Centennial celebrations of the Declaration of Independence spark increasingly dangerous revelries on July 4th each year. According to news reports of the day, the American Medical Association cited 1,531 deaths between 1903 and 1910 from fireworks and other incidents during July 4th celebrations, with more than 5,000 injuries in 1909 alone. Finally, pleas from social groups and President Taft for a "Sane Fourth" brought the festivities back under control. Read more about it!

The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.

The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.