popular culture — Bunk History

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How a Recording-Studio Mishap Shaped '80s Music

You know that punchy percussive sound popularized by Phil Collins and Prince? This is where it came from.

by Estelle Caswell via Vox Earworm on August 18, 2017

Lizzie Borden.

Why We’re So Obsessed With Lizzie Borden’s 40 Whacks

Lizzie Borden’s father and stepmother were brutally murdered, possibly by Lizzie herself, in August 1892. Why are we still dissecting the crime?

by Erin Blakemore, Ann Schofield via JSTOR Daily on August 4, 2017

Combatting Stereotypes About Appalachian Dialects

Language variation is just as diverse within Appalachia as it is outside of the region.

by Kirk Hazen via The Conversation on July 13, 2017

Looking Back to Lincoln

During the Great Depression, Americans found solace in history.

by Fishko Files via WNYC on May 11, 2017

Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield

The Story of Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, America's First Black Pop Star

The 19th century singer forced critics and audiences to reconcile their ears with their racism.

by Adam Gustafson via The Conversation on February 7, 2017

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

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

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

Computer keys 'Control," "Alt," and "Delete."

The History of CTRL + ALT + DELETE

It started as a trade secret. Then it became an icon.

by Virginia Hughes via Mental Floss on July 12, 2013

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

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