American History

Our Top Ten Stories of 2016

From slavery to tuberculosis, it’s been a tumultuous year of exploring our past and looking to the future

When the Standardization of Time Arrived in America

It used to be that each town kept its own time, and chaos reigned

A photo of Bill Clinton taken in 1993, the first year of his presidency.

Presidents Can Be Impeached Because Benjamin Franklin Thought It Was Better Than Assassination

The founding fathers struggled with the idea of whether the top leader should be impeachable

Marshall Field's was as much a part of Chicago's soul as the Lakefront and the Cubs.

For Generations of Chicagoans, Marshall Field’s Meant Business, and Christmas

The midwestern mainstay transformed commerce into a communal holiday spectacle

A modern flight data recorder, a.k.a. a "black box." Despite the name, these recorders are typically painted orange.

On This Day, The Black Box Proved Its Worth

The Park Slope plane crash was a tragedy, but it proved the importance of the flight data recorder

Bei Bei, the National Zoo's youngest giant panda cub, during a veterinary exam when he was less than three months old.

The Long, Adorable History of Pandas in America

Su Lin was the first giant panda to come to America, landing in San Francisco in 1936

The Only Live News Report from the Attack on Pearl Harbor

On December 7, 1941, an NBC radio affiliate in Honolulu made an urgent phone call to New York. In it, he begins to describe the attack on Pearl Harbor

Photo of Olivia de Havilland (left), Leslie Howard (center) and Vivien Leigh (right) from Gone With The Wind.

Why Do We Love Period Dramas So Much?

Gone With The Wind, the highest-grossing period drama ever, premiered on this day in 1939

The sequins on the shoes are so delicate that conservators clean them with a Q-tip and a little cold water.

How Dorothy's Ruby Slippers Came to the Smithsonian

A successful Kickstarter Campaign funds efforts to bring back their sparkle and keep them ruby

The Tocsin of liberty: rung by the state house bell, (Independence Hall;) Philadelphia, July 4th, 1776

After Nearly 500 Years in Business, the Company that Cast the Liberty Bell Is Ceasing All Operations

London’s Whitechapel Bell Foundry will fall silent soon, but will forever be tied to an icon of American history

The tea bag made it possible to brew a single cup of tea rather than a whole pot.

Ever Wonder Who Invented the Tea Bag?

Its two competing origin stories are linked by one thing: convenience

A VR image from behind the net in last week's Cleveland Cavaliers-Milwaukee Bucks game.

Why Basketball Is The Perfect Sport for Virtual Reality

James Naismith invented basketball on this day in 1891. He couldn’t have seen VR coming

An official notice of exclusion and removal posted on April 1, 1942.

75 Years Ago, the Secretary of the Navy Falsely Blamed Japanese-Americans for Pearl Harbor

The baseless accusation sparked the road to the infamous internment camps

John Glenn stands in the NASA mailroom surrounded by thousands of letters sent to him.

John Glenn and the Sexism of the Early Space Program

Fan mail sent to the astronaut reveals the rigidity of gender roles in the 1960s

Ellen Willis in upstate New York in 1970

One of the First Female Rock Critics Battled Sexism and Obscurity To Document the 1970s

Willis was The New Yorker’s first pop music critic, but to her, everything was open for criticism

Lucian's space travelers witness a battle between the forces of the Sun and the Moon, which includes outlandish creatures like three-headed vultures and space spiders.

The Intergalactic Battle of Ancient Rome

Hundreds of years before audiences fell in love with Star Wars, one writer dreamt of battles in space

The Oldest Structure on the National Mall Is on the Move

But don't worry, it's only going about 30 feet away

People Have Spent Years Trying to Diagnose Mary Todd Lincoln From Beyond the Grave

Abraham Lincoln's wife has been called a "wildcat," "menstrual" and "bipolar" among other things

Robert Noyce (left) and Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in from of the Intel SC1 building in Santa Clara, 1970.

Silicon Valley Owes Its Success To This Tech Genius You’ve Never Heard Of

Robert Noyce was one of the founders of Silicon Valley

A panoramic map of the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, MO.

The Library of Congress Is Putting Its Map Collection on the Map

A new partnership with the Digital Public Library of America will put three major LOC map collections online

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