Daguerrotype of Robert Cornelius.

Portraits of Brotherly Love

Philadelphia portrait studios in the Age of the Daguerreotype (1840-1849).
People walking around and looking for rocks in front of the entrance to a cavernous mine in the bedrock.

Could This Be The End of a Historic New Hampshire Rockhound Paradise?

When Ruggles Mine went up for auction, mineral collectors feared it would never reopen to the public. After a last-minute reprieve, its future is still uncertain.
A parrot and a monkey superimposed over a map of Northern California. Illustration by Emily Lankiewicz.

The Monkeys and Parrots Caught Up in the California Gold Rush

Researchers combed through 19th-century records and found evidence of the species, which joined a menagerie that included Galapagos tortoises and kangaroos.
The first discovered T-Rex skeleton, on display in the American Museum of Natural History.

On Discovering the First Fossil of a T. Rex

In Hell Creek, Montana, with a lot of dynamite.
Actress Bobby Bradshaw is tempted by a pearl necklace, 1925.

Pearl Jam

In the twentieth century, the mollusk-produced gem was a must have for members of WASP gentility. In the twenty-first century, its appeal is far more inclusive.
19th-century pistol.

How 19th-Century Gun-Makers Helped Preserve the Union

As the gunmakers’ markets matured through the Civil War era, some began mastering the art of product promotion, following the lead set by Samuel Colt.
Gene Kemp and Mary ‘Teddie’ Kemp, at left, are seen with two friends, 1922.

Family Photos: A Vacation, a Wedding Anniversary and the Lynching of a Black Man in Texas

If Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had his way, the state’s past of lynching Blacks would be taught as an exception rather than the rule. History tells a different story.
Photograph of Rose Greenhow, right, with her daughter, Rose, at left. She was held in the Old Capitol Prison in Washington with her 8-year-old daughter, “Little Rose,” during the Civil War after repeatedly being caught spying for the Confederacy.

The Most Audacious Confederate Spies — and How They Got Away With It

These men, women and children betrayed the Union and spied for the Confederacy. They're featured in a new online exhibit from the Wall of Spies Experience.
Illustration of Benjamin Franklin overlaid on textbook excerpt

Ben Franklin Put an Abortion Recipe in His Math Textbook

To colonial Americans, termination was as normal as the ABCs and 123s.
Census grid from 1950

Examining 1950 Census Records Reveals Traces of the Datafied State

What the traces left behind in “antique” US census records can tell us about the life of data and its official uses.
"Slave Market of America," a broadside published by the American Anti-Slavery Society.

Deep Zoom: 1836 Broadside “Slave Market of America”

Published by the American Anti-Slavery Society, this single 77 by 55 centimeter sheet tells multiple stories in both text and illustration.
Thomas Edison posing by a phonograph.

Saving the Sounds of the Early 20th Century

Some recordings in the New York Public Library’s wax cylinder collection haven’t been heard in generations—until now.
Etching of a very tall Charles Byrne, with three companions

The Careless Display of Ill-Gotten Human Remains

Museums that harbor unethically obtained human remains are undergoing a reckoning. It’s about time.
Excerpt from 1950 Census form
partner

The 1950 Census, a Treasure Trove of Data, Was the Last of its Kind

Unveiling the 1950 Census reveals the value of these types of records.
Three versions of quote from "Appeal"

Comparing Editions of David Walker's Abolitionist Appeal

Digitization allows researchers to trace editorial and authorial changes in archival content. Both are central to the study of this famous abolitionist pamphlet.
Portraits of African American men revealed under torn copy of the Dred Scott Case.

The Painful, Cutting and Brilliant Letters Black People Wrote To Their Former Enslavers

The letters show a desire for freedom and a desperate longing to be reunited with their families.
Tintype photograph of a child supported by it's mothers arm.

The Hidden Mothers of Family Photos

The female image is ubiquitous on social media, yet when it comes to pictures of parents with their children many moms feel disappeared.

American Revolutionary Geographies Online

Discover the stories, spaces, and people of the American Revolutionary War era through maps, interpretive essays, and interactives.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump tosses a paper with polling statistics during a town hall event on Oct. 6, 2016, in Sandown, N.H.

‘He Never Stopped Ripping Things Up’: Inside Trump’s Relentless Document Destruction Habits

Trump’s shredding of paper in the White House was far more widespread and indiscriminate than previously known.
Finger pointing to a writ of habeas corpus filed on behalf of Sojourner Truth

State Archives Find Sojourner Truth’s Historic Court Case

A document thought lost to history shows how Sojourner Truth became the first Black woman to successfully sue white men to get her son released from slavery.
Photograph of Chinese man in Sierra County with his name and description next to him.

The Dark Purpose Behind a Town Constable’s Journal

Why did a local official, at the turn of the twentieth century, maintain a ledger tracking Chinese residents?
Photo of a man lying face down on a bed under a coat, and a sad woman sitting in a chair next to him. There is a hole punched out of the center of the photo.

The Kept and the Killed

Of the 270,000 photos commissioned to document the Great Depression, more than a third were “killed.” Explore the hole-punched archive and the void at its center.
Portrait photograph of John B. Cade.

John B. Cade's Project to Document the Stories of the Formerly Enslaved

There are revelations in a newly digitized collection of slave narratives compiled by a professor and his students during the Great Depression.
Vintage photograph of black cowboy George McJunkin on a horse in New Mexico.

A Hidden Figure in North American Archaeology

A Black cowboy named George McJunkin found a site that would transform views about the history of Native Americans in North America.
Side-by-side portraits of Lincoln, Rockwell, and Garfield

This Man Was the Only Eyewitness to the Deaths of Both Lincoln and Garfield

Almon F. Rockwell's newly resurfaced journals, excerpted exclusively here, offer an incisive account of the assassinated presidents' final moments.
Photograph of President Ulysses S. Grant's memorial flower arrangements.

President Grant’s Memorial Flowers Have Survived for 136 Years

They’ve just been sitting in the dining room all this time.
Soldiers of the U.S. 7th Army march past the entrance of the Burgerbraukeller, site of Adolf Hitler's 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, in Munich on May 3, 1945, five days before the formal end of the World War II in Europe.

‘Greatest Generation’ Survey on Race, Sex and Combat During World War II Runs Counter to Its Image

Virginia Tech project finds forgotten Army surveys that reveal World War II lingo and “the good, the bad, the ugly, heroic, not heroic” attitudes of soldiers.
Fruitcake

The Magnificent History of the Maligned and Misunderstood Fruitcake

The polarizing dessert that people love to hate became a Christmas mainstay thanks, in part, to the U.S. Postal Service.
Woman sitting on her living room sofa, 1920s; the room also includes a coffee table, a chair, lamps, paintings, and a houseplant.

Vintage Photos Show What Living Rooms Looked Like Before TV

Photos reveal how people structured their living rooms before the television became widespread.
Harold Washington on a button

Primary Sources are a Vibe

Historian Melanie Newport turns to eBay.