https://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/tag/history-now/RSS feed for History of NowenTue, 23 Dec 2025 20:02:21 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-mysterious-hjortspring-boat-that-sank-in-denmark-2400-years-ago-is-still-revealing-its-secrets-180987880/New research suggests indicates that Scandinavia's oldest known example of a wooden plank boat may have sailed to attack the island of Als from the east, indicating a planned effortTue, 23 Dec 2025 20:02:21 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-mysterious-hjortspring-boat-that-sank-in-denmark-2400-years-ago-is-still-revealing-its-secrets-180987880/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/industrious-grocer-1930s-wanted-make-easier-customers-buy-more-just-needed-push-180987633/There was a time when shoppers could buy only as much as they could carry. And as ubiquitous as shopping carts are today, it initially took some convincing to use themTue, 18 Nov 2025 12:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/industrious-grocer-1930s-wanted-make-easier-customers-buy-more-just-needed-push-180987633/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-adoptee-discovered-a-trove-of-documents-in-a-nuns-basement-the-rare-vietnam-warrecords-rewrite-the-story-of-operation-babylift-180987435/The April 1975 effort matched more than 2,800 infants and children evacuated from Vietnam with adoptive families. Today, the adoptees are searching for clues to their past—and reflecting on the complicated legacy of their evacuationWed, 08 Oct 2025 11:15:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-adoptee-discovered-a-trove-of-documents-in-a-nuns-basement-the-rare-vietnam-warrecords-rewrite-the-story-of-operation-babylift-180987435/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-the-1973-dc-home-rule-act-enabled-the-nations-capital-to-govern-itself-with-congressional-oversight-180987180/Far from being a new debate brought on by current events, the discussion over extending home rule to Washingtonians has been around as long as the District of Columbia itselfThu, 14 Aug 2025 21:13:42 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-the-1973-dc-home-rule-act-enabled-the-nations-capital-to-govern-itself-with-congressional-oversight-180987180/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/los-angeles-1936-bum-blockade-targeted-american-migrants-fleeing-poverty-and-drought-during-the-great-depression-180987022/The two-month patrol stopped supposedly "suspicious" individuals from crossing into California from other states. But its execution was uneven, and the initiative proved controversialThu, 24 Jul 2025 16:05:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/los-angeles-1936-bum-blockade-targeted-american-migrants-fleeing-poverty-and-drought-during-the-great-depression-180987022/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/these-trailblazing-black-paramedics-are-the-reason-you-dont-have-to-ride-a-hearse-or-a-police-van-to-the-hospital-180986662/In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Freedom House Ambulance Service set the standard for emergency medical care, laying the groundwork for the services available todayWed, 21 May 2025 14:58:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/these-trailblazing-black-paramedics-are-the-reason-you-dont-have-to-ride-a-hearse-or-a-police-van-to-the-hospital-180986662/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/meet-the-dedicated-volunteers-who-honor-world-war-iis-fallen-american-service-members-by-adopting-their-graves-180986538/Europe will commemorate the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany's surrender on May 8. But thousands of locals remain committed to preserving year-round the memories of those killed while fighting to liberate the continentMon, 05 May 2025 17:17:23 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/meet-the-dedicated-volunteers-who-honor-world-war-iis-fallen-american-service-members-by-adopting-their-graves-180986538/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/was-talos-the-bronze-automaton-who-guarded-the-island-of-crete-in-greek-myth-an-early-example-of-artificial-intelligence-180986467/The mythical sentry was depicted as thinking like a human and showing some human-like tendenciesTue, 22 Apr 2025 13:00:22 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/was-talos-the-bronze-automaton-who-guarded-the-island-of-crete-in-greek-myth-an-early-example-of-artificial-intelligence-180986467/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-way-we-listen-to-music-changed-forever-when-apple-launched-itunes-in-2001-180985725/The digital jukebox enjoyed a two-decade reign as the dominant program for storing audio filesThu, 09 Jan 2025 10:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-way-we-listen-to-music-changed-forever-when-apple-launched-itunes-in-2001-180985725/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-170-wild-monkeys-escaped-from-a-jungle-camp-and-terrorized-new-york-180985537/In 1935, dozens of rhesus macaques absconded from Frank Buck's Long Island menagerie. Nearly a century later, 43 members of the same species broke out of a South Carolina research facilityMon, 02 Dec 2024 14:21:49 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-170-wild-monkeys-escaped-from-a-jungle-camp-and-terrorized-new-york-180985537/