Tag: first2know

By: Charissa Diethrich, Information Services Assistant

Do you ever wish you could travel back in time? Experience important events in U.S. history as they really happened? Well, with The Library’s newspaper databases, you CAN! Browse our Newspapers.com collection to view articles from as early as 1719, and watch history unfold before your eyes.

1776

Let’s turn back the clock to 1776 – the year our nation was born.

“THIS DAY, at twelve o’clock,” reads a headline in Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser, on July 8^th, 1776, “the DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE, will be PROCLAIMED at the STATE-HOUSE.” You – a militia member in Revolutionary-era America – read on urgently to see what your orders will be. “Associated Militia of Pennsylvania…who can be furnished with arms and accoutrements, should be forthwith requested to march with the utmost expedition to Trenton…in New-Jersey.”

The time has come! After years of unrest, the colonies have officially separated from Great Britain. You don’t know how this war will end, but the future of your new country depends on it. To New Jersey!

1781

We leap forward in time, to 1781. Five long years of war have passed. But now, with the defeat of the British at Yorktown, the end is in sight.

“On Saturday last,” you read in the Nov. 10^th, 1781 issue of the Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser, “the great and important event of the Surrender of Lord Cornwallis and his whole army, to the combined forces commanded by his excellency general Washington, was celebrated here with every mark of joy and festivity. The day was ushered in with the beating of drums, and the American colours were displayed in various parts of town.”

You, like so many of your fellow citizens, feel the weight of years of conflict, now over and done. As celebrations sweep the country, you raise your glass and join in the toasts recorded in the paper: “[To] the memory of all who have fallen in this war in defense of America…[and to] a speedy peace, and the firm establishment of the independence of the United States of America.”

1787

Once more, we turn the dial of our time machine. It is now 1787, and the time has come to forge a new nation. You pick up a copy of the December 19^th issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette, and you see the news – Pennsylvania has become the second state to ratify the constitution of the United States!

Your spirits high, you read the descriptions of festive crowds and joyful celebrations, full of hope for the future. “[A] number of ship-carpenters and sailors conducted a boat, on a wagon drawn by five horses, through the city, to the great amusement of many thousand spectators….[T]he remainder of the day was spent in mutual congratulations upon the happy prospect of enjoying, once more, order, justice, and good government in the United States.”

Discover these historical moments and more in The Library’s Newspapers.com database, found on the “Research” page of our website (dcls.org). History is alive in the news of the past!

By: Dwana Pinchock, Marketing & Public Relations Manager

When the Dauphin County Library System recently hosted a screening of the award-winning documentary Unlikely Mermaid, audiences arrived expecting a charming story about mermaids.

They left talking about courage.

The film follows filmmaker Lorraine Portman and her friend Margaret “Peggy” Nicholson, a Harrisburg-area native, as they travel to Florida’s famous Weeki Wachee Springs to audition as mermaid performers.

The premise is whimsical: Two women, ages 60 and 79, decide to pursue a dream most people would dismiss as impossible.

What unfolds is funny, surprising, and deeply moving.

Prior to the screening, I had the opportunity to speak with both Portman and Nicholson about the film, the friendship at its center, and the message they hope audiences will carry with them.

Again and again, the conversation returned to one idea:

Don’t let age, expectations, or fear decide what is possible.

Portman explained that while the film begins with mermaids, it quickly becomes about something much larger.

“We shouldn’t let other people’s ideas about us, or our own negative ideas about ourselves, stop us from trying something new,” she said.

For Nicholson, who graduated from Central Dauphin High School in 1961, the adventure never felt out of reach.

“So what if I’m 79?” she recalled thinking when the opportunity arose.

That attitude may be one reason audiences connect so strongly with the film.

Many of us carry dreams we have quietly placed on a shelf. We tell ourselves we’re too busy, too old, too inexperienced, or simply too late.

Unlikely Mermaid challenges those assumptions.

