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History

As soon as Wonder Woman appeared in Sensation Comics, beginning with her cover debut in 1942, she caused a stir. "Wonder Woman is not sufficiently dressed," one bishop groused.

The Surprising Origin Story of Wonder Woman

The history of the comic-book superhero’s creation seven decades ago has been hidden away—until now

A Persian calligraphy that developed in 14th-century Iran, nasta'liq, is the focus of a new exhibition at the Sackler Gallery. The script in this work dates to the early 1600s.

Long Before Emojis, the Picassos of Persian Calligraphy Brought Emotion to Writing

The world’s first exhibition devoted to nasta’liq, a Persian calligraphy, is now on view at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

The Fight for Catalonian Independence Took the Form of a Giant “V” in the Streets of Barcelona

Hundreds of thousands of protestors formed a giant red and yellow V, symbolizing the “Way Forward” and marking the region’s national holiday

President Roosevelt at N.I.H.

See Rare Footage of F.D.R. Speaking at the National Institute of Health

Right before being elected to a third term, F.D.R. spoke at N.I.H. about preparedness for war and the need to research deadly diseases

No Man's Land could be the most terrifying of places. "Men drowning in shell-holes already filled with decaying flesh," wrote one scholar.

World War I: 100 Years Later

The Legend of What Actually Lived in the “No Man’s Land” Between World War I’s Trenches

Born of the horrors of trench warfare, a ghoulish tale of scavengers and scofflaws took hold 100 years ago

Los Angeles, California, 1969

Garry Winogrand’s Photographs Capture ‘America’s Busy, Teeming, Intricate Whirl’ After World War II

An exhibition takes a look at the mix of optimism and unease that permeated the post-war nation’s populace

Standing Stones, also known as "the First Stonehenge," in the Ring O Brodgar in Orkney

What the Scottish Independence Referendum Could Mean for Orkney

Sovereignty over Orkney, home to the First Stonehenge, has been debated for more than 5,000 years

Close-up of a surgeon's amputation kit

Before Dr. Mutter, Surgery Was a Dangerous and Horrifically Painful Ordeal

The talented doctor changed the way the medical profession operated

Roman Vishniac, [Dancers Emily Frankel and Mark Ryder, Vishniac Portrait Studio, New York], early 1950s.

See Jewish Life Before the Holocaust Through a Newly Released Digital Archive

Roman Vishniac’s extensive work, now open to the public, is ready for some crowd-sourced historical detective work

Warren Harding's affair with Carrie Fulton Phillips carried on for 15 years, up through the time when he served as a U.S. senator.

Document Deep Dive

Warren Harding’s Love Letters Finally Give Us Something to Remember Him For

Locked away for 50 years, the secret correspondence reveals a steamy relationship between the future president and his mistress

A closeup of jars, probably once filled with wine, at Tel Kabri in modern-day Israel.

New Research

Huge Wine Cellar Unearthed at a Biblical-Era Palace in Israel

Residue from jars at a Canaanite palace suggest the ruler preferred his red with hints of mint, honey and juniper

For the first time in more than a decade, bison will roam at the National Zoo.

The Historic Return of the American Bison

A National Zoo exhibition featuring the animal, long tied to Smithsonian history, opens Saturday

The hand-axe, reimagined.

Designers Remake Our Oldest Tool Using Our Newest Tool

More than a million years old, the hand axe is over due for an update

Illustrator Anthony Freda adapted Norman Rockwell's The Runaway to comment on police following this month's events in Ferguson, Missouri.

Rethinking Rockwell in the Time of Ferguson

An illustrator adapted Rockwell’s The Runaway based on images of contemporary police

The Kennewick Man Finally Freed to Share His Secrets

He’s the most important human skeleton ever found in North America—and here, for the first time, is his story

Commemorate the War of 1812 With These Bicentennial Events

Gain new insight into the events of 1814 by attending these reenactments, concerts, walking tours and meals

In 1794, President Washington commissioned a wampum belt for the Canandaigua Treaty

Illuminating the Treaties That Have Governed U.S.-Indian Relationships

These documents were both a cause and a salve for the fraught relations between the United States and Indian Nations

What Lies Beneath Stonehenge?

A new Smithsonian Channel show reveals groundbreaking research that may explain what really went on there

An undated wash drawing depicts the burning of Washington, DC, in August of 1814.

Your Guide to the Three Weeks of 1814 That We Today Call the War of 1812

From the burning of Washington to the siege of Baltimore, what happened in those late summer days?

If there had been Academy Awards in the mid-1920s, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s The Big Parade produced by Irving Thalberg, directed by King Vidor, and starring John Gilbert and Renée Adorée, would have swept the prizes.

World War I: 100 Years Later

The Blockbuster World War I Film that Brought Home the Traumatic Impact of War

The blockbuster silent film The Big Parade is among the first to explore the psychological trauma of war

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