The Watts Bar Dam, one of the dams that is part of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Here’s How FDR Explained Making Electricity Public

“My friends, my policy is as radical as the Constitution of the United States,” he said

Photograph of two Havana meteoritic metal beads with a 1 cm cube for scale. The bead on the left (7.8 g mass) is cut perpendicular to the central hole, illustrating the extensive alteration of the bead and infilling of the central hole. The bead on the right (4.6 g mass) is cut parallel to the central hole and exhibits a concentrically deformed structure.

New Research

Beads Made From Meteorite Reveal Ancient Trade Network

Researchers have confirmed iron beads in Illinois come from a Minnesota meteorite, supporting a theory called the Hopewell Interaction Sphere

An infantry unit with bayonets marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in May 1865. They are followed by three ambulances.

See the Civil War Through the Lens of Its First Photographer

Mathew Brady and the photographers he hired were the first to photograph a war zone

The unassuming face of one of twentieth-century America's most dangerous men, even to himself

The Innovative Spirit fy17

One Man Invented Two of the Deadliest Substances of the 20th Century

Thomas Midgley Jr.’s inventions have had an outsize impact—not all of it good—on humankind

Mercedes Williamson

Trending Today

First-Ever Federal Transgender Hate Crime Sentence Handed Down

Mercedes Williamson’s killer was prosecuted in the absence of a Mississippi state law protecting trans people against hate crimes

72-Year-Old Love Letter Returned to WWII Veteran

The letter, which had never reached its intended recipient, was found during renovations of a New Jersey home

A posthumous engraving of Maria Agnesi from 1836.

The Witch of Agnesi

A mistranslation led to the unusual name of this mathematical concept

The original kindergarten concept had children playing with a series of toys that were supposed to be given to them in a specific order to help them learn.

A Little History of American Kindergartens

Songs, blocks and snack time (and don’t forget a nap)

Fanny Cornforth posted for "Lady Lilith" and other influential Pre-Raphaelite paintings.

Cool Finds

Newly Digitized Archives Reveal the Inner Lives of Artists

The Delaware Art Museum just put 500 rare documents online

There is no one final theory about the original purpose of the Nazca Lines.

How a German Mathematician Took Responsibility for an Ancient Peruvian Artifact

Maria Reiche lived in a shack in the desert with the Nazca Lines for 40 years

Chinese Tomb Murals Paint Colorful Picture of 1000-Year-Old Fashions

Racks of vibrant clothing and tables laden with fineries are depicted on the walls of the Liao Dynasty tomb

Chocolate chips as we know and love them today.

The First “Chocolate Chip” Was a Molasses Candy

The name “chocolate chip” goes back much farther than the Toll House cookies

Roosevelt became known for meeting with conservation figures like John Muir, something that detractors thought was "unpresidential."

With This One Quotable Speech, Teddy Roosevelt Changed the Way America Thinks About Nature

In a speech at the start of the 1908 Conference of Governors, Roosevelt changed the national conversation about resource use

Egyptian Princess May Have Been Buried in Newly Discovered Pyramid

An inscription suggests that the tomb once belonged to a pharaoh’s daughter

Franco's tomb features a 500-foot cross.

Trending Today

Spain’s Parliament Votes to Exhume a Dead Dictator

Franco’s reign of terror is over—but Spaniards are still making sense of his legacy

Today, apples are one of the most valuable fruit crops in the United States, according to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center.

Apple Pie Is Not All That American

Neither apples nor the pie originally came from America, but Americans have made this dish their own

Henri IV depicted as Hercules vanquishing a hydra. All in a day's work.

The Second Life of Henri IV’s Severed Head

Whether it’s lying in the grave or sitting in a Paris bank vault, the monarch’s cranium has been the subject of much debate since his untimely demise

Funerary garden discovered by CSIC’s research team.

First Evidence of Ancient Egyptian Funerary Garden Found in Luxor

Researchers have theorized that lettuce and palm trees were once planted there to honor the dead

Learn why fudge like this is sold at every tourist attraction in the country

Why Does Every Tourist Attraction Sell Fudge?

One thing that places as different as Niagara Falls, Disneyland and Ellis Island have in common? Fudge

This law set the forced removal of Native Americans in the American Southeast into motion.

Trending Today

Witness the Document that Set the Trail of Tears in Motion

The Indian Removal Act is on display at the National Archives through June 14

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