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

Lunch Atop a Skyscraper Photograph: The Story Behind the Famous Shot

For 80 years, the 11 ironworkers in the iconic photo have remained unknown, and now, thanks to new research, two of them have been identified
September 20, 2012 | By Megan Gambino

There's a New Breed of Forty-Niners Rushing to the Pacific

Lured by the soaring price of the precious metal, prospectors are heading for the California hills like it's 1849 all over again
July 2012 | By Abigail Tucker

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

The Cherokees vs. Andrew Jackson

John Ross and Major Ridge tried diplomatic and legal strategies to maintain autonomy, but the new president had other plans
March 2011 | By Brian Hicks

A Yuletide Gift of Kindness

Seventy-five years later, Ted Gup learns the astonishing secret about his grandfather's generosity during the Great Depression
December 2010 | By Ted Gup

How the Battle of Little Bighorn Was Won

Accounts of the 1876 battle have focused on Custer's ill-fated cavalry. But a new book offers a take from the Indian's point of view
November 2010 | By Thomas Powers

Wayne B. Wheeler: The Man Who Turned Off the Taps

Prohibition couldn't have happened without Wheeler, who foisted temperance on a thirsty nation 90 years ago
May 2010 | By Daniel Okrent

An Ancestry of African-Native Americans

Using government documents, author Angela Walton-Raji traced her ancestors to the slaves owned by American Indians
February 17, 2010 | By Katy June-Friesen

Ben Franklin: Patriot, Foodie

American patriot Benjamin Franklin was a fan of food and helped France change their opinion on potatoes
July 02, 2009 | By Smithsonian.com

1934: The Art of the New Deal

An exhibition of Depression-era paintings by federally-funded artists provides a hopeful view of life during economic travails
June 2009 | By Jerry Adler

What’s the Deal about New Deal Art?

As the first of the New Deal acts that funded public art projects with federal money, the PWAP produced more than 15,000 works of art in just six months
May 19, 2009 | By David A. Taylor

Carving Out the West at the Great Smoke Conference

In 1851, American Indian tribes gathered to seek protection of their western lands from frontiersman on the Oregon Trail
April 02, 2009 | By Paul VanDevelder

Eudora Welty as Photographer

Photographs by Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist Eudora Welty display the empathy that would later infuse her fiction
April 2009 | By T.A. Frail

Solving a 17th-Century Crime

Forensic anthropologists at the National Museum of Natural History find answers to a colonial cold case
March 2009 | By Joseph Caputo

Endangered Site: Historic Route 66, U.S.A.

The 2,400 mile highway was eclipsed by interstate highways that bypassed neon signs of roadside diners
March 2009 | By Megan Gambino

The Inventor of Air

Known for discovering oxygen, scientist Joseph Priestly also influenced the beliefs of our founding fathers.
February 09, 2009 | By Bruce Hathaway

Sarah Vowell on the Puritans' Legacy

The author and 'This American Life' correspondent talks about her book on the colonies' early religious leaders
November 04, 2008 | By Amanda Bensen

Revolutionary Real Estate

Statesmen, soldiers and spies who made America and the way they lived
December 2007 | By Hugh Howard

Beyond Jamestown

After the colony was founded, 400 years ago this month, Capt. John Smith set out to explore the riches of Chesapeake Bay. With Smith's journals to guide him, a modern-day sailor retraces that historic voyage
May 2007 | By Terence Smith

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