Stories from this author
How James Smithson’s Money Built the Smithsonian
In 1838, 104,960 sovereigns from the bequest of a learned Englishman were reminted in the U.S. to fund the “increase and diffusion of knowledge”
Where Plato Is Your Professor
Graduating from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland—or Santa Fe, New Mexico—guarantees a place in the Republic
Editor at Large: Going the Distance
This month we present the down under travel experiences of longtime editor Edwards Park
Our Flag Was Still There
It’s the star-spangled banner; the anthem it inspired plays on as a musical salute to the stars and stripes
Portraits on the Plains
Armed with easel, palette and pencil, George Catlin went west in the 1830s to paint the real “Wild West”
A Tale of Fatal Feuds and Futile Forensics
A Smithsonian anthropologist digs for victims of a West Virginia mob murder
Reds versus Whites
A masterpiece in porcelain replays old struggles between Bolshevik and Czarist opponents
A Symbol That Failed
In 1918, a hopeful France gave Mrs. Wilson a peace brooch, but peace eluded her husband and the world
Langley’s Feat—and Folly
The Smithsonian Secretary assembled a devoted team, a remarkable engine and a plane that wouldn’t fly
They Flew & Flew & Flew
How two brothers in an old Curtiss Robin set a record that’s stood for 62 years
John Brown’s Picture
A long-lost daguerrotype, made by a black artist in 1847, has lately come to rest at the Smithsonian
The Object at Hand
A bejeweled box from a sorely beset emperor leads to a Yankee dentist, and how he rescued the beautiful empress Eugénie from a Paris mob
The Inverted Jenny
How an upside-down biplane on a 24-cent stamp, at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum, seemed to jinx early attempts at carrying the mail by air
What a Difference the Difference Engine Made: From Charles Babbage’s Calculator Emerged Today’s Computer
The incredible world of computers was born some 150 years ago, with a clunky machine dreamed up by a calculating genius named Charles Babbage
The Object at Hand
There was a time when a cane was the exclamation point to a gentleman’s attire, but canes have also been put to a remarkable range of uses