History

Inauguration History

Who Were the Six Native American Chiefs in Teddy Roosevelt’s Inaugural Parade?

Another inauguration, another opportunity to learn more about the men whose presence shocked the country

January 16, 2013

War and Peace of Mind for Ulysses S. Grant

With the help of his friend Mark Twain, Grant finished his memoirs—and saved his wife from an impoverished widowhood—just days before he died

January 16, 2013

Garrison Keillor’s 1996 Predictions for the Future of Media

A woebegone tribute to the ending of an era

January 15, 2013

The Civil War

Document Deep Dive: The Menu From President Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Ball

What delicacies and confectionaries were found on the 250-foot-long buffet table?

January 15, 2013

What Django Unchained Got Wrong: A Review From National Museum of African American History and Culture Director Lonnie Bunch

The museum director and former film studies professor examines Quentin Tarantino’s take on slavery

January 14, 2013

The Jetsons and the Future of the Middle Class

Living paycheck to paycheck in the techno-utopian future

January 14, 2013

The Gadgets of the Future From the Electrical Shows of Yesterday

Decades before the debut of the Consumer Electronics Show, early adopters flocked to extravagant high-tech fairs in New York and Chicago

January 10, 2013

President Obama’s Autopen: When is an Autograph Not an Autograph?

When the President signed the fiscal cliff deal from 4,800 miles away, he did it with the help of a device that dates back to Thomas Jefferson

January 8, 2013

The Candor and Lies of Nazi Officer Albert Speer

The minister of armaments was happy to tell his captors about the war machine he had built. But it was a different story when he was asked about the Holocaust

January 8, 2013

The History of Foosball

How did the tabletop game get from parlor halls in 19th century Europe to the basements of American homes?

January 8, 2013

What’s Inside a 2,000-Year-Old, Shipwreck-Preserved Roman Pill?

Ancient Roman pills, preserved in sealed tin containers on the seafloor, may have been used as eye medicine

January 7, 2013

The Murky History of Foosball

How did the tabletop game get from parlor halls in 19th-century Europe to the basements of American homes?

January 4, 2013

Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About San Francisco’s Cable Cars

Ever since they became a part of the city’s transit system, they have been iconic mainstays of its cityscape

January 4, 2013

George Jetson Gets A Check-Up

Medical diagnostics in the paleofuture

January 2, 2013

Antigua’s Disputed Slave Conspiracy of 1736

Does the evidence against these 44 slaves really stack up?

January 2, 2013

The Vegas Hotspot That Broke All the Rules

America’s first interracial casino helped end segregation on the Strip and proved that the only color that mattered was green

January 2013

The Little-Known Legend of Jesus in Japan

A mountain hamlet in northern Japan claims Jesus Christ was buried there

January 2013

The History of the Teddy Bear: From Wet and Angry to Soft and Cuddly

After Teddy Roosevelt’s act of sportsmanship in 1902 was made legendary by a political cartoonist, his name was forever affixed to an American classic

December 21, 2012

The Civil War

That Time More Than 150 Years Ago When Thousands of People Watched Baseball on Christmas Day

During the Civil War, two regiments faced off as spectators, possibly as many as 40,000, sat and watched

December 21, 2012

Santa Claus Builds A Flying Machine

As the 1800s gave way to the 1900s, many Americans felt that old Saint Nick needed a new way of getting from house to house

December 20, 2012