Clipping from the Daily Boomerang, April 4, 1900
April Fool’s Day is the day for jokes, riddles, and silly pranks. Maybe you put salt in the sugar bowl, posted a funny prank on social media, short-sheeted your kid’s bed, or played a similar practical joke on a friend or family member.
Have you ever wondered how Wyomingites celebrated April Fool’s Day over a hundred years ago? Look no further than the Wyoming State Library’s Digital Newspaper Collection! The collection includes newspapers from 1849 to the present and is fully searchable by title, date, tag, or county.
Clipping from the Laramie Sentinel, April 5, 1879
According to several historical Wyoming newspapers, April Fool’s Day antics were practiced all the way back in the late 1880s and early 1900s. A clipping from The Daily Boomerang printed in April 1900 states that young men in Cheyenne sent their sweetheart blank, perfumed notes as a prank and in return, the ladies announced that the notes were “quite as interesting as those they were accustomed (sic) to receive.” Another clipping from the Laramie Sentinel published in April 1879 announced that April Fool’s Day passed with “very little attention” with the exception of “a few young married gentlemen” being served “cotton flannel” pancakes at breakfast.
No fooling; the Wyoming State Library’s Digital Newspaper Collection is a window into the past. Check it out today!