American as Pumpkin Pie

Paul Harvey

A big shout out to all of you who stop by here, lurk, send me emails, comment (snarkily or otherwise), introduce yourself at conferences to talk about the blog, and send me your suggested topics and contributions. Thanks, one and all.

And while we're on Thanksgiving, here is Heather Cox Richardson's brief exploration of the origins of the holiday during the Civil War; and the American Historical Association blog provides a plethora of fun links about the history of the holiday to follow and read/listen to. One of the links there takes you to American as Pumpkin Pie: A History of Thanksgiving, from the radio program Backstory; one of the interviewees there, Anne Blue Wills of Davidson College, talks about material from her article "Pilgrims and Progress: How Magazines Made Thanksgiving," which discusses the origins of the national holiday before the Civil War in Sarah Hale's efforts through the pages of Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine.