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Sometimes, while easing myself into a work session, I compose Twitter threads of things discovered while browsing through old newspapers. Sometimes these discoveries are made in the midst of research, sometimes through lazy browsing of online archives. This weekend marks the first time in nearly a year I've spent time in my hometown, Amherstburg. Taking advantage of the beautiful weather the first two days I was down here meant wandering around town and the rest of Essex County. Today is not so lovely, so I've parked myself in my Mom's dining room, where, depending on the angle, I can stare out into the lush greenery of the south end of town along the Detroit River. So, as an easing-into-work-you'll-see-in-a-few-months exercise, I decided to flip through the pages of the Border Cities Star from the second weekend of July a century ago. Instead of throwing this material onto Twitter, it seemed like a good excuse for a blog post where I could expand on some of the storie...

   Pasadena Evening Post,  December 31, 1920. Some newspapers end a year with reflections on the previous 12 months. Other express their hopes for the next 12. As 1920 gave way to 1921, the  Pasadena Evening Post  decided what would really cheer readers up (and keep advertisers happy) was to publish in its New Year's Eve edition a ton of ads and photos depicting grinning members of the paper's staff and the local business community. While some of those depicted look relaxed and friendly to talk shop with, others have strange expressions generally associated with membership in cults. Originally this post was going to be a long image dump, but I couldn't resist digging deeper, finding out more about the gentlemen featured in these ads. Newspapers.com has a decent selection of Pasadena papers, which to led to a two-day research adventure which yielded some interesting stories. I'll admit that I've developed a soft spot for Pasadena (and neighbouring Altadena) in re...

Boston Globe, December 25, 1920 . Brooklyn Citizen, December 24, 1920 . Chicago Tribune, December 24, 1920 . Daily British Whig (Kingston, ON), December 24, 1920 . La Presse, December 24, 1920 . London Free Press, December 24, 1920 . Oakland Tribune, December 25, 1920 . San Francisco Examiner, December 25, 1920 . St. Louis Star, December 24, 1920 . Washington Star, December 24, 1920 . Season's greetings to everyone, and enjoy your holiday in the most satisfying-under-the-present-circumstances way possible.  PS : Wonder what was happening in Toronto during the 1920 Christmas season? Check out Tales of Toronto . 

 Hamilton Times, December 24, 1909. Click on image for larger version. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the 1909 version of a holiday-themed zombie movie, where Santa is under siege from children transformed into the living dead who think jolly old St. Nick would make a good Christmas dinner. The expression on Santa's face suggests his effort to fend them off may be doomed.  Do you think that in their efforts to diversify their Christmas movies, Hallmark would consider a heartwarming holiday zom-com? This odd drawing, combined with last post's odd Inuit stories , lead us into an odd mixture of holiday items presented by the Hamilton Times, a Liberal-leaning paper which published from 1859 to 1920. Canadiana has a sampling of issues, primarily from 1907 to 1909 .  Hamilton Times, December 24, 1909. When a man is in pain and misery, you don't leave him (literally) hanging from wires just so you can run and grab a disbeliever.  Half-an-hour passed before Tommy return...

  Parade, December 24, 1950. Which of the eight types listed here are you? How often have you emerged from your stroll across the street with lumps or found yourself strapped to a hospital bed? How many times do you think the uncredited writer of this piece cursing at any of these pedestrians while behind the wheel of their post-Second World War American city? Launched in 1941, Parade is one of the last surviving nationally syndicated Sunday newspaper supplements in the United States. Why it still exists is a good question: the last time I saw a physical copy a few years ago, it was a sad little publication - unexciting celebrity and lifestyle content buried amid weak advertisers, combined into a 16-page package. Its website doesn't scream "read me!" thanks to a layout that is unfortunately evocative of those "around the web" clickbait sections.

This post offers supplementary material for an article I recently wrote for TVO , which you should read before diving into this post.  Here's a sampling of the ads that were discussed in the piece. Note the rise and fall of the ghoulishness factor, especially among the Christmas-centric ads. Click on the images for larger versions. Barrie Examiner, December 31, 1959. Barrie Examiner, December 24, 1960. Barrie Examiner, December 30, 1960. Barrie Examiner, December 23, 1961 . Barrie Examiner, December 30, 1961 . Barrie Examiner, December 31, 1962 . Barrie Examiner, December 30, 1963 . Barrie Examiner, December 24, 1964. Barrie Examiner, December 24, 1965. Barrie Examiner, December 31, 1966. The Weekly, December 20, 1967. I tried to find similarly ghoulish ads in other Ontario newspapers, and discovered this safety campaign from Toronto Township (present-day Mississauga) which ran during the mid-t...

Abraham Lincoln, 1863 April 15, 1865: the front page of the Globe featured its usual assortment of classifieds and diplomatic dispatches from Great Britain and elsewhere. It also contained the latest news from Hamilton, publication notices for two books, and an article offering advice from a former Torontonian on moving to California. Nothing particularly earth-shattering. Not so the headline halfway down the first column of page 2: Globe , April 15, 1865. The Globe then outlined what it knew about the events at Ford's Theatre the previous evening, and gave this description of Lincoln's condition: The President was in a state of synops, totally insensible and breathing slowly. The blood oozed from the wound at the back of his head. The surgeons used every possible effort of medical skill, but all hope was gone. The parting of his family with the dying President is too sad for description. In a separate incident, an attempt was made on the life of Secretary of St...

The Telegram , November 15, 1954. Click on image for larger version.  November 15, 1954: the day Torontonians began enjoying two long-running comic strips, courtesy of the Telegram. Peanuts  ( whose local debut I wrote about for Torontoist ) had been gaining popularity across North America since its debut four years earlier, while Marmaduke began causing mischief that year. Both strips migrated to the Toronto Star when the Tely folded in 1971. Peanuts is regarded as a comic strip classic; Marmaduke is admired for its longevity (creator Brad Anderson is still alive at age 90). The Great Dane's monotony has led papers to try and drop the strip--an act they don't always succeed in carrying out. When the Star attempted to dump it in 1999 , readers revolted. When people like, as the Star put it, the same two jokes told over and over again ("Marmaduke is a dog with some human qualities, and Marmaduke is gargantuan"), it's comfort food they will fight tenac...