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Clarke was an "admirer of beauty," said the folklorist Henry Shoemaker, and he "singled out many lovely mountain girls with his lens." This haunting idyllic interpretation of two girls, presumable sisters, is marred only by some damage to the glass plate negative.

Forgotten Forest

Photographic plates discovered in a dusty shed offer an astonishing look at life in the American woods more than a century ago

"Last Days of Pompeii" depicts an artist's rendering of the catastrophic final hours of Pompeii as the citizens were buried alive in ash.

Resurrecting Pompeii

A new exhibition brings the doomed residents of Pompeii and Herculaneum vividly to life

Villagers on the island of Tanna dance in John Frum's honor each February 15. Clan leaders first saw their Yankee Messiah in the late 1930s. He later appeared to them during WWII, dressed in white like the unidentified navy seaman.

In John They Trust

South Pacific villagers worship a mysterious American they call John Frum - believing he’ll one day shower their remote island with riches

Chris Hondros, photographer for Getty Images News Services, captured this image of Joseph Duo and became a defining image of Liberia's protracted strife.

A Soldier’s Story

Photojournalist Chris Hondros, recently killed in Libya, discussed his work in war-torn Liberia with Smithsonian in 2006

Sayyid Qutb

A Lesson In Hate

How an Egyptian student came to study 1950s America and left determined to wage holy war

A Return to the Reefs

With the world’s coral reefs in crisis, the author’s childhood memories guide a far-reaching study of the problem in the Bahamas

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Medical Sleuth

To prosecutors, it was child abuse - an Amish baby covered in bruises, but Dr. D. Holmes Morton had other ideas

The Overture to Tannhäuser: The Artist's Mother and Sister, 1868, Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Cézanne

The man who changed the landscape of art

A Mount Rushmore of stardom: Gable (left) cracks a joke at the photographers expense with friends Heflin, Cooper and Stewart.

Grab a Drink With Hollywood’s Stars

To photographer Slim Aarons, the biggest stars were auld acquaintances

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Time Traveler

Smithsonian gets a new publisher

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Royal @

In a web-based monarchy, there are no bans on fox-hunting

First reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln.

“My Whole Soul Is In It”

As his army faltered and his cabinet bickered, Lincoln determined that “we must free the slaves or be ourselves subdued.” In 1862, he got his chance

A photo of the first Miss America winner, Margaret Gorman. This was the official photo of her as the winner.

American Idol

Once upon a time, Miss America reigned supreme

Ben Franklin's "ditto" suit helped convey American values to the French

Dressed-Down Democracy

Franklin’s 300th birthday this month reminds us of common ideals and artifacts that reflect them—from a simple suit to an iconic lunch counter

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January Letters

Readers respond to the November issue

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January Anniversaries

Momentous or merely memorable

At least 40 million died of the 1918-19 "Spanish flu," the most deadly disease episode in history. Influenza cases were treated at places including this army ward in Kansas in 1918.

The Flu Hunter

For years, Robert Webster has been warning of a global influenza outbreak. Now governments worldwide are finally listening to him

Because Africa's scarcest natural resource is water, environmentalists say the hippo, or "river horse" (in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where poachers have devastated hippo populations), will increasingly come into conflict with people.

Hippo Haven

An idealistic married couple defy poachers and police in strife-torn Zimbabwe to protect a threatened herd of placid pachyderms

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Venezuela Steers a New Course

As oil profits fund a socialist revolution, President Hugo Chávez picks a fight with his country’s biggest customer the United States

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Last Race on Earth

In a quest for the ultimate challenge, marathoners go the distance in Antarctica

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