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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

Although ketchup has roots in Southeast Asia, tomato ketchup may be an American original.

There’s Something Fishy About the Ketchup You Put On Your Burgers

The red stuff that Americans eat on their French Fries doesn’t look much like the ‘kôechiap’ it’s based on

Tolkien’s Newly Published Book Is Rooted in a Real Love Story

The tale of Beren and Lúthien was first conceived in 1917, after an encounter between Tolkien and his wife Edith

Don't even bothering searching for snaps like this.

Trending Today

Tourists Are Now Banned from Photographing This Swiss Village

It’s a blatant—if somewhat brilliant—press play

Thoreau kept—and illustrated—journals throughout his lifetime.

Cool Finds

Snoop Inside Thoreau’s Journals at This New Exhibition

It’s your chance to get up-close and personal with the philosopher-poet’s possessions

Why Does Every American Graduation Play ‘Pomp and Circumstance’?

The song was written for a British king’s coronation and its name is a Shakespeare reference. What gives?

"The Drunkard's Progress" shows how temperance advocates wanted to position alcohol consumption: as a choice leading, inevitably, to ruin and death.

Why Was Maine the First State to Try Prohibition?

The groundbreaking “Maine law” laid the groundwork for other states to experiment with temperance laws

A McDonald’s in Tangiers, Morocco. The sign is in Arabic.

What Do They Call a Quarter Pounder With Cheese in Casablanca?

McDonalds has been international for 50 years now… and its restaurants have learned how to blend in to the local scene

Major Latham Valentine Stewart Blacker in flying gear in 1933. Blacker, a former fighter pilot, shot the first aerial footage of Mount Everest.

Footage of Early 20th-Century Explorations Now Available Online

The UK’s Royal Geographical Society has digitized its archival footage of historic expeditions

President Truman receives a birthday cake in the Oval Office in 1951. Six years earlier, his birthday coincided with V-E Day.

No U.S. President Has Ever Died in May and Other Weird Trivia About Presidential Lives

Presidential lives are scrutinized for meaning, even when none is readily apparent

Edith Wharton circa 1900. Her play "The Shadow of a Doubt" didn't make it to the stage in 1901—but has finally been rediscovered by scholars.

Cool Finds

Scholars Rediscover Forgotten Edith Wharton Play

“The Shadow of a Doubt” had been overshadowed by over 100 years of history

Protestors stand in front of the Walker Sculpture Garden's construction fence on Saturday, May 27, 2017.

Amid Controversy, Minneapolis Museum Removes Sculpture Based on Execution of 38 Dakota Men

Members of the Dakota community say that the sculpture trivializes a painful chapter of their history

"Oh, hello. I didn't see you there. I was just catching up on my latest diary entry."

Samuel Pepys Was England’s First Blogger

The famed blogger—okay, diarist—told historians so much about 17th-century daily life in England, but he could have told us so much more

A cyanotype photogram from "Photographs of British Algae."

How the First Female Photographer Changed the Way the World Sees Algae

The groundbreaking photo book by Anna Atkins, a 19th-century British botanist, is going on display in the Netherlands

This library will no longer charge late fees for books.

Trending Today

Late Fees No Longer Exist at Salt Lake City Libraries

If you kept a book longer than you should have, you’re in luck

Each pole is 20 feet high and weighs over 2,000 pounds.

Cool Finds

The Powerful Story Behind Glacier Bay National Park’s New Totem Poles

They’re 20-foot-tall symbols of a slowly healing rift

The doge's barge, called the Bucentaur, returning to Venice after the "wedding" ceremony. This painting is by eighteenth-century Venetian artist Giovanni Antonio Canal, known as Canaletto.

Venice Has Been Married to the Sea for Over a Thousand Years

Happy anniversary, you crazy kids

The Maillard Reaction's best-known application is in tasty, tasty food.

Why Food Smells So Good When It’s Browning

A complex chemical reaction called the Maillard Reaction is responsible

Vermeer's "The Concert" was stolen by thieves in the 1990 heist. It is one of just 36 paintings by the artist in existence.

Gardner Museum Offers $10 Million for Information About 1990 Heist

The museum believes that somebody, somewhere can shed light on the whereabouts of 13 missing masterpieces

Bill Robinson as photographed by George Hurrell in 1935.

Three Ways Bill “Bojangles” Robinson Changed Dance Forever

Robinson worked throughout his career to make life better for black performers

Donna Mahan's "Safeguarding" was made with a castoff window from the residence.

Cool Finds

This Art Was Made from JFK’s Cape Cod Home

The Hyannis Port house was the stuff of family legend. Now it’s the source of new art

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