Category: Children
California’s Schools on Wheels Helped 1,000 Children Without Permanent Homes
In 1922, California was experimenting with a new idea: if children could not reliably get to school, then school would have to go to them….
D.C. Children Warned Not to Drink From Horse Troughs
In the summer of 1907, Washington, D.C. officials faced a public health problem that seems almost unthinkable today: children drinking from horse troughs in the…
Girl, 12, Saves Child From Potomac Waters
The old newspapers were full of small acts of courage that were forgotten almost as soon as they were printed. In Washington, D.C., one of…
Fire Wrecks St. Mary’s Industrial School
In April 1919, a devastating fire tore through St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys in Baltimore, leaving behind wrecked buildings, injured men, and two dead…
Child Labor in Biloxi’s Oyster Canning Factories
Between 3 and 4 each morning, while much of the town still slept, a sound rolled out over the Gulf Coast and called the workers…
When Homework Was Called a National Crime
The debate over homework, overworked children, and the need for fresh air is not nearly as modern as it sounds. In 1900, editor Edward Bok…
The 1913 “Toy” That Let Children Shock Their Friends
In the early 1900s, homemade toys often came with a spark of danger, sometimes literally. Long before modern safety warnings and store-bought science kits, young…
Curious Homemade Tops of the Early 1900s
Long before televisions hummed in living rooms or smartphones glowed in children’s hands, amusement was often built at the kitchen table with scraps of wood,…
How to Make Wooden Stilts Instructions From 1906
Here are instructions published in 1906 on how to make wooden stilts. After covering the Landes stilts, I felt that it was only appropriate to…
How to Make a Wrapping Paper Wagon Instructions From 1902
The following instructions are for making an old-fashioned pull wagon out of cardboard. The instructions for children were originally published in a newspaper in 1902,…
