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Women's History

The artist who custom-painted the helmet for Colonel Nicole Malachowski wrote a note of congrats to Malachowski: “I’ve been polishing and designing these helmets for many Thunderbird teams. My young daughter never expressed any interest ... [but] I told her this was for the first woman pilot, and she wanted to help me polish it.”

This Helmet Kept an Air Force Pilot Safe as She Was Soaring Through the Glass Ceiling

When a young Nicole Malachowski was dreaming about becoming a fighter pilot, she couldn’t have imagined the heights she’d fly as part of the elite Thunderbirds

She was known as Vicky With Three Kisses— a German radio star whose singing and sweet talk comforted weary Nazi soldiers. She was actually a secret weapon in a little-known Allied propaganda effort.

One of the Allies’ Secret Weapons Against the Nazis Was a 21-Year-Old Woman Armed With a Microphone and a Script of Lies

As “Vicky With Three Kisses,” she strategically sweet-talked and sang to German troops over the airwaves of Europe. But Agnes Bernauer didn’t mean anything she was saying

Loggers’ Culls, Emily Carr, 1935

These Emily Carr Paintings Will Make You Experience the Beauty of British Columbia’s Landscapes in a Completely New Way

An exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery examines the artist’s attempts to capture nature’s true essence, which she described as “the green idea or ideal”

A paperback copy of Wuthering Heights

Five Things to Know About ‘Wuthering Heights,’ Author Emily Brontë’s Only Novel

The famed 1847 book inspired numerous adaptations, including a new version directed by Emerald Fennell in theaters this week

Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy, painted by Artemisia Gentileschi circa 1625, will be on view at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. beginning in late February.

Women Who Shaped History

The National Gallery of Art Acquires 17th-Century Masterpiece by Baroque Painter Artemisia Gentileschi

“Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy” is the gallery’s first work by the Italian artist, who was one of the most influential female painters of her time

Portrait of a Canon Regular (1552) depicts an unidentified clergy member.

Women Who Shaped History

Historians Thought This Rare Renaissance Portrait by One of the First Famous Female Artists Was Lost to History—Until It Surfaced in North Carolina

Sofonisba Anguissola’s 16th-century painting of a clergyman was known only through a black-and-white photo. However, the original had been hiding in a private collection in North Carolina since 1977

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Here Are 250 Places to Visit to Celebrate America’s 250th Birthday. How Many Have You Been To?

Journey around the nation with this interactive map, divided by region or category, and discover American history in a way you’ve never seen before

Claudette Colvin, photographed here in 1998, helped end segregation on public transportation.

Women Who Shaped History

Months Before Rosa Parks Made Headlines, Claudette Colvin Refused to Give Up Her Seat for a White Woman on a Segregated Bus

Colvin, a lesser-known figure who took a stand against racial discrimination as a teenager in Montgomery, Alabama, has died at age 86

Aerial view of Vardo, Norway, the fishing town at the center of the 17th-century Finnmark witch trials

How a Sudden Winter Storm in 1617 Sparked the Deadliest Witchcraft Trials in Norwegian History

During the 17th-century Finnmark witch trials, 91 people were executed in Norway’s northernmost region, mainly by burning at the stake

The protagonist of Louisa May Alcott's “A Christmas Dream, and How It Came True,” embarks on a journey much like Ebenzer Scrooge's in A Christmas Carol.

A Forgotten Louisa May Alcott Story Showcases the Author’s Twist on Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’

Written in 1882, “A Christmas Dream, and How It Came True,” covered many of the same themes as Dickens’ classic, albeit with a different audience in mind

A letter from Jane Austen to her sister, Cassandra, discussing the publication of Pride and Prejudice in 1813

Jane Austen’s Letters Are the Closest We Can Get to Her. What Do They Reveal About the ‘Pride and Prejudice’ Author?

This year marks the English novelist’s 250th birthday. Her hundreds of surviving letters—both real and fictional—offer valuable insights into her imaginative wit and enduring appeal

The Dream (The Bed) was part of a private collection of more than 80 Surrealist paintings auctioned by Sotheby's.

A Frida Kahlo Painting Just Became the Most Expensive Work by a Female Artist Ever Auctioned

“The Dream (The Bed),” a self-portrait created in 1940, sold for $54.7 million. The previous record holder, Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1,” went for $44.4 million in 2014

Sydney Sweeney as Christy Martin in Christy, a new biopic that dramatizes the boxer's major fights alongside the struggles she faced in her personal life

Based on a True Story

The Real Story of Christy Martin, the Trailblazing Boxer Who ‘Created a Sport That Did Not Exist’

A new biopic starring Sydney Sweeney as the legendary athlete chronicles Martin’s fights in and outside of the ring

One of the stelae mentioning Ix Ch’ak Ch’een

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Decipher Crumbling Hieroglyphs to Reveal the Name of a Forgotten Maya Queen Who Ruled 1,400 Years Ago

Ix Ch’ak Ch’een reigned over the city of Cobá in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Historians didn’t know her name before they began translating a series of inscriptions discovered in 2024

Sally Ride sitting in the cockpit of a NASA Northrop T-38 Talon training jet at Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, 1984

How Far American Women Astronauts Have Soared Since Sally Ride Took Her Historic Spaceflight

In 1978, Ride and five other women became the first group of female astronauts in the U.S. A new book by a longtime curator of spaceflight artifacts explores the nearly five-decade history of women in the space program

The gala honoring Misty Copeland included speeches and performances at Lincoln Center. The American Ballet Theater also livestreamed the event to audiences at a nearby venue.

Trailblazing Dancer Misty Copeland Performs One Last Time Before Retiring From the American Ballet Theater

The ballerina has advocated for dancers of color on and off stage. In a farewell gala this week, she celebrated her accomplishments—and discussed what comes next

Zora Neale Hurston posing outside of a cabin in Belle Glade, Florida, circa 1935

Zora Neale Hurston’s Forgotten Play Premieres on Stage for the First Time

Based on the author’s short story and ethnographic fieldwork, “Spunk” languished in Library of Congress’ archives for decades

The Triumph of Bacchus, Michaelina Wautier, circa 1655-59

A Long-Forgotten 17th-Century Flemish Master Is Finally Getting the Attention She Deserves

For the first time, nearly all of Baroque painter Michaelina Wautier’s works will be exhibited together

Frida Kahlo painted The Dream (The Bed) in 1940 during a period of “intense personal trauma and creative renewal,” according to Sotheby's.

This Frida Kahlo Self-Portrait Could Become the Most Expensive Work by a Female Artist Ever Sold at Auction

“The Dream (The Bed)” will go under the hammer at Sotheby’s in November. Experts say it could fetch between $40 million and $60 million

A portrait of Johanna Koerten, whose "thread painting" for the wife of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I sold for more money than Rembrandt's The Night Watch, one of the most famous artworks of all time

This 17th-Century Female Artist Was Once a Bigger Star Than Rembrandt. Why Did History Forget About Johanna Koerten and Her Peers?

A new exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts spotlights 40 women who found fame in the Low Countries between 1600 and 1750, including Koerten, Judith Leyster and Clara Peeters

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