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Demonstrators at an anti-Vietnam War protest held at Bronx Science High School in New York in April 1968

Untold Stories of American History

Newly Declassified Records Suggest Parents Collaborated With the FBI to Spy on Their Rebellious Teens During the 1960s

As high school students across the U.S. embraced political activism, adults turned to the authorities to shield their sons and daughters from radical influences

Russell Crowe as Hermann Göring in Nuremberg, a new film written and directed by James Vanderbilt

Based on a True Story

The True Story Behind ‘Nuremberg,’ a WWII Drama About Hermann Göring’s Cat-and-Mouse Game With an American Psychiatrist

Starring Russell Crowe as the high-ranking Nazi and Rami Malek as Army officer Douglas M. Kelley, the film dramatizes the intense dynamic between its central characters during the Nuremberg trials

A guillotine donated by French lawyer Robert Badinter, who fought for the abolition of the death penalty, is on display at Marseille’s Museum of the Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean through April 2026.

A Guillotine Goes on Display in Marseille, Where the Execution Device Was Last Used 48 Years Ago

A museum in the city is honoring the legacy of Minister of Justice Robert Badinter, who fought to repeal the death penalty in France once and for all

These six keel-billed toucans were discovered bound and sedated in June by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. The Wildlife Confiscations Network helped find experts at qualified facilities to care for the birds.

Once Smuggled Animals Are Rescued, Law Enforcement Officers Call Her

As coordinator of the Wildlife Confiscations Network, Mandy Fischer helps match trafficked animals—from alligators to jaguars to baby monkeys—with sanctuaries and care facilities

The 1863 Paris Salon rejected Édouard Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe, or The Luncheon on the Grass.

Paris Museum Puts Édouard Manet on Mock Trial for Painting a Scandalous Scene of a Nude Woman

“The Luncheon on the Grass” caused a stir when it made its debut in 1863. A century and a half later, students defended the French artist against obscenity charges

The whistle, pictured here, reminded researchers of Stone Age bone whistles found in Europe.

New Research

This Drilled Cow Bone May Have Been an Ancient Egyptian Cop’s Whistle

The artifact, found 17 years ago, was recently replicated and tested by researchers

The National Archives is the permanent home of the United States Constitution.

America's 250th Anniversary

See the Entire U.S. Constitution on Display for the Very First Time in History

The National Archives in Washington, D.C. will be showcasing the four pages of the historic document, plus a rarely shown “fifth page,” the Bill of Rights and the 17 other amendments

Sweden's fans wave IKEA flags before a soccer game between Austria and Sweden in Vienna in 2023.

Sweden Releases an Official Cultural Canon That Features IKEA and ‘Pippi Longstocking’—but Not ABBA

Critics of the list, which features 100 artworks and other cultural creations from before 1975, say the selections are exclusionary

A home rule protest held in front of the White House in April 1965

History of Now

How the 1973 D.C. Home Rule Act Enabled the Nation’s Capital to Govern Itself—With Congressional Oversight

Far from being a new debate brought on by current events, the discussion over extending home rule to Washingtonians has been around as long as the District of Columbia itself

The Stolen Kiss, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, 1787

These Salacious Artworks Chronicle the History of Adultery, From Biblical Punishments to Royal Mistresses

Artists such as Rembrandt, the Pre-Raphaelites and Georgian caricaturists used their craft to examine the morality and ramifications of adulterous affairs

A February 1936 snapshot of a migrant who declined to be photographed due to the Los Angeles Police Department's "Bum Blockade"

Los Angeles’ 1936 ‘Bum Blockade’ Targeted American Migrants Fleeing Poverty and Drought During the Great Depression

The two-month patrol stopped supposedly “suspicious” individuals from crossing into California from other states. But its execution was uneven, and the initiative proved controversial

An 1880 Harper's Weekly illustration titled Women at the Polls in New Jersey in the Good Old Times

America's 250th Anniversary

How Women in New Jersey Gained—and Lost—the Right to Vote More Than a Century Before the 19th Amendment Granted Suffrage Nationwide

Vague phrasing in the state’s Revolutionary-era Constitution enfranchised women who met specific property requirements. A 1790 law explicitly allowed female suffrage, but this privilege was revoked in 1807

Fossilized remains of the giant beaver have been discovered in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, as well as in southern Minnesota.

Bear-Sized Giant Beavers Once Roamed North America, and They’re Now the Official State Fossil of Minnesota

The large, extinct creatures roamed the Twin Cities area more than 10,000 years ago and could grow to more than 200 pounds

Ibogaine extract is pictured next to the iboga root it is derived from. The psychedelic drug has shown potential to treat traumatic brain injury and opioid addiction.

Texas Will Invest $50 Million in Ibogaine Research, Testing the Psychedelic Drug’s Medical Potential

The state’s new law marks one of the largest government investments into psychedelics to date, with advocates citing the drug’s potential to help veterans with traumatic brain injury and PTSD

Pangolin species across Africa and Asia are under threat from poaching, climate change and habitat loss.

The World’s ‘Most Trafficked Mammal’ Might Soon Be Protected by the U.S. Endangered Species Act

The Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed listing seven species of pangolin, often poached for their scales and meat, as endangered

A replica of Benjamin West's Reception of the American Loyalists by Great Britain in the Year 1783 appears in the background of this 1812 portrait of English judge John Eardley Wilmot.

America's 250th Anniversary

Meet the Defiant Loyalists Who Paid Dearly for Choosing the Wrong Side in the American Revolution

American colonists who aligned with the British lost their lands, their reputations and sometimes even their lives

And When We Die It Will Feel Like This (2023), one of Wright's photographs on display at the exhibition

Photographer Who Scales Buildings to Get the Perfect Shot Arrested at Opening Night of His First Solo Exhibition

Isaac Wright was detained for climbing the Empire State Building’s spire in 2024. The photo he took during the climb was on display at the show in New York City

Teacher John T. Scopes (second from left) stands in the courtroom during his trial for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution in his high school science class.

A Century Ago, a High School Teacher From a Small Tennessee Town Ignited a National Debate Over Human Evolution

The Scopes “monkey trial” garnered international attention, and the battle that was fought continues in some form in other states today

For 25 of the 26 years the American Lung Association has reported State of the Air, Los Angeles—pictured here in smog—has been declared the city with the worst ozone pollution in the United States.

Nearly Half of Americans Still Live With High Levels of Air Pollution, Posing Serious Health Risks, Report Finds

The most recent State of the Air report by the American Lung Association found that more than 150 million Americans breathe air with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution

The exhibition includes pieces of ancient pottery.

Hundreds of Looted Ancient Artifacts Confiscated From the Black Market Are Now on Display in Naples

The National Archaeological Museum of Naples is showcasing 600 recovered objects, which date to between the Archaic period and the Middle Ages

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