“Why are your dreams at 80 different than your dreams at 20?” Nicholson asked during our conversation. “Your dreams are just as important when you’re older as when you’re young.”

The film also offers a beautiful portrait of inter-generational friendship.

Portman and Nicholson met through a writing group years ago and discovered that their shared adventure strengthened an already meaningful bond. Training together, traveling together, and encouraging one another became as important as the audition itself.

Their friendship serves as a reminder that community often begins with something simple: a shared interest, a conversation, or a local gathering.

In fact, Portman noted that she and Nicholson first met at a community event, much like the programs and activities that bring people together at The Library every day.

Perhaps that is why the film felt so at home in a library setting.

Libraries are places where people discover new interests, meet new friends, and explore possibilities they may never have considered before. Whether learning a skill, joining a discussion group, attending a program, or picking up a book that changes your perspective, libraries invite us to remain curious.

That spirit is at the heart of Unlikely Mermaid.

When asked what she hopes audiences take away from the film, Portman offered a simple answer:

“That it’s never too late. That trying new things is worth it.”

Or, as she put it in three memorable words:

“Dive right in!”

Those words may be the film’s most powerful message for us all.

By: Ann Marie Megoulas, Information Service Supervisor

In April, Candid launched Candid search, its new unified search experience designed to simplify access to Candid’s data and resources.

What is Candid? Candid is a nonprofit organization that was formed in 2019 when Foundation Center (then the leading source of information about philanthropy) and GuideStar (premier directory of U.S. nonprofit organizations) merged. “Candid is where nonprofits find grants, donors find nonprofits that inspire them, and all can gain insights about the work being done for good.”

Since its founding in 2019, Candid continued to provide access to its data, research, and tools via two separate platforms, Foundation Directory Online (FDO) and GuideStar, while it worked on merging the data from both into one interface.

On April 21, 2026, Candid completed this work and released Candid search. Candid search brings together the best information, tools, and features from Foundation Directory Online and GuideStar into a single resource – one that’s enhanced with new data, A.I. powered tools, and improved functionality. Using Canid Search, nonprofits can identify potential funders more easily, and donors and funders can find the information they need to make strategic decisions about who to support more quickly.

Where can you find Candid search?

You can learn more about or subscribe (for a fee) to Candid at https://candid.org/.

Free access to Candid’s resources is available at community partner locations throughout the United States.

The Dauphin County Library System (or The Library) is one of these partner locations, and free onsite access is available at all eight of The Library’s locations.

To make it easy for you to access Candid search when you come into The Library, we placed links to it on all our adult public computers and on the dedicated Grants Information Center computer at the East Shore Area Library. You can also access Candid search using personal devices by connecting them to The Library’s Wi-Fi and entering a staff-provided designated logon address. For more information, visit https://www.dcls.org/services/ and scroll down to the Grants Information section.

To find other Candid partner locations, visit https://candid.org/resources/candid-near-you/ .

What is in Candid search?

• Over 1.9 million Candid nonprofit profiles
• More than 304,000 grantmaker profiles
• Information on 29 million+ nonprofit grants
• Candid’s research and reports
• Links to Candid Learning and the helpful guidance it offers on creating nonprofits, fundraising, writing proposals, and more.

Where can you learn more about using the new Candid search interface?

To help you get started, Candid created a few short instructional videos and articles that cover the basics. Candid conveniently embedded its brief “Getting Started with Candid search” video right on the Candid search home page. Just scroll down until you find it.

More comprehensive videos and tutorials are available at Candid Learning, Candid’s website, offering training, videos, help documents, and more. Unlike Candid search, which can only be accessed for free inside partner locations, Candid learning is available anywhere, anytime you need it. To learn more, click here.

Whether you are an experienced user of Foundation Directory Online and/or GuideStar or are learning about Candid for the first time in this article, I encourage you to stop by one of The Library’s locations soon and give the new Candid search platform a try.