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History

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The Legend of the Christmas Stocking

What’s behind the holiday tradition of hanging hosiery on the fireplace?

The lodge at Bolivia’s Chacaltaya Glacier was once the world’s highest ski resort—until the glacier melted away almost entirely in just 20 years. The lodge closed its ski facilities in 2009 and stands today amid a rocky, almost snowless moonscape.

As the World Warms, the Future of Skiing Looks Bleak

Climate change is delivering serious wounds to the winter sport all over the globe

The Obamadon is that little blue guy in the left corner.

How To Get an Ancient Lizard Named After You: Get Elected President

Simply get elected president, and you’ll have a fair chance of some newly discovered creature inheriting your moniker

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Your Guide to Selecting the Best (or Is It Worst?) Ugly Christmas Sweater

Holiday cheer with a touch of nostalgia celebrates garish knitwear from the 1940s to ‘80s

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Should Trophy Hunting of Lions Be Banned?

Some argue that tourist safari hunts generate important money for African nations—but can lions afford the loss?

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What Prehistoric Reptile Do These Three-foot Claws Belong To?

Claws once thought to belong to a giant turtle turned out to be from one of the weirdest dinosaurs ever found

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Where to Watch the Biggest Waves Break

From Waimea Bay to “Mavericks,” here are some superb sites to watch surfers catch the biggest breakers in the world this winter

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The Best in Fashion History: Penny Loafers, Forgotten Suitcases and Hermès Scarves

Three good reads to accessorize your daily routine

Photography by Diana Zlatanovski. Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology malacology collection.

Collecting the World’s Collections of Small Oddities One Day at a Time

A Q&A with Diana Zlatanovski on how she came to collect collections, what they say about design, and how to be a collector without becoming a hoarder

Dining aboard the RMS Caronia, from a 1950s World Cruise brochure.

Dress Codes and Etiquette, Part 3: The Death of the Dinner Jacket on Open Water

Are the days of wearing just a tuxedo t-shirt just over the horizon?

It took many, many long sea voyages and much tedious charting to produce the first crude maps of the world. Today, travelers are increasingly abandoning even the best maps in favor of electronic navigation devices.

Have GPS Devices Taken the Fun out of Navigation?

With the rise of the digital age, the fascinating skills of map reading and celestial navigation are becoming lost arts

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The Pope’s Tweets Are Official Church Doctrine

The pope is officially Tweeting now, under the handle @pontifex, and his Tweets are officially “part of the church’s magisterium.” Which means that anything he Tweets is the teaching authority of the Catholic Church

Clovis points were one of the earliest innovations in pre-Columbian America.

A Scholarly Approach to Innovation

The Secretary of the Smithsonian draws the connection between the Clovis tools and Silicon Valley

Anne Kelly Knowles uses geography and technology to trace history.

The Civil War

Looking at the Battle of Gettysburg Through Robert E. Lee’s Eyes

Anne Kelly Knowles, the winner of Smithsonian American Ingenuity Awards, uses GIS technology to change our view of history

A Murray Meisner original dress, sold on Etsy

A Holiday Shopping Reminder: Do We Really Need That Extra Pair of Jeans?

Meaningful purchases trump frenetic shopping and closets bulging with new clothes

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Uglier Campaign Fundraising Emails Make More Money

All the rules you expect might apply to sending a perfect fundraising email? Throw them out the window

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The Meals That Starving Travelers Dream Of

Daydreaming of food is a tradition as old as the saga of man versus wild. What would you wish to eat if you were starving in a tent or a dinghy at sea?

A rendering of The Brewery development in Milwaukee, WI

A New Life for Old Breweries

In response to a changing economy and demographic shift toward urban areas, the deserted homes of Schlitz, PBR and other beers are being repurposed

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Getting the Prosthetic Is Easy, Compared to Getting It To Do What You Want

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What is Genyodectes?

A set of partial jaws hold an important place in the history of South American paleontology, but what sort of dinosaur do they represent?

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