Articles by Kelli Ballard

May 1 is a popular day. It’s the first of a new month, an international worker’s day, and it is the time people celebrate the beginning of a new season. Known as “May Day,” this holiday is steeped in tradition,… Read More

“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” ~ Edmund Burke April 24, 1800: The Library of Congress Established The Library of Congress in Washington, DC, is the largest library in the world. It has more than 170… Read More

It’s the day after Easter – or Easter Monday, as it’s often called. While today isn’t a federal holiday in the US like it is in many other parts of the world, there are still plenty of celebrations. The most… Read More

“Without words, without writing and without books there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity.” ~ Hermann Hesse April 17, 1961: The Bay of Pigs Invasion The 1960s was an uneasy time in the United States…. Read More

“The pull, the attraction of history, is in our human nature. What makes us tick? Why do we do what we do? How much is luck the deciding factor?” ~David McCullough April 12, 1961: First Human in Space World War… Read More

When you check out a book from the library and don’t return it on time, you can expect to pay a fine. But what happens when something worth millions of dollars is taken from a library? Something of historical significance… Read More

“Human history in essence is the history of ideas.” ~ H.G. Wells April 3, 1860: The Pony Express Began Today, we have the post office, Amazon, UPS, and a dozen other ways to have our mail delivered to our homes,… Read More

Thanks to the supply chain crisis left over from the COVID-19 pandemic, people are seeing the cost of goods rising while also waiting longer to receive them. There are shortages of everything from foods to computer chips and automobiles. Cargo… Read More

“History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.” ~ Lord Acton April 2, 1513: Ponce de Leon Discovered Florida Looking for a land that was rumored to have magical waters, known as the “fountain… Read More

“History provides no precise guidelines.” ~ Douglas Hurd March 22, 1972: Equal Rights Amendment Passed by Senate It took a long time for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to make it through Congress – and the proposed amendment was never… Read More

Shipwrecks and sunken treasure – the stuff dreams are made of. The quest to find a ship that was lost at sea hundreds of years ago with the promise of gold and trinkets has lured many a treasure-seeker to spend… Read More

“The history of mankind is the instant between two strides taken by a traveler.” ~ Franz Kafka March 15, 44 BC: Julius Caesar Assassinated Roman dictator Julius Caesar has one of the most famous names in history. It was he… Read More