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Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
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Also, see the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
The advent of Horseless Carriages and Ford's Model T sparks change in Americans, eventually leading to the growth of automobiles and transportation. 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.
| November 28, 1895 | The gas-powered Duryea automobile wins the Times-Herald race in Chicago. It was designed by inventor Charles E. Duryea. |
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| 1896 | American gasoline powered “motocycles” are manufactured by the Duryea brothers. |
| February 1902 | Miss Anne French becomes Washington's first woman driver. |
| 1904 | Automobiles become popular "accessories of a honeymoon tour." |
| June 23, 1909 | New 1909 Ford Model T crosses finish line first in New York to Seattle automobile race. |
| 1909-1927 | Ford Motor Co. begins to mass produce its Model T, a reliable and inexpensive automobile. |
