12. What noted civic businessmen’s organization is headquartered in Evanston, Illinois? (Hint: wheels) [Answer]
13. What conservative political organization operates the American Opinion Bookstores? [Answer]
14. What coin-collecting association exhibits a dazzling coin collection in Colorado Springs? [Answer]
15. What college sports organization awards the Bobby Bowden Awards? [Answer]
16. What noted fraternal organization (named for an animal) has its headquarters in Chicago? [Answer]
17. Washington, D.C.’s House of the Temple is owned by what famous men’s fraternity? [Answer]
18. The SCV, organized in Richmond, Virginia, in 1896, represents what group? [Answer]
19. What veterans’ fraternity, formed after World War I, is organized into “posts”? [Answer]
20. What conservative political organization was founded by TV preacher Jerry Falwell? [Answer]
21. What famous twelve-step organization was founded by Dr. Bob and Bill W.? [Answer]
22. What sort of activity is promoted by the National Forensic League? [Answer]
23. The GAR, Grand Army of the Republic, was composed of which war’s veterans? [Answer]
24. The Society of Mayflower Descendants, founded in 1897, requires what of its members? [Answer]
25. “Men of Integrity” is the tagline of what Christian men’s group founded in 1990? [Answer]
26. Political activist Phyllis Schlafly founded what organization in 1972? [Answer]
Christmas, American Style
1. What popular Christmas flower was named for an American ambassador to Mexico? [Answer]
2. The names of Santa Claus’s eight reindeer are from what famous 1823 poem by Clement Moore? [Answer]
3. Cowboy singer Gene Autry introduced what luminous animal to American Christmas? [Answer]
4. What beloved song begins, “The sun is shining, the grass is green”? [Answer]
5. What Russian ballet is often performed at Christmastime? [Answer]
6. What Christian denomination is noted for its Christmas season bell-ringing fund-raisers? [Answer]
7. Las Posadas, a Christmas tradition in San Antonio, Texas, celebrates what event? [Answer]
8. What ever-popular TV special first aired on December 9, 1965? [Answer]
9. If you see “putzes” while visiting Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, at Christmas, what are you seeing? [Answer]
10. What northern “rust belt” state leads the nation in the growing of Christmas trees? [Answer]
11. What historic resort town in Virginia restricts its Christmas decorations to items that colonial people would have used? [Answer]
12. “A Country Christmas” is the annual display at what large Nashville hotel? [Answer]
13. The Temple Square Christmas celebration is held in what western capital? [Answer]
14. What choral work, first performed in 1742, is often performed at Christmastime? [Answer]
15. Every Christmas at Trenton, New Jersey, you could see the reenactment of a famous Revolutionary War general crossing the Delaware River. Who? [Answer]
16. In the 1960s, Christmas trees lit by a rotating color wheel were made of what substance? [Answer]
17. In Galveston, Texas, you could see Dickens on the Strand, with yuletide representations of characters from what famous Christmas book? [Answer]
18. What northwestern metropolis has a stunning Christmas Ships Parade on the Willamette and Columbia Rivers? [Answer]
19. How did “America’s Christmas city,” Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, get its name? [Answer]
20. Phillips Brooks’s statue stands beside his church, historic Trinity Church in Boston. What famous Christmas carol is Brooks known for? [Answer]
21. What appropriately named Florida town receives thousands of pieces of mail every Christmas sent by people wanting the town’s postmark? [Answer]
I Love a Parade
1. New York City’s biggest parade is on what holiday? (Hint: green) [Answer]
2. What Florida attraction has the daily Main Street Electrical Parade? [Answer]
3. San Francisco’s annual Golden Dragon Parade takes place in what ethnic community? [Answer]
4. On what holiday does Detroit hold its famous Santa Claus Parade? [Answer]
5. What parade, held on January 1, 1954, became the first nationwide TV broadcast in color? [Answer]
6. What port city holds its Gasparilla Parade of Pirates each January? [Answer]
7. What feathered farm animal is celebrated in an annual parade in Wayne, Nebraska? [Answer]
8. In what northwestern capital could you join in the annual Vigilante Parade each May? [Answer]
9. What historic masked parade takes place in Philadelphia on New Year’s Day? [Answer]
10. What evangelist was once the Grand Marshall in Pasadena’s grand Tournament of Roses Parade? [Answer]
11. What world-famous part of New Orleans culture first began in 1857? [Answer]
