Historic Owl

07/15/2025

03/17/2025

Happy St Patricks Day!

This is a postcard from 1909 for St Patrick's Day with the Irish slogan "Erin go bragh" - Ireland Forever.

01/08/2025

I really was that kid.

12/31/2024

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year with many wonderful reads to come!

12/30/2024

12/28/2024

Time portal where you can get lost exploring antique, vintage and modern books, documents and digital media available for sale and license.

08/11/2024

18th century device that allowed researchers to read up to 8 open books at a time.

07/04/2024

This is the tomb of Marie Sklodowska-Curie, located in the Panthéon in Paris. What sets this tomb apart is its unique reinforcement with an inch-thick layer of lead. This measure was taken to shield the public from the lingering radiation that continues to emanate from her remains.

Marie Curie, a French-Polish scientist, achieved remarkable feats in her lifetime. She was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 and later, in 1911, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Notably, she holds the distinction of being the first woman to ever receive a Nobel Prize, the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two distinct scientific fields, and the first to win two Nobel Prizes.

Barred from higher education due to her gender, Curie persisted in her pursuit of knowledge.

She resorted to attending a clandestine institution known as the "Flying University" to further her education.

Marie Curie is renowned for her groundbreaking discovery of the radioactive elements radium and polonium, as well as coining the term "radioactivity." Unbeknownst to her at the time, her close work with radium led to her inadvertent exposure to harmful radiation, ultimately contributing to her death on July 4th 1934 from aplastic anemia.

Curie's body, along with her personal possessions such as cookbooks, clothing, furniture, and lab notes, is expected to remain radioactive for another 1500 years

06/16/2024

Happy Father's Day Wishes.

Here are a couple of antique images reflecting the lives of dads.

06/10/2024

Helen Keller smelling a rose and resting her hand on a braille book.