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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

Wanted: a few patrons to help preserve Vincent van Gogh's grave for future generations.

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The Quest to Save Vincent van Gogh’s Grave

His final resting place is in disrepair, so fans of the tormented artist are pitching in to save it

This illustration by Helen Sewell graced one of the original editions of Little House on the Prairie, published in the 1930s. That book tells of the period in the Ingalls family's lives in which they settled in Kansas on land that still belonged to Native Americans.

The Little House on the Prairie Was Built on Native American Land

Yesterday was Laura Ingalls Wilder’s 150th birthday. It’s time to take a critical look at her work

A woodcut from 1482 is yours for the coloring in a book by the Bodleian Library.

Cool Finds

#ColorOurCollections Is Back, Turning Your Favorite Cultural Institutions Into Coloring Books

In its second year, it’s more vibrant than ever

Although it's possible that Sandro Botticelli threw other works of his on the bonfire, the Birth of Venus thankfully survived.

A Fanatical Monk Inspired 15th-Century Italians to Burn Their Clothes, Makeup and Art

He told Florentines the apocalypse was coming, and to save themselves through self-censorship

:)

Researchers Discover a 17th-Century “Emoji”

The classic smiley face has been around for a long time

Babe Ruth's first major-league team was the Boston Red Sox, where he was a star player. When he was sold to the New York Yankees in 1919, the "Curse of the Bambino" began and the Red Sox didn't win another World Series until 2004.

Why Was Babe Ruth So Good At Hitting Home Runs?

People have been using science on the Great Bambino since the 1920s

In the summer of 1946, Holocaust survivors lent their voices to the "Henonville Songs," which psychologist David Boder recorded on this wire spool.

Spool of “Holocaust Songs” Found in Mislabelled Container

The “Henonville Songs” are being heard for the first time in 70 years

View of La Danta—one of the world's largest pyramids—located in the Mirador Basin.

LiDAR Scans Reveal Maya Civilization’s Sophisticated Network of Roads

Detailed aerial images reveal a remarkably ambitious transportation network consisting of 17 roads

Preening automaton

Cool Finds

This Robotic Silver Swan Has Fascinated Fans for Nearly 250 Years

It preens, fishes and impresses

Rachel Carson in 1962.

Rachel Carson Wrote Silent Spring (Partly) Because of the Author of Stuart Little

The book was a turning point for the environmental movement

Vera Lynn performing a lunchtime concert at a munitions factory in 1941.

WWII Songstress Croons Her Way to Age 100 With a New Album

Dame Vera Lynn “the Forces’ Sweetheart” will make the history books with the release

This photograph of Abigail Scott Dunway features the words "Yours for Liberty,"—the phrase she always used when she signed her name.

Cool Finds

This Hell-Raising Suffragist’s Name Will Soon Grace an Oregon Hotel

Abigail Scott Duniway staged a lifelong fight for women’s rights

A man administers a security screening at the Clinton Engineer Works, part of the Manhattan Project.

Lie Detectors Don’t Work as Advertised and They Never Did

Barred from use in U.S. court, lie detectors are still used today in other parts of the legal system

Portrait of Edmonia Lewis by Henry Rocher

Google Doodle Sculpts a Tribute to Pioneering Artist Edmonia Lewis

Celebrate the first day of Black History Month by getting to know the 19th-century sculptor

Just call it "the house on Pooh corner."

Cool Finds

The House Where ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ Was Written Is for Sale

The 9.5-acre estate was once home to Christopher Robin and A.A. Milne

A 1925 pastel portrait of Hughes that belongs to the Smithsonian.

How Langston Hughes’s Dreams Inspired MLK’s

Langston Hughes wrote about dreams at a time when racism meant that black people’s dreams were silenced

CERN Weasel 2

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Museum Displays the Weasel that Brought Down Particle Physics

A stone marten that disrupted the Large Hadron Collider in November goes on display in Rotterdam in an exhibit about human-animal mishaps

Ron Hill celebrates fifty years of running every day

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World’s Longest Running Streak Comes to an End

After running a mile a day for 52 years and 39 days, running legend Ron Hill finally took a day off due to heart problems

The front of the Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris.

Co-Defendant in €100 Million Art Heist Claims He Threw Five Masterpieces in the Trash

But investigators are skeptical

Among other necessary items, the list includes "greenfish," a "fireshovel" and two dozen pewter spoons.

Seventeenth-Century Shopping List Discovered Under Floorboards of Historic English Home

Penned in 1633, the “beautifully written” list hints at household life 400 years ago

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