Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

History

According to NOAA marine archaeologist Joe Hoyt, shown here, 50 to 60 Allied, Axis and merchant vessel wrecks rest off the North Carolina coast.

Diving for the Secrets of the Battle of the Atlantic

Off the coast of North Carolina lie dozens of shipwrecks, remainders of a forgotten theater of World War II

Title card from the 1922 short silent film "Eve's Wireless"

A Mobile Phone From 1922? Not Quite

History often plays linguistic tricks on us, especially when it comes to rapidly changing technologies

Artist rendition of Charles Guiteau's attack on President Garfield

The Stalking of the President

Charles J. Guiteau said he wanted to kill President James A. Garfield “in an American manner.”

Illustration for the February, 1946 issue of the sci-fi magazine Amazing Stories

Trade Your Trouble for a Bubble

Sightseeing across the country in an atomic-powered “pleasure ball”

The New York subway system's moving sidewalk of the future by Goodyear (1950s)

Moving Sidewalks Before The Jetsons

The public’s fascination with the concept of “movable pavement” extends back more than 130 years

Izzy Einstein (left) and Moe Smith share a toast in New York City

Prohibition’s Premier Hooch Hounds

None

The Civil War

How Newspapers Reported the Civil War

A collection of historic front pages shows how civilians experienced and read about the war

Everyday Science and Mechanics (February, 1936)

Mobsters Tremble Before the Crime-Fighting, Red Flying Gondola

Science-fiction pioneer Hugo Gernsback predicted that, as long as police officers were stuck on terra firma, criminals always would have the edge

Harold Holt, the Australian Prime Minister, taking a swim

The Prime Minister who Disappeared

Laborers working at the face of the Thames Tunnel were protected by Marc Brunel's newly-invented "Shield"; behind them, other gangs hurried to roof the tunnel before the river could burst in. Nineteenth century lithograph.

The Epic Struggle to Tunnel Under the Thames

No one had ever tunneled under a major river before Marc Brunel began a shaft below London’s river in the 1820s

Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe by Elliott & Fry in 1896

One Newspaper to Rule Them All

According to author John M. Barry, Roger Williams, center, had a great facility with language—a great curiosity for language—and began trading with Indians and trying to learn their language.

John M. Barry on Roger Williams and the Indians

The founder of Rhode Island often helped out the early colonists in their dealings with Native Americans

After he was cast into the wilderness, Roger Williams argued that religion and government must be divided.

God, Government and Roger Williams’ Big Idea

The Puritan minister originated a principle that remains contentious to this day—separation of church and state

“It is splendid to have people who refuse to recognise difficulties,” British Capt. Robert Falcon Scott wrote early in the expedition to the South Pole. But they would after they set out from the pole.

The Doomed South Pole Voyage’s Remaining Photographs

A 1912 photograph proves explorer Captain Robert Scott reached the South Pole—but wasn’t the first

None

Going Places

Whether as a tourist, an outcast or a pilgrim, traveling is discovering

One in a series of 1930s promotional cards for Max Cigarettes

The Future’s War on Cancer

Scientific progress during the 20th century prompted a number of predictions about an impending cure

Coya Knutson campaigning for Congress

Friends in the House, Hostility at Home

Coya Knutson won a seat in the U.S. House in 1954 but was undone by a secret she brought to Washington

Christmas in the future as imagined in the 1981 book "Tomorrow's Home" by Neil Ardley

Santa’s Trusty Robot Reindeer

A special visit from the Ghost of Christmas Retro-Future

Riflemen Andrew and Grigg (center)—British troops from London—during the Christmas Truce with Saxons of the 104th and 106th Regiments of the Imperial German Army.

World War I: 100 Years Later

The Story of the WWI Christmas Truce

It has become a great legend of World War I. But what really happened when British and German troops emerged from their trenches that Christmas Day?

Justice John Marshall Harlan

The Great Dissenter and His Half-Brother

John Harlan championed racial justice on a hostile Supreme Court. Robert Harlan, a freed slave, achieved renown despite the court’s decisions

Page 245 of 303