Document Deep Dives
With the help of experts, Smithsonian.com provides a close analysis of documents that changed history. In the articles below, check out clickable, annotated versions of these historical objects and photographs
Document Deep Dive: What Was on the First SAT?
Explore the exam that has been stressing out college-bound high school students since 1926
April 12, 2013 |
By Megan Gambino
Document Deep Dive: The Heartfelt Friendship Between Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey
Baseball brought the two men together, but even when Rickey left the Brooklyn Dodgers, their relationship off the field would last for years
April 11, 2013 |
By John Hanc
Document Deep Dive: The Classroom of the Future, Today
A new portable schoolroom boasts environmentally features that will save money and create a space more conducive to learning
April 11, 2013 |
By Megan Gambino
Document Deep Dive: A Historic Moment in the Fight for Women’s Voting Rights
A cartoonist diagrammed the parade—5,000 suffragists strong—that defiantly marched in Washington 100 years ago
March 01, 2013 |
By Megan Gambino
Document Deep Dive: The Most Influential Art Show You’ve Never Heard Of
Van Gogh, Cezanne and Degas lined the walls of the famed Armory Show 100 years ago, but it was Marcel Duchamp who stole the thunder
February 14, 2013 |
By Megan Gambino
Harry Truman’s Adorable Love “List” to His Wife, Bess
As a celebration of 38 years of marriage, the former president shared his memories, both fond and bittersweet, from each anniversary
February 12, 2013 |
By Megan Gambino
Document Deep Dive: The Menu From President Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Ball
What delicacies and confectionaries were found on the 250-foot-long buffet table?
January 15, 2013 |
By Megan Gambino
Document Deep Dive: Emancipation Proclamation
When freeing the slaves 150 years ago, Abraham Lincoln traded in his famous lyricism for a dry, legal tone. Harold Holzer explains why
December 19, 2012 |
By Megan Gambino
Document Deep Dive: Rosa Parks’ Arrest Records
Read between the lines of the police report drawn up when the seamstress refused to give up her seat 57 years ago
November 28, 2012 |
By Megan Gambino
Document Deep Dive: What Did Analysts Find in the Recon Photographs From the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Dino Brugioni explains how he and other CIA photo analysts located Soviet missiles just 90 miles away from the United States
October 10, 2012 |
By Megan Gambino
Document Deep Dive: What Did the Zimmermann Telegram Say?
See how British cryptologists cracked the coded message that propelled the United States into World War I
August 21, 2012 |
By Megan Gambino
Document Deep Dive: A Peek at the Last Time London Hosted the Olympics
Records at the National Archives in London show how organizers cobbled together the 1948 "Austerity" Games
July 31, 2012 |
By Megan Gambino
Document Deep Dive: A Holocaust Survivor Finds Hope in America
Michael Pupa's story, from orphan of Nazi Europe to American citizen, is a testament to the freedoms America offers
July 03, 2012 |
By Megan Gambino
Document Deep Dive: The Musical History of "The Star-Spangled Banner"
Was the national anthem really set to the melody of a drinking tune? Take a closer look at the original manuscript of Francis Scott Key's song
June 13, 2012 |
By Megan Gambino
Document Deep Dive: A Firsthand Account of the Hindenburg Disaster
Frank Ward was a 17-year-old crewman when he saw the infamous disaster, but his memories of that day are still strong, 75 years later
May 02, 2012 |
By Megan Gambino
Document Deep Dive: How the Homestead Act Transformed America
Compare documents filed by the first and last homesteaders in the United States
May 2012 |
By T.A. Frail and Megan Gambino
Document Deep Dive: What Does the Magna Carta Really Say?
A curator from the National Archives takes us through what the governing charter means
March 2012 |
By Megan Gambino
