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History / U.S. History

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How Trees Defined America

Historian Erik Rutkow argues in a new book that forests are key to understanding how our nation developed and who we are today

The Star Spangled Banner. 1814. Manuscript by Francis Scott Key.

Anthem For America Music Guide

Document Deep Dive: The Musical History of “The Star-Spangled Banner”

Was the national anthem really set to the melody of a drinking tune? Take a closer look at the original manuscript of Francis Scott Key’s song

A nighttime German barrage on Allied trenches at Ypres

Fritz Haber’s Experiments in Life and Death

The German chemist helped feed the world. Then he developed the first chemical weapons used in battle

The automobile of 1973 as imagined in 1923 on the cover of Science and Invention magazine

1923 Envisions the Two-Wheeled Flying Car of 1973

As cars got larger in the 1920s, the “Helicar” was presented as the solution to congested city streets

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The War of 1812: 200 Years Later

What is there to remember about the battles long relegated to footnote status? More than you might think!

A diorama at the River Raisin visitor center depicts the war’s northern front.

The War of 1812’s Forgotten Battle Cry

Remember the Raisin? You probably don’t

Blood, Bones & Butter

Eat Here

Today’s special: Our first annual food issue

Thomas Scott Baldwin's airship at the St. Louis Exposition

Don’t Let Your Money Fly Away: A 1909 Warning to Airship Investors

Flying aboard aircraft? Just a passing fad

A professor of the future gives a lecture via television (1935)

Predictions for Educational TV in the 1930s

Before it became known as the “idiot box,” television was seen as the best hope for bringing enlightenment to the American people

Four-person helicopter of the future (1944)

Big Things Ahead… But Keep Your Shirt On

Americans in the 1940s had wondrous expectations about the post-war world. Meet one author who advised them to curb their enthusiasm

Indian soldiers in the service of the East India Company-who outnumbered British troops in India five to one–loading cartridges.

Pass it on: The Secret that Preceded the Indian Rebellion of 1857

British officials were alarmed at the rapid distribution of mysterious Indian breads across much of the Raj

A woman is made to smell her partner's body odors to see if they're suitable for marriage

Mechanical Matchmaking: The Science of Love in the 1920s

Four “scientific” tests to determine whether your marriage will succeed or fail

A lithograph of the Battle of New Orleans, circa 1890

The 10 Things You Didn’t Know About the War of 1812

Why did the country really go to war against the British? Which American icon came out of the forgotten war?

1981 vision of future chemical warfare, causing soldiers to hallucinate

Tripping Through the Cold War: Drug Warfare in the Retrofuture

Was LSD the Soviet Union’s secret weapon?

Captain Lawrence "Titus" Oates with ponies

Sacrifice Amid the Ice: Facing Facts on the Scott Expedition

Captain Lawrence Oates wrote that if Robert Scott’s team didn’t win the race to the South Pole, “we shall come home with our tails between our legs”

Careers of the future as illustrated by Cy DeCosse for the 1982 book, The Kids Whole Future Catalog

Jobs of the Future: How Accurate Were the Soothsayers of 1982 At Predicting Today’s Top Careers?

College graduates take note: Your dream career as a robot psychologist or nasal technologist is just around the corner

Carl Mays, pitcher for the 1920 New York Yankees

A Death at Home Plate

Khrushchev and Mao meet in Beijing, July 1958. Khrushchev would find himself less formally dressed at their swimming-pool talks a week later.

Khrushchev in Water Wings: On Mao, Humiliation and the Sino-Soviet Split

Hugo Gernsback's vision for a monument devoted to electricity (1922)

The Monument to Electricity That Never Was

The Bureau of Air Commerce's inquiry board was tasked with investigating the cause of the accident.

Document Deep Dive

Document Deep Dive: A Firsthand Account of the Hindenburg Disaster

Frank Ward was a 17-year-old crewman when he saw the infamous disaster, but his memories of that day are still strong, 75 years later

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