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Illustration of a coal stove with the roof of a house, as if the whole house is a furnace.

When Coal First Arrived, Americans Said 'No Thanks'

Back in the 19th century, coal was the nation's newfangled fuel source—and it faced the same resistance as wind and solar today.
by Clive Thompson via Smithsonian on July 5, 2022
A picture of switchboard operators.

Intimacy at a Distance

Hannah Zeavin’s history of remote and distance psychotherapy asks us whether the medium matters more than the message.
by Danielle Carr via The Nation on June 14, 2022
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.
by John Bainbridge Jr. via Literary Hub on June 3, 2022
A diagram of early bicycle wheels.

Going Nowhere Fast

The strange past and even stranger future of the stationary bicycle.
by Jody Rosen via The Atlantic on May 18, 2022
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.
by Dan Bouk via Data & Society on May 4, 2022
Visitors browse newspaper front pages from the day after the 9/11 terror attacks at the Newseum in Washington, D,C., in 2016. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

When History Is Lost in the Ether

Digital archiving is shoddy and incomplete, and it will hamper the ability of future generations to understand the current era.
by Christian Schneider via The Dispatch on April 6, 2022
Book cover of Whole Earth, featuring an image of Stewart Brand backlit and walking through a door, encircled by the earth.

On Floating Upstream

Markoff’s biography of Stewart Brand notes that Brand’s ability to recognize and cleave to power explains a great deal of his career.
by W. Patrick McCray via Los Angeles Review of Books on March 22, 2022
Glowing icon of an app among cobwebs. Designed by Alex Castro.

Inside The Fight to Save Video Game History

Video game history is lost faster than we can preserve it.
by Ash Parrish via The Verge on March 21, 2022
Illustration of John von Neumann surrounded by mathematical formulas, by Valentin Pavageau

John von Neumann Thought He Had the Answers

The father of game theory helped develop the atom bomb—and thought he could calculate when to use it.
by Samanth Subramanian via The New Republic on March 8, 2022
An oil rig on the ocean.

Spillovers from Oil Firms to U.S. Computing and Semiconductor Manufacturing

Smudging state–industry distinctions and retelling conventional narratives.
by Cyrus C. M. Mody via Reviews In American History on February 22, 2022
Neil Young, on left, and UFC announcer and podcaster Joe Rogan.
partner

What The Neil Young-Joe Rogan Dust-Up Tells Us About The Music Industry

The music industry is thriving — but it’s not always trickling down to artists.
by Sam Backer via Made By History on February 6, 2022
Magazine illustration depicting fantastical inventions for travel on water, land, and air, titled March of Intellect, by William Heath, c. 1828.

A Utopia of Useful Things

On the nineteenth-century artists and thinkers who pictured a future of abundance powered by steam.
by Michael Rawson via Lapham’s Quarterly on December 24, 2021
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.
via Vintage Everyday on November 23, 2021
Regulus, painting by J.M.W. Turner, c. 1828.

It’s Time for Some Game Theory

Experiencing history in Assassin’s Creed.
by Caroline Wazer via Lapham’s Quarterly on November 8, 2021
A woman giving a presentation about electric appliances to an audience of men and women.

Refrigerators and Women’s Empowerment

The “peaceful revolution” of rural electrification.
by Maddie Fowler via National Museum of American History on October 20, 2021
TV with black and white video game on the screen

Computer Space Launched the Video Game Industry 50 Years Ago – Here's Why Haven't Heard of it

The game that launched today’s massive video game industry was not a roaring success. The oft-told story of why turns out to be off the mark.
by Noah Wardrip Fruin via The Conversation on October 11, 2021
Women working at typewriters in an office.

How ‘Automation’ Made America Work Harder

Computers were supposed to reduce office labor. They accomplished the opposite.
by Jason Resnikoff via Zócalo Public Square on September 2, 2021
Drawing of Stranger Things main characters on bikes

Historicizing Dystopia: Suburban Fantastic Media and White Millennial Childhood

On the nostalgic and technophobic motives of the recent boom in suburban fantastic media.
by Angus McFadzean via Los Angeles Review of Books on August 30, 2021
British soldiers with a four-horn sound locator. This photograph documents a military drill during the interwar period.

Powers of Hearing: The Military Science of Sound Location

During WWI the act of hearing was recast as a tactical activity — one that could determine human and even national survival.
by Gascia Ouzounian via The MIT Press Reader on July 26, 2021
A performer on stage

The Mermaid in the Fishbowl

The rise of optical illusions and magical effects.
by Stephen R. Wilk via OUPblog on June 27, 2021
Four mysterious objects spotted in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1952.

How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously

For decades, flying saucers were a punch line. Then the U.S. government got over the taboo.
by Gideon Lewis-Kraus via The New Yorker on April 30, 2021
Image of plastic human figurine hunched over at a desk and computer.

How the Personal Computer Broke the Human Body

Decades before 'Zoom fatigue' broke our spirits, the so-called computer revolution brought with it a world of pain previously unknown to humankind.
by Laine Nooney via Vice on March 12, 2021
Joe Biden.
partner

The History of Using Computers to Distribute Benefits Like Biden’s Relief Checks

Technology can break down, but just as often with government tech, glitches are rooted in policy failures.
by Marc Aidinoff via Made By History on March 10, 2021
Illustration of a Lancasterian school building

A History of Technological Hype

When it comes to education technology, school leaders have often leaped before they looked.
by Adam Laats, Victoria E. M. Cain via Phi Delta Kappan on February 22, 2021
Skiers queuing to get on The Dollar lift.

How a Railroad Engineer From Nebraska Invented the World's First Ski Chairlift

The device was part of an elaborate plan on behalf of Union Pacific to boost passenger rail travel in the American West.
by Sarah Kuta via Smithsonian on February 2, 2021
19th century illustration of an airship

The Great White Reunion: On Duncan Bell’s “Dreamworlds of Race”

Could the separation of the Revolutionary War have been patched in the late 19th century? Some powerful men tried...
by Bassam Sidiki via Los Angeles Review of Books on January 26, 2021
Empty boardroom

The Limits of Telecommuting

Perhaps the lesson to take from this year of living online is not about making better technology. It’s about recognizing technology’s limits.
by Margaret O'Mara via Public Books on November 18, 2020

YouTubers are Upscaling the Past to 4K. Historians Want Them to Stop.

YouTubers are using AI to bring history to life. But historians argue the process is nonsense.
by Thomas Nicholson via Wired on October 1, 2020

The 100-Year History of Self-Driving Vehicles

What the long history of the autonomous vehicle reveals about its fast-approaching future.
by Anthony Townsend via OneZero on August 3, 2020
1975 digital camera prototype

How the Digital Camera Transformed Our Concept of History

We’re capturing the mundane as well as the memorable.
by Allison Marsh via IEEE Spectrum on June 30, 2020
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