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History

The Secret Ingredient in Kellogg’s Corn Flakes Is Seventh-Day Adventism

America’s favorite processed breakfast was once the pinnacle of healthfulness—and spiritual purity

The moment of impact when the trains exploded. Later, members of the audience rushed forward to collect pieces of the smoldering ruin.

A Train Company Crashed Two Trains. You Will Believe What Happened Next

When a Texas railway agent came up with a new marketing scheme, he had no idea how explosive it would be

Armenia

Unraveling the Mystery of the “Armenian Stonehenge”

Amelia Ceja is breaking boundaries at Ceja Vineyards, which was founded by Amelia, Pedro, Armando and Martha Ceja.

Food, Glorious Food

¡Salud! to the Mexican-American Wine Revolution

Ceja Vineyards breathes new life into Napa Valley’s wine industry

Firemen fight to control blazing buildings in Detroit on July 25, 1967. The city was filled with gunfire, looting and police officers for five days that July.

Understanding Detroit’s 1967 Upheaval 50 Years Later

For five days in July, the Motor City was under siege from looters and soldiers alike

Anna Morandi Manzolini (1714-1774), Italian anatomist and sculptor, from a drawing by Cesare Bettini.

The Lady Anatomist Who Brought Dead Bodies to Light

Anna Morandi was the brains and the skilled hand of an unusual husband-wife partnership

Why Hospitals Started Displaying Newborn Babies Through Windows

How peering at babies through glass became a feel-good staple of American maternity wards

Opening of Sears Department Store

The Rise and Fall of Sears

How the retail store that taught America how to shop navigated more than a century of economic and cultural change

Miklós Horthy at the annexation of south-east Czechoslovakia, Kassa (present-day Košice), 11 November 1938

History of Now

Why It Matters That Hungary’s Prime Minister Denounced His Country’s Role in the Holocaust

Is this tonal shift for real — or will the European nation continue to obfuscate its history?

Ask Smithsonian 2017

Where Did the Term “Gerrymander” Come From?

Elbridge Gerry was a powerful voice in the founding of the nation, but today he’s best known for the political practice with an amphibious origin

The anti-Chinese cap pistol carries the phrase “The Chinese Must Go” and shows a presumably white man kicking a Chinese man.

Artifacts Show the Sometimes-Violent Nature of American Democracy

From a KKK hood to an anti-Chinese pistol, a new exhibition shows America’s fraught history of deciding who to include in democracy

More than 300,000 Allied troops were rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk in 1940, with help from ships like the "Medway Queen."

The True Story of Dunkirk, As Told Through the Heroism of the “Medway Queen”

Retrofitted by the British Navy, the paddleboat saved 7,000 men over many dangerous trips across the Channel

Great riot at the Astor Place opera house, New York on Thursday evening May 10th, 1849

When New York City Rioted Over Hamlet Being Too British

In the deadly Astor Place Riot, how to perform Shakespeare served as a proxy for class warfare

Tabula Peutingeriana.

Where to See Some of the World’s Oldest and Most Interesting Maps

Chart humanity’s course through history with these antique navigational tools

Independence Day Celebration in Centre Square by John Lewis Krimmel (1787–1821)

The Brief Period, 200 Years Ago, When American Politics Was Full of “Good Feelings”

James Monroe’s 1817 goodwill tour kicked off a decade of party-less government – but he couldn’t stop the nation from dividing again

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