History fascinates me. Not only am I interested in the famous people of the past, but I also like to read about every day life in bygone days. How much did people pay for beef in 1902? What were the hottest styles of 1909? What kind of financial pressures did everyone face in 1899?

The Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities are joint sponsors of Chronicling America, a part of the National Digital Newspaper Program. I got goosebumps when I first stumbled upon this site because it allows visitors to view selected newspaper pages from 1890 to 1910. Right now, there’s only a limited amount of states, but they are working on creating a “national, digital resource of historically significant newspapers from all the states and U.S. territories published between 1836 and 1922.”

They also have some information about newspapers published in the U.S from 1690 to present, but that is also an ongoing project. The best part about this is that the site is totally free for everyone! I know we all complain about income taxes, but I have to say that I think this is a pretty good use of taxpayer dollars.