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A Short History of the Tomboy

With roots in race and gender discord, has the “tomboy” label worn out its welcome?
by Elizabeth King via The Atlantic on January 5, 2017
Cartoon drawing of Francis Pharcellus Church.

The Journalist Who Understood The True Meaning Of Christmas

“Yes, Virginia” is the most reprinted newspaper piece in American history, and this guy wrote it.
by Ilana Gordon via OMGFacts on December 16, 2016
Search bar for "Green's Dictionary of Slang; Five hundred years of the vulgar tongue"

Green’s Dictionary of Slang

A web dictionary devoted to historical English slang—five hundred years of the vulgar tongue.
by Jonathon Green on October 12, 2016
Portrait of Alexander Hamilton

The Hamilton Cult

Has the celebrated musical eclipsed the man himself?
by Robert Sullivan via Harper's on October 1, 2016

Inventing the Beach: The Unnatural History of a Natural Place

The seashore used to be a scary place, then it became a place of respite and vacation. What happened?
by Daniela Blei via Smithsonian on June 23, 2016

What Gun Control Advocates Can Learn From Abolitionists

Slave ownership was once as entrenched in American life as gun ownership.
by Rebecca Onion, Manisha Sinha via Slate on June 14, 2016
Valium pills
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Mother's Little Helper

How feminists transformed Valium from a wonder drug to a symbol of medical sexism.
via BackStory on May 20, 2016
Smiling porcelain salt and pepper shaker figures called "the Pilgrim Pair," and their children, "Lilgrims," atop two academic books about Puritan history entitled "The Barbarous Years" and "Seasons of Misery."

Come On, Lilgrim

The gap between academic and popular understandings of early American topics is an enduring challenge for early Americanists.
by Jonathan Beecher Field via Commonplace on December 16, 2015
Orson Welles

A Hundred Years of Orson Welles

He was said to have gone into decline, but his story is one of endurance—even of unlikely triumph.
by Alex Ross via The New Yorker on November 30, 2015

By Which Melancholy Occurrence: The Disaster Prints of Nathaniel Currier, 1835–1840

Why Americans living in uncertain times bought so many sensational images of shipwrecks and fires.
by Genoa Shepley via Panorama on October 14, 2015
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How a Standoff with the Black Panthers Fueled the Rise of SWAT

SWAT teams were created in the 1960s to combat violent events. Since then, the specialized teams have morphed into something very different.
via Retro Report on August 5, 2015
A collage of processed food, including Tang, a frozen dinner, Spam, and Jello, over an image of Spaghettios.

SpaghettiOs and the Age of Processed Foods

After World War II, canned foods became more and more common, along with a smorgasbord of pre-prepared, processed foods such as SpaghettiOs.
by Aaron George via Origins on May 12, 2015
Go on Monopoly board

The Twisted History of Your Favorite Board Game

An interview with Mary Pilon about her new book, ‘The Monopolists,’ which uncovers the real story about how Monopoly became the game it is today.
by Mary Pilon, Jessica Gross via Longreads on March 1, 2015

So You Think You Know the Banjo?

If you think that the banjo can teach us nothing about American history, Southern culture and modern race relations, then you certainly don't know the banjo.
by Jenna Strucko via The Bitter Southerner on January 20, 2015
A bearded man dressed as a lumberjack with an axe resting on his shoulder.

Lumbersexuality and Its Discontents

One hundred years ago, a crisis in urban masculinity created the lumberjack aesthetic. Now it's making a comeback.
by Willa Brown via The Atlantic on December 10, 2014

How Watermelons Became a Racist Trope

Before its subversion in the Jim Crow era, the fruit symbolized black self-sufficiency.
by Bill Black via The Atlantic on December 8, 2014
President John F. Kennedy, his wife, Jackie, and their son John Jr. on his Christening day, Dec. 8, 1960.

Snapshots of History

Wildly popular accounts like @HistoryInPics are bad for history, bad for Twitter, and bad for you.
by Rebecca Onion via Slate on February 5, 2014
Film still of Hattie McDaniel as Mammy in "Gone with the Wind."

The Mammy Washington Almost Had

In 1923, the U.S. Senate approved a new monument in D.C. "in memory of the faithful slave mammies of the South."
by Tony Horwitz via The Atlantic on May 31, 2013
Book illustration of two people holding a bicycle. Caption reads: The Bicycle- the great dress reformer of the nineteenth century

Cycles of Fashion

A look back at the bicycle’s meteoric rise to the height of nineteenth century fashion, and its subsequent fall, provides striking parallels to today's bike culture.
by Daniel Wortel-London via Narratively on May 14, 2013
Leyendecker’s distinct cross-hatch style is seen in this 1911 painting for Cluett Dress shirts, featuring a particularly intimate gaze between two gentlemen.

Before Rockwell, a Gay Artist Defined the Perfect American Male

Alfredo Villanueva-Collado on his J.C. Leyendecker collection and the fascinating story behind this oft-neglected male image maker.
by Hunter Oatman-Stanford, Alfredo Villanueva-Collado via Collectors Weekly on August 28, 2012
An illustration depicting the size of the Titanic in comparison to world wonders.

The Unsinkable Myth

Reflections on the various legends surrounding the world's most famous ship.
by Richard Howells via The Public Domain Review on April 11, 2012
Henry Clay's body in his death bed, surrounded by mourners.

All That Remains of Henry Clay

Political funerals and the tour of Henry Clay's corpse.
by Sarah J. Purcell via Commonplace on April 2, 2012
Photograph of blues singer Robert Johnson, playing guitar, 1936.

Searching for Robert Johnson

In the seven decades since his mysterious death, bluesman Robert Johnson’s legend has grown.
by Frank DiGiacomo via Vanity Fair on October 1, 2008
Illustration depicting Betsy Ross presenting the flag to George Washington.

How Betsy Ross Became Famous

Oral tradition, nationalism, and the invention of history.
by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich via Commonplace on October 1, 2007
"Sunrise at Northport Harbor" painting by Arthur Dove.

Unpopular Front

American art and the Cold War.
by Louis Menand via The New Yorker on October 9, 2005
A donut.

The History of the Doughnut

A look back at the men, women and machines that made America’s favorite treat possible.
by David A. Taylor via Smithsonian on March 2, 1998
Silhouettes of people dancing at a techno music festival with colorful laser lights.

Machine Soul

A history of techno.
by Jon Savage via Hyperreal Music Archive on June 1, 1993
Charlayne Hunter-Gault, far left, interviewing Black filmmakers Mario Van Peebles, Neema Barnette, John Singleton, Reginald Hudlin, and Warrington Hudlin (left to right).
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Soul of Black Identity: New Jack Cinema

A conversation with some of the hottest filmmakers on the scene: They're young, they're Black, but they're making green.
by MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour via American Archive of Public Broadcasting on August 16, 1991

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