EMERGING MODERN AMERICA 1890 - 1930
These stories relate to the beginning of the 20th century in U.S. history. How Progressives and others addressed problems of industrial capitalism, urbanization, and political corruption, the changing role of the United States in world affairs through World War I and how the U.S. changed from the end of the War to the eve of the Great Depression.
Click on the links below to go to a particular investigation or go back to the Archive.
Annie Oakley Coin
Was this coin a target for one of the Wild West's most popular female sharpshooters?...MoreAmos n' Andy
Is this aluminum record with the words "Amos and Andy" hand-written on its label an early recording of the old-time radio series?...MoreBill Pickett Saddle
Did this saddle ride into cowboy history with one of rodeo's most daring innovators? ...MoreBirth Control Box
A Missouri resident recently inherited a number of items that had been in her family for over 130 years, including an unusual wooden box...MoreBlack Star Line
A woman recently found two Black Star Line stock certificates, which had been purchased by her great grandfather in 1919...MoreCast Iron Eagle
Did this 12-foot-high eagle once grace the old Grand Central Station in Manhattan?...MoreConey Island Lions
A New York resident purchased a pair of giant zinc lion's claws from the estate sale of a deceased collector of amusement park memorabilia...MoreDempsey Fight Bell
Is this the bell that sat ringside at the world's first boxing superstar's legendary match? ...More
First Movie Studio?
Lincoln Heights is a quiet neighborhood in northeast Los Angeles located far from the glitz and glamour normally associated with Hollywood...MoreGreat Mexican War Posters
Is this an advertisement for a film made by an eyewitness to the Mexican Revolution?...MoreHoudini Poster
A Chicago man replacing roof insulation in his home realized that the old material contained scores of old posters for a Harry Houdini magic show. ...MoreHoward Hughes' Invention
A man in San Jose, California has a letter that he believes will prove his grandfather deserves credit for Howard Hughes' drill bit invention. ...MoreIsleton Tong
Was this building a safe haven for persecuted immigrants, or a hub for organized crime?...MoreJapanese House
How did an authentic Japanese house become part of the famed San Francisco World's Fair in a time just preceding World War II?...MoreLawrence Billy Club
Could this billy club with the words “Lawrence Strike” and the date 12/1/1912 really have been used in the famous Bread and Roses labor strike?...MoreLindbergh Engine
Two brothers from New Jersey grew up listening to their uncle's tall tales of adventures in the skies...MoreLost Musical Treasure
A man in Port Washington, Wisconsin who owns a pair of metal “masters” that were used to press shellac records in the 1920’s and 30’s has a hunch they could represent surviving fragments of a lost moment in American musical history...MoreMail Order Brides
In California, a photograph collector owns four small images of women taken in Chicago in the 1890s. ..MoreMcKinley Casket Flag
A Battle Ground, WA man has a flag which he claims once draped the casket of U.S. President William McKinley...MoreMexican Currency
Searching through his great-grandfather's belongings a San Antonio man finds Mexican currency and suspects a link to infamous bandits Zapata and Pancho Villa...MoreMovie Palace
Is it possible that a theater in the small town of Baraboo, Wisconsin, could have been the country's first great movie palace?...MoreNC-4: First Across the Atlantic
Is this piece of fabric a remnant from the first transatlantic flight, eight years before Lindbergh?...MoreNesbit Portrait
A woman in New Jersey owns a portrait she believes is a lost masterpiece by one of America's greatest illustrators and artists, Howard Chandler Christy...MoreNora Holt Autograph Book
Why did this Harlem Renaissance luminary own a book bearing the signatures of Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge?...More
