Darwin on Lincoln and Vice Versa
Two of the world’s greatest modern thinkers are much celebrated, but what did they know of one another?
January 22, 2009 |
By Laura Helmuth, Mark Strauss and Terence Monmaney
Out of Darwin’s Shadow
Alfred Russel Wallace arrived at the theory of natural selection independently of Charles Darwin and nearly outscooped Darwin’s The Origin of Species
January 22, 2009 |
By Lyn Garrity
History of the Hysterical Man
Doctors once thought that only women suffered from hysteria, but a medical historian says that men were always just as susceptible
January 05, 2009 |
By Abigail Tucker
Van Gogh's Night Visions
For Vincent Van Gogh, fantasy and reality merged after dark in some of his most enduring paintings, as a new exhibition reminds us
January 2009 |
By Paul Trachtman
Star-Spangled Banner Back on Display
After a decade’s conservation, the flag that inspired the National Anthem returns to its place of honor on the National Mall
November 2008 |
By Robert M. Poole
Ted Sorensen on Abraham Lincoln: A Man of His Words
Kennedy advisor Ted Sorensen found that of all the U.S. presidents, Lincoln had the best speechwriter—himself
October 2008 |
By Theodore C. Sorensen
Lincoln-Douglas Debate Negotiations
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas engaged in pre-debate negotiations in 1858.
September 01, 2008 |
By Smithsonian.com
How Lincoln Bested Douglas in Their Famous Debates
The 1858 debates reframed America's argument about slavery and transformed Lincoln into a presidential contender
September 2008 |
By Fergus M. Bordewich
Botticelli Comes Ashore
With the purchase of Botticelli’s Death of Lucretia, Isabella Stewart Gardner took American collecting in a new direction
August 12, 2008 |
By Cynthia Saltzman
Q & A: Cynthia Saltzman
The author of Old Masters, New World discusses how 19th century American collectors acquired European masterpieces and what it meant for museums and our nation.
August 12, 2008 |
By Alison McLean
John Muir's Yosemite
The father of the conservation movement found his calling on a visit to the California wilderness
July 2008 |
By Tony Perrottet
About Carleton Watkins
On the life and career of the 19th-century American landscape photographer who captured Yosemite in stereo
July 2008 |
By Bruce Hathaway
The Brink of War
One hundred fifty years ago, the U.S. Army marched into Utah prepared to battle Brigham Young and his Mormon militia
June 2008 |
By David Roberts
On the Origin of a Theory
Charles Darwin's bid for enduring fame was sparked 150 years ago by word of a rival's research
June 2008 |
By Richard Conniff
Where Dinosaurs Roamed
Footprints at one of the nation's oldest—and most fought over—fossil beds offer new clues to how the behemoths lived
May 2008 |
By Genevieve Rajewski
End of the Road
In the 1800s, travelers along the perilous forest trail known as the Natchez Trace called it the "Devil's Backbone"
May 2008 |
By David Devoss
Hidden Depths
Winslow Homer took watercolors to new levels. A Chicago exhibition charts the elusive New Englander's mastery
May 2008 |
By Robert M. Poole
A Brief History of Pierre L’Enfant and Washington, D.C.
How one Frenchman’s vision became our capital city
May 01, 2008 |
By Kenneth R. Fletcher
Larger than Life
Whether denouncing France's art establishment or challenging Napoleon III, Gustave Courbet never held back
April 2008 |
By Avis Berman
