Posts Tagged Holidays

“The Birth of Old Glory” – Betsy Ross (presumably) and two girls showing United States flag to George Washington and three other men. Painting by Percy Moran, ca. 1917. Photo Credit: Library of Congress

Happy Flag Day! For those interested about the history behind the day, here is what the Library of Congress posted about the holiday.

School children at Central High III, Washington D.C. with the American flag. Photo Credit: Theodor Horydczak/Library of Congress

On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress approved the design of a national flag.

Since 1916, when President Woodrow Wilson issued a presidential proclamation establishing a national Flag Day on June 14, Americans have commemorated the adoption of the Stars and Stripes by celebrating June 14 as Flag Day. Prior to 1916, many localities and a few states had been celebrating the day for years. Congressional legislation designating that date as the national Flag Day was signed into law by President Harry Truman in 1949; the legislation also called upon the president to issue a flag day proclamation every year.

According to legend, in 1776, George Washington commissioned Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross to create a flag for the new nation. Scholars debate this legend, but agree that Mrs. Ross most likely knew Washington and sewed flags. To date, there have been twenty-seven official versions of the flag, but the arrangement of the stars varied according to the flag-makers’ preferences until 1912 when President Taft standardized the then-new flag’s forty-eight stars into six rows of eight. The forty-nine-star flag (1959-60), as well as the fifty-star flag, also have standardized star patterns. The current version of the flag dates to July 4, 1960, after Hawaii became the fiftieth state on August 21, 1959.

Photo Credit: George Eastman House Collection

Two women holding a sign that reads “Easter Holidays! Take a Kodak with you Prices from 5-”, ca. 1917.

Photo Credit: Roy O. Bingham/Denver Public Library

One of many Easter services held on Apennine mountainside by the Tenth Mountain Division. Conducted by Caplain William H. Bell for the 605th Artillery Battalion at Rocca Pitigliano on April 1, 1945. A large group of soldiers sit in a grassy open field with heads bowed. Before them stands the chaplain with a box beside him, a jeep marked beneath the windshield with “Chaplain” in between two crosses, and a portable pump organ.

In the foreground, four men bow their heads together. Corporal Ralph Squires sits at a portable organ and two soldiers face the Chaplain who stands in front of his jeep draped with a white cloth in use as an altar for a small crucifix. Photo Credit: Roy O. Bingham/Denver Public Library

Photo is of Tenth Mountain Division Cpl. Squires playing the organ. Worshipers sit on the grass listening. Photo Credit: Roy O. Bingham/Denver Public Library

Valentine’s Day By the Numbers. (2013). The History Channel website. Retrieved February 13, 2013.

Photo Credit: Adolph B. Rice Studio/Library of Virginia

The photo is of a Valentine’s dance at a Virginia school on February 15, 1956. Sometimes there is nothing better than one of those school dances where kids are looking everywhere but at their partners, the gap between partners could actually fit a whole other person and the ladies man of the class is dancing with a broom…

Poem from Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife in 1415. Photo Credit: BBC

The oldest existing Valentine card is believed to be housed in the manuscript collection of the British Library. In 1415, Charles, duke of Orléans, gave his wife a valentine while being held prisoner in the Tower of London.  The French nobleman was wounded and captured at the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Year’s War.  The valentine poem that Charles writes to his wife while in prison was not the typical happy-go-lucky valentine that we may be use to. Instead, the note was of somber yearning.

Je suis desja d’amour tanné Ma tres doulce Valentinée…

I am already sick of love My very gentle Valentine…

The duchess died before the poem could reach her. Over the duke’s 25 year imprisonment, he wrote his wife 60 love poems that are often said to have been the first “valentines.”

History of Valentine’s Day

[Zim’s Side Note: The Battle of Agincourt was the centerpiece of William Shakespeare’s Henry V. Charles, duke of Orléans appears in the classic play as well.]

BBC

Last night I trekked out to my parents’ home in the country. After waking this morning and stumbling my way to the stairs, I glance out the window and saw large, fluffy snowflakes silhouetted against a grove of trees. The sight made me feel content. A wave of happiness flooded through me. I’m home and it’s Christmas. Not everyone is able to say that and it makes me that much more grateful. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year’s!

Since I can’t help myself…

I happen to think this is one of the best Christmas movies ever!

“A youngster, clutching his soldier father, gazes upward while the latter lifts his wife from the ground to wish her a `Merry Christmas.’ The serviceman is one of those fortunate enough to be able to get home for the holidays.”12/1944

National Archives

Source: History.com

“The National Christmas Tree presented to President Coolidge by Middlebury College as a gift from his home state has been set up in Wash. D.C. immediately behind the White House.” (Photo: Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)

The National Christmas Tree is located near the White House and has been illuminated by the United States President since the 1920′s. The first president to initiate this annual tradition was President Coolidge in 1923. Middlebury College in Vermont (Coolidge’s home state) donated the 48-foot tall balsam fir which served as the first National Christmas Tree. Illuminating the tree were 2,500 electric red, white and green bulbs donated by the Electric League of Washington. On Christmas Eve, at 5:00 p.m., President Coolidge lit the tree.

President Coolidge illuminating the community Christmas tree, which has been erected on the Monument Grounds, south of the White House. (Photo: Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)

Information: National Park Service 

(Photo Credit: National Postal Museum, Curatorial Photographic Collection)

US military personnel surrounded by parcels in a World War II holiday mail rush do their best to handle the mountain of boxes and sacks of mail. In the effort to get this mail overseas on time and in decent condition postal officials frequently publicized the advance mailing period and advised patrons on how to prepare packages for overseas shipping.

[Zim's Note: I like the face of the bottom right man the most, I think his facial expression captures the moment the best]

National Postal Museum