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History

Motopia as illustrated in 1960 by Arthur Radebaugh for “Closer Than We Think”

Motopia: A Pedestrian Paradise

Visit the futuristic town where drivers and non-drivers live in perfect harmony

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The Day Henry Clay Refused to Compromise

The Great Pacificator was adept at getting congressmen to reach agreements over slavery. But he was less accommodating when one of his own slaves sued him

Richard Paul Pavlick (at right) attempted to assassinate Kennedy outside the President-elect's church in Palm Beach, Florida, in December 1960. Shown here is Kennedy and his family outside that church in April 1963.

The Kennedy Assassin Who Failed

Richard Paul Pavlick’s plan wasn’t very complicated, but it took an eagle-eyed postal worker to prevent a tragedy

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Your Genetic Future: Horse-Dogs, Plantimals and Mini-Rhino Pets

A kids’ magazine in the ‘80s hoped that by now we’d have a whole new array of pets to choose from

Elroy and Grandpa Jetson play “spaceball” (1962)

Grandpa Jetson is Way Cooler Than Grandpa Simpson

Montague Jetson is 110 years old—and loving it

Anne Kelly Knowles uses geography and technology to trace history.

The Civil War

Looking at the Battle of Gettysburg Through Robert E. Lee’s Eyes

Anne Kelly Knowles, the winner of Smithsonian American Ingenuity Awards, uses GIS technology to change our view of history

The Tucker on display at the National Museum of American History.

The Tucker Was the 1940s Car of the Future

Visionary inventor
 Preston Tucker risked everything when he saw his 1948 automobile as a vehicle for change

Clovis points were one of the earliest innovations in pre-Columbian America.

A Scholarly Approach to Innovation

The Secretary of the Smithsonian draws the connection between the Clovis tools and Silicon Valley

Cartoon poster which hung outside Martin’s Lunch Room circa 1929

In the 1920s, Shoppers Got Punk’d By Fake Televisions

Don’t touch that dial….really, don’t

William Crockford—identified here as “Crockford the Shark”—sketched by the great British caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson in about 1825. Rowlandson, himself an inveterate gambler who blew his way through a $10.5 million family fortune, knew the former fishmonger before he opened the club that would make his name.

Crockford’s Club: How a Fishmonger Built a Gambling Hall and Bankrupted the British Aristocracy

A working-class Londoner operated the most exclusive gambling club the world has ever seen

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The Episode Where George Jetson Rages Against the Machine

Never trust a robot co-worker

For a photo op, Rosa Parks sits in the front of a bus on December 21, 1956, the day that Montgomery's buses were officially integrated.

Document Deep Dive

Document Deep Dive: Rosa Parks’ Arrest Records

Read between the lines of the police report drawn up when the seamstress refused to give up her seat in 1955

A likeness of Madame Restell, published in the National Police Gazette, 1847

Madame Restell: The Abortionist of Fifth Avenue

Without benefit of medical training, Madame Restell spent 40 years as a “female physician”

Ernest Hemingway’s 1923 passport photo

Future Classics: Readers of 1936 Predict Which Authors Will Endure

Find out which famous writers didn’t make the top ten in this poll

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The History of Pardoning Turkeys Began With Tad Lincoln

The rambunctious boy had free rein of the White House, and used it to divert a holiday bird from the butcher’s block

Cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer

Where Did Pabst Win That Blue Ribbon?

The origin of Pabst’s iconic blue ribbon dates back to one of the most important gatherings in American history

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Recapping ‘The Jetsons’: Episode 09 – Elroy’s TV Show

Kids of the 1960s were let in on the secret of how television is made.

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The Early History of Faking War on Film

Early filmmakers faced a dilemma: how to capture the drama of war without getting themselves killed in the process. Their solution: fake the footage

Nikola Tesla at age 40.

Nikola Tesla the Eugenicist: Eliminating Undesirables by 2100

The inventor may have been brilliant, but his warped views on the future of the population reveals that in the end, he was still just human

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The Fight that Wouldn’t Stay Fixed

How an apparent misunderstanding led to a brawl that turned into a donnybrook that became a legend

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