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History

This Bushnell telescope allowed Sally Ride to gaze at her favorite constellation, Orion, and envision her future as an astronaut. 

Women Who Shaped History

How the Smithsonian Is Honoring Remarkable American Women

From a series of coins to a museum in the making, their groundbreaking achievements gain new visibility

Edmonia Lewis' Death of Cleopatra was a sensation at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, among both admirers and those who found Lewis' depiction of the queen's suicide too macabre.

Women Who Shaped History

When Cleopatra Died Again

The artwork by Edmonia Lewis, the first African American sculptor in the classical mode, epitomizes her immense talent

The new Netflix series imagines what would have happened if Harald Hardrada (played by Leo Suter) were best buddies with Norse explorer Leif Erikson (Sam Corlett) and the lover of Leif’s sister, Freydís Eiríksdóttir (Frida Gustavsson).

Based on a True Story

The True History Behind Netflix’s ‘Vikings: Valhalla’

A spin-off of the long-running series “Vikings,” the show follows a fictionalized version of Norwegian king Harald Hardrada

Sybil Ludington has been called the "female Paul Revere."

Women Who Shaped History

Did the Midnight Ride of Sibyl Ludington Ever Happen?

What to make of the alluring legend of the New York teen who warned that the Redcoats were coming

This seven-foot statue of Pearl Kendrick, center, and Grace Eldering, left, was unveiled in Grand Rapids in 2019. Lab assistant Loney Clinton stands to the right with a microscope.

Women Who Shaped History

The Unsung Heroes Who Ended a Deadly Plague

How a team of fearless American women overcame medical skepticism to stop whooping cough, a vicious infectious disease, and save countless lives

Vivian Carter (center) and her husband, Jimmy Bracken (far right), launched Vee Jay Records in 1953.

The Black Record Label That Introduced the Beatles to America

Over its 13-year run, Vee Jay built a roster that left a lasting impact on every genre of music

An aerial view looking southwest from Charleston, with the Stono River wending through the landscape.

Race in America

What the Haunting ‘Inner Passage’ Represented to the Enslaved

These photographs explore the waterways of the South that brought suffering to so many and also provided some a way out of bondage

Anyone who drives the stretch from Miami to Key West is bound to be mystified by the ghostly remains of an early 20th-century railway.

In the Florida Keys, a Century-Old Bridge Reopens as a Tropical High Line

A portion of the Seven Mile Bridge, an engineering marvel completed in 1909, has been transformed into a linear park

Detail from a 4th-century B.C. Persian sarcophagus, thought to depict a Greek-Anatolian battle scene, found in a tomb near Troy.

In Search of Troy

It wasn’t just a legend. Archaeologists are getting to the bottom of the city celebrated by Homer nearly 3,000 years ago

Every wall, table and shelf in Elizabeth Meaders' three-story Staten Island home is crammed with pictures, posters, signs, statues, medals, sports memorabilia and military gear.

Women Who Shaped History

Why a Schoolteacher Spent 70 Years Collecting Thousands of Black History Artifacts

Elizabeth Meaders’ acquisitions include sports memorabilia, civil rights posters, military paraphernalia and art

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Women Who Shaped History

Constance Baker Motley Taught the Nation How to Win Justice

The pathbreaking lawyer and “Civil Rights Queen” was the first Black woman to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court

It’s been 70 years of instant photography, thanks to Edwin Land, on the left.

Polaroid Inventor Edwin Land Gave Us More Than Just Instant Photos

Seventy-five years after the game-changing camera was unveiled to the public, a scientist calls attention to Land’s other technological breakthroughs

Toshio Mori's Yokohama, California was slated for publication in fall 1942. Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor—and Mori's incarceration under Executive Order 9066—delayed the short story collection's release until 1949.

The Fascinating—and Harrowing—Tale of the First Japanese American to Publish a Book of Fiction

After his incarceration during WWII, Toshio Mori released a collection of short stories based on his experiences as a second generation Asian immigrant

The Museum of Prehistory and Early History in Berlin houses some 5,500 skulls collected by Austrian anthropologist Felix von Luschan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. On Friday, February 11, the German museum returned 32 skulls from the collection to a Hawaiian delegation.

Germany, Austria Repatriate Dozens of Human Skulls to Hawaii

Earlier this month, a Hawaiian delegation retrieved 58 sets of ancestral remains from five European museums

The Shakers, who reached the peak of their popularity in America between 1820 and 1860, loathed the institutions of marriage and family for the sinful “natural affections” that accompanied them.

The Sects That Rejected Sex in 19th-Century America

Why three religious groups traded monogamy for celibacy, polygamy and “complex marriage”

Inventor Jean-Yves Blondeau demonstrates his roller suit in 2007 in Beijing.

Seven Fitness Inventions That Were Dropped Like New Year’s Resolutions

From roller armor to a weight helmet, these patented pieces of exercise equipment came and went

The President with the First Lady in a freight elevator heading to an inaugural ball in 2009.

How Pete Souza Fits Into the Storied History of Presidential Photography

In his new book, the former White House photographer frames a clear picture of the Obama years

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, the National Park Service and the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation will mark the annual Day of Remembrance, with virtual programming from February 18 to 20, 2022, to explore the Japanese American community's struggle for recognition and redress.

Eighty Years After the U.S. Incarcerated 120,000 Japanese Americans, Trauma and Scars Still Remain

Families were stripped of their rights and freedoms in February 1942, when FDR signed Executive Order 9066

Top row (L to R): Bill Clinton's cat Socks (pictured twice), Amy Carter's cat Misty Malarky Ying Yang and George W. Bush's cat India. Bottom row (L to R): India, Calvin Coolidge's cats Blackie and Tiger, and the Bidens' cat Willow

History of Now

A Colorful History of Cats in the White House

Willow Biden isn’t the first feline to grace the presidential residence’s halls

Christie accompanied her second husband, Max Mallowan, on digs in Egypt and Syria. During these expeditions, she helped catalog, illustrate and restore artifacts, in addition to managing everyday operations.

Based on a True Story

How Agatha Christie’s Love of Archaeology Influenced ‘Death on the Nile’

In the 1930s, the mystery writer accompanied her archaeologist husband on annual digs in the Middle East

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