12. Where would you see a parade in which all the floats tell a story from the Bible? [Answer]
13. What city has the nation’s biggest Thanksgiving Day parade? [Answer]
For Kids’ Sake
1. What popular children’s book (also a movie) was originally titled The Emerald City? [Answer]
2. Larry Harmon, who died in 2008, was famous for portraying what big-footed, red-haired character? [Answer]
3. What two familiar characters in children’s readers were created by Zerna Sharp? [Answer]
4. What world-famous children’s hospital is in Memphis, Tennessee? [Answer]
5. What boys’ organization was founded by Daniel Carter Beard? [Answer]
6. In E. B. White’s popular children’s book Charlotte’s Web, Charlotte is a spider. What type of animal is the title character in White’s Stuart Little? [Answer]
7. What popular childhood sports organization had its birthplace in Williamsport, Pennsylvania? [Answer]
8. What construction toy had its origin when its inventor saw children playing with pencils and spools of thread? [Answer]
9. Miami University has a museum devoted to an educator famed for his “readers” for children. Who was he? [Answer]
10. What famous home for undisciplined children was founded in Omaha, Nebraska, by Father Flanagan? [Answer]
11. Launched in 1986, American Girl is a popular line of what? [Answer]
12. What popular children’s book by Ernest Thompson Seton features Lobo the wolf, Bingo the dog, and Redruff the partridge? [Answer]
13. The world’s oldest children’s museum is in what New York City borough? [Answer]
14. What two fictional boy detectives lived in the town of Bayport? [Answer]
15. What organization began as the American Girl Guides in 1912? [Answer]
16. What popular toy, launched in 1960, was a plastic box filled with aluminum powder? [Answer]
17. What federal official is honorary head of the Camp Fire Girls? [Answer]
18. Orchard House was the home where Louisa May Alcott wrote what classic book for girls? [Answer]
19. What fictional girl detective lived in River Heights with her lawyer father? [Answer]
20. What toy company was founded in 1945 by Harold Matson and Elliot Handler? [Answer]
21. What “contorting” game by Milton Bradley went on sale in 1966? [Answer]
22. What animated TV series on Nickelodeon featured eight toddlers? [Answer]
23. What medal is awarded annually to the best American book for children? [Answer]
Festivals of Food
All festivals involve food in some way, but some festivals in these fifty states are about some particular food.
1. Since 1930, Plant City, Florida, has drawn thousands to its May festival of what fruit? (Hint: freckles) [Answer]
2. Oyster Bay, New York, has an annual festival named for what edible sea creatures? [Answer]
3. Shreveport, Louisiana, hosts Mudbug Madness. What are mud
bugs? [Answer]
4. In what Gulf Coast state could you join in the National Shrimp Festival in early October? [Answer]
5. The Peanut Valley Festival does not take place in the South but in a fairly dry southwestern state. Which one? [Answer]
6. Rockland, Maine, hosts the annual festival for what clawed creature? [Answer]
7. With more than half its population being of German ancestry, Cincinnati makes a big fuss over what autumn German festival? [Answer]
8. Beef Empire Days take place in what notable beef-producing state? [Answer]
9. What fruit, much used in baking, is celebrated with a festival in Indio, California? [Answer]
10. What fruit is the center of an annual festival in Georgia each June? [Answer]
11. Emporia, Virginia, hosts a festival for what type of meat? (Hint: not kosher) [Answer]
12. Oakdale, California, hosts an annual festival celebrating what popular sweet? [Answer]
13. World Veg Day, promoting vegetarian food, is held in what state? [Answer]
14. What green vegetable (not everyone’s favorite) is the center of a spring festival in Stockton, California? [Answer]
15. What fruit industry centers around Medford, Oregon? (Hint: Bartlett) [Answer]
16. Belzoni, Mississippi, holds the World Festival for what scaleless fish? [Answer]
17. Morgan City, Louisiana, stages an annual festival celebrating its two major products. One is a type of food, the other a mineral product. What are they? [Answer]
18. What does Springfield, Massachusetts, feature at its annual pancake breakfast? [Answer]
19. What state hosts the annual Hatch Chile Festival each September? [Answer]
20. The town of Houlton’s annual Potato Fest is not in Idaho but in what eastern state? [Answer]
Capitols: Those State-ly Buildings
Note: If you’re irked at not finding your own state mentioned in these questions, take heart. Scattered throughout the book are references to every state’s capitol.
