April A-Z, Historical Photographs, Letters Q through S
This month we’re participating in the April A-Z blogging challenge. Never fear, our regularly scheduled podcast episodes will still release every other Thursday. In between those episodes, enjoy some historical photographs themed to the letter of the day. This page will be updated each day until we run through our letters for this batch, then we’ll post this week’s episode, and then we’ll start a new page with new letters. I hope this brings some new history resources to light for you!
Q is for Quack
Did you know the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog has things labeled “Quacks and Quackery”?
And here’s a genuine quack and his quack machine, according to the Library of Congress. This guy is Dr. Richard R. Schleusner and his machine was supposed to restore youth. I guess you stand on the pedal-like things and put the cup-like devices on your ears, perhaps?
–Image Credit: Arthur Kennedy, Library of Congress Collection
–April 20, 2015
R is for Railroad Car
…specifically a health car, which search engines constantly mistake for a misspelling of healthcare. 
I wish the quality of this photo was a bit better. I’d love to see more of what happened in the health car. It looks like there are medicine bottles at the edges. Was one of these guys a doctor or pharmacist?
–Image Credit: Creator Unknown, Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection, Library of Congress Collection
–April 21, 2015
S is for Sewing Class
Here’s one class that (unlike the blacksmithing) you might still find in a a school today. I took one as a teenager, and–surprisingly–there was still a fair amount of handsewing, just as the girls are doing here.
These girls are in Point Barrow, Alaska sometime between 1900 and 1930. They are learning to sew at the northernmost point of the United States (though Alaska was not yet a state when this picture was taken.).
–Image Credit: Creator Unknown, Carpenter Collection, Library of Congress Collection
–April 22, 2015
–Connie B. Dowell