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History

In 1781, Arnold ordered British troops to burn New London, Connecticut.

Why Benedict Arnold Turned Traitor Against the American Revolution

The story behind the most famous betrayal in U.S. history shows the complicated politics of the nation’s earliest days

Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles and Everett Sloane in the offices of Kane’s Inquirer.

Who Really Wrote “Citizen Kane”?

Two new books offer divergent theories on the authorship of the much-heralded film

One of a series of psychedelic concert posters done by artist Wes Wilson between 1966 and 1968 for concert promoter Bill Graham of San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium

How a Psychedelic Concert Poster Rocked the World

C’mon baby light my flier

An Oral History of “Star Trek”

The trail-blazing sci-fi series debuted 50 years ago and has taken countless fans where none had gone before

Levi Woodbury is on the $1 stamp; George M. Bibb, on the $5 stamp. Robert Walker is on the $10 stamp and James Guthrie is on the $50 stamp. George Washington is on the extremely rare $100 stamp.

Before Reefer Madness, High Times and 4/20, There Was the Marijuana Revenue Stamp

Originally designed in the 1930s to restrict access to the drug, these stamps draw a curious crowd to the Postal Museum

This gold appliqué, more than six millennia old, appears to be a bull but has buffalo-like horns.

Mystery of the Varna Gold: What Caused These Ancient Societies to Disappear?

Treasure found in prehistoric graves in Bulgaria is the first evidence of social hierarchy, but no one knows what caused the civilization’s decline

“The Danube River Project” explores the waterway using underwater equipment to show scenes—like this one of Budapest—partly above and partly below the surface.

Austria

How the Danube Became a Multinational Power Source

Spanning 1,770 miles from Germany’s Black Forest to the coast of Romania, the river takes its character from the people and places it passes

"Daisy Girl" changed the advertising tactics of American presidential candidates.

How the “Daisy” Ad Changed Everything About Political Advertising

Since the famous television spot ran in 1964, advertising agencies have sold presidential candidates as if they were cars or soap

The split in the Whig party over slavery spelled its doom.

History of Now

What Can the Collapse of the Whig Party Tell Us About Today’s Politics?

Is the Republican party on the verge of catastrophe? Probably not, if history is any indicator

In a new book The Naturalist, the Smithsonian's Darrin Lunde draws on Teddy Roosevelt's diaries and expedition journals to tell the story of the 26th president as a prodigious hunter, tireless adventurer and ardent conservationist.

Teddy Roosevelt’s Epic (But Strangely Altruistic) Hunt for a White Rhino

In a new book, a Smithsonian naturalist tells the gritty, controversial tale of how one of America’s presidents felled a threatened species

Run-DMC-JMJ on the rooftop of Russell Simmons's apt

Breaking Ground

Vintage Photos Recall the Early Days of Hip-Hop, Before It Became a Billion-Dollar Industry

More than 400 images from the 1980s to the early 2000s detail the “standout moments” of the rise of Run DMC, Grandmaster Flash, Jay Z and many more artists

Is yogurt the elixir of longevity? Not exactly.

A Science Lecture Accidentally Sparked a Global Craze for Yogurt

More than a century ago, a biologist’s remarks set people searching for yogurt as a cure for old age

Photograph of British Kil class patrol gunboat HMS Kildangan painted in dazzle camouflage.

World War I: 100 Years Later

When the British Wanted to Camouflage Their Warships, They Made Them Dazzle

In order to stop the carnage wrought by German U-Boats, the Allied powers went way outside the box

Chester Medicine Crow (Apsáalooke, Crow) and his grandfather Joe Medicine Crow (Apsáalooke, Crow)

Remembering Dr. Joe Medicine Crow

He showed us we are capable of great things when we look within ourselves, says scholar Nina Sanders

Waterfall Display

A Show of Over 6,000 Orchids Celebrates a Victorian-Era Obsession

Succumb to “Orchidelirium” at The New York Botanical Garden

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: India

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

Know before you go

Whitney Plantation, Big House

Inside America’s Auschwitz

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

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

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