We've hand-picked a selection of AnswerPoint Weekly Feature Articles just for history buffs. Articles are written by our librarians and include helpful webliographies listing a variety of resources for further research on the subject.

An American Thanksgiving
Everybody knows that the Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving, right? Well, probably not, but it was the Pilgrims' Thanksgiving that gave us our Thanksgiving holiday as we know it today.

A Tale of Two Presidents . . . and One City
Take a stroll through Fredericksburg in the steps of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Crossroads in the Cross Fire: Local Battles of the Civil War
Our country was torn apart. Families and friends were divided by beliefs as well as by geography. Ordinary townspeople found their lives interrupted as battle after battle was fought around them. This was the American Civil War . . .

A Brief History of Quilt Making
Quilting is one of the oldest crafts known to humankind. The earliest known visual reference to quilting is found on an Egyptian ivory carving from about 3400 BC. The carving shows a pharaoh wearing a mantle hat. The oldest actual example of quilted fabric, a quilted carpet found in Mongolia, dates from somewhere between the first century BC and the second century AD.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: Pastor for Peace
Dr. King's concept of "somebodiness," which symbolized the celebration of human worth and the conquest of subjugation, gave African-Americans, ethnic and poor people, and people with disabilities hope and a sense of dignity. His philosophy of nonviolent direct action, and his strategies for rational and non-destructive social change, galvanized the conscience of this nation and reordered its priorities.

Hard Times: Our World in the 1930's
The money was gone, credit could not be had, and the good farming soil of the Midwest was burned away under the swirling devil winds of the Dust Bowl. About all anybody had was family and hope.

The Ghosts in the Machine: Genealogy Resources
"A tree may grow a thousand feet tall, but its leaves will return to its roots." This Chinese proverb is especially true to the many people who are beginning to examine their own pasts by researching their ancestry. Whether travelling to courthouses, looking up books in the library, or searching on the Internet, more and more people are trying to find their roots.

Trace Your French Ancestors
Fredericksburg, Virginia has had a French connection since colonial times. French surnames such as Fontaine, Moncure, Maury, and Marye appear in the Virginia Herald indexes as early as 1793.

Time Travel to the Twenties
The cars were fast, the jazz was hot and Murderer's Row drew huge crowds to Yankee Stadium. Wild women called flappers flocked to prohibition-era speak-easies with their sheiks and danced the night away doing some new steps called the Charleston.