Real records · Real footage · Shared memories

Step into everyday life from another time.

Old places, ordinary lives and unanswered questions. Watch, read and browse free. Join only when you want to contribute.

7 entries to explore

Everyday American life in 1915

Watch the surviving films of streets, schoolchildren, markets and work, then open the original Library of Congress records.

Rebuild a week of milk, bread, meat, produce and sweets from the original USDA bulletin. Watch the film and read the prices.

The original photograph survives. The couple’s names are missing from the catalog. Inspect the portrait and source record.

Source photograph: Library of Congress. See the story for the catalog record.

Follow the farms, workers, housing and family moves behind the ordnance plant using original wartime records.

War Department booklet, 1941 / National Archives, public domain in the U.S.

The story is bigger than one ingredient. Explore food budgets, household labor, meal routines and movement.

Examine the historical danger of infection and the limits of medical treatment at the turn of the twentieth century.

Explore the historical records and the differences between having symptoms, naming a condition and counting cases.