Smart News History & Archaeology

Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill at the Tehran Conference.

Interactive Map Shows the History of Presidential Travel

President Trump's first foreign trip follows a long line of international visits by heads of state

Major Latham Valentine Stewart Blacker in flying gear in 1933. Blacker, a former fighter pilot, shot the first aerial footage of Mount Everest.

Footage of Early 20th-Century Explorations Now Available Online

The UK’s Royal Geographical Society has digitized its archival footage of historic expeditions

President Truman receives a birthday cake in the Oval Office in 1951. Six years earlier, his birthday coincided with V-E Day.

No U.S. President Has Ever Died in May and Other Weird Trivia About Presidential Lives

Presidential lives are scrutinized for meaning, even when none is readily apparent

Edith Wharton circa 1900. Her play "The Shadow of a Doubt" didn't make it to the stage in 1901—but has finally been rediscovered by scholars.

Cool Finds

Scholars Rediscover Forgotten Edith Wharton Play

“The Shadow of a Doubt” had been overshadowed by over 100 years of history

Protestors stand in front of the Walker Sculpture Garden's construction fence on Saturday, May 27, 2017.

Amid Controversy, Minneapolis Museum Removes Sculpture Based on Execution of 38 Dakota Men

Members of the Dakota community say that the sculpture trivializes a painful chapter of their history

The flag of North Carolina includes the dates traditionally associated with the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and the 1776 Declaration of Independence.

The First Declaration of Independence Drafted in the 13 Colonies Was (Probably) a Hoax

Although some are still very invested in the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, the scholarly community maintains it was never real

"Oh, hello. I didn't see you there. I was just catching up on my latest diary entry."

Samuel Pepys Was England's First Blogger

The famed blogger—okay, diarist—told historians so much about 17th-century daily life in England, but he could have told us so much more

A cyanotype photogram from "Photographs of British Algae."

How the First Female Photographer Changed the Way the World Sees Algae

The groundbreaking photo book by Anna Atkins, a 19th-century British botanist, is going on display in the Netherlands

America's most famous nuclear power plant will close in 2019.

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Three Mile Island to Shutter Its Doors in 2019

It’s been nearly 40 years since the nuclear power plant partially melted down

Manuel Noriega is escorted onto a U.S. Air Force aircraft by agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in 1990.

Former Panamanian Dictator Manuel Noriega Dies at 83

He had been serving a 20-year prison sentence for corruption and murder

Each pole is 20 feet high and weighs over 2,000 pounds.

Cool Finds

The Powerful Story Behind Glacier Bay National Park's New Totem Poles

They're 20-foot-tall symbols of a slowly healing rift

A Tiny Church Sits On Britain's Oldest Site of Continuous Worship

When a 4,000-year-old wooden post was found near the church, it suggested that area was used for ritual purposes since the late Neolithic period

Seven men tried to kill Queen Victoria during her almost 64-year reign. She wasn't amused by any of them.

The Eight Assassination Attempts on Queen Victoria Just Made Her More Powerful

People kept trying to kill Queen Victoria. She kept looking better and better

The doge's barge, called the Bucentaur, returning to Venice after the "wedding" ceremony. This painting is by eighteenth-century Venetian artist Giovanni Antonio Canal, known as Canaletto.

Venice Has Been Married to the Sea for Over a Thousand Years

Happy anniversary, you crazy kids

The Maillard Reaction's best-known application is in tasty, tasty food.

Why Food Smells So Good When It’s Browning

A complex chemical reaction called the Maillard Reaction is responsible

Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island with their possessions in 1907.

The Centuries-Long Squabble Over Who Owns Ellis Island

It's actually the federal government, but don't tell New York or New Jersey

Bill Robinson as photographed by George Hurrell in 1935.

Three Ways Bill "Bojangles" Robinson Changed Dance Forever

Robinson worked throughout his career to make life better for black performers

Donna Mahan's "Safeguarding" was made with a castoff window from the residence.

Cool Finds

This Art Was Made from JFK’s Cape Cod Home

The Hyannis Port house was the stuff of family legend. Now it’s the source of new art

Multi-generational fighting over borders between the Calvert family that founded the colony of Maryland (pictured: Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore) and the Penn family that founded Pennsylvania (pictured: Thomas Penn, proprietor of Pennsylvania) led to the creation of the Mason-Dixon line.

This Long, Violent Border Dispute Between Colonial Maryland and Pennsylvania is Why We Have the Mason-Dixon Line

Cresap's War was a conflict that didn't get fully settled for almost 50 years

Fifth-Century Remains May Be Evidence of Human Sacrifice in Ancient Korea

Two bodies were found under the walls of a castle, leading some experts to believe that they were sacrificed to ensure the building did not crumble

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