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Stories from Ellen Wexler

Property plan of the parish of St. Ann Blackfriars

Shakespeare’s House in London Was Lost to History. A Scholar Discovered a Map in the Archives That Revealed Its Exact Location

The Bard purchased the property three years before his death in 1616. Had he hoped to spend more time in the city where he wrote his best-known plays?

The Mona Lisa returning to the Louvre in 1914

Andrew Lloyd Webber Says He’s Writing a New Musical About the Time the ‘Mona Lisa’ Vanished Without a Trace in 1911

Known for spectacles like “The Phantom of the Opera,” Broadway’s most commercially successful composer now wants to tell the story of the world’s most famous painting

Gustave Eiffel at the Eiffel Tower in 1889

A Dizzying Spiral Staircase With a Single Guardrail Once Led to the Top of the Eiffel Tower. Now, You Can Buy 14 of the Original Steps

The 1,062 steps connecting the tower’s second and third levels were installed in 1889. Fragments from the 137-year-old staircase can be found at several French museums

The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring on display before the restoration

This Vincent van Gogh Painting Was Found Wrapped in an Ikea Bag and a Blood-Stained Pillow. Now, the Artwork Has Been Restored to Its Former Glory

Art sleuth Arthur Brand recovered “The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring” in 2023, three years after it was stolen from a Dutch museum. Following careful restoration, the canvas is now back on display

This fully assembled robot was found inside an unclaimed bag. Staffers aren't sure what its purpose is.

What’s Inside America’s Lost Luggage? These Travelers Abandoned a Samurai Sword, a Meteorite and a Robot With a Mysterious Purpose

Unclaimed Baggage sells lost belongings at a 50,000-square-foot store in Alabama. An annual report explores how objects packed in 2025 reflect cultural trends

"By the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies," Abigail Adams wrote on March 31, 1776.

Abigail Adams Asked Her Husband to ‘Remember the Ladies’ as He Drafted America’s Laws. Here’s What She Really Meant

She wrote the letter that would come to define her legacy on March 31, 1776. But 250 years later, Americans are misinterpreting her open-ended request

Vision of Zacharias in the Temple, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1633

They Joked About Discovering a Forgotten Masterpiece. Now, Experts Say They’re the Unwitting Owners of an Original Rembrandt

“Vision of Zacharias in the Temple” had been removed from the Dutch painter’s oeuvre in the 1960s. But when the owners brought it to the Rijksmuseum, scholars decided to conduct a close analysis

The camera, a Zeiss Ikon Baby Ikonta from the 1930s, and the newly developed images, which were likely taken in the 1950s

A Man Bought a $13 Camera at a Thrift Shop—and Found 70-Year-Old Film Still Inside. Do You Recognize the Faces in the Photos?

Staffers at a photography shop in England carefully developed the negatives, which depict a ski trip in the Swiss Alps. Now, they’re searching for clues to help identify the people pictured

New research is providing unique insights into the love notes, drawings, jokes and political commentary scratched into the ancient city's walls.

Archaeologists Say They’ve Identified Traces of a 2,000-Year-Old Love Note Still Etched Into a Wall in Ancient Pompeii

Advanced imaging technology has revealed 79 new pieces of graffiti on a wall in the city’s theater district. Until now, these inscriptions had been too faint for the human eye to see

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Here Are 250 Places to Visit to Celebrate America’s 250th Birthday. How Many Have You Been To?

Journey around the nation with this interactive map, divided by region or category, and discover American history in a way you’ve never seen before

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Happy Public Domain Day to All Who Celebrate! You Can Now Use Betty Boop, Nancy Drew and ‘The Maltese Falcon’ for Free

On January 1, 2026, copyrights will expire for comics, books, movies, musical compositions and other creative works from 1930, as well as sound recordings from 1925

A letter from Jane Austen to her sister, Cassandra, discussing the publication of Pride and Prejudice in 1813

Jane Austen’s Letters Are the Closest We Can Get to Her. What Do They Reveal About the ‘Pride and Prejudice’ Author?

This year marks the English novelist’s 250th birthday. Her hundreds of surviving letters—both real and fictional—offer valuable insights into her imaginative wit and enduring appeal

The Edmund Fitzgerald measured 729 feet long and had a gross tonnage of 13,632.

Nobody Knows What Sank the ‘Edmund Fitzgerald.’ But Its Doomed Final Voyage Will Always Be America’s Defining Shipwreck

Fifty years after the freighter disappeared into the depths of Lake Superior, the mystery of its demise—and the mournful ballad it inspired—still haunt the popular imagination

In The Night Watch, Rembrandt included a small dog crouching in the shadows.

The Mystery of the Small Dog in Rembrandt’s Monumental Masterpiece ‘The Night Watch’ Has Officially Been Solved

When a curator spotted a strikingly similar image of a dog by a lesser-known Dutch artist, she wondered if it could have inspired the pup in Rembrandt’s famous 1642 painting

Bust of a Woman in a Flowery Hat (Dora Maar), Pablo Picasso, 1943

This Forgotten Picasso Painting Just Emerged From the Shadows for the First Time Since 1944

“Bust of a Woman in a Flowery Hat (Dora Maar),” a poignant portrait of the Spanish artist’s lover and muse, had been in private hands for eight decades

Some of the artifacts stored in the al-Kawthar building had been unearthed at the St. Hilarion Monastery.

Archaeologists in Gaza Rushed to Rescue Thousands of Ancient Artifacts From an Impending Airstrike

In just six hours, workers evacuated 70 percent of the historic collection, including objects from one of the Middle East’s oldest Christian monasteries. The remaining 30 percent was lost in the attack

The Oseberg, a Viking ship built in 820 C.E., moved to its new home at the Museum of the Viking Age at the speed of ten inches per minute.

The Best-Preserved Viking Ship in the World Just Survived Its Treacherous Final Journey

For more than ten years, experts have been painstakingly planning to move three 1,000-year-old vessels—the “Oseberg,” “Gokstad” and “Tune”—about 115 yards to their new home in Oslo

Every page is stamped with the words "Pearl Harbor" at the top.

She Found a Tattered Logbook in the Trash. It Turned Out to Be a Rare Record From the 1941 Pearl Harbor Attack

The National Archives has recovered the volume, which includes more than 500 pages of data from March 1941 to June 1942. It had been tucked away in storage for half a century

A crane lifts an ancient sculpture from Abu Qir Bay near Alexandria, Egypt.

Ancient Statues Emerge From the Waters Off Egypt’s Coast, Where They’d Been Hiding for Thousands of Years

Several large sculptures were among the trove of artifacts that divers recovered from the waters near Alexandria, Egypt. Officials say the site may have been an extension of the nearby city of Canopus

The page was marked with a wax numbering system in the 1980s, which helped officials determine when it was stolen.

FBI Returns Long-Lost Manuscript Signed by Hernán Cortés in 1527 to Mexico’s National Archives

The document, which vanished decades ago, includes logistical details linked to the travels of the Spanish conquistador, who had conquered the Aztec Empire several years earlier

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