My students had to attend an information session in the library, which means I had to attend an information session in the library. These sessions are usually a bore for me, since I’ve been navigating the databases for over six years and am web savvy as it is… However, the librarian that conducted this session sparked my interest in some of the newspaper archives that are now available at our uni, so I started browsing around, just out of curiosity, when I had a few hours off at work.
My favorite is the New York Times historical database, which features files dating back to 1857. I started by searching random historical names, like Queen Victoria and Charles Dickens, and got quite a few hits. Then I tried searching specific dates, like my birth month and day, minus a hundred years (I also tried Em’s)… that’s when the fun articles started to appear…
My favorite has to be “A Car Conductor’s Gallantry: the Very Aged Lady, Two Spinsters, and the Horse Car,” printed in 1884. I’m still not certain whether this is just satire, or an actual report, but it would make for a very good farce 🙂 . Sadly, I can’t post it, copyrights and all that.
marginalia and such 