1. What famous capitol building sits on Jenkins Hill? [Answer]
2. What state maintains its old state capitol as a museum because of its Abraham Lincoln connections? [Answer]
3. In what capitol did Jefferson Davis take office as president of the Confederacy? [Answer]
4. What president’s imposing life-size statue stands under the dome in Virginia’s capitol? [Answer]
5. What western state capitol has a stunning Gold Room, adorned with gold from the state’s mines? [Answer]
6. The capitol in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is modeled after a Native American kiva. What is a kiva? [Answer]
7. What northeastern state’s capitol was designed as a $25 million granite French chateau? [Answer]
8. What president, famous for masterminding the Mexican War, is buried on the capitol grounds in Nashville, Tennessee? [Answer]
9. What small capital of a small state has a capitol building dating from 1792? [Answer]
10. Missouri has had three state capitols. Why? [Answer]
11. The capitol in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was modeled after one of the world’s most famous cathedrals. Which? [Answer]
12. The capitol in Springfield, Illinois, has statues of what opposing debaters on the grounds? [Answer]
13. If you are looking at the capitol on Goat Hill, what southern capital are you in? [Answer]
14. What state capitol building served as the U.S. capital in 1783–84? [Answer]
15. What part of the D.C. Capitol has statues of each state’s favorite sons and daughters? [Answer]
16. The State House, built in 1795, is the capitol in what New England state? [Answer]
17. What product was pumped from the ground under Oklahoma’s capitol? [Answer]
18. Virginia’s capitol has a life-size bronze statue of the man who accepted command of the Confederate armies. Who was he? [Answer]
19. What state’s capitol dome is larger than that of any other state? [Answer]
20. What causes the flame in the “flaming fountain” at South Dakota’s capitol? [Answer]
21. What New England state’s pretty capitol sits by the Kennebec River? [Answer]
22. What state capitol has a Confederate monument on its grounds? [Answer]
23. What southern capitol has a monument to Confederate spy Sam Davis? [Answer]
Statues, Stadiums, and Such: City Landmarks
Think of New York City, and you think of the Statue of Liberty. Think of Seattle, and you think of the Space Needle. Think of . . . well, you get the idea. Try to identify the cities connected with these landmarks. (Note: If you’re from a smaller town and don’t find your town’s landmarks listed here, don’t feel bad. It just means they’re a well-kept secret—for now.)
