September 12, 2015 By Maryanne Datesman Leave a Comment

Boys’ Page for October: “When You Are Lost in the Woods” The Youth’s Companion October 1, 1914, p. 512 Few persons become lost in the woods when the sun is shining; but on a cloudy day, or in a …

Continue Reading about When You Are Lost in the Woods →

Filed Under: Home and Family, Lifestyle Leisure and Sports, Technology, Wit & Wisdom Tagged With: Adventure, American Ways 10, American Ways 4, Boy Scouts, Boys, Camping, Compass, Directions, Outdoors, Throwback Thursday, Woods, Youth’s Companion 1914

January 12, 2015 By Maryanne Datesman Leave a Comment

If you know a twelve-year-old boy whose idea of adventure is playing video games on his cell phone, share this story with him. Ask him if he’d like to trade places with this boy “born and bred in the …

Continue Reading about Frontier Boy vs. Legendary Grizzly Bear →

Filed Under: American West, Cultural Values, Six Basic American Values Tagged With: Adventure, American Ways 10, American Ways 4, Audio Recording, Bears, Boys, Camping, Children, Commentary, Danger, Fishing, Frontier, Hunting, Lesson Plan, Nature, Outdoors, Parenting, Self-Reliance, Throwback Thursday, Video Games, Wilderness, Wilderness, Youth’s Companion 1914

October 12, 2017 By Maryanne Datesman Leave a Comment

How many inventions are discovered accidentally? Here’s a clear case of serendipity, reported in the Youth’s Companion 100 years ago. “The First Gas Burner” The Youth’s Companion February 22, 1917 …

Continue Reading about Is Serendipity the Mother of Invention? →

Filed Under: Invention

October 1, 2015 By Maryanne Datesman Leave a Comment

This article was written in 1914, at the beginning of World War I. News dispatches were describing battles taking place in Europe and there must have been some confusion about the names of these …

Continue Reading about Battles That Have Two Names: It’s a Matter of Perspective →

Filed Under: National and International News, War History Tagged With: 14th Amendment. 15th Amendment, American Ways 8, Antietam, Artifacts, Artifacts, Audio Recording, Austria, Battle, Battle Locations, Battle Names, Border State, Bull Run, Civil War, Civilians, Commentary, Confederate, Confederate Money, Diest, England, Florida, France, General Sherman, General Sherman, Germany, Grandfather, Grandmother, Gravelotte, Haelen, Königgrätz, Königgrätz, La Belle Alliance, La Plata, Lesson Plan, Manassas, Maryland, Military, Occupation, Pennsylvania, Perspective, Pittsburgh Landing, Prussia, Rebel, Reconstruction, Sadowa, Secede, Secede, Sharpsburg, Sherman’s March to the Sea, Shiloh, Shiloh, Slavery, Soldiers, St. Privat, Sympathizers, Sympathizers, The North, The South, Throwback Thursday, Union, Waterloo, World War I, World War I, Yankee, Youth’s Companion 1914

June 22, 2017 By Maryanne Datesman Leave a Comment

A Special Labor Day Message… Hard work—it’s one of our basic American values, the price we pay to get ahead, to capture the American Dream of a better life. But do our young people really have a …

Continue Reading about Beware of Bumptious Fritterers! →

Filed Under: Business and Finance, Cultural Values, Lifestyle Leisure and Sports, Six Basic American Values Tagged With: Ambition, American Ways 11, American Ways 2, American Ways 6, Audio Recording, Children, Commentary, Creativity, David McCullough Jr, Discipline, Efficiency, Egotism, Hard Work, Ideals, Lesson Plan, Parenting, Routine Work, Throwback Thursday, Work Ethic, Workplace, You Are Not Special…And Other Encouragements, Young People, Youth’s Companion 1914

October 3, 2015 By Maryanne Datesman

Meet Granny Rhoda, who could be the “poster child” for the self-reliant frontier woman. She was beautiful, accomplished, fearless, neat, sweet-tempered, and had faith in God. An inspiration to us …

Continue Reading about Granny Rhoda: She Can Bring Home the Bacon and Fry It Up in a Pan →

Filed Under: American West, Cultural Values, Gender Roles, Home and Family, Lifestyle Leisure and Sports, Nature, Religion, Short Stories, Six Basic American Values Tagged With: Accomplishments, Adventure, Audio Recording, Equality of Opportunity, Family, Gender Roles, Hard Work, Lesson Plan, Nature & Science, Parenting, Self-Reliance, Women, Youth’s Companion 1914

January 12, 2015 By Maryanne Datesman Leave a Comment

If you know a twelve-year-old boy whose idea of adventure is playing video games on his cell phone, share this story with him. Ask him if he’d like to trade places with this boy “born and bred in the …

Continue Reading about Frontier Boy vs. Legendary Grizzly Bear →

Filed Under: American West, Cultural Values, Six Basic American Values Tagged With: Adventure, American Ways 10, American Ways 4, Audio Recording, Bears, Boys, Camping, Children, Commentary, Danger, Fishing, Frontier, Hunting, Lesson Plan, Nature, Outdoors, Parenting, Self-Reliance, Throwback Thursday, Video Games, Wilderness, Wilderness, Youth’s Companion 1914

