History

John Surratt after he was captured

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

The Family Plot to Kill Lincoln

Mary and John Surratt helped John Wilkes Booth assassinate Abraham Lincoln and then paid the ultimate penalty for their actions

Photo courtesy of David Rumsey Map Collection. Interactive by Esri. Text by Natasha Geiling.

American Cities: Before and After

This Interactive Map Compares the New York City of 1836 to Today

Manhattan had a very different topography than the concrete jungle we know today

Photo courtesy of David Rumsey Map Collection. Interactive by Esri. Text by Natasha Geiling.

American Cities: Before and After

When the Lincoln Memorial Was Underwater

James Keily’s 1851 map of Washington shows a considerably smaller district, before the Potomac River was filled in to make way for monuments

Photo courtesy of the David Rumsey Map Collection; Interactive by Esri; Text by Natasha Geiling.

American Cities: Before and After

Before There Could Be a Los Angeles, There Had to be Water

California’s first state engineer, along with a team of surveyors, created this hand drawn map in 1880 to explore Los Angeles’ water resources

Photo courtesy of the David Rumsey Map Collection; Interactive by Esri; Text by Natasha Geiling.

American Cities: Before and After

When Real Estate Plotters Planned Out Denver

Bankers and speculators in the Colorado capital used this 1879 map to explore the Mile High City’s real estate potential

Photo courtesy of the David Rumsey Map Collection; Interactive by Esri; Text by Natasha Geiling.

American Cities: Before and After

What Did San Francisco Look Like in the Mid-1800s?

A look at a sailing chart of San Francisco and its bay, made in 1859 by the fledgling US Coast Survey

Interactive map courtesy of Esri. Text by Natasha Geiling.

Ask Smithsonian 2017

What Did Chicago Look Like Before the Great Fire?

This 1868 pocket map of Chicago shows the city in full-blown expansion, a mere 3 years before the infamous blaze

The original lineup for speakers at the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington. (Text by Megan Gambino.)

Document Deep Dive

Document Deep Dive: A Play-by-Play of the March on Washington

Fifty years after the historic event, take a look at the lineup of speakers who addressed the crowd of 250,000 at the Lincoln Memorial

Food service crew workers

Eating on the March: Food at the 1963 March on Washington

Organizing an event that large was a formidable task in and of itself. Tackling the issue of handling food for the masses was another issue entirely

George Fabian Lawrence, better known as “Stoney Jack,” parlayed his friendships with London navvies into a stunning series of archaeological discoveries between 1895 and 1939.

The Commoner Who Salvaged a King’s Ransom

A furtive antiquarian nicknamed Stoney Jack was responsible for almost every major archaeological find made in London between 1895 and 1939

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Document Deep Dive

Document Deep Dive: Even Julia Child Used a Recipe

See the famous chef’s thought process as she wrote out precise measurements to bake one of her favorite breads

From “The Marlborough-Vanderbilt Wedding”

How American Rich Kids Bought Their Way Into the British Elite

The nouveau riche of the Gilded Age had buckets of money but little social standing—until they started marrying their daughters to British nobles

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The Worst Shark Attack in History

In 1945, a U.S. naval ship was sunk by a Japanese submarine, but the ship's sinking was just the beginning of the sailors' nightmare

Portrait of a young revolutionary: Friedrich Engels at age 21, in 1842, the year he moved to Manchester–and the year before he met Mary Burns.

How Friedrich Engels’ Radical Lover Helped Him Father Socialism

Mary Burns exposed the capitalist's son to the plight of the working people of Manchester

Still from trailer for It movie, an adaption of the Stephen King novel

The History and Psychology of Clowns Being Scary

You aren’t alone in your fear of makeup-clad entertainers; people have been frightened by clowns for centuries

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No, You’re Probably Not Smarter Than a 1912-Era 8th Grader

How well can you do on this 101-year old quiz for Bullitt County, Kentucky, eighth graders?

Alexander Hamilton, painted by John Trumbull, c. 1806

Alexander Hamilton’s Adultery and Apology

Revelations about the treasury secretary's sex life forced him to choose between candor and his career.

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Sorry, Wolfgang, Fusion Foods Have Been With Us for Centuries

The banh mi, ramen and other foods considered national dishes that actually have cross-cultural beginnings

An Arab city of the early medieval period. Urban centers in the Middle East were of a size and wealth all but unknown in the Christian west during this period, encouraging the development of a large and diverse fraternity of criminals.

Islam’s Medieval Underworld

In the medieval period, the Middle East was home to many of the world's wealthiest cities—and to a large proportion of its most desperate criminals

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Hangovers: The Driving Force Behind Our Favorite Foods

Overimbibing makes some people's brains shut down, for others, it gets the innovative juices flowing

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