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A Murder in Salem
In 1830, a brutal crime in Massachusetts riveted the nation—and inspired the writings of Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne
November 2010 |
By E.J. Wagner
A Seminole Warrior Cloaked in Defiance
A pair of woven, beaded garters reflects the spirit of Seminole warrior Osceola
October 2010 |
By Owen Edwards
Patience Worth: Author From the Great Beyond
Pearl Curran, a St. Louis housewife, channeled a 17th-century spirit to the heights of 20th-century literary stardom
September 2010 |
By Gioia Diliberto
How Annie Oakley, "Princess of the West," Preserved Her Ladylike Reputation
Born in 1860, the famed female sharpshooter skillfully cultivated an image of a daredevil performer with proper Victorian morals
August 12, 2010 |
By Jess Righthand
George Friedman on World War III
The geopolitical scientist predicts which nations will be fighting for world power in 2050
August 2010 |
By Terence Monmaney
The Grand Women Artists of the Hudson River School
Unknown and forgotten to history, these painters of America's great landscapes are finally getting their due in a new exhibition
July 21, 2010 |
By Judith H. Dobrzynski
Tom Swift Turns 100
Tom Swift is turning 100—and he still doesn’t look a day over 18
July 01, 2010 |
By Danny Heitman
Allen Ginsberg's Beat Family Album
The famous beat poet's photographs reveal an American counterculture at work and play
June 2010 |
By Mark Feeney
To Be...Or Not: The Greatest Shakespeare Forgery
William-Henry Ireland committed a scheme so grand that he fooled even himself into believing he was William Shakespeare's true literary heir
June 2010 |
By Doug Stewart
A Rare Pony Express Artifact
A letter that took two years to reach its destination evokes the hazards of the Pony Express
May 2010 |
By Owen Edwards
Filoli: Garden of a Golden Age
Filoli—a lavish early 20th century estate that is the last of its kind—harks back to when San Francisco’s richest families built to dazzle
May 2010 |
By Andrew Purvis
Victorian Womanhood, in All Its Guises
Frances Benjamin Johnston's self-portraits show a woman was never content playing just one role
May 2010 |
By Victoria Olsen
Mark Twain in Love
A chance encounter on a New Orleans dock in 1858 haunted the writer for the rest of his life
May 2010 |
By Ron Powers
The Story of Bartram's Garden
Outside of Philadelphia, America's first botanical garden once supplied seeds to Founding Fathers and continues to inspire plant-lovers today
April 13, 2010 |
By Robin T. Reid
Lincoln's Missing Bodyguard
What happened to Officer John Parker, the man who chose the wrong night to leave his post at Ford's Theater?
April 08, 2010 |
By Paul Martin
Mammoths and Mastodons: All American Monsters
A mammoth discovery in 1705 sparked a fossil craze and gave the young United States a symbol of national might
April 2010 |
By Richard Conniff
A 160-Year-Old Photographic Mystery
In 1851, Levi Hill claimed he invented color photography. Was he a genius or a fraud?
April 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Ireland's Forgotten Sons Recovered Two Centuries Later
In Pennsylvania, amateur archaeologists unearth a mass grave of immigrant railroad workers who disappeared in 1832
April 2010 |
By Abigail Tucker
Lewis Carroll's Shifting Reputation
Why has popular opinion of the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland undergone such a dramatic reversal?
April 2010 |
By Jenny Woolf


