Widespread in America

Grand Forks Herald, May 8, 1910. The Edwardian era had its garden variety libertines and seducers, but Oom the Omnipotent was operating on an entirely separate plane. Though it was also a pretty crowded plane, according to this reportage. Read more.

River cruise

The Daily Inter-Ocean, May 22, 1879. In today’s history lesson, we trace gay nightlife in Chicago back to the first term of the Hayes administration. Read more.

Lucky number

Baltimore Afro-American, October 19, 1923. Messed up on so many levels. I didn’t know that Southern papers tried to discourage migration of the black labor force with actuarial fictions.

We wanna rock

Detroit News, March 26, 1931. Most people don’t realize that the Men In Black were first established under the Hoover administration. So stop blaming the New Deal.

Zeppelin dread

Detroit News, March 20, 1931. A fiendish commie plots to destroy our finest military dirigible. His target was softer than an eiderdown full of newborn kittens, but the guy somehow couldn’t get the job done. Over the jump we find law enforcement officials disagreeing as to continuing threat levels vis a vis America’s giant floating bags of explosive gas. Me, I’d have been worried whatsoever.