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History

Norman Lear at home in Los Angeles in 1984

Norman Lear Brought Big Issues to the Small Screen

At his peak, the television icon, who died at 101, reached more than 120 million Americans with shows like “All in the Family”

At the beginning of the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant wasn’t an abolitionist, admitting that his beliefs were “not even what could be called antislavery.” By August 1863, he had changed his mind, writing, “Slavery is already dead and cannot be resurrected.”

Unraveling Ulysses S. Grant’s Complex Relationship With Slavery

The Union general directly benefited from the brutal institution before and during the Civil War

Half a century on, Kohoutek may be due a little more respect. Though it disappointed the media and the public, it proved to be a bonanza for serious scientists.

The ‘Comet of the Century’ Failed to Impress, but It Wasn’t Such a Disaster After All

Highly anticipated before its arrival in late 1973, Kohoutek became an interplanetary punchline. But astronomers may have gotten the last laugh

Sandra Day O'Connor, Michael Arthur Worden Evans, circa 1982

Women Who Shaped History

How Sandra Day O’Connor Brought Compromise to the Supreme Court

The first woman justice to serve on the nation’s highest court died on Friday at age 93

The premier lady of sex work in Victorian St. Louis built an empire estimated to be worth at least $100,000—the equivalent of about $3.7 million today.

Women Who Shaped History

The Formerly Enslaved Black Bordello Queen Who Built a Notorious Business Empire

In 19th-century St. Louis, Madam Priscilla Henry earned a life-changing fortune—and scores of enemies vying for her crown

A portrait of the congressman by the famous photographer Mathew Brady, c. 1860.

Why America Is Just Now Learning to Love Thaddeus Stevens, the ‘Best-Hated Man’ in U.S. History

The Pennsylvanian was one of America’s greatest heroes. Why hasn’t he gotten his due?

Babyn Yar, outside Kyiv, where 33,771 Jews were killed over two days in September 1941. The small portraits show unidentified Ukrainians, likely Jews, before the war.

Ukraine Planned an Ambitious Memorial at the Site of a Holocaust Massacre. Then War Came to Kyiv

The Nazis and Soviets sought to erase the mass killing of 33,000 Jews at Babyn Yar, but a new effort seeks to remember the dead even as Russia attacks

This year's titles include Daughter of the Dragon, Whalefall and Witness.

The Best Books of 2023

Smithsonian Scholars Recommend Their Favorite Books of 2023

Curators and staffers satisfied their endless curiosity with novels, short stories, biographies, art collections and journalistic reporting

Left, a 1932 self-portrait by Lee Miller. Right, a 1943 portrait of Miller by American photojournalist David Scherman.

Women Who Shaped History

How Lee Miller, a Magazine Model and Muse, Became a Daring World War II Photographer

The bold journalist, who made a splash on both sides of the lens, is the subject of a new biopic starring Kate Winslet

Icaria was guided by a single principle: “to each following his needs, from each following his strengths,” as Cabet put it.

Untold Stories of American History

The 19th-Century Novel That Inspired a Communist Utopia on the American Frontier

The Icarians thought they could build a paradise, but their project was marked by failure almost from the start

A glass of homemade eggnog dusted with cinnamon is a mouthwatering prospect to some—and an abomination to others.

The Uniquely American History of Eggnog, Everyone’s Favorite—or Least Favorite—Holiday Quaff

This Yuletide mainstay continues to warm cockles and ventricles everywhere

An original Michtom teddy bear once held by two of Teddy Roosevelt’s great-grandchildren, Mark and Anne.

The Teddy Bear Was Once Seen as a Dangerous Influence on Young Children

Inspired by a moment of empathy from President Theodore Roosevelt, the huggable toy had a rocky start before it became the stuff of legend

Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein in Maestro, a new film that arrives on Netflix on December 20

LGBTQ+ Pride

The Real History Behind Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre’s Marriage in ‘Maestro’

The Bradley Cooper-led film is a dramatization of the storied composer and conductor’s complex love life

President John F Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, and Texas Governor John Connally ride through the streets of Dallas, Texas prior to the assassination on November 22, 1963.

Inside the Autopsy Room: The Details Doctors Gathered About JFK’s Assassination

Sixty years ago, three pathologists at the National Naval Medical Center examined the president’s fatal wounds

Vanessa Kirby, who plays Joséphine in Ridley Scott's Napoleon, says the empress “was just this massive contradiction.” ­

Based on a True Story

The Real History Behind Empress Joséphine in Ridley Scott’s ‘Napoleon’

A new Hollywood epic traces Napoleon Bonaparte’s rise and fall through his checkered relationship with his first wife

The Dallas County Administration Building, formerly the Texas School Book Depository, as photographed in 2015

The Architectural History of the JFK Assassination Site

How November 22, 1963, changed Dallas’ Dealey Plaza forever

Smithsonian's picks for the best history books of 2023 include King: A Life, The Sisterhood and The Wager.

The Best Books of 2023

The Ten Best History Books of 2023

Our favorite titles of the year resurrect forgotten histories and illuminate how the United States ended up where it is today

Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter dancing at the presidential Inaugural Ball in January 1977

Women Who Shaped History

From the Governor’s Mansion to the White House and Beyond, Rosalynn Carter Was a Tireless Advocate for the Vulnerable

Smithsonian experts reflect on the life and legacy of the former first lady, who died Sunday at age 96

“The World Made Wondrous: The Dutch Collector’s Cabinet and the Politics of Possession” takes a 17th-century Dutch cabinet as its starting point, tracing the threads of Dutch colonization through each object on view.

How Cabinets of Curiosities Laid the Foundation for Modern Museums

An exhibition at LACMA examines the legacy of Dutch colonization through a fictive 17th-century collector’s room of wonders

When the National Portrait Gallery opened more than a half-century ago, just 17 percent of its collection represented women—either as subjects or creators (above: Carmen de Lavallade, Michele Mattei, 2003, printed 2018). Today, that number has roughly doubled.

Beyoncé, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Other Iconic Women Take Their Place at the Smithsonian

This year, the National Portrait Gallery’s annual showcase of new acquisitions spotlights female subjects and female artists

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