The wonder of original period documents in Phoenix, Arizona


One of the things that I love is reading documents from the period, especially in my favorite city, Phoenix, Arizona.


And by that I mean newspapers, periodicals, even ads that were created at the particular time that I'm interested in. Before the internet, I would page through old Yellow Pages at the Burton Barr, and now I spend a lot of time looking at newspapers at the Library of Congress website.

But I gotta warn ya, sometimes it's just awful. Times have changed, and what might have been acceptable, both in language and behavior "back in the day" are things that nowadays are unacceptable, if not unthinkable. So if you look at original documents, be prepared for some harsh stuff, especially on the subject of race.

I've found a lot of original documents online, and I look through them on my computer the same way that I used to look at old magazines, slowly going page by page, stopping to read something, making a mental note to go back to learn more, and then slowly turning pages. I'm not really looking for anything, I'm just looking. But I often find some cool stuff!

When people recommend history books to me, I politely decline. I've read a lot of history books, and they tend to be too far away from the source to satisfy me. Of course books that were written about what is now history, and were current events when they were published, interest me a lot.

So this is what I do. I ponder and browse. When I find something that I like, I share it. Because it's really no fun if I can't share it and say, "Hey, look what I just found!"
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