Skip to main content

Sound Investment

March 2023
1min read


When I was growing up in rural upstate New York in the 1970s the Edmeston Volunteer Fire Department, as it was named then, raised money by selling calendars. The birthdays and anniversaries of all contributors were listed on the appropriate dates. The calendars hung in our kitchen, and I enjoyed seeing who else in the community shared my family’s birthdays. It has been nearly twenty years since I moved away, and I do not think the fire department sells calendars any more. At least I don’t see any in my parents’ kitchen when I visit. But I do know that the still all-volunteer Edmeston Emergency Squad, as it is now called, saved my father’s life on March 21 of this year when a falling tree limb struck him in the face. So it was with considerable emotion that I read “Rescue Squad,” by Jack Kelly, in the May/June issue. I thank God for the vision and determination of Julian Stanley Wise and others like him to establish a nationwide rescue system for everyone; I applaud each and every volunteer EMT and paramedic for his or her selfless service; and I hope other readers recognize what a sound investment a small donation to a volunteer fire department or rescue squad really is.

We hope you enjoy our work.

Please support this 72-year tradition of trusted historical writing and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to American Heritage.

Donate

Stories published from "July/August 1996"

Authored by: The Editors

ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN

Authored by: The Editors

HITTING THE ROAD
The Art of the American Road Map

Authored by: The Editors

IT’S ALIVE!
How America’s Oldest Newspaper Cheated Death and Why It Matters

Authored by: The Editors

A THOUSAND DAYS OF MAGIC
Dressing Jacqueline Kennedy for the White House

Authored by: The Editors

MARTHA WASHINGTON’S BOOKE OF COOKERY

Authored by: The Editors

STOLEN CHILDHOOD
Slave Youth in Nineteenth-Century America

Authored by: The Editors

THE MOJAVE
A Portrait of the Definitive American Desert

Authored by: The Editors

PORTRAITS IN BLUE
George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue and Variations on “I Got Rhythm”; James P. Johnson: Yamekraw

Authored by: The Editors

ON THE ROAD WITH DUKE ELLINGTON

Authored by: Fergus M. Bordewich

AFTER CENTURIES OF CONFLICT OVER THEIR RIGHTS AND POWERS, Indian tribes now increasingly make and enforce their own laws, often answerable to no one in the United States government. Is this the rebirth of their ancient independence or a new kind of legalized segregation?

Featured Articles

The world’s most prominent actress risked her career by standing up to one of Hollywood’s mega-studios, proving that behind the beauty was also a very savvy businesswoman. 

Rarely has the full story been told about how a famed botanist, a pioneering female journalist, and First Lady Helen Taft battled reluctant bureaucrats to bring Japanese cherry trees to Washington. 

Often thought to have been a weak president, Carter was strong-willed in doing what he thought was right, regardless of expediency or the political fallout.

Why have thousands of U.S. banks failed over the years? The answers are in our history and politics.

In his Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln embodied leading in a time of polarization, political disagreement, and differing understandings of reality.