Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

History / U.S. History

Hattie Caraway succeeded her husband as an Arkansas senator and then won re-election with more votes than her six male opponents combined. She's pictured at her desk in 1943.

Women Who Shaped History

Hattie Caraway, the First Woman Elected to the U.S. Senate, Faced a Familiar Struggle With Gender Politics

After Arkansas elected her in 1931, Caraway was ignored by her peers but hounded by the press

Joseph A. "Jock" Yablonski announces his candidacy for the presidency of the United Mine Workers.

Fifty Years Ago, the Murder of Jock Yablonski Shocked the Labor Movement

The conspiracy to kill the United Mine Workers official went all the way to the top of his own union

The top history movies of the decade include Spotlight, 12 Years a Slave and Hidden Figures.

Based on a True Story

What Were the Best History Movies of the Decade?

These ten films (plus one documentary) each took the past and translated it in a way worth remembering

John Kinard, the first African American to head a Smithsonian museum, took the helm of the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum in 1967. The museum was housed in a former theater on Nichols Street in a Southeast neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Fifty Years Ago, the Idea of a Museum for the People Came of Age

A Smithsonian symposium asked experts to weigh in on the strength of the community museum and chart its way forward

The headline of the San Francisco Call details the ouster of police chief George Wittman

The Courtroom That Literally Relitigated History

For San Francisco’s Court of Historical Opinion, no case was too frivolous or too controversial

With two fingers Babe Ruth pointed (above: a re-imagined illustration of Babe Ruth calling his shot in the fifth inning of the third game, 1932 World Series). Some thought he was scolding the Cubs’ bench, many more believed he was pointing toward centerfield, where he hit a soaring home run.

When the Yankees Got the Larger-Than-Life Babe Ruth

It was a fateful December a century ago, when the Red Sox-Yankees trade launched a dynasty; a Smithsonian curator reflects on the legendary home-run hitter

The Aeronauts offers a beautiful glimpse at the excitement that ballooning brought to the 19th century.

The True Story Behind ‘The Aeronauts’ From the Smithsonian’s Curator of Balloons, Blimps and Airships

Ballooning expert Tom Paone says the film brings the bravado of balloon flight, but takes some artistic license

The 1966 Honda CB77, or Super Hawk, that Robert Pirsig rode on his 1968 trip from Minnesota to California that inspired the book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

The Cycle From ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ Comes to the Smithsonian

The 1966 Honda Super Hawk featured in Robert Pirsig’s book on values was recently acquired by the National Museum of American History

Scenes From a Reenactment of a Slave Uprising

Earlier this year, a group of organizers led by a daring performance artist donned 19th-century clothes and recreated the 1811 revolt

By digging through archives, researchers can piece together the life stories of the millions of people who were enslaved in the Americas.

A Massive New Database Will Connect Billions of Historic Records to Tell the Full Story of American Slavery

The online resource will offer vital details about the toll wrought on the enslaved

A WWII Airman’s Son Tracks Down His Father’s Last Mission—to Destroy a Nazi Weapon Factory

The impact of one heroic flight would take decades to reconcile

Left, local actor Keith Scales portrays Norman Baker in a one-man show at the Crescent Hotel and is an encyclopedia of information about Baker’s time in Eureka. Right, detail of a couch and drapes in the Governor’s Suite, formerly Baker’s office, at the hotel.

The Charlatan of the Ozarks Still Looms Over the Haunted Crescent Hotel

A notorious quack peddled cures at an Arkansas resort in the 1930s. Nowadays the con game is all for show

Flying Santa plane flies past Boston Light in 1947.

After 90 Years, the ‘Flying Santa’ Is Still Dropping Gifts From a Plane

In New England, a long-standing tradition continues with pilots delivering gifts to lighthouses and lifesaving stations

With the help of the Seeger family, Libba Cotten recorded an album, toured around the world, and eventually at the age of 90, won a GRAMMY.

Hitting the High Notes: A Smithsonian Year of Music

The Magnificent Musical Life of the Upside-Down Guitar Player Libba Cotten

Musician and author Laura Veirs brings this musical icon back to the stage in her recent children’s book

The cubs are a male named Paitoon and a female named Jilian. They were born April 29 and March 24, respectively, at the Nashville Zoo.

The Smithsonian’s Ten Splashiest New Acquisitions of 2019

This year marks the arrival of a brilliant diamond, a hybrid space rocket, exciting paintings and two darling clouded leopard cubs

“Within a timespan of about 150 years, Americans transitioned from being mass consumers of ivory goods to enacting legal measures aimed at supporting elephant conservation," says the Smithsonian's Carlene Stephens.

What Elephants Teach Us About Consumption and Extinction

A new exhibition places the human-elephant relationship in the context of American history

The 1979 "Christmas Rappin'" was "so witty" says rapper Kurtis Blow (above in 2016 at the Art of Rap festival in Los Angeles). "I welcomed the opportunity to do it.”

Hitting the High Notes: A Smithsonian Year of Music

Every Year Just ‘Bout This Time, Kurtis Blow Celebrates With a Rhyme

In a salute to “Christmas Rappin,’” hip-hop chronicler Bill Adler tells the tale of how the famous rap recording came to life

Chief Ousamequin shares a peace pipe with Plymouth Governor John Carver.

The Myths of the Thanksgiving Story and the Lasting Damage They Imbue

In truth, massacres, disease and American Indian tribal politics are what shaped the Pilgrim-Indian alliance at the root of the holiday

The Crock Pot’s legacy is that it encourages cooks of all experience levels to get into the kitchen.

A Brief History of the Crock Pot

More than eighty years after it was patented, the Crock Pot remains a comforting presence in American kitchens

The New Croton Dam at Croton Gorge Park, about 40 miles north of New York City.

How New York City Found Clean Water

For nearly 200 years after the founding of New York, the city struggled to establish a clean source of fresh water

Page 60 of 173