HISTORY: Preserved

"Newsboys Strike For Better Terms" 
"Newsboys Go On Strike"
"The Newsboys' Strike"

These are the headlines that appeared in The New York Daily Herald, The New York Times, The New York Daily Tribune, and The Brooklyn Daily Eagle on July 21, 1899. In the grand scheme of current events, this was a minor blip. The papers were daily regaled with numerous, ongoing strike events around the city and the country. So, the newsboys striking wouldn't normally have raised many eyebrows. I think what captured the attention of New York City and beyond was how quickly it grew and how many newsies were involved. (And just to set things straight, it wasn't just boys, there were newsgirls too!)
Who were these kids peddling newspapers? In the book Kids At Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor, the author, Russell Freedman, explains, 
"Working children were seen everywhere in America's cities. They sold newspapers, shined shoes, ran errands…

The newsboy strike of 1899 is an event in American history that captures the imagination and brings a twinge of pride at the thought of children fighting for something they found important. Of course, most of us are familiar with the story thanks to Disney and their movie Newsies and the later Broadway musical of the same name. We all know that historical events are usually embellished quite a bit when they reach the stage or silver screen, so what really happened in July 1899?

Well, I'm happy to say that the real story is just as exciting as Disney's version. No, there might not be a romance angle, but it is a story full of inspiration, betrayal, violence, chivalry, and kids with really cool names.

Something that most people don't know is that this wasn't the first time that newsboys had gone on strike. While doing research for this anniversary, I found a newspaper article talking about newsboys striking in Buffalo, NY in 1890 (Buffalo Morning Express, 5 Jan 1890). S…

The story of the newsboys strike of 1899 is just a tiny event in the course of a tumultuous time in the labor history of America. Disney brought the story to light with the movie Newsies in 1992. Many American kids who grew up in the '90s have fond memories of the movie and could probably sing a few bars from at least one of the songs. There is a smaller group of more obsessed fans who watched the movie until they knew every word, every lyric, and possibly every dance... And most recently, a new generation of fans was created when Newsies hit Broadway in 2012. It always brings a smile to my face when I hear modern-day teens singing Newsies songs.

I can now fully admit that I was one of those crazy fans from the 90s that obsessed about the movie. But, you all know how much of a history nerd I am, right? I don't obsess about things in the same way. So when I was a nanny in NYC (Long Island to be exact), what do you think I did with my free Saturdays? Catch a Broadway musical? N…

Another installment from the lovely Mrs. X's diary.


Sunday, February 4, 1945 Sunny. MacArthur entered Manilla today!
Jeanette & Cheryl helped me transplant the strawberries.

Saturday, March 10, 1945 Griffith Park
Thursday, March 15, 1945 Demonstrated star maps to a small group at leaders’ meeting this morning. After I paid balance on the two sleeping bags & also bought two tennis racquets (@ $5) for the girls. Good light racquets for them to learn with. Wandered home, gathering wild flowers en route. Had Girl Scouts & Brownies from new school here for a get-together. Mrs. M- came & we took data. Served cider & cookies. Mother & Dad stopped in on their way to desert. They came up yesterday on business & to see the house B- & P- have bought in Brentwood. It sounds interesting. Brought us jars of fruit & jelly. C. didn’t get home till 12:30.


I love that she wrote about a big headline. The Girl Scout tidbits are fantastic!

Day 9 of the wartime cooking class focused on the wartime lunch box. This is one of my favorite food topics, so not only were we trying out a mini version of a war worker's lunch box, I was gearing the kids up for the final, ultimate challenge which you'll find out about next week!

So, we discussed how important nutrition was for keeping war workers healthy, happy, alert, and full of energy. I gave them some examples of sandwich fillings to mixed reactions and we dove straight in to making our own wartime lunch - Mock Chicken Salad Sandwiches with Corn Meal Cookies, and Orangeade to drink.

The Mock Chicken Salad is absolutely delicious! I've made it in the past, so I knew the recipe was a keeper. It uses cooked pork ground up with carrots and celery with mayo and Chow Chow (a sweet, tangy, mustard relish). A lot of the kids really liked it (I think a couple weren't fond of it), but some even asked for seconds!

The Orangeade was something I tried out with my family in …

For our eighth class of History in the Kitchen - WWII, we learned about the emphasis during the war on canning all the produce from your garden and how canned foods were rationed and more expensive due to the high demand for tin.

I wanted to focus on a fruit recipe this time, so we tried this recipe for Peach Griddle Cakes along with experimenting with two Mapleine Pancake Syrups and one Molasses Spread. The Peach Griddle Cakes were easy and straight-forward. I used canned peaches, which worked very well.

I  made two different Mapleine syrups - one using sugar and the other using corn syrup. The one using sugar was okay, but as soon as we tried the one using corn syrup, we were amazed. It tasted exactly like store bought pancake syrup! Surprisingly with just corn syrup, water, a bit of salt, and Mapleine, the syrup produced even had a bit of a nutty flavor. It was really good and used the most.

A few brave souls tried the Molasses Spread which is more of a watery syrup, but it wasn…

After a sweet email from a tutor about how their student was able to use my blog for her research paper and shared some of the resources she used, I decided to update and refresh my list of WWII Rationing resources! I've been able to add a lot more links, though I do need to work on my list of books. That's a daunting one, to be honest, because there's SO much out there. My personal collection is currently packed, so I can't reference those titles right now. A project for another day!
I definitely wanted to draw your attention to my new addition to my resource page focusing on learning about wartime rationing around the world. I think most people think of WWII rationing in terms of two places - the UK and the US. This is an incredibly narrow view of rationing during the war, and I didn't even think about it until I spoke with a lovely Japanese lady at a WWII event where I had a rationing display tell me about food rationing in Japan during the war. I had never eve…

I'm sorry it's been a terribly long while since I last posted about Mrs. X's diary. This entry is chock full of good stuff!



Friday, February 2, 1945 Pouring rain! Changed my mind a dozen times about going to conference. At last minute decided to leave my poor car in garage & walk to street car. A neighbor picked me up & took me to depot – I wore Cheryl’s rain cape & Connie’s rubber boots! Beige slacks & green umbrella. I was a sight – but was glad I went. It was [fine?]. The – G. S. licensed leaders’ conference was at Plummer Park in Hollywood. It is a lovely place & exceptionally fine buildings. There were at least 50 people there. I got some wonderful new ideas & saw many “old friends”. “Leo” Mrs. Pronty [?], asked if my Scouts would take over the “Scout’s Own” at Griffith Park Camp. Went to Sears looking for boots afterward. Later waited 1 hr. & 10 minutes for a bus that never came at [?] H depot. Took another streetcar & walked 7/8 mile. Bro…