Thrall Databases

  :: This Is Who We Were


About This Is Who We Were

This is Who We Were explores American life from the 1880s to the 1980s. Each volume includes:
  • Personal Profiles, which "examine the lives of individuals and families who lived" during each decade covered and describe "life at home, at work and in the community," including original tables from the Census.
  • Historical Snapshots, which includes important "firsts," fun facts, technical advances, political events, and more.
  • Economy of the Times, which examines "economic data, including food, clothing, transportation, housing and other selected prices, with reprints of actual advertisements for products and services of the time."
  • All Around Us - What We Saw, Wrote, Read, and Listened To, which "includes reprints of newspaper and magazine articles, letters, posters, and others items designed to help the reader focus on what was on the minds of Americans" during each decade.
  • Census Summary & Comparison Data, which includes reports along with a "Comparison of Principal Cities" that "charts population characteristics in [each decade] for many cities, in 26 different interesting population characteristics."
You can access this entire collection online directly via this main link, scrolling down their page to select a volume, or you can access specific decades/volumes directly:
>> Please click here to access This Is Who We Were.
Access Options:


This database can be accessed from any of Thrall Library's public Internet or research computers.

Concerning access outside the library:

Members of Middletown Thrall Library may log in to this service using their library barcode.

Access Issues?

Please call our Reference Dept. at (845) 341-5461 when the library is open.

You can also...

Tips & Special Features:


You can jump to a specific chapter in each volume by following its title link when each volume page appears.

You can also search each title or multiple titles once at the This Is Who We Were website.
For Further Exploration...

Please visit our Reference Department, call us at 1-845-341-5461, or ask a librarian.

Technical Considerations:
Experiencing access/technical issues?
Please see the ACCESS OPTIONS section of this page.

None.