U.S. History

Sea Captains Carousing in Surinam

What Did the Founding Fathers Eat and Drink as They Started a Revolution?

They may not have been hosting a cookout, but they did know how to imbibe and celebrate

The Pickup Truck's Transformation From Humble Workhorse to Fancy Toy

From 'rusty rattletraps' to 'big black jacked-up' rides, the vehicles symbolize blue-collar identity while flaunting bourgeois prosperity

A U.S. Marine carries an American flag on his rifle during a recovery operation in summer 1968

1968: The Year That Shattered America

How the Fourth of July Was Celebrated (and Protested) in 1968

Headlines from <em>The New York Times</em> reveal how the nation and the world commemorated Independence Day in what had already been a tumultuous year

American soccer fans watch the 2014 World Cup.

What the 2026 World Cup Could Do for America's 250th Birthday Celebration

In eight years, the soccer tournament will come to the U.S. just as we mark a major anniversary, providing an opportunity that can't be missed

John Wesley Powell by Edmund Clarence Messer, 1889

The Visionary John Wesley Powell Had a Plan for Developing the West, But Nobody Listened

Powell’s foresight might have prevented the 1930s dust bowl and perhaps, today’s water scarcities

This Lighthouse Made Sailing Into San Francisco Bay Safer

With heavy fog and windy conditions, sailing into San Francisco Bay has long been a hazardous affair. Then, in 1870, things got a lot safer

Calvin Coolidge, stoic as ever, with his ebullient wife Grace.

For His Patriotic Birthday, Five Facts About Calvin Coolidge

On Coolidge’s would-be 146th birthday, celebrate with some little-known facts about our 30th President

Members of Revitalization Corps marching in Old Saybrook

Racism Kept Connecticut's Beaches White Up Through the 1970s

By bussing black kids from Hartford to the shore, Ned Coll took a stand against the bigotry of “armchair liberals”

Anti-War Protests Turn Violent at 1968 Democratic Convention

It's August 26, 1968, and the Democratic National Convention is about to kick off in Chicago. In the background, scenes of turbulence and unrest

So gooey, so good.

Let Us Tell You S'more About America’s Favorite Campfire Treat

The gooey snack became popular thanks to technological advances of the Industrial Revolution, which brought cheap sweets to the masses

This painting by Louis-Nicolas Van Blarenberghe, court painter of battles to France’s King Louis XVI, depicts the 1781 formal surrender of the British army at Yorktown, Virginia. The original is at the Palace of Versailles. This secondary version was created in 1786 for French General Comte de Rochambeau, the commander of the French forces at Yorktown

The American Revolution Was Just One Battlefront in a Huge World War

A new Smithsonian exhibition examines the global context that bolstered the colonists’ fight for independence

Images of Vickie Jones for the March 1969 Jet profile.

The Counterfeit Queen of Soul

A strange and bittersweet ballad of kidnapping, stolen identity and unlikely stardom

A home on the storm-battered southeastern coast. The words on the sign, “Yo voy a ti PR,” translate roughly to “I’m rooting for you, Puerto Rico!”

The Dispossessed

The Slow Recovery in Puerto Rico

As the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria approaches, Puerto Ricans feel not only devastated but abandoned

Interior Views Light through windows in Main Concourse, Grand Central Terminal, 1929.

The Preservation Battle of Grand Central

Forty years ago, preservationists—including a former First Lady—fought to maintain the integrity of New York City’s historic railway station

An artist's rendering of the Capitol dome as seen through Harvey Pratt's proposed "Warriors' Circle of Honor"

This Innovative Memorial Will Soon Honor Native American Veterans

The National Museum of the American Indian has reached a final decision on which design to implement

A metal obelisk marked the international border in Ambos Nogales circa 1913. American (left) and Mexican (right) sentries patrolled the line.

History of Now

The Raging Controversy at the Border Began With This Incident 100 Years Ago

In Nogales, Arizona, the United States and Mexico agreed to build walls separating their countries

The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus suffered one of the worst train wrecks in history in 1918, with more than 100 people injured and 86 killed.

The Hammond Train Wreck of 1918 Killed Scores of Circus Performers

One hundred years ago, a horrific railway disaster decimated the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus—but the show still went on

The bones were discovered at a very shallow depth, indicating that they had been disposed of in a hurry, and with little ceremony.

Newly Unearthed Civil War Bones Speak Silently to the Grim Aftermath of Battle

What the amputated limbs and full skeletons of a Manassas burial pit tell us about wartime surgical practices

The first map of the United States, published in 1784 by Abel Buell, shows the recent addition of the Northwest Territories—a region that would soon include the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, home to thousands of African-American pioneers.

The Unheralded Pioneers of 19th-Century America Were Free African-American Families

In her new book, 'The Bone and Sinew of the Land', historian Anna-Lisa Cox explores the mostly ignored story of the free black people who first moved West

Among the colorful characters immortalized in the colorless daguerreotype medium are (clockwise from upper left): writer Henry Thoreau, Seneca leader Blacksnake, Navy Commodore Matthew Perry, mental health crusader Dorothea Dix, showmen P.T. Barnum and Tom Thumb, and actress Charlotte Cushman.

How Daguerreotype Photography Reflected a Changing America

The National Portrait Gallery brings the eerie power of a historic medium into focus

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