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History

Portrait of Doge Cristoforo Moro (ruler of Venice from 1462-1471), attributed to Lazzaro Bastiani; Ottoman-inspired fabric by 20th-century textile designer Mariano Fortuny.

Two Great Empires Traded for Financial Gain and Achieved a Brilliant Cultural Exchange as Well

A new show illuminates the rich artistic wonders that arose out of the 400 years of commerce between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire

Patrick Henry rallies armed Virginian farmers before marching toward Williamsburg, Virginia, May 1775.

America's 250th Anniversary

What Spurred the South to Join the American Revolution?

How a disagreement with a Scottish lord over westward expansion, a cache of gunpowder, and the future of enslaved labor helped kick-start the southern colonies’ embrace of the radical cause

Senator Joseph McCarthy “comes along really chronologically halfway through the story [in the early 1950s], and there’s a lot that happened before he was even on the scene,” says author Clay Risen.

Newly Declassified Documents Reveal the Untold Stories of the Red Scare, a Hunt for Communists in Postwar America

In his latest book, journalist and historian Clay Risen explores how the House Un-American Activities Committee and Senator Joseph McCarthy upended the nation

During her clandestine efforts for the Italian Resistance, Anita Malavasi used these forged papers to travel under the identity of “Marta de Robertis.”

This New Book Reveals the Daredevil Lives of Four Italian Women Who Stood Up to Hitler and Mussolini

By delivering newspapers, munitions and secret messages to resistance groups, among many other incredible tasks, the brave fighters strove for a freer world

Rebecca Lee Crumpler's gravestone was only installed in 2020, 125 years after her death in 1895.

Women Who Shaped History

The Nation’s First Black Female Doctor Blazed a Path for Women in Medicine. But She Was Left Out of the Story for Decades

After earning a medical degree in 1864, Rebecca Lee Crumpler died in obscurity and was buried without a headstone

Clyde Reese, Michael Jones, Evan Boatman and Cory Allen at a gunfight show last spring in Tombstone, Arizona.

These Dramatic Photos Reveal How It’s Always High Noon in Tombstone

Saddle up for a visit to the most notorious town in the West, where a certain infamous showdown happens day after day

How do space programs get their names?

How Do Space Programs Get Their Names? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

Visitors to Manzanar National Historic Site will be able to run the bases around the restored baseball field, sit on the bleachers and look out into the looming mountain range from home plate.

The Moving Story of Bringing Baseball Back to Manzanar, Where Thousands of Japanese Americans Were Incarcerated During World War II

In honor of his mother and others imprisoned at the internment camp, baseball player Dan Kwong has restored a diamond in the California desert

“As the first national women’s reform organization, [the American Female Moral Reform Society] showed that there was power in women organizing to address societal problems,” says rhetorician Lisa J. Shaver.

The Daring 19th-Century Reformers Who Sought to End Prostitution by Offering Financial and Emotional Support to Urban Sex Workers

Led entirely by women, the American Female Moral Reform Society gave material aid to those in need and pushed for men to be held accountable for frequenting brothels

 Pilgrims at the Maya Devi Temple in Lumbini offer candles on the lunar date celebrated as the Buddha’s birthday.

What Archaeologists Are Uncovering About the Buddha in His Legendary Nepali Hometown

The birthplace of the Buddha beckons worshipers from around the world, as well as researchers hoping to dig up new evidence about the revered spiritual leader

Flannery O'Connor with peacocks in the driveway of her family home at Andalusia Farm in 1962

Flannery O’Connor Wanted to Shake Her Readers Awake. Her Family Wanted Her to Write the Next ‘Gone With the Wind’

This year marks the writer’s 100th birthday. Through fiction anchored in her Southern background and Catholic faith, O’Connor revealed how candid confrontations with darkness lead to moments of reckoning

Stonehenge casts shadows from the past in this aerial photo taken in 2006.

How Far Did Neolithic Britons Carry Stonehenge’s Most Famous Boulder?

In a find that provides insights into the remarkable abilities of these ancient humans, new research studying the chemical footprint of the rock identified the source to be more than 400 miles away

The Vicus Caprarius (City of Water), an underground museum that includes an ancient apartment complex, was discovered in 1999-2001.

Explore Rome’s Hidden Underworld, Where a City Lurks Beneath a City

A journey into the vast subterranean grounds preserved under Rome—from ancient aqueducts and apartment buildings to pagan shrines

Washington Crossing the Delaware, Emanuel Leutze, 1851

America's 250th Anniversary

America’s 250th Anniversary

To mark the 250th anniversary of America’s founding on July 4, 1776, Smithsonian magazine is highlighting the people, places and events that shaped the United States’ fight for independence from Great Britain

A 19th-century lithograph of Patrick Henry's "give me liberty or give me death" speech

America's 250th Anniversary

Discover Patrick Henry’s Legacy, Beyond His Revolutionary ‘Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death’ Speech

Delivered 250 years ago, the famous oration marked the height of Henry’s influence. But the politician also served in key roles in Virginia’s state government after the American Revolution

Mark Rylance (left) and Damian Lewis (right) as Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII in "Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light"

Based on a True Story

The Real Story Behind ‘Wolf Hall’ and the Fall of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s Most Controversial Adviser

Based on Hilary Mantel’s novel “The Mirror & the Light,” the last installment in the acclaimed television series chronicles the last four years of the statesman’s life

Vietnam’s Hien Luong pedestrian bridge across the Ben Hai River is located along the 17th parallel, the former demarcation line between North and South Vietnam.

Former and Active DMZs Allow Visitors to Learn the Haunting History of These Landscapes

Demilitarized zones—from Vietnam to Korea, Cyprus and Antarctica—require tourists to look beyond what exists and to find the real stories in what doesn’t

After a trolley conductor accused Alice Stebbins Wells of using her husband's police badge to avoid paying for public transit, the Los Angeles Police Department allowed her to wear a more feminine uniform of her own design, along with a special “Policewoman’s Badge No. 1.”

Women Who Shaped History

Armed With Just a Badge, Los Angeles’ First Policewoman Protected the City’s Most Vulnerable in the Early 20th Century

Appointed in 1910, Alice Stebbins Wells patrolled dance halls, skating rinks, penny arcades and movie theaters, keeping these public spaces free of vice and immorality

A statue of Clementina Rind, a trailblazing publisher and printer who took over the Virginia Gazette after her husband's death, is featured in the Virginia Women's Monument.

America's 250th Anniversary

Newly Discovered Letters Illuminate the Life of a Female Printer Who Published Revolutionary Texts and Pushed the Colonies Toward Independence

As Virginia’s first female newspaper publisher, Clementina Rind emphasized women’s viewpoints and collaborated with prominent politicians like Thomas Jefferson

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There's More to That

A Mystery Surrounding the Grave of JFK Is Solved

A sculpture recognizing a spontaneous gesture of affection towards the slain president vanished into thin air more than half a century ago. Here’s the story of how it was just recently rediscovered.

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