militant business man of his day," and a lifelong philanthropist that began donating 6% of his salary at the age of 16 was born in 1839.

Muckraker and journalist Ida Tarbell wrote a scathing sketch of Rockefeller and his business practices to which he replied "It is hard to get rich."

Rockefeller, Standard Oil, and his charitable giving are widely covered in Early American Newspapers, 1690-1922 https://ow.ly/8abi50Wmsuo

💡 Support librarians and go on vacation!☀️ The GODORT: Government Documents Round Table Silent Auction supporting the W....
07/07/2025

💡 Support librarians and go on vacation!

☀️ The GODORT: Government Documents Round Table Silent Auction supporting the W. David Rozkuszka Scholarship is open through July 9, 2025. Bid on a stay in Naples, Florida or Chester, Vermont.

👉 https://www.readex.com/godort-silent-auction

🎓 The proceeds will support librarians working with government documents and library science students.

  in 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg ended.Just months later, Pennsylvania preserved the battlefield, and in November, Pr...
07/03/2025

in 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg ended.

Just months later, Pennsylvania preserved the battlefield, and in November, President Lincoln consecrated the Soldiers’ National Cemetery with the Gettysburg Address—words that still resonate today.

By the late 1860s, Gettysburg had transformed into a national site of remembrance and tourism. Period guidebooks—often overlooked—offer vivid insights into postwar memory, battlefield preservation, and the broader cultural currents of the Civil War era.

🔍 Discover how these resources can enrich historical research on the Readex Blog: https://www.readex.com/blog/three-19th-century-tourist-guides-civil-war-battlefields





👽 Before Roswell and Area 51, before the Wright Brothers and heavier-than-air flying machines, America’s attention was s...
07/02/2025

👽 Before Roswell and Area 51, before the Wright Brothers and heavier-than-air flying machines, America’s attention was seized by reports of a “mysterious airship” in 1896 https://ow.ly/JlRb50WjIiK

⚔️ Assassination, Diplomacy, and War: June–August 1914The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June ...
07/01/2025

⚔️ Assassination, Diplomacy, and War: June–August 1914

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, ignited a volatile mix of alliances and nationalism. Within weeks, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia, Germany, France, and Britain followed, plunging Europe into the Great War.

The U.S. remained neutral until April 1917, when headlines nationwide proclaimed Congress’s declaration of war. Coverage ranged from patriotic appeals to warnings about “enemy aliens.”

📰 Explore how American newspapers framed the war—and its meaning—for a divided public: https://ow.ly/8xAb50Witjr





🍁 Happy Canada Day! 🍁
07/01/2025

🍁 Happy Canada Day! 🍁

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