Cracker Jack: Ever-Popular Baseball Snack
Cracker Jack holds the spot as “most famous of baseball snacks.” Remarkably, it has held that honor for over 100 years. The snack itself began as a simple, inexpensive confection …
Entrepreneurs & Inventors
The Magic Lantern-Early Form of Slide Projector
The magic lantern is a very old invention that served as a primitive slide projector. As improvements were made, the magic lantern eventually produced moving pictures as well.
How Jumbo Joined the Circus
Jumbo the elephant was identified as a possible “get” for the Barnum & Bailey circus in 1882 by a circus scout who found the elephant at the London Zoo. After …
P.T. Barnum’s Early Career
P.T. Barnum is remembered as a circus impresario and a huckster. Both those memories do him a disservice. He had a long and varied career prior to entering the circus …
Drive-In Movie Theaters
The concept for the first drive-in movie business originated with one man in the late 1920s. Richard M. Hollingshead, Jr. came up with the concept of watching movies from one’s …
Jelly Beans: Candy History
Jelly beans in America probably date to the early 19th century. The first known mention of this candy was in a Boston newspaper in 1861. Candy maker William Schrafft ran …
