Smart News History & Archaeology

An illustration from "Bessie, Queen of the Sky," a forthcoming children's book about Bessie Coleman.

The 'Queen of the Sky' Is Finally Getting Her Due

On her birthday, we're remembering Bessie Coleman's incredible achievements

Millions of immigrants passed through Castle Garden on as they entered the United States.

Cool Finds

America’s First Immigration Center Was Also an Amusement Park

Castle Garden went from fort to pleasure grounds to precursor of Ellis Island

The site of the new museum in Gdansk

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Historians, Government Officials Clash Over Polish History at New Museum

Trapped between nationalism and documentation, a Polish museum grapples with how to tell its story

A portrait of Dan Rice circa 1840.

This Famous American Clown Was (Probably) a Model for Uncle Sam

Dan Rice was the John Oliver of the mid-nineteenth century

"Gung Haggis Fat Choy" may be the only celebration that combines both traditional Robert Burns Night festivities, including bagpiping, with a celebration of the Chinese New Year.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy: This Canadian Celebration Combines Robert Burns Night and Chinese New Year

Started by "Toddish McWong" in 1998, the annual dinner has grown and grown

The final title card for Guiding Light.

TV's Longest-Running Soap Opera Was First Broadcast 80 Years Ago

Guiding Light had over 15,700 episodes between radio and television

Samuel Clemens often told stories to his children, but only one has survived.

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New Mark Twain Fairy Tale Unearthed

The previously unknown—and unfinished—story was hiding in plain sight

A piece of gold, believed to be a small ring, found in the Hoard

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Researchers Finish Separating World's Largest Celtic Coin Hoard

It took nearly three years to separate the more than 68,000 coins

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This Map Shows Over a Century of Documented Lynchings in the United States

Mapping the history of racial terror

An undated box that originally held Eskimo Fudge Pies.

The Weird, Brief History of the Eskimo Pie Corporation

It was America’s first chocolate-covered ice cream bar, patented on this day in 1922

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A London Music Hall Hid a Long-Forgotten Storeroom Packed With Condiments

Construction workers uncovered the tasty trove while excavating its foundations

A reconstruction of Ötzi the Iceman at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology.

Cool Finds

Ötzi the Iceman's Last Meal Included Goat Bacon

Analysis of the 5,300-year-old mummy's stomach contents shows he ate dry-cured meat from a mountain ibex

Microscope not included.

Cool Finds

This Necklace Contains All of the World’s Languages

Because cultural preservation never goes out of fashion

Paul Robeson, photographed by Alfredo Valente in 1940.

Remembering Paul Robeson, Actor, Sportsman and Leader

Among other things, Robeson transformed one of history’s most famous showtunes into a protest song

Watercolor painting of the Battle of Texel by painter Léon Morel-Fatio.

The Only Time in History When Men on Horseback Captured a Fleet of Ships

A Dutch fleet stuck in the ice. A group of French soldiers sent to capture it. What could go wrong?

Central High School, where school integration battles of the Civil Rights Movement played out, is among 39 sites and historical projects to get National Park Service grants.

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New Grants Give Out Millions to Preserve African-American History

A $7.5 million grant program will fund 39 projects in over 20 states

Edgar Allan Poe as imagined in an 1895 image by Swiss/French printmaker Félix Valloton.

Who Was the Poe Toaster? We Still Have No Idea

In Baltimore, they’re keeping the tradition of visiting Edgar Allan Poe’s grave for his birthday—but without the mystery

A mug shot of Iva Toguri D'Aquino, taken in prison in 1946.

Iva d'Aquino Toguri Remains the Only U.S. Citizen Convicted of Treason Who Has Ever Been Pardoned

She was an American DJ who served six years in prison for her wartime radio broadcasts from Japan

A 1952 report on a flying saucer sighting in East Germany housed in the CIA's recently released archive suggests that the truth is, perhaps, out there.

Cool Finds

Over 12 Million Pages of CIA Documents Are Now Accessible Online

Coups, clairvoyants, invisible ink

Samuel Zemurray was sometimes called "The Banana Man."

Where We Got the Term “Banana Republic”

Hint: it’s not a great moment in American history

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