September 25, 2014 By Maryanne Datesman Leave a Comment

With elections coming, there is a lot of talk about the women’s vote and how to secure it. One party claims that the other party is waging a war on women and that women had better vote with them or …

Continue Reading about Suffering from Women’s Suffrage →

Filed Under: American West, Government and Politics, Home and Family Tagged With: 19th Amendment, 2012 Election, American Ways 11, American Ways 12, American Ways 4, American Ways 7, Audio Recording, Barack Obama, Candidate, Civil War, Commentary, Conservative, Constitutional Convention of 1787, Declaration of Independence, Election, Election, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Equality of Opportunity, Family, Family Relationships, Feminism, Feminism, Freedom, Gender Roles, Lesson Plan, Marriage, Mitt Romney, Mitt Romney, Platform, Political Parties, Political Parties, Susan B. Anthony, The East, The West, Throwback Thursday, Voting Rights, Voting Rights, Women, Women’s Rights, Women’s Suffrage Movement, Youth’s Companion, Youth’s Companion 1914

September 18, 2014 By Maryanne Datesman Leave a Comment

“Battling the Armyworm for 100 Years” Last Saturday we were sitting around a fire pit in a friend’s yard, roasting marshmallows for s’mores, when the subject of lawns came up. Our friend said he …

Continue Reading about Battling the Armyworm for 100 Years →

Filed Under: Home and Family, Science and Health Tagged With: American Ways 10, American Ways 5, Audio Recording, Caterpillar, Commentary, Farm, Fire Pit, Florida, Garden, Larva, Lawn, Lesson Plan, March, Marshmallows, Marshmallows, Military, Moth, National Gardening Association, National Gardening Association, Oklahoma, Pest, Rocky Mountains, Rocky Mountains, S’mores, Texas, The South, The West, Throwback Thursday, Virginia, Youth’s Companion, Youth’s Companion 1914

October 1, 2015 By Maryanne Datesman Leave a Comment

This article was written in 1914, at the beginning of World War I. News dispatches were describing battles taking place in Europe and there must have been some confusion about the names of these …

Continue Reading about Battles That Have Two Names: It’s a Matter of Perspective →

Filed Under: National and International News, War History Tagged With: 14th Amendment. 15th Amendment, American Ways 8, Antietam, Artifacts, Artifacts, Audio Recording, Austria, Battle, Battle Locations, Battle Names, Border State, Bull Run, Civil War, Civilians, Commentary, Confederate, Confederate Money, Diest, England, Florida, France, General Sherman, General Sherman, Germany, Grandfather, Grandmother, Gravelotte, Haelen, Königgrätz, Königgrätz, La Belle Alliance, La Plata, Lesson Plan, Manassas, Maryland, Military, Occupation, Pennsylvania, Perspective, Pittsburgh Landing, Prussia, Rebel, Reconstruction, Sadowa, Secede, Secede, Sharpsburg, Sherman’s March to the Sea, Shiloh, Shiloh, Slavery, Soldiers, St. Privat, Sympathizers, Sympathizers, The North, The South, Throwback Thursday, Union, Waterloo, World War I, World War I, Yankee, Youth’s Companion 1914

Most of us are familiar with the term “grandfathered in” that indicates an exemption from some new rule or law that has been enacted. Merriam-Webster defines the grandfather clause: “Law: a part of a …

Continue Reading about Who’s your gran-daddy? The Origin of the Grandfather Clause →

Maryanne Datesman gives an overview of the Vintage American Ways website and shares her experience writing American Ways: An Introduction to American Culture with her two co-authors. She explains …

Continue Reading about Interview with Maryanne Datesman Co-Author of American Ways: An Introduction to American Culture →

October 3, 2015 By Maryanne Datesman

Meet Granny Rhoda, who could be the “poster child” for the self-reliant frontier woman. She was beautiful, accomplished, fearless, neat, sweet-tempered, and had faith in God. An inspiration to us …

Continue Reading about Granny Rhoda: She Can Bring Home the Bacon and Fry It Up in a Pan →

Filed Under: American West, Cultural Values, Gender Roles, Home and Family, Lifestyle Leisure and Sports, Nature, Religion, Short Stories, Six Basic American Values Tagged With: Accomplishments, Adventure, Audio Recording, Equality of Opportunity, Family, Gender Roles, Hard Work, Lesson Plan, Nature & Science, Parenting, Self-Reliance, Women, Youth’s Companion 1914

September 11, 2015 By Maryanne Datesman Leave a Comment

We can all remember exactly what we were doing when we heard—and saw—the horrendous events that occurred 16+ years ago today. Those events are burned into our collective psyche as we reflect back on …

Continue Reading about Reflections on 9/11: Timeless, Inevitable Questions about War →

Filed Under: National and International News, Religion, War History Tagged With: 9/11, American Ways 12, American Ways 3, Audio Recording, Bloodshed, Brotherhood, Christian, Civilization, Commentary, Destruction, Diplomatic, Dynasty, Europe, Faith, False Gods, Just, Knowledge, Lesson Plan, Military, Moral, Rebuilding, Restoration, Terrorism, The Golden Rule, Throwback Thursday, Youth’s Companion 1914

This article was written in 1914, at the beginning of World War I. News dispatches were describing battles taking place in Europe and there must have been some confusion about the names of these …

Continue Reading about Battles That Have Two Names: It’s a Matter of Perspective →