Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month

The IMLS Digital Collections and Content project celebrates Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month by uploading to its Flickr photostream the images from the Wing Luke Asian Museum digital collection (part of the larger King County Snapshots digital collection). Three photographs below are from Wing Luke Asian Museum (King County Snapshots) Flickr photoset.

Japanese Pavilion at the Alaska-Yukon Pacific Exposition, Seattle, 1909

Seven Chinese American women and one Caucasian woman, Seattle, ca. 1920

Four Boy Scouts, Seattle, August 1935

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Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

The first revenue trains in the United States began service on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad between Baltimore, Maryland and Ellicott’s Mills, Maryland, 180 years ago, on May 24, 1830.

This James Benney III’s 1889 photograph of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad passenger platform in the downtown Pittsburgh, PA, is courtesy of Historic Pittsburgh Image Collection. The station pictured was designed by Frank Furness in 1877 and later was demolished and replaced by a new station on lower Grant Street.

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Comet Halley

One hundred years ago, on May 18, 1910, the Earth passed through the tail of Comet Halley, the best-known of the short-period comets, visible from Earth every 75 to 76 years. Halley’s Comet last appeared in the inner Solar System in 1986 and will next appear in mid-2061.

This article on Halley’s Comet orbit, published in 1910, is courtesy of the Library of Congress, American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera digital collection. To read the article, please either click on the image below or follow this link.

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International Day of Families

International Day of Families is celebrated annually on May 15th. This year’s topic is “The impact of migration on families around the world”.

A small digital collection (66 items) in Opening History aggregation — Orange County Californio families photographs (part of Online Archive of California) focuses on families and family history. The 1890 photograph of an unknown family in San Pedro, California (below) is courtesy of this digital collection.

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International Nurses Day

May 12 is International Nurses Day. The photograph below, courtesy of Giovale Library Digital Collections at Westminster College, was taken in 1952 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and shows nurses’ training display.

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Mother’s day

This year Mother’s Day falls on May 9th. This photograph, courtesy of Museum of History and Industry Images digital collection, part of King County Snapshots digital collection, was taken on Mother’s Day over 60 years ago. On May 14, 1944, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Seattle Photographic Society cosponsored the Mother’s Day Outdoor Portrait Gallery in Volunteer Park in Seattle, Washington. Fifty-three volunteer photographers snapped portraits of 1,091 mothers and their children to send to husbands, fathers and sons serving in World War II military units overseas. This photo shows some of the photographers and their subjects in Volunteer Park at a wartime Mother’s Day photo shoot.

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National Train Day

On May 8, 2010, the 3rd annual National Train Day will be celebrated at Union Station in Chicago. Participants will get a chance to see model trains, tour private and Amtrak train cars, explore interactive and educational exhibits, etc.

The digital item below, courtesy of the Library of Congress, George Grantham Bain Collection, features an RR train photographed in Great Britain for the Bain news picture agency between 1910 an 1915.

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American Medical Association

American Medical Association (AMA) was founded on May 7, 1847, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The AMA pin featured on a photograph below, courtesy of Digital Past digital collection, was issued in 1902, and belonged to Doctor Amelia Louise Klehm (1870-1941). The round, gold pin has the following text, “A.M.A Saratoga Springs, 1902”.The image and shape of the pin are similar to a coin design. The image on the pin is of two Native Americans, one a woman, the other, a young boy, in an open field hiding behind a large tree stump. The middle of the stick has a spiral design.

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International Firefighters’ Day

May 4 is International Firefighters’ Day. The photograph below, courtesy of Historic Pittsburgh Image Collections, was taken during the Firefighters parade on April 21, 1946. Volunteer Firefighters from Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties Lead a Parade in East Pittsburgh to Support Striking Workers.

Another photograph from the same collection was taken in 1925 and shows the newly-built Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire Ladder Truck 9, which “comes complete with fire fighting tools including 32 feet of ladders, hoses, sirens, warning bell, and bright headlights, comfortable seating for three firefighters and a convenient crankshaft start.”

Where's the Fire? (07/23/1925)

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