Stories of America’s Past

Welcome to America Comes Alive!, a site I created to share little-known stories of regular people who made a difference and changed the course of history. Look around and see what inspires you! — Kate Kelly

Kate Kelly

  • Song Pluggers in the American Music Industry

    Song pluggers were a big part of the growing music industry during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Before recorded music could be distributed, publishers hired professional songwriters to churn out new hits. Then songs were aggressively promoted through “pluggers,” who performed songs in vaudeville theaters and other venues to boost sheet music sales. The job of a song plugger was to get the public excited enough to buy the sheet music and play…
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  • The Invention of the Jukebox

    A jukebox!  If you walk into a themed restaurant where they have jukeboxes, it’s still a thrill. The thought of choosing some tunes that remind us of our teen years can’t help but bring back fun memories.  But times have changed. We all have phones that carry a multitude of our favorite songs, and personal earbuds let us listen anytime and anywhere to what we want.  Opportunities for communal listening are rare.  When the first…
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  • Winged Warriors of World Wars I and II

    Homing pigeons saved thousands of lives during both World Wars.  Despite amazing technological progress in warfare during the early 20th century, there were times when the military needed to rely on other methods of communication. An estimated 500,000 homing pigeons were used in the first World War. It was an old “technology” for new warfare. Sometimes the front line moved forward faster than the Signal Corps could string new wiring for telephones or telegraphs. At…
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  • The Enduring Role of Animals in World War I

    World War I marked a turning point in warfare, ushering in an era of large-scale mechanization. Trains, trucks, tanks, cars, and motorcycles were deployed for the war, yet animals remained indispensable. Before the United States entered the war, France and Britain were importing horses, mules, and donkeys from the U.S. But buying and importing animals was both difficult and expensive. Many of the animals became ill during transatlantic transit. When the United States entered the…
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On
This
Day

On September 16, 1940 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Selective Service and Training Act, which required all male citizens between the ages of 26 and 35 to register for the military draft, beginning on October 16. America was not yet involved in the Second World War, but Roosevelt considered it prudent to begin to train men for service in case the U.S. needed to defend itself.

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Welcome to America Comes Alive!, a site I created to share little-known stories of regular people who made a difference and changed the course of history. Look around and see what inspires you! — Kate Kelly

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Part of the inspiration for this site comes from this remark: “People do not want to hear about simple things. They want to hear about great things – simply told.”

Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams (1860-1935)
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