On August 23…. In 1630, the first minimum wage – in fact, the first labor law of any kind in Colonial America – was passed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony when Gov. John Winthrop and his court of assistants decreed that construction workers should be paid at the rate of one shilling a day, or […]
THROWBACK THURSDAY: 11 Jobs That No Longer Exist
Back in the day, there were jobs to do just about everything. You could be paid to reset the pins at a bowling alley or knock on people’s windows to wake them up. But inventions, technology, efficiency and knowledge have contributed to the demise of such jobs that used to be commonplace in the economy, […]
THROWBACK THURSDAY: U.S. Post Office Established
{excerpted from an article at The History Channel online} On July 26 in 1775, the U.S. postal system was established by the Second Continental Congress, with Benjamin Franklin as its first postmaster general. Franklin (1706-1790) put in place the foundation for many aspects of today’s mail system. In 1753, Franklin, who had been postmaster of […]
THROWBACK THURSDAY: First Women’s Rights Convention Held
{excerpted from an article on History.com} At the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, N.Y., a woman’s rights convention the first ever held in the United States convened with almost 200 women in attendance. The convention was organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, two abolitionists who met at the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in […]
THROWBACK THURSDAY: Flag Day Established in 1777
History of Flag Day, June 14 During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution stating that the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white and that the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation. The national flag, which became known […]
THROWBACK THURSDAY: Debut of “The Simpsons”
The Simpsons is an American animated television sitcom starring the animated Simpson family, created by Matt Groening. It has been on the air for 31 years, including the shorts that debuted on April 19, 1987 on The Tracey Ullman Show. After a three-season run there, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime time show […]
THROWBACK THURSDAY: Brief History of Shorthand
Shorthand wasn’t always just for secretaries and court reporters, according to Leah Price, author of an essay about the subject in the London Review of Books. Before the 1870s, it was used more for writing down one’s own thoughts or discreetly noting the conversation of others. Samuel Pepys, Isaac Newton and Charles Dickens used it, […]