Newspapers | smithsonianmag.comhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/tag/newspapers/RSS feed for NewspapersenTue, 21 Jul 2026 19:23:31 +0000A Volunteer Stumbled Upon a Strange Document in the U.K. National Archives. It Turned Out to Be a Rare Copy of the Declaration of Independence Printed in July 1776https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-volunteer-stumbled-upon-a-strange-document-in-the-uk-national-archives-it-turned-out-to-be-a-rare-copy-of-the-declaration-of-independence-printed-in-july-1776-180989169/Michael Scurr, a retired insurance broker, found the text while cataloging boxes of 18th-century correspondence housed at the London archives. It's the only known copy of its kind outside the United StatesTue, 21 Jul 2026 19:23:31 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-volunteer-stumbled-upon-a-strange-document-in-the-uk-national-archives-it-turned-out-to-be-a-rare-copy-of-the-declaration-of-independence-printed-in-july-1776-180989169/America's 150th Birthday Celebration Was Deemed the Nation's 'Greatest Flop.' What Went Wrong With the Sesquicentennial?https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/americas-150th-birthday-celebration-was-deemed-the-nations-greatest-flop-what-went-wrong-with-the-sesquicentennial-180988946/Philadelphia politicians hoped to replicate the success of the 1876 Centennial Exposition. Instead, the 1926 world's fair lost millions of dollars, essentially bankrupting the city on the eve of the Great DepressionTue, 16 Jun 2026 12:57:27 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/americas-150th-birthday-celebration-was-deemed-the-nations-greatest-flop-what-went-wrong-with-the-sesquicentennial-180988946/When a Journalist Took on Corruption, He Used a Tool That Hadn’t Been Used Much in American History: the Unvarnished Truthhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-journalist-took-corruption-used-tool-that-hadnt-been-used-much-american-history-unvarnished-truth-180988855/Lincoln Steffens was a reporter so dogged that political party bosses called him a “born crook that’s gone straight.” He and his fellow muckrakers redefined modern journalismThu, 11 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-journalist-took-corruption-used-tool-that-hadnt-been-used-much-american-history-unvarnished-truth-180988855/