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History

"That cigar bit [that] folks like to tell about is phony," said W.D. Jones, whose photograph of Bonnie was seized in a police raid.

The Irresistible Bonnie Parker

A pistol-wielding, cigar-chomping bank robber hams it up shortly before she and Clyde Barrow met their violent end

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Poles Apart

The 13th century Tripitaka Koreana features 81,258 wooden blocks thought to be the world's most complete collection of Buddhist texts.

Preserving the World’s Most Important Artifacts

The Memory of World Register lists over 800 historic manuscripts, maps, films and more to help raise funds for preservation

One of the riches found at Khara Khorum, this gold alloy bracelet dates from the 14th century. It is decorated with a phoenix flanked by demons.

Genghis Khan’s Treasures

Beneath the ruins of Genghis Khan’s capital city in Central Asia, archaeologists discovered artifacts from cultures near and far

Lincoln's watch is a fine gold timepiece that the 16th president purchased in the 1850s from a Springfield, Illinois jeweler. It has been in the safe custody of the Smithsonian Institution since 1958—a gift from Lincoln's great-grandson Lincoln Isham.

The Civil War

Lincoln’s Pocket Watch Reveals Long-Hidden Message

The Smithsonian opens one of its prized artifacts and a story unfolds

Bingham (in Peru in 1911) wrote of a "jungle-covered maze."

Who Discovered Machu Picchu?

Controversy swirls as to whether an archaeologist’s claim to fame as the discoverer of Machu Picchu has any merit

In just ten months, Bingham (in Marseille) provided aid, including travel documents, to some 2,500 Jewish refugees-thereby effectively ending his career.

Saving the Jews of Nazi France

As Jews in France tried to flee the Nazi occupation, Harry Bingham, an American diplomat, sped them to safety

Archaeologists excavated the jail had to cope with groundwater that filled trenches as fast as they were dug.

Digging Up the Past at a Richmond Jail

The excavation of a notorious jail recalls Virginia’s leading role in the slave trade

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March Anniversaries

Momentous or Merely Memorable

Charles Carl Lutz issued protective letters to 8,000 Hungarian Jews for emigration to Palestine.

Five Rescuers of Those Threatened by the Holocaust

Righteous good Samaritans came from across the world to save Jews and others from concentration camps

Egyptian archaeologists work at an ancient burial ground in Saqqara, dating back to 2,700 B.C., where a 4,300-year-old pyramid has been discovered at the Saqqara necropolis. It was first built for Queen Sesheshet, the mother of King Teti who founded the 6th Dynasty of Egypt's Old Kingdom.

The Tomb of Queen Sesheshet

A recently discovered pyramid and tomb in Egypt may shed light on a dark episode in a pharaonic tradition of court intrigue

Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin helped shape the modern world.

How Lincoln and Darwin Shaped the Modern World

Born on the same day, Lincoln and Darwin would forever influence how people think about the modern world

After a mob attacked a bus with protesters in Alabama in 1961, hundreds more joined the cause.

The Freedom Riders, Then and Now

Fighting racial segregation in the South, these activists were beaten and arrested. Where are they now, nearly fifty years later?

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February Anniversaries

Momentous or Merely Memorable

The Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Contested Legacy

Great Emancipator or unreconstructed racist? Each generation evokes a different Lincoln. But who was our sixteenth president?

Charles Darwin

Evolution and Equality

What do Charles Darwin, Abraham Lincoln, and the Freedom Riders have in common with each other?

Higham (at Ban Non Wat) says villagers "don't relate to the bones they find."

Bodies of Evidence in Southeast Asia

Excavations at a cemetery in a Thai village reveal a 4,000-year-old indigenous culture

Philip B. Kunhardt III, author of Lincoln's Contested Legacy.

Philip Kunhardt on “Lincoln’s Contested Legacy”

As First Dog, Laddie Boy was worthy of an official portrait.

The White House’s First Celebrity Dog

Bo, the Obama’s First Pooch, has a legacy to live up to in Laddie Boy, the family pet of President Harding

Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin are two of the greatest modern thinkers in history. What did they think of each other?

Darwin on Lincoln and Vice Versa

Two of the world’s greatest modern thinkers are much celebrated, but what did they know of one another?

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