Joseph Lister's work was influenced by Louis Pasteur's work on fermentation.

The Idea of Surgeons Washing Their Hands is Only 154 Years Old

The world of surgery before that was much grosser and less effective

John Huston, Orson Welles and Peter Bogdanovich on the set of The Other Side of the Wind.

Cool Finds

Netflix Will Finish Orson Welles’ Last Film

Will The Other Side of the Wind live up to its iconic reputation?

Although it's called "hay fever" it refers to an allergy caused by a variety of grasses.

The First Description of Allergies Was Published On This Day in 1844

John Bostock was a British doctor suffering from what he called “summer catarrh”

King Tut captivated the U.S. in 1976, thanks in part to an NEH grant.

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Five Things You Didn’t Realize Were Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities

Since 1965, the agency has bestowed more than 63,000 humanities-related grants

Reddi-wip's aerosol canisters are a symbol of mid-century convenience culture.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

This Patent Was the Hallmark of an Aerosol Whip Cream Empire

Aaron “Bunny” Lapin had already made Reddi-Wip a national concern when he finally received the patent for the aerosolizing whip cream nozzle

Bernard Fantus coined the term "blood bank" (and opened the world's first) in 1937.

The First-Ever Blood Bank Opened 80 Years Ago Today

Its inventor also coined the term “blood bank”

Thornbury Castle.

Thornbury Castle, Honeymoon Spot of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, On Sale for $10.3 million

The property boasts boasts 28 bedrooms, sprawling Tudor gardens and restaurant experience in the dungeons

National Archives of Korea's Busan Repository

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Why South Korea’s National Archive Uprooted 12 Japanese Trees

The kaizuka trees represent a long and complicated history with the country’s former colonial occupier

John F. Kennedy's permanent gravesite at the Arlington National Cemetery.

The Man Who Dug JFK’s Grave, Twice

Clifton Pollard dug graves in the Arlington National Cemetery for more than thirty years

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Archaeologists Worked Feverishly to Excavate Colonial-Era Graves at Philly Construction Site

The First Baptist Cemetery was supposed to have been moved in 1859, but as it turned out many of the graves were left behind

A re-engraving of the best-known picture of Jane Austen, the "memoir portrait," based on a drawing by her sister Cassandra.

Researchers Float (Unlikely) Theory That Jane Austen Died of Arsenic Poisoning

A contested hypothesis says the author’s glasses may offer new insight into her death

These two diagrams appear in Chester Greenwood's patent for hinged earmuffs.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

The Teenager Who Patented Earmuffs Kept His Town Employed for 60 Years

Chester Greenwood became an earmuff tycoon whose factory kept his hometown in business

This once-secret memo lays out methods for secret writing once used by intelligence agencies.

Trending Today

Celebrate Sunshine Week By Transcribing Once Top-Secret Documents

The National Archives wants you…to make documents more accessible to future generations

A reproduction of the "Tower of Blue Horses," which hasn't been spotted since the late 1940s.

Cool Finds

Two New Exhibitions Celebrate a Long-Lost Painting

The “Tower of the Blue Horses” is gone, but not forgotten

Percival Lowell in the 1900s.

The Bizarre Beliefs of Astronomer Percival Lowell

Lowell’s theories were treated with skepticism even in his own lifetime

In the early days of the Civil Rights Movements, students took a stand by sitting down.

Trending Today

New Nashville Restaurant Recreates Civil Rights Sit-In Site

The lunch counter where John Lewis and others were arrested will now be part of a soul food eatery and music venue

A boy rides his bike by the recently discovered statue that may be of Pharaoh Ramses II, one of the Egypt's most famous ancient rulers.

Huge Statue of Egyptian Pharaoh Discovered in Cairo

It may be a likeness of Ramses II, ancient Egypt’s most powerful ruler

Sylvia Townsend Warner, the author whose first book was chosen as the first Book of the Month selection in 1926, was openly involved in relationships with both men and women, a fact that scandalized readers.

Don’t Judge the Book-of-the-Month Club By Its Cover

Although today you might associate its name with staid offerings, the club’s first book was by an openly queer author

Daylight saving time, which has a history dating back to Benjamin Franklin, starts this Sunday.

During (and After) WWII, Some States Had Year-Round Daylight Saving Time

A 1963 ‘Time Magazine’ article called it “a chaos of time”

Portrait of Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull, 1806

Collection of Alexander Hamilton’s Documents Can Now Be Viewed Online

Among them are Hamilton’s first report as Secretary of Treasury, and a steamy love letter to his wife

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