Photo: an undated photo booth photograph of a couple. Credit: from the author’s collection.

Photo Booths: A Short History

By Gena Philibert-Ortega on June 17, 2024

In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega explores the history and nostalgia of photo booths, which – in some places – are still around!.. (Read More)

Photo: Tupperware containers from 2011. Credit: OttawaAC; Wikimedia Commons.

Your Ancestor’s Party: 5 Facts about Tupperware

By Gena Philibert-Ortega on April 28, 2022

In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega writes about a phenomenon of the 1950s and 1960s: housewives hosting Tupperware parties... (Read More)

Photo: Thomas Edison, c. 1922. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Let There Be Light: Thomas Edison’s Patent for the Electric Light Bulb

By Tony Pettinato on January 27, 2021

Imagine a world without electric lights. Then thank Thomas Edison for his "Electric-Lamp" U.S. Patent #223898, granted on 27 January 1880... (Read More)

Illustration: Union soldiers wearing knapsacks. Credit: Internet Archive.

Unheralded Hero: The Inventor Whose Knapsack Saved Union Soldiers’ Backs

By Melissa Berry on August 25, 2020

Melissa Davenport Berry writes about Joseph Short’s key invention during the Civil War: a knapsack that didn’t wreck Union soldiers’ backs and shoulders... (Read More)

Illustration: the patent drawing of William Mayall's invention of a corn sheller

Genealogy Discoveries: My Cousin William Mayall Invented a Corn Sheller!

By Thomas Jay Kemp on March 16, 2018

An article by Thomas Jay Kemp about researching his 19th century cousin William Mayall and discovering he invented a machine to shell corn... (Read More)

Photo: detail from the drawing from Susan T. Converse’s patent for women’s underwear. Credit: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; Google Patents.

An Intimate Look at our Female Ancestors’ Lives: Their Underwear

By Mary Harrell-Sesniak on October 20, 2017

In this article, Mary Harrell-Sesniak searches old newspapers and records from the U.S. Patent Office to learn about the patents for women’s underwear... (Read More)