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History

The breakthrough propeller, its blades shaped by hatchet and drawknife from two-ply spruce, was sheathed in linen and sealed with aluminum powder mixed into a heavy varnish.

Why Wilbur Wright Deserves the Bulk of the Credit for the First Flight

A new book advances a controversial theory about the singular contribution that went into the brothers’ pioneering achievement

A pipe from the Lower Yukon region of Alaska.

North America’s Earliest Smokers May Have Helped Launch the Agricultural Revolution

As archaeologists push back the dates for the spread of tobacco use, new questions are emerging about trade networks and agriculture

U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft fire chaff and flare countermeasures over the Nevada Test and Training Range Nov. 17, 2010.

The Woman Whose Invention Helped Win a War — and Still Baffles Weathermen

Her work long overlooked, physicist Joan Curran developed technology to conceal aircraft from radar during World War II

At Beauvoir this past October, Jim Huffman, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, showed students the 1863 battle flag of the Army of Tennessee.

The Costs of the Confederacy

In the last decade alone, American taxpayers have spent at least $40 million on Confederate monuments and groups that perpetuate racist ideology

A section of the 18,000-square-foot Cyclorama depicts a pivotal moment: Lt Edward Jones, on horseback, racing to reinforce the Federal line.

American South

Atlanta’s Famed Cyclorama Mural Will Tell the Truth About the Civil War Once Again

One of the war’s greatest battles was fought again and again on a spectacular canvas nearly 400 feet long. At last, the real history is being restored

The Immigrant Story Behind the Classic “Greetings From” Postcards

Long before Instagram, Americans showed off their travels using Curt Teich’s cheery linen postcards.

2018 Smithsonian Ingenuity Awards

Tracy K. Smith, America’s Poet Laureate, Travels the Country to Ignite Our Imaginations

Like Johnny Appleseed, Smith has been planting the seeds of verse across the U.S.

The co-founders of the Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, Mily Treviño-Sauceda and Mónica Ramírez (foreground), stand with members of Líderes Campesinas on a farm in Oxnard, California.

2018 Smithsonian Ingenuity Awards

The Time’s Up Initiative Built Upon the Work Done by These Labor Activists

How the leaders of a farmworkers’ alliance reached across cultural divides to fight sexual harassment

March for Our Lives student activists. Top row: David Hogg, Jammal Lemy, Samantha Deitsch, Bradley Thornton, Daniel Williams, Jaclyn Corin; Middle row: Kyrah Simon, Sofie Whitney, Ryan Deitsch, Delaney Tarr, Diego Pfeiffer, Emma González, Brendan Duff; Bottom row: Matt Deitsch, Kirsten McConnell, Kaylyn Pipitone, Cameron Kasky, Chris Grady, Dylan Baierlein

2018 Smithsonian Ingenuity Awards

The March for Our Lives Activists Showed Us How to Find Meaning in Tragedy

After the massacre at a Florida high school, these brave students provided a way forward

Dorothy Porter in 1939, at her desk in the Carnegie Library at Howard University.

Remembering the Howard University Librarian Who Decolonized the Way Books Were Catalogued

Dorothy Porter challenged the racial bias in the Dewey Decimal System, putting black scholars alongside white colleagues

This creamy oyster pan roast pays homage to the offerings of oysterman-turned-restaurateur Thomas Downing, a household name in 19th-century New York.

Sweet! You Can Now Cook the Food From the African-American History Museum’s Award-Winning Café in Your Own Home

Smithsonian Books introduces the Sweet Home Café Cookbook, chock full of delicious riffs on classic African-American recipes

The Best History Books of 2018

From the political violence of 19th-century America to the untold stories of African-American pioneers, these books help shape our understanding of today

It took thousands of years, but the pumpkin went from one squash among many to American icon.

How the Formerly Ubiquitous Pumpkin Became a Thanksgiving Treat

The history of Cucurbita pepo has a surprising connection to the abolitionist cause

Viggo Mortensen (left) and Mahershala Ali star in Green Book.

American South

The True Story of the ‘Green Book’ Movie

Jazz, race and an unlikely friendship inspire the new film about navigating Jim Crow America

A famous Enlightenment era writer and philosopher, Voltaire made a splash with his first play, Oedipe.

How Voltaire Went from Bastille Prisoner to Famous Playwright

Three hundred years ago this week, the French philosopher and writer began his career with a popular retelling of Sophocles’ ‘Oedipus’

Several of the newly identified stone tools – unearthed from a museum collection.

A Fresh Look at These Stone Tools Reveals a New Chapter of Ancient Chinese History

Archaeologists thought these ancient tools, 80,000 years old at least, were brought to China by migrants—but now it appears they were invented locally

An engraving of James A. Garfield's assassination, published in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper

The Garfield Assassination Altered American History, But Is Woefully Forgotten Today

A newly installed historical marker recognizes the site where Charles Guiteau shot the president in 1881

Directed by Otto Bathurst, Robin Hood stars Taron Egerton in the title role, with Jamie Foxx as Little John, Ben Mendelsohn as the Sheriff of Nottingham and Eve Hewson as Marian.

Why a New Robin Hood Arises Every Generation

Troubled times always bring out the noble bandit who, in the face of tyranny and corruption, robs from the rich to give back to the people

More like something out of a dream than a part of daily life, that weekend indelibly imprinted scenes in American memory: the riderless horse, the rat-a-tat-tat of the muffled drums, the brave widow, the toddler saluting his father’s casket.

How Poetry Soothed a Nation in Mourning for John F. Kennedy

First the jolt of shock, then a shroud of sadness struck the nation in the weeks following that fateful day

The Telharmonium is considered to be the first electromechanical musical instrument.

The World’s First Synthesizer Was a 200-Ton Behemoth

Thaddeus Cahill’s Telharmonium may not have been a huge success, but it was an important achievement in music history

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