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History

People Feared Being Buried Alive So Much They Invented These Special Safety Coffins

For centuries, inventors have been patenting technology to prevent such a nightmare from happening

View of the National Veterans Memorial and Museum from above.

A New Museum Honoring America’s Veterans Opens in Ohio

Personal stories take the place of military artifacts at the new National Veterans Memorial & Museum

The Donora Smog of 1948 began on October 27 and lasted until October 31, when rain cleared the combined smoke, fog and pollution that had become trapped over the town.

The Deadly Donora Smog of 1948 Spurred Environmental Protection—But Have We Forgotten the Lesson?

Steel and zinc industries provided Donora residents with work, but also robbed them of their health, and for some, their lives

An 1887 illustration by British artist Hablot Knight Browne of “resurrectionists” stealing dead bodies from a graveyard.

In Need of Cadavers, 19th-Century Medical Students Raided Baltimore’s Graves

With a half-dozen medical schools and a shortage of bodies, grave robbing thrived—and with no consequences for the culprits

Carbon-dating techniques have now identified this ancient maize cob at about 950 to 1,000 years old.

What Ancient Maize Can Tell Us About Thousands of Years of Civilization in America

It took millennia, but America’s founding farmers developed the grain that would fuel civilizations—and still does

Madeline Pollard as she appeared during the five-week trial in the spring of 1894. Her entanglement with Col. Breckenridge made national headlines.

The Court Case That Inspired the Gilded Age’s #MeToo Moment

A turn-of-the-century trial, the focus of a new book, took aim at the Victorian double standard

Laima Vince in Lithuania in July 2018

The Unforgotten: New Voices of the Holocaust

The Translator Who Brought a Lost Jewish Poet’s Words to the English-Speaking World

Raised in the U.S. but a lifelong speaker of Lithuanian, Laima Vince became enamored of Matilda Olkin’s writing

The Unforgotten: New Voices of the Holocaust

Becoming Anne Frank

Why did we turn an isolated teenage girl into the world’s most famous Holocaust victim?

A recently installed gravestone is engraved in Hebrew and Lithuanian with the names of the Olkin and Jaffe family members.

The Unforgotten: New Voices of the Holocaust

The Words of a Young Jewish Poet Provoke Soul-Searching in Lithuania

The recovery of a diary written by a brilliant woman named Matilda Olkin raises trenchant questions about wartime collaboration

The Unforgotten: New Voices of the Holocaust

Two newly translated diaries by young women murdered in the Holocaust cry out to us about the evils of the past and the dangers of the present

A traditional Polish vest that once belonged to Renia Spiegel

The Unforgotten: New Voices of the Holocaust

Hear, O Israel, Save Us

An 18-year-old girl, terrorized by the Nazis, kept a secret journal. Read exclusive sections from it here, presented in English for the first time

In 1944, an anonymous boy detailed the last days of the Lodz Ghetto, writing in Polish, Yiddish, Hebrew and English in the margins and endpapers of a French novel.

The Unforgotten: New Voices of the Holocaust

The Searing, Continued Relevance of Diaries From a Genocide

Young people caught in the crossfire of history provide fearless accounts of the horrors of war—and shatter our complacency in real time

As we gathered at the graveyard, facing the sea and a memorial to the deceased, rain clouds parted, and the crowd was moved by the appearance of a rainbow.

World War I Handmade American Flag to Stay in Scotland

The Smithsonian Institution extends its loan of the historic artifact to Islay—a small island with a big heart

The Pittsburgh Crawfords, 1935 Negro National League Champions, are considered by many to be the greatest African American league team ever fielded. The team included five future Hall of Famers, from left: Oscar Charleston, first; Judy Johnson, fifth; Cool Papa Bell, 12th; Josh Gibson, 15th; and Satchel Paige, 17th.

History of Now

Preserving Negro League History Has Never Been Easier, or Harder, Depending on Who You Ask

While digitization of old newspapers has led to a statistical renaissance in baseball archives, the stories of those who played the game are being lost

Buffaloes at Rest recalls a time when bison were plentiful. When the print was created in 1911, only about 1,350 remained.

The Bison Returns to the Great American Plains

After years of fierce debate, the West’s greatest symbol will again roam the countryside

When Churchill Dissed America

Our exclusive first look at the diaries of King George VI reveals the Prime Minister’s secret hostility to the United States

Deep inside Monte Kronio, hot, humid and sulfurous caves held an ancient secret.

Prehistoric Wine Reveals Missing Pieces of Ancient Sicilian Culture

In a 5,000 year-old jar, archaeologists discovered the remnants of wine

Buffalo Bill poster, 1900, by the Courier Lithography Company

The Shrewd Press Agent Who Transformed William Cody Into Larger-Than-Life Buffalo Bill

“Arizona John” Burke perfected the art of hype that converted a bison hunter into a symbol of national character

A Mega Millions billboard in Omaha, Nebraska, adjacent to a Sears store, shows $999 million, the maximum number it can show,

The Puerto Rican Roots of the Mega Millions Jackpot

The first modern lottery in the United States raised funds to fight tuberculosis

The Woman Who Made a Device to Help Disabled Veterans Feed Themselves—and Gave It Away for Free

World War II nurse Bessie Blount went on to become an inventor and forensic handwriting expert

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