American History

A view of Mount Rushmore under construction, c.1938-1939

The Sordid History of Mount Rushmore

The sculptor behind the American landmark had some unseemly ties to white supremacy groups

Wild horses in Death Valley, California.

A Brief History of America’s Complicated Relationship With Wild Horses

The iconic symbol of the Wild West has a tangled and controversial story

The Boston Light still shines brightly at night in Boston Harbor.

The Oldest Lighthouse in the United States Just Celebrated 300 Years of Service

The Boston Light still welcomes sailors to Boston Harbor

A Fresnel lens from the Boon Island Lighthouse off of southern Maine.

The U.S. Government Is Suing for a Set of Lighthouse Lenses

The lenses could be worth up to $600,000

Alfred Eisenstaedt's iconic "V-J Day in Times Square" photo.

The Woman in the Iconic V-J Day Kiss Photo Died at 92, Here's Her Story

There’s more to the image than meets the eye

Envelopes and other artifacts from the 2001 anthrax attacks are on view in “Behind the Badge: The U.S. Postal Inspection Service” at the National Postal Museum.

The Anthrax Letters That Terrorized a Nation Are Now Decontaminated and on Public View

Carriers of the deadly anthrax bacteria, these letters—on loan from the FBI—can be seen at the National Postal Museum

Babe Ruth pitching for the Boston Red Sox

This Digital Collection of Babe Ruth’s Scrapbooks Is a Piece of Home Run History

The Baseball Hall of Fame is sharing its collection with the internet

"World Trade Center as a Cloud" Christopher Saucedo

Inside the 9/11 Museum’s First Art Show

The exhibit marks the 15th anniversary of the attacks

Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt and Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia in the latter's office in Washington on the occasion of Mrs. Roosevelt's being sworn in as Mayor La Guardia's assistant in the Office of Civilian Defense.

The New Deal Origins of Homeland Security

During FDR’s administration, the First Lady and the Mayor of New York clashed over guns, butter and American liberalism

See the Marriage License From the Historic Loving Decision

Visitors can see the document that led to the Supreme Court case that overturned laws barring interracial marriage in the U.S. on display

Hurricanes Madeline and Lester

The Science Behind Hawaii's Double Hurricane

Having two cyclones in the ocean is not rare, but when they get too close to each other things can get crazy

Once 2,000 square miles in Virginia and North Carolina, the swamp today is perhaps one-tenth that size.

Deep in the Swamps, Archaeologists Are Finding How Fugitive Slaves Kept Their Freedom

The Great Dismal Swamp was once a thriving refuge for runaways

Take an Interactive Tour of the National Museum of African American History and Culture

What to expect when you visit the Smithsonian’s newest museum

People sit on a roof waiting to be rescued after Hurricane Katrina

Eleven Years After Katrina, What Lessons Can We Learn Before the Next Disaster Strikes?

Author and playwright John Biguenet offers his thoughts on the narrative of destruction

One of 5,200 wine labels from Maynard Amerine's collection

Help Crowdsource the History of Wine

The University of California, Davis, is looking for online volunteers to help catalog and describe 5,200 wine labels

From Slavery to Mass Incarceration will be a museum dedicated to the history of racial injustice in America, and will be located just steps from a site where slaves were auctioned off.

Inside the Upcoming Memorial and Museum Dedicated to Lynching Victims

Spanning slavery to segregation to mass incarceration

One of Johnny Cash's last cars, whose design was inspired by the song "One Piece at a Time."

Explore Johnny Cash’s Tennessee Ranch-Turned Museum

Complete with a car built “one piece at a time”

Vanderbilt University's newly renamed "Memorial Hall."

Five Places Where Confederate Monuments Have Recently Disappeared (or Soon Will)

Vanderbilt University's decision to rename a building to "Memorial Hall" is just one of many ongoing efforts

The sloop Washington, which sank in Lake Ontario in 1803

Explorers Find Second Oldest Shipwreck in the Great Lakes

The merchant sloop <i>Washington</i> went down in a storm in 1803 on Lake Ontario

"Pick, Pan, Shovel," Ed Ruscha, 1980

The History of the American West Gets a Much-Needed Rewrite

Artists, historians and filmmakers alike have been guilty of creating a mythologized version of the U.S. expansion to the west

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