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Document Deep Dive

This Chart From 1790 Lays Out the Many Dangers of Alcoholism

Founding father Benjamin Rush was greatly concerned with the amount of booze imbibed in post-Revolution America

The Brief History of “Americanitis”

More than a century ago, the experts thought that Americans worked too hard, putting their collective health at risk

The carriage that transported President Abraham Lincoln, Mary Lincoln, Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée Clara Harris to Ford's Theatre is on view at the American History Museum through May 25, 2015.

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

This is the Carriage That Took Lincoln on his Fateful Trip to Ford’s Theatre

As the April anniversary of Lincoln’s last ride approaches, an historian recounts the president’s other horse and buggie moments

The Civil War

The Underappreciated and Forgotten Sites of the Civil War

To commemorate the end of the war 150 years ago, here are fascinating locales that remind us of the conflict’s sprawling impact

The Hermione, 17 years in the making, replicates the original wartime frigate that ferried the Marquis de Lafayette to America in 1780.

The Marquis de Lafayette Sails Again

Now that the ship that the Frenchman took on his 1780 trip to America has been rebuilt, its time to revisit his role in history

Houston's futuristic Astrodome is home of the first skybox and an animated scoreboard,150 yards wide.

Remembering the Astrodome, the Eighth Wonder of the World

Fifty years after its grand opening, the spectre of the Houston stadium still looms large

The details of the replica (under construction last year), its area nearly the size of a football field, are based on 700 hours of laser scanning in the actual cave.

Finally, the Beauty of France’s Chauvet Cave Makes its Grand Public Debut

A high-tech recreation of the immortal artworks shines a new light on the dawn of human imagination

Ganden Sumtseling Monastery in Shangri-La was built in 1679 at the direction of the Fifth Dalai Lama.

Retracing the Footsteps of China’s Patron Saint of Tourism

Travelers are discovering the Ming dynasty’s own Indiana Jones, an adventurer who dedicated his life to exploring his country’s Shangri-Las

Should the color of St. Patrick's Day be blue or green?

Should We Be Wearing Blue on St. Patrick’s Day?

Before green came on the scene, blue was the color associated with the Saint and the Emerald Isle

The ubiquitous shamrock has mythical origins.

No One Really Knows What a Shamrock Is

The three-leaf clover is what everyone wears, but what species is it?

Pi Day pies.

Indiana Almost Made Pi Equal to 3.2, and Other Pi Day Facts

As you celebrate the mathematical holiday, here’s a history of notable moments in the irrational number’s past

At the Batadomba-lena rock shelter in Sri Lanka, scientists found evidence that humans were living off rainforest resources as early as 20,000 years ago.

Anthropocene

Humans Relied on Rainforest Riches 12,000 Years Earlier Than Thought

Fossil remains suggest that prehistoric people in Sri Lanka may have eaten monkeys and other forest species

The front page of the Los Angeles Times on March 14, 1928

On Occasions Like This, I Envy the Dead: The St. Francis Dam Disaster

William Mulholland was the savior of Southern California until he wasn’t

Commemorate the storied document's 800th anniversary with a few special accessories.

The Ridiculous World of Magna Carta Kitsch

Throughout the United Kingdom, retailers are going mad over an 800-year-old document

The Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama

Who Was Edmund Pettus?

The march to freedom started on a bridge that honors a man bent on preserving slavery and segregation

A closeup of the Ledi jaw taken just steps from where it was found in the Afar region of Ethiopia.

Anthropocene

Oldest Human Fossil Unearthed in Ethiopia

At about 2.8 million years old, the Ledi jaw may belong to “the stem for the Homo genus,” according to its discoverers

United States Marines pose on top of Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima with the American flag on February 23, 1945.

Photos From the Battle of Iwo Jima to Mark Its 70th Anniversary

The battle for the Pacific island in the late winter of 1945 positioned the United States to invade mainland Japan, but at a cost

During the Civil War, a canal ran along what we now know of as the Mall

Meet the Madam on the Mall

Mary Ann Hall ran a successful brothel in D.C. for years, but it took a 1997 dig to tell the whole story

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