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Kids learned about historical laundry tasks on the museum’s reopening day.

Kids Can Try Out the ‘Oliver Twist’ Lifestyle at This English Museum Revealing Conditions for Poor People in a Victorian Workhouse

After a restoration, the Ripon Workhouse Museum reopened to the public, showcasing the sights, sounds and rules of England’s 19th-century “solution to poverty”

Opening ceremonies at the 2014 World Eskimo-Indian Olympics included a blanket toss. 

A New World Record in the Greased Pole Walk Brought Extra Excitement to This Year’s World Eskimo-Indian Olympics in Alaska

A 45-year-old record fell at the annual sporting event, which celebrates Indigenous athleticism and culture with events including the knuckle hop and the Alaskan high kick

A pitcher throws at a WPBL Fanfest in Stockton, California.

New Women’s Pro Baseball League Teams Are Named for These Pioneering American Women, Giving Female Players Another League of Their Own

The Firebells, Heights, Queens and Hunters—of San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and Boston—were inspired by an honorary firefighter, a civil rights activist, a first basewoman and a physician

Josh Kerr celebrates after setting the new 1-mile world record, shattering the previous mark, which had stood for 27 years.

For the First Time in 27 Years, a Man Set a New World Record for Fastest Mile. People Have Chased the Goal for Centuries

British runners in particular have long tried to cross the finish line in less than 4 minutes, records show, sometimes running in the nude or trying to win a bet

Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber and severed hand set a new record. 

Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber and Severed Hand From Famed Darth Vader Duel Sold For a Record $3.75 Million at Auction

The item, which became the most-valued on-screen Star Wars prop ever sold at auction, was born from cast-off parts from a camera shop

Gripping onto the edge of an iceberg in East Greenland, a polar bear looks out across the sea ice and sniffs the air. “The scene reflects a landscape that never stays still, where ice fractures, drifts and reforms around it,” photographer Rhiannon Lawler of the United Kingdom writes in a caption. Lawler captured the photo with a drone, keeping a safe distance from the animal.

These 16 Splendid Aerial Views Capture Wildlife From Above, Revealing the Beauty and Mystery of Nature

The second International Aerial Photographer of the Year contest selected its winners and 101 top images. Here’s a selection of the photos that spotlight animals from a new perspective

The Draken Harald Hårfagre is not modeled after a single historic ship, but an amalgamation of many Viking vessels described in stories.

This Viking Longship Crossed the Atlantic Before Starring in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Odyssey’ as Odysseus’ Greek Galley

Hollywood stars including Matt Damon went to rowing camp to learn how to operate the vessel for the new film

Curators put the finishing touches to Johan Zoffany’s The Tribuna of the Uffizi in the Picture Gallery at Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace’s Royal Picture Gallery Revives the Salon-Style Hang, Doubling the Number of Masterpieces on View

Charles III reportedly had a say in the stylistic switch, which rearranged and added artworks by the likes of Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer and Van Dyck

Investigators say a man stole Chinese manuscripts worth more than $200,000 from UCLA.

Man Sentenced for Stealing ‘Rare and Unique’ Chinese Texts, Valued at More Than $200,000, by Using Aliases, Fake IDs and Dummy Manuscripts

The works were stolen from the University of California, Los Angeles, over the course of several years

An advertising postcard for the Lindenberg Player Piano. 

A.I. Music Is Already Here. To Protect Human Artists, the Record Industry Proposes New Labels, Like Those for Explicit Lyrics

The proposal comes as A.I.-generated music makes up an increasing share of what’s available on streaming platforms

Gold tongues found at Marina el-Alamein (right) and a limestone tombstone showing a man holding a bird (left)

Cool Finds

Ancient Egyptians Believed That These Newly Discovered Gold Tongues Allowed the Dead to Communicate in the Afterlife

Excavations at Marina el-Alamein, an archaeological site west of Alexandria, unearthed about two dozen of the rare artifacts, including one shaped like the Eye of Horus

The church was built around 1300.

Cool Finds

This 700-Year-Old English Church Nearly Closed—but Then the Vicar Discovered a Stash of Gold Coins Under the Altar

Just before Easter, a box of gold bullion minted in the 1990s changed the outlook for a tiny congregation struggling to cover costly repairs

Femme libellule ailes ouvertes, or Dragonfly Woman With Open Wings, made by René Lalique between 1898 and 1900, was stolen from the museum this week.

In the Latest Brazen Heist, Jewelry and Artworks Worth $5 Million Were Stolen From a Famed French Designer’s Museum

A trio of burglars stole 27 pieces, including a dragonfly pendant, from the Lalique Museum in eastern France

Dolly Parton, photographed here in 2010 at the Grand Ole Opery, will debut her autobiographical musical on Broadway this winter.  

Country Music Legend Dolly Parton’s Autobiographical Musical Exploring Her Journey From East Tennessee Will Hit Broadway This Winter

“Dolly: A True Original Musical” premiered last year in Nashville in Parton’s home state

Pindakaasvloer, Wim T. Schippers, 1962. Realized in 2026 at the Depot location of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

Why Did This Dutch Museum Cover the Floor With an 800-Pound Installation of Creamy Peanut Butter?

“Pindakaasvloer,” or “peanut butter floor,” highlights the absurd sense of humor that artist Wim T. Schippers captured in his artwork before he died last month

The 1611 oil painting Air

Scientists Just Learned That This Bat Eats Birds Midflight. A Renaissance Painter May Have Known About It Hundreds of Years Ago

Last fall, scientists reported the first known recordings of greater noctule bats hunting and feasting on songbirds during night flights. But a 17th-century artwork by Jan Brueghel the Elder seems to depict the species flying with feathered prey in its mouth

Frank Gehry’s Icehenge desk in the Inland Steel Building in Chicago

‘Like an Explosion in a Glass Factory’: Frank Gehry’s Seven-Ton ‘Icehenge’ Desk That Once Graced a Skyscraper Lobby Is Up for Auction

Designed for the Inland Steel Building in Chicago, the desk is made from more than a dozen blocks of jagged, green-tinted glass

Greek statue of a lion, c. 400-390 B.C.E.

Can You Guess the Origins of Papyrus Fragments or Painted Ceramics? A College Student Turned the Met’s Open-Access Database Into an Online Game

If you consider yourself an art history buff, test your smarts with Anthropeum. The game pulls ten images from the Met’s open-access archive and challenges players to identify each artifact’s time and place of origin

A Rothko painting beside a mural by Fra Angelico at the Museum of San Marco

Puzzled by Mark Rothko’s Captivating Color Field Paintings? Look to the Renaissance Masters Who Inspired Him

During trips to Europe, the American painter developed a fascination with how 15th- and 16th-century artists and architects had designed their work to evoke specific feelings

The country’s oldest specialty smallpox hospital in New York City

America's 250th Anniversary

The Oldest Black Church in the U.S., the Wright Brothers’ Home and a New York Hospital Are Among the American Heritage Sites in Urgent Need of Preservation

For its “Irreplaceable America” list in honor of the 250th birthday of the United States, the World Monuments Fund chose endangered historic sites of innovation, creativity and spirituality to publicize and support

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