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Ed Leibowitz

Stories from this author

In the dress (now in the Smithsonian collections), on September 20, 1973, Billie Jean King crushed Bobby Riggs with her serve and volley game, winning the match 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.

How Billie Jean King Picked Her Outfit for the Battle of the Sexes Match

King beat self-proclaimed male chauvinist Bobby Riggs and her victory still stands as an accomplishment for feminism

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Token of Appreciation

A grateful Pomo Indian’s gift to a friend exemplifies the brightest form of Native American artistry

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Panorama Mama

In Los Angeles, bulldozers are circling Sara Velas’ mural in the round

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Special Delivery

In the 1900s, health officials believed that puncturing supposedly disease-infested mail and then fumigating it slowed the spread of illness

Autographed baseballs National Museum of American History

Power Balls

Out of the park: signed balls soar into the stratosphere

The eye-catching cigarette packages in Johnson's collection served as advertisements as well as containers, testaments to legions of company artists. English Craven A's, American One-Elevens and Scottish Cuba Blends are from the first half of the 20th century.

Pack Rat

First Virgil Johnson gave up smoking. Then he gave up his breathtaking collection of tobacco-nalia

In the 1970s, Joe transformed into Atomic Man, a bionic bruiser whose fearlessness extended to cobras.

Macho in Miniature

For nearly 40 years, G.I. Joe has been on America’s front lines in toy boxes from coast to coast

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Old Sneakers Never Die

For much of the 20th century, hoopsters from pro to pickup loved their Converse Chuck Taylor All stars

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Out from under the Wrecking Ball

The Los Angeles Conservancy’s Modern Committee fights to rescue remnants of 1950s “Googie” architecture and other 20th-century landmarks

Bar Codes: Reading Between the Lines