16 Photographs That Capture the Best and Worst of 1970s America
A new exhibit at the National Archives highlights an interesting decade—one that gave rise to the environmental movement and some awkward fashion
March 08, 2013 |
By Megan Gambino
How Two Women Ended the Deadly Feather Trade
100 years ago, birds like the snowy egret were on the brink of extinction, all because of their sought-after plumage
March 2013 |
By William Souder
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
The Vegas Hotspot That Broke All the Rules
America’s first interracial casino helped end segregation on the Strip and proved that the only color that mattered was green
January 2013 |
By Kevin Cook
Are We Headed for Another Dust Bowl?
The devastating drought of the 1930s forever changed American agriculture. Could those conditions return?
November 16, 2012 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Speech That Saved Teddy Roosevelt’s Life
Campaigning for president 100 years ago, Roosevelt was spared almost certain death when 50 pieces of paper slowed an assailant’s bullet headed for his chest
November 2012 |
By Patricia O'Toole
How Advertisers Convinced Americans They Smelled Bad
A schoolgirl and a former traveling Bible salesman helped turn deodorants and antiperspirants from niche toiletries into an $18 billion industry
August 03, 2012 |
By Sarah Everts
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
Happy 100th Birthday, Woody Guthrie!
New songs by the American folk legend keep turning up, a century after his birth
July 2012 |
By Abigail Tucker
Found: Letters from the Hindenburg
A new addition to the Smithsonian collections tells a new story about the legendary disaster
May 2012 |
By Abigail Tucker
Los Tres Reyes Remember The Age of the Tríos
The Latin American artists discuss how their career began over 50 years ago
May 2012 |
By Aviva Shen
The Hidden History of a Rock ’n’ Roll Hitmaker
Bassist Carol Kaye blazed her own trail, as the only female studio musician to record some of the greatest songs of the ’60s and ’70s
February 28, 2012 |
By Kent Hartman
Vivian Maier: The Unheralded Street Photographer
A chance find has rescued the work of the camera-toting baby sitter, and gallery owners are taking notice
December 2011 |
By David Zax
Clarence Darrow: Jury Tamperer?
Newly unearthed documents shed light on claims that the famous criminal attorney bribed a juror
December 2011 |
By John A. Farrell
Ralph Eugene Meatyard: The Man Behind the Masks
The "dedicated amateur" photographer had a strange way of getting his subjects to reveal themselves
November 2011 |
By David Zax
Q and A With Diosa Costello
The first Latina on Broadway dishes on her career and how she got her breakout role in South Pacific
November 2011 |
By Joseph Stromberg
An Image of Innocence Abroad
Neither photographer Ruth Orkin nor her subject Jinx Allen realized the stir the collaboration would make
October 2011 |
By David Schonauer
Building the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial
For those working behind the scenes on the King memorial, its meaning runs deep
August 19, 2011 |
By Megan Gambino
Ken Kesey’s Pranksters Take to the Big Screen
It took an Oscar-winning director to make sense of the drug-addled footage shot by the author and his Merry Pranksters
August 05, 2011 |
By Daniel Eagan
William Eggleston's Big Wheels
This enigmatic 1970 portrait of a tricycle took photography down a whole new road
August 2011 |
By Mark Feeney
