Footnote.com collects 59,818,947 (Why yes, that is a very exact number, isn't it?) scanned historical documents, from places like the National Archives and Library of Congress. But that can be a little overwhelming when you don't have a specific item you're trying to find.
Enter "Unfortunate Cookie", Footnote.com's random document generator that pulls up some great, eye-catching news headlines (and full stories) from decades past, such as:
Woman Becomes Insane on Train (San Francisco Chronicle, 1907)
Murdered in His Bed: Aged Roanoke Man Victim of Stealthy Assassin:
Head Cut Open With an Ax (The Washington Post, 1906)
Wheel Gone, Santa Flips His Car (Florida Today, 1969)
I'll confess, I'm not sure why the site includes a fortune cookie theme, the documents are interesting enough without it. But in general, it's a great (and quickly addictive) peek into the past.
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Donald Trump, sinking lately in the polls, is to “reboot” his campaign, writes the Wall Street Journal. Part of the issue for the New York businessman is that he has run his campaign much like his family business, with his grown children as his top counselors and surrogates. That has meant he hasn’t developed a […]
Today, Chelsea Manning spoke with her attorneys for the first time since her hospitalization last week. Attorneys Chase Strangio, Vincent Ward and Nancy Hollander released the following statement on the imprisoned whistleblower’s behalf.
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unfortunate headline typo: missing ‘t’ in unfortunate
Yeah, the fortune cookie theme does make it a little convoluted to get to the documents. It’s cute and all, but too much to click through.
Awesome idea. Tried it and they have a facebook app too! totally addictive
I love the idea, and the interface is cute, but the content is a little forced, and not as interesting as I would have hoped. I keep opening more in hopes that I’ll enjoy it.
heh this is cool, my first cookie brought me to a story about the traffic chaos caused by Woodstock. It can be found here:
http://www.footnote.com/image/228152129/