The Coast Guard’s Forgotten History(Post)

    Too often overshadowed by its similarly sea-faring cousin, the Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard has a far longer history, and one that’s just as action-packed.Officially formed on January 28, 1915, the Co

    Cloud Chasing Chariots: Early Yosemite Photographers(Post)

    Imagine it’s 1860.  You want to capture the clouds over Yosemite. But you don’t just hold your hand above the sky, squint and take a picture. There are no hand-held cameras, no phones, no cars, no G

    “A Span, A Cry, An Ecstasy"(Post)

    If the Brooklyn Bridge were nothing more than an engineering marvel, that would have been enough to insure its place in the pantheon of great American civic enterprises. It was more than the sum of

    “A Fortress Besieged By An Invading Army”: The Astor Place Riot(Post)

    On the evening of May 10, 1849, the British Shakespearean actor William Charles Macready, playing Macbeth, stepped onto the stage of the palatial Astor Place Opera House in lower Manhattan. Built i

    Mark Twain on the Danube(Post)

    Acclaimed novelist, lecturer, humorist, journalist, and travel writer—Mark Twain (1835-1910) received a celebrity’s welcome when he arrived in Vienna in September 1897. Bookstores could not keep up

    The Gold Rush’s Hazy Grays(Post)

    John W. Marshall inadvertently made — and changed — history on January 24, 1848, when the carpenter found bits of gold at entrepreneur John Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California. The men tried to keep

    Elephants On The Brooklyn Bridge(Post)

    It was an audacious project from the start. Fourteen years in the building, the Brooklyn Bridge easily catapulted itself into the ranks of the Seven Wonders of the Industrial Age. The Bridge was a t

    About(Page)

    Snapshots of the Past was founded in May 2001 in Pittsburgh. The business operated as a print seller for 15 years before closing in 2016. In 2023, it re-established it's web presence again.  We...

    Jane Addams, George Pullman, and King Lear(Post)

    The career of Jane Addams (1860-1935) was bracketed by the founding of the Chicago social settlement, Hull House, in 1889, and her receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. Her list of accomplishmen

    The Tractor Rumbles To Life (Post)

    The scene of a farmer astride a John Deere tractor, the sun beating down as he moves through rows of fields, seems a familiar part of the American landscape. But the iconic and seemingly ubiquit

    Braille: The Language Of The Blind(Post)

    Braille has fascinated me since I was young. Created by Louis Braille in the 1800’s, it was an incredible discovery and helped millions around the world who previously were unable to read or write t