1. The Jefferson Memorial, the Smithsonian Institution, Ford’s Theatre [Answer]
2. Ryman Auditorium, Country Music Hall of Fame, the Hermitage [Answer]
3. Graceland, Mud Island, Mississippi River Museum [Answer]
4. Metrodome, Minnehaha Park, American Swedish Institute [Answer]
5. Stone Mountain, CNN Studios, the World of Coca-Cola [Answer]
6. Declaration House, Norman Rockwell Museum, Congress Hall [Answer]
7. Grant Park, the John Hancock Center, the Adler Planetarium [Answer]
8. Fort McHenry, the National Aquarium, Harborplace [Answer]
9. The Vieux Carré, Jackson Square, St. Louis Cathedral [Answer]
10. USS Constitution, Paul Revere House, Park Street Church [Answer]
11. Monument Avenue, Hollywood Cemetery, White House of the Confederacy [Answer]
12. Wells Fargo Center, KOIN Center, Washington Park Zoo [Answer]
13. The Battery, St. Michael’s Church, the Citadel [Answer]
14. Boblo Island, Belle Isle, Renaissance Center [Answer]
15. Mitchell Park, Joan of Arc Chapel, Marquette University [Answer]
16. The Billy Graham Parkway, Discovery Place, Carowinds [Answer]
17. RCA Dome, Chase Tower, Eagle Creek Park [Answer]
18. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Key Tower, Dunham Tavern [Answer]
19. Churchill Downs, Colonel Harlan Sanders Museum, Riverfront Plaza [Answer]
20. Balboa Park, Coronado Island, Cabrillo National Monument [Answer]
21. Sea World, Universal Studios, Disney World [Answer]
22. Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Bloomingdale’s, Whitney Museum of American Art [Answer]
23. The Space Needle, Elliott Bay, the Kingdome [Answer]
24. Caesar’s Palace, Luxor, Bellagio, the Stratosphere [Answer]
25. Southeast Financial Center, Parrot Jungle, Crandon Park [Answer]
26. Biltmore Estate, Thomas Wolfe Memorial, Folk Art Center [Answer]
27. Governor’s Palace, College of William and Mary, Busch Gardens [Answer]
28. Vulcan Park, Lane Park, Legion Field [Answer]
29. Gerald Ford birthplace, St. Cecilia Cathedral, USS Hazard [Answer]
30. Florida Aquarium, Ybor City, Busch Gardens [Answer]
31. Rock Creek Park, Folger Shakespeare Library, Vietnam Veterans Memorial [Answer]
32. Old Salem, Bethabara Park, Wake Forest University [Answer]
33. The Naval Base, the Douglas MacArthur Memorial, the Waterside, Nauticus [Answer]
34. Fort Pulaski, Forsyth Park, Factor’s Walk [Answer]
35. Fountain Square, Carew Tower, Great American Ball Park [Answer]
Ivy and Ivory Towers: Colleges and Universities
Colleges do more than teach. They provide art, culture, and sports for the surrounding communities, not to mention great job-training facilities. And some of them are just downright historic.
1. What famous military college was established by Congress in 1802? [Answer]
2. What state university has campuses at Tuscaloosa, Huntsville, and Birmingham? [Answer]
3. What Ivy League school awards the Pulitzer Prizes? [Answer]
4. What Atlantic Coast town i
n Florida is the favorite destination for college students on spring break? [Answer]
5. The University of South Carolina, the South Carolina State Museum, and the State House are all in what city? [Answer]
6. The nation’s oldest medical school is at what Philadelphia college? [Answer]
7. What two televangelists have colleges named after themselves? [Answer]
8. What enormous state college in the South has a much visited Rural Life Museum? (Hint: Fighting Tigers) [Answer]
9. Lexington, Virginia, is home to what all-male military college? (Hint: Keydets) [Answer]
10. What noted New Jersey college began in the city of Elizabeth but later moved to the town that shares its name? [Answer]
11. Macon, Georgia’s Wesleyan College was chartered in 1836 specifically to grant degrees to a certain type of person. What type? [Answer]
12. If you are in Gainesville, Florida, what large university are you near? (Hint: Gators) [Answer]
13. What is distinctive about the tuition payments at Berea College in Kentucky? [Answer]
14. What city on Lake Michigan has DePaul, Loyola, Roosevelt, and fifty-five other colleges and universities? [Answer]
15. The lovely Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, is named for a king of what nation? [Answer]
16. At what New York university did Dwight Eisenhower serve as president before entering politics? [Answer]
17. If you were in the southern town of Oxford, what large state university would you be near? (Hint: Rebels) [Answer]
18. What city is home to the University of Minnesota’s College of Agriculture? [Answer]
19. What large university in Alabama was originally established as a Methodist men’s college, primarily to train ministers? (Hint: War Eagle) [Answer]
20. What energy source can be found on the campus of the University of Missouri at Rolla? [Answer]
21. Manhattan’s Yeshiva University is the nation’s oldest and largest school run by what religious group? [Answer]
The Big Book of American Trivia Page 6