Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

History

What Happened to America’s Public Intellectuals?

Our nation has always depended on these heavyweights to guide us, but are they still with us, and if so, who are they?

Despite being largely forgotten today, Lowell Thomas was a pioneering journalist of the 20th century who reshaped news media.

History of Now

The Forgotten Man Who Transformed Journalism in America

Lowell Thomas was the first host of a TV broadcast news program, and adopted a number of other new technologies to make his mark in the 20th century

A Pack Horse Librarian returning over the mountain side for a new supply of books

Horse-Riding Librarians Were the Great Depression’s Bookmobiles

During the Great Depression, a New Deal program brought books to Kentuckians living in remote areas

Secret Tunnels Under London, Once Used to Hide Art During WWI, Open to the Public for the First Time

Explore the 6.5-mile-long network of hidden mail tunnels starting this July

In 2001, Smithsonian scientists Doug Owsley and Kari Bruwelheide traveled to the Grove in Glenview, Illinois, Robert Kennicott's boyhood home, to open the naturalist's casket and determine the cause of his death.

Smithsonian’s Behind-the-Scenes ‘Sidedoor’ Podcast Returns for Second Season

New episodes explore a 150-year-old cold case, the history of beer, war photography and more

The advantages of coins as currency were clear.

Making Cents of Currency’s Ancient Rise

Cash has been king for over 40,000 years

For 19th-century American bakers—who slaved for hours trying to make their doughs rise and their cakes puff up—the advent of baking powder was a revolution in a can.

The Great Uprising: How a Powder Revolutionized Baking

Before baking powder hit the scene in 1856, making cake was not a piece of cake

Bronze sculpture of Mercy Otis Warren stands in front of Barnstable County Courthouse, Massachusetts.

The Woman Whose Words Inflamed the American Revolution

Mercy Otis Warren used her wit to agitate for independence

Interior and sand floor of the Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue in Willemstad, Curacao

Why Sand Covers the Floor of One of the Western Hemisphere’s Oldest Synagogues

Fleeing anti-Semitism in Europe, Jews found unexpected shelter on the island of Curaçao

In this March 13, 1959 file photo, A group of supporters of statehood drive through the street in Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii.

The Political Dealmaking That Finally Brought Hawaii Statehood

And what Puerto Rico can learn from the prolonged process

Rachel and Andrew Jackson's marriage was a source of controversy throughout his political career.

Rachel Jackson, the Scandalous Divorcee Who Almost Became First Lady

Rachel Jackson ran away from her husband and got divorced to marry Andrew, an incident that haunted her for life

When Fresh Air Went Out of Fashion at Hospitals

How the hospital went from luxury resort to windowless box

The bird feathers attached to artifacts in the John Wesley Powell collection can give anthropologists further insight into customs and trade.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Telling the Story of 19th-Century Native American Treasures Through Bird Feathers

Famed explorer John Wesley Powell’s archive of his 19th century travels is newly examined

Brigitte Kowanz, Light Steps.

Art Installations Transform a Historic Venetian Island

San Clemente Island in the Lagoon of Venice, a former refuge for crusaders and a hospice for plague victims, opens an island-wide art show

The only way Robert Smalls could ensure that his family would stay together was to escape.

The Thrilling Tale of How Robert Smalls Seized a Confederate Ship and Sailed it to Freedom

He risked his life to liberate his family and became a legend in the process

Aphra Behn made a name for herself in Restoration-era England, writing bawdy plays that were wildly popular.

The Spy Who Became England’s First Successful Female Writer

Aphra Behn made a name for herself in Restoration-era England, when most women still relied on their husbands

Vice President-designate Gerald Ford holds up a copy of Evergreen Review, a magazine which Ford described as obscene. One of Ford's charges against Douglas was that he had allowed an article he had written to be published in Evergreen.

History of Now

The History of American Impeachment

There’s a precedent that it’s not just for presidents

In this June 13, 1917 file photo, U.S. Army General John J. Pershing, center, inspects French troops at Boulogne, France

World War I: 100 Years Later

“I Hope It Is Not Too Late”: How the U.S. Decided to Send Millions of Troops Into World War I

The Allies were desperate for reinforcements, but the U.S. wasn’t quite ready to provide them

The Treaty of Medicine Creek

Medicine Creek, the Treaty That Set the Stage for Standing Rock

The Fish Wars of the 1960s led to an affirmation of Native American rights

Page 155 of 300