Historical Documents

The Library for Magicians Is Taking Appointments

The Conjuring Arts Research Center in New York City houses some of the world's rarest books on the art of deception

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John Smith Coined the Term New England on This 1616 Map

After Jamestown, Smith pushed the English to settle the northeast, identifying Plymouth as a suitable harbor four years before the Pilgrims landed there

A "Sea Devil" as depicted by Conrad Gessner in Historia Animalium, 2nd ed, 1604.

Five “Real” Sea Monsters Brought to Life by Early Naturalists

From kraken to mermaids, some monsters are real—if you know how to look for them

The trope of the beautiful witch was popular between 1905 and 1915.

Women of the Early 1900s Rallied Behind Beautiful, Wartless Witches

Women looking to work, vote and marry whomever they wanted turned the Halloween icon into a powerful symbol

Warren Harding's affair with Carrie Fulton Phillips carried on for 15 years, up through the time when he served as a U.S. senator.

Warren Harding’s Love Letters Finally Give Us Something to Remember Him For

Locked away for 50 years, the secret correspondence reveals a steamy relationship between the future president and his mistress

A still from one of DPLA's new gifs, based on a NASA film.

Online Archive Creates Awesome GIFS From Historical Photos

In partnership with Imgur, the Digital Public Library of America is reimagining classic photos as modern .gifs

Constructed between 510 and 500 B.C., the base of a funerary kouros in Athens is decorated with the image of wrestlers fighting.

Wrestling Was Fixed, Even in Ancient Rome

New analysis of an ancient document reveals classical roots of fake wrestling

Take a Look at How Disney Got Investors for Disneyland

Boing Boing was given the original Disneyland prospectus, and now you can see it

Document Deep Dive: Richard Nixon’s Application to Join the FBI

Fresh out of law school, the future president first hoped he could be one of J. Edgar Hoover’s agents

Manuscripts from when Timbuktu was a vibrant commercial and academic crossroads at the edge of the Sahara were in danger of being looted and potentially destroyed.

The Race to Save Mali’s Priceless Artifacts

When jihadists overran Timbuktu last year, residents mounted a secret operation to evacuate the town’s irreplaceable medieval manuscripts

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They Do Call it a Marriage Contract After All

Comedian Richard Pryor pontificates on what makes being married truly difficult

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