History

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: India

What to Read, Watch and Download Before Your Trip to India

Know before you go

Rare Find: The $30,000 Sword George Custer Used in Battle

Here's how one of Custer's rare swords found itself in the hands of a lucky collector

Whitney Plantation, Big House

Inside America’s Auschwitz

A new museum offers a rebuke — and an antidote — to our sanitized history of slavery

The Incredible History of Sunken Ships in San Francisco

In 1850, hundreds of migrant ships arrived in San Francisco, fueled by gold rush. But many of these ships weren't needed after that and were simply sunk

Jackson was the first candidate who successfully ran an anti-establishment presidential campaign

History of Now

Andrew Jackson, America’s Original Anti-Establishment Candidate

The seventh president raged against many of the same machines that are now engulfing this year’s election

1960s family sitting in four-door sedan automobile

“Driving While Black” Has Been Around As Long As Cars Have Existed

Documentarian Ric Burns talks about his forthcoming film about the “Green Book” and other travel guides for African-Americans

Newspapers chronicled gun incidents, referring to them as "melancholy accidents"

History of Now

When Newspapers Reported on Gun Deaths as "Melancholy Accidents"

A historian explains how a curious phrase used by the American press caught his eye and became the inspiration for his new book

From the desk of Susan B. Anthony, this inkstand was used by the women's rights advocate to produce the articles she wrote for her newspaper The Revolution.

Women Who Shaped History

For Susan B. Anthony, Getting Support for Her 'Revolution' Meant Taking on an Unusual Ally

Suffragists Anthony and Cady Stanton found common cause in a wealthy man named George Francis Train who helped to fund their newspaper

A New Addition to #MyDaguerreotypeBoyfriend Is the Civil War's Most Daring Naval Officer

Who is this cool cat, posing for an unusually casual photo for famed photographer Alexander Gardner?

On a remote plateau, researchers reveal a royal capital whose splendors prefigure the glories of the Angkor complex.

The Lost City of Cambodia

Deep in the jungles of southeast Asia, archaeologists have rediscovered the remains of an invisible kingdom that may have been the template for Angkor Wat

Cab Calloway called the zoot suit “the ultimate in clothes.”

A Brief History of the Zoot Suit

Unraveling the jazzy life of a snazzy style

Breaking Ground

How the Green Book Helped African-American Tourists Navigate a Segregated Nation

Listing hotels, restaurants and other businesses open to African-Americans, the guide was invaluable for Jim-Crow era travelers

The Ichthyornis is a toothed bird that links birds with reptiles.

The "Sistine Chapel of Evolution" Is in New Haven, Connecticut

Charles Darwin never visited the Yale museum, but you can, and see for yourself the specimens that he praised as the best evidence for his theory

Local actors Judy Barth, Ruth Ochsenrider and Jim Barth peer over photos of original Scopes Trial jurors during the annual Scopes Trial Festival in Dayton, Tennessee.

How Much Has the Town Where the Scopes Trial Took Place Evolved Since the 1920s?

Each July, Dayton, Tennessee, celebrates its role in the famous court case with a re-enactment and festival

Conestoga (AT 54) at San Diego, circa January 1921

With the Discovery of the USS Conestoga, Researchers Have Solved a Mystery That Was Nearly 100 Years Old

Even a century later, the news has brought relief to the families of the sailors who went down with their ship

Jeremy Scott (United States, born 1975) for Adidas, Boots, Spring/Summer 2013.

Take A Trip Through 300 Years of Men's Fashion

At the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, a new exhibition highlights 200 styles, from military uniforms to punk jackets

Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia river, Washington

The Grand Coulee Powers On, 75 Years After Its First Surge of Electricity

A look back at how the powerful dam came to be

On March 24, 1966, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Harper v. Virginia Board of Electors, that poll taxes for any level of election were unconstitutional.

Breaking Ground

Recalling an Era When the Color of Your Skin Meant You Paid to Vote

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of a ruling that made the poll tax unconstitutional

Spared From the Holocaust by His Countrymen, a Jewish Refugee Hopes That Denmark Can Regain Its Humanity

Leo Goldberger will never forget how his fellow Danes kept him safe, but the reaction to today’s refugee crisis gives him pause about his former homeland

Measuring human skulls in physical anthropology

When Museums Rushed to Fill Their Rooms With Bones

In part fed by discredited and racist theories about race, scientists and amateurs alike looked to human remains to learn more about themselves

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