Historical Documents
The 1968 Kerner Commission Got It Right, But Nobody Listened
Released 50 years ago, the infamous report found that poverty and institutional racism were driving inner-city violence
‘Frankenstein’ Manuscript Shows the Evolution of Mary Shelley’s Monster
A British publisher is releasing 1,000 facsimiles of the two notebooks in which Shelly scrawled her iconic novel
Copy of Declaration of Independence, Hidden Behind Wall Paper During the Civil War, Resurfaces in Texas
The document, which belonged to James Madison, is one of 200 facsimiles commissioned in the 19th century
Women Were Better Represented in Victorian Novels Than Modern Ones
Big data shows that women used to be omnipresent in fiction. Then men got in the way
The Book That Spooked the South
David Walker’s “Appeal” laid bare the ethical bankruptcy of slavery moreso than any other book of its time
Scholars Decipher One of the Last Encrypted Dead Sea Scrolls
The text sheds light on an unusual Jewish calendar
Massive Data Project Will Help People Identify Enslaved Ancestors
Michigan State's 'Enslaved: The People of the Historic Slave Trade' will combine available historical data on slavery into one searchable hub
The Top Ten Most Important Ancient Documents Lost to History
Either due to conquest or simply the ravages of time, these founding papers of civilizations around the world will remain mysteries forever
2,000-Year-Old Texts Reveal the First Emperor of China’s Quest for Eternal Life
Qin Shihuang issued an executive order demanding that his subjects search for an immortality elixir
‘120 Days of Sodom', Marquis de Sade's Depraved Opus, Declared a French National Treasure
Officials sought to prevent the manuscript from being sold at an upcoming auction
Archaeologists Are Only Just Beginning to Reveal the Secrets Hidden in These Ancient Manuscripts
A project to scan documents found in the walls of a remote monastery is reshaping our view of the connections between East and West
A Look Inside China’s Effort to Preserve Historical Mongolian Manuscripts
Various projects are attempting to digitize the more than 200,000 volumes of Mongolian books and documents in the country
Hidden in a Basement for 70 Years, Newly Discovered Documents Shed Light on Jewish Life and Culture Before WWII
The 170,000 pages found might be “the most important collection of Jewish archives since the Dead Sea Scrolls.”
Archaeologists Discover Trove of Cuneiform Tablets in Northern Iraq
Many of the 93 artifacts were unbaked and badly worn, making reading and translating the tablets a lengthy task
Stephen Hawking's PhD Thesis Goes Online, Crashing Internet Servers
After less than a day on the internet, it racked up 60,000 downloads
Songbook From the 16th-Century Spells Out Samurai Customs, Tactics and Baby Names
The newly translated Japanese text offers kernels of advice to warriors who had yet to face battle
Declassified Records Show U.S. Knew About, Supported 1965 Massacre in Indonesia
One cable referred to the brutal transition of power as a "fantastic switch"
Footage Recalls the Night Madison Square Garden Filled With Nazis
A short documentary shows the 20,000-strong rally held by the Nazi-supporting German-American Bund in 1939
Records of Residential School Abuse Can Be Destroyed, Canadian Supreme Court Rules
The federal government wanted to retain the documents, but survivors said they were promised confidentiality
Jane Squire and the Longitude Wars
The sixteenth-century debate over how to determine longitude had a lot of participants—and one woman
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