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: eight of the children of John Washington Cram and his wife Polly: (standing, left to right): Dr. Elizabeth Sanborn Cram Fenno (wife of Stephen Fenno); George Washington Cram (husband of Sarah Holden); and Elvira Catherine Cram Stevens (wife of John Nelson Stevens); (seated, left to right): Polly Cram Maloon (wife of Greenleaf Maloon); Nancy Cram Lane (wife of William Lane); Amos Cram (husband of Jane Sanborn Prescott); Mary Jane Cram Parsons (wife of Joseph Parsons); and Dr. John Cram (husband of Sarah Abbott Lane). Credit: Kathy Williams Curtis.

Genealogy & Photos of the Quimby Family Line

By Melissa Berry on March 26, 2024

In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry writes about the extended Quimby family line, featuring a famous inventor, and includes many family photos. .. (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: “Submarine Torpedo Boat H.L. Hunley, Dec. 6, 1863” by Conrad Wise Chapman. Credit: American Civil War Museum – Chapman Paintings Portfolio; Wikimedia Commons.

On This Day: Confederate Submarine Sank with Horace Hunley, Inventor

By Tony Pettinato on October 15, 2020

Confederate engineer Horace Hunley, who invented the submarine that made the 1st successful attack, died on 15 October 1863 during a training run... (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)

Photo: the replica engine house and derrick of the Drake Well at the Drake Well Museum in Titusville, Pennsylvania, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Credit: Niagara; Wikimedia Commons.

On This Day: World’s First Successful Oil Well – Drilled in 1859!

By Tony Pettinato on August 27, 2018

An article about Edwin L. Drake drilling the first commercially successful oil well, near Titusville, Pennsylvania, on 27 August 1859... (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)

Tag: Inventors and Inventions or Patents