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History / World History

Women in early modern Europe collected recipes for balms, distillations and elixirs to treat all manner of ailments.

Part of Being a Domestic Goddess in 17th-Century Europe Was Making Medicines

Housewives’ essential role in health care is coming to light as more recipe books from the pre-Industrial Revolution era are digitized

Chinchero is an agrarian town about 45-minutes outside of Cusco known for its striking landscape of snow-capped mountains and lagoons connected by a system of wetlands, as well as its Inca ruins and famous Sunday market.

The Uphill Battle to Stop Peru From Building a New Airport Near Machu Picchu

Opinions are divided in the agrarian town of Chinchero, where the airport is slated to open in 2025

Engineers concluded that the museum building (above: the Assyrian Hall in February 2019) was structurally sound and could be repaired. But much work would need to be done.

Iraq’s Cultural Museum in Mosul Is on the Road to Recovery

The arduous process, says the Smithsonian’s Richard Kurin, is “a victory over violent extremism”

Black Banjo Reclamation Project founders Hannah Mayree and Carlton “Seemore Love” Dorsey, with banjos made by Brooks Masten of Brooks Banjos in Portland, Oregon.

Smithsonian Voices

A Quest to Return the Banjo to Its African Roots

The Black Banjo Reclamation Project aims to put banjos into the hands of everyday people

Jim McDowell holds his jug, “Emmett Till.”

Smithsonian Voices

How a Pioneering Ceramicist Is Using Pottery to Reclaim Black History

Jim McDowell, known to many simply as “the Black Potter,” is a ceramicist who specializes in a craft with deep connections to lost histories

Artist's rendering of a prehistoric human playing the ancient conch instrument

Cool Finds

Hear the Musical Sounds of an 18,000-Year-Old Giant Conch

The shell was played for the first time in millennia after being rediscovered in the collections of a French museum

A picture of Lunar New Year festivities in a previous year.

How to Participate in the Lunar New Year This Year

The Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Freer and Sackler Galleries host virtual events

Netflix's The Dig dramatizes the excavation of an elaborate Anglo-Saxon ship burial.

Based on a True Story

The True History Behind Netflix’s ‘The Dig’ and Sutton Hoo

One of the greatest archaeological finds in British history, the Anglo-Saxon burial changed historians’ view of the Dark Ages

Archaeologists exploring the submerged landscapes of Australia, often called sea country, recently found ancient sites underwater.

The Search for Aboriginal History Off the Coast of Australia

Archaeologists exploring the waters near Western Australia’s Murujuga are finding ancient sites a short dive below the sea’s surface

This month's picks include The Ravine, Four Lost Cities and The Three Mothers.

Books of the Month

Civil Rights Icons’ Mothers, Lost Ancient Cities and Other New Books to Read

These February releases elevate overlooked stories and offer insights on oft-discussed topics

Irmgard Keun’s disappearing act, amid the general chaos of Germany in the interwar and post-war periods, makes piecing together the author’s life a bit of a challenge.

The Extraordinary Disappearing Act of a Novelist Banned by the Nazis

Driven into exile because of her work’s “anti-German” themes, Irmgard Keun took her own life—or did she?

The Russian warship Neva arrives in Alaska led by Alexander Baranov

Archaeologists Identify Famed Fort Where Indigenous Tlingits Fought Russian Forces

The new discovery builds upon the knowledge passed down by generations of Indigenous communities about the clash from two centuries ago

This month's book picks include Icebound, A Shot in the Moonlight and The Eagles of Heart Mountain.

Books of the Month

A Doomed Arctic Expedition, Number-Free Math and Other New Books to Read

These five January releases may have been lost in the news cycle

The depiction of corsets in the premiere episode of "Bridgerton" is more of the same mythmaking from popular culture.

Based on a True Story

What ‘Bridgerton’ Gets Wrong About Corsets

Women’s rights were severely restricted in 19th-century England, but their undergarments weren’t to blame

Hieroglyphs line the walls in a shrine to the goddess Hathor at Serabit el-Khadim.

Who Invented the Alphabet?

New scholarship points to a paradox of historic scope: Our writing system was devised by people who couldn’t read

Father Reginald Foster celebrating his birthday in 2019

Father Reginald Foster Used Latin to Bring History Into the Present

Who speaks Latin these days? A surprisingly large number of people, thanks to the late friar, who died on Christmas Day at 81

Fascinating finds revealed in 2020 ranged from a portrait of Mary Boleyn to a bust of the Greek god Hermes and one of the world's oldest swords.

Ninety Fascinating Finds Revealed in 2020

This year’s most intriguing discoveries include an Aztec skull tower, fossilized footprints and Nazi shipwrecks

This past October, Ruben Ghazarayan (above left with his brother Karen at the 2018 Smithsonian Folklife Festival) fought on the frontlines of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, his brother is selling their Armenian cross-stones to support their families during the conflict.

In Times of Conflict, How Can We Support the People Who Keep Culture Alive?

A Smithsonian research fellow weighs in on the ways culture proves both vital and resilient

The portal currently features 613,458 entries documenting the people, events and places involved in the transatlantic slave trade.

Who Were America’s Enslaved? A New Database Humanizes the Names Behind the Numbers

The public website draws connections between existing datasets to piece together fragmentary narratives

This year's top titles include One Mighty and Irresistible Tide, You Never Forget Your First, and Caste.

Holiday Gift Guide

The Ten Best History Books of 2020

Our favorite titles of the year resurrect forgotten histories and help explain how the country got to where it is today

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