Holidays rss

Different demographics in different regions shaping Holidays with American style.

The First White House Valentine’s Day Dance: the McKinleys, Ragtime, Racism & The Romance of the “Ghost Girls”

On February 14, 1901, just over three months after he won re-election to a second term and eighteen days before his second inauguration, President William McKinley and his wife, First Lady Ida McKinley hosted the fourth of the five White… Read More ›

The Nixon Family’s White House Halloween Parties of the Seventies: Pumpkin Pictures

In the post-World War II era of consumerism that marked the 1950s, American children began heading out to trick-or-treat on Halloween by the hundreds of thousands, redefining ancient Celtic rituals marking All Hallow’s Eve that were first brought to the… Read More ›

A Dozen First Lady Fourths: Presidential Wives’ Independence Days Radically Diverse

Since that day of July 4, 1776. when its independence was first declared by the American colonies upon the ratification of the Declaration of Independence, the United States has marked Independence Day for 240 years. It was only thirteen years… Read More ›

Pulaski Days in Grand Rapids: Michigan’s Polish-American Holiday

Yesterday, October 11, was once traditionally celebrated in cities with large Polish-American populations as the traditional Pulaski Day, marking the day that Count Casimir Pulaski, a native of Warka, Poland, heroically died in 1779 while fighting for American independence. By the… Read More ›

Rich Celebrity First Mom: Franklin Roosevelt’s Dominant Mother Sara

Everyday must have seemed like Mother’s Day to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Sara Delano Roosevelt wouldn’t have permitted it any other way. “Am I proud of being an historic mother?!” she waspishly repeated a question rudely thrown her way by reporters. “Indeed… Read More ›