One early introduction to sewing was in a book I read over and over around the 3rd grade: The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney. Published in 1881, a family with a mom and five kids are barely but rather happily surviving in a rundown little house on the money the mother earns by sewing coats. Given the clothing situation these days, and the growing interest in the almost-lost art of sewing, the book I liked as a kid kept coming to mind.

So I tried looking it up tonight. In doing so, I discovered Project Gutenberg . Founded by college student Michael S. Hart in 1971, Project Gutenberg is the oldest digital library, staffed only by volunteers, storing thousands of books and documents that are in the public domain in a number of digital languages. Visit Gutenberg.org

Although working with the Gutenberg website was a little awkward, I did find the Pepper family tonight, and am thankful for those who have donated their time and unique offerings to the preservation of human culture and history via such a project.