One of the other things that I love about my job as a librarian, aside from browsing through the publishers' catalogues, is the chance to evaluate new electronic databases. For example, right now the Libraries is kicking the tires on ProQuest Historical Newspapers, a digital archive (scanned image with full keyword searching) of The New York Times (1851-2001), The Wall Street Journal (1889-1987), The Washington Post(1877-1988), the Christian Science Monitor (1908-1991) and the Los Angeles Times (1881-1984). That's right, coverage going back all the way back to the first issue! What a treasure trove.
Some people tie their birth to significant world events, saying things like "I was born during the Great Depression", or "I was born during the London Blitz". Well, I was born during the Beatles Invasion :-) On Jan. 16, 1964, the Beatles' song I Want to Hold Your Hand became the No. 1 single in America, their very first hit (it would remain #1 on the U.S. charts for seven weeks).
I did a quick search of the Historical Newspapers database and found this advertisement for the Beatle's first American concert, published in The Washington Post (Jan. 31, 1964, pg. B27), when I was exactly one week old.
Before I would turn one month old, the Beatles would land in JFK airport to a horde of screaming fans, and appear on the Ed Sullivan show, breaking all previous audience records with 73 million people glued to their TV sets.
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