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Vintage photograph of two little girls sitting on a mid-century television set.

The Lost Art of Striking a Pose With Your TV Set

In midcentury America, the machine itself became a character.
by Lynn Spigel via Slate on August 14, 2022
Political cartoon with Nixon and his inner circle tied up with wires, each pointing the finger at another.

8 Cartoons That Shaped Our View of Watergate — And Still Resonate Today

Herblock, Garry Trudeau, and others created memorable cartoons that skewered Nixon and Watergate, making the era a boom time for political satire.
by Michael Cavna via Washington Post on June 16, 2022
Decorative glass ash tray.

Mementos Mori

What else is lost when an object disappears?
by Sophie Haigney via The Baffler on January 27, 2022
Comic of a boy inside an atom structure while a man looks on.

The Surprising History of the Comic Book

Since their initial popularity during World War II, comic books have always been a medium for American counterculture and for nativism and empire. 
by J. Hoberman via The Nation on January 25, 2022
Last ride: A statue of Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson is trucked away from Charlottesville, Virginia, in July — and bound for a museum exhibition in Los Angeles in 2022.

The Hot Market for Toppled Confederate Statues

Artists, museums and other groups are vying to claim fallen monuments from the Jim Crow era — but for very different reasons.
by Kriston Capps via CityLab on December 9, 2021
Jewish actress and filmmaker Ellen Richter, striking a pose on screen while two men give her suspicious looks.

The Silences of the Silent Era

We can’t allow the impression of a historical lack of diversity in the art form to limit access to the industry today.
by Pamela Hutchinson via Current [The Criterion Collection] on November 30, 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
The cover of the book Her Stories by Elana Levine

Guiding Lights: On “Her Stories: Daytime Soap Opera and US Television History”

Annie Berke reviews Elana Levine's book on a pivotal genre and its diverse fandom.
by Annie Berke via Los Angeles Review of Books on October 19, 2021
A Black family of four in front of their suburban home.
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The ‘Wonder Years’ Remake Resurrects a 1970 Tactic to Diversify TV Viewing

Putting Black characters in situations familiar to White viewers aims to build empathy and interest.
by Kate L. Flach via Made By History on October 1, 2021
Chester Higgins photo of man looking out the window of a cafe on to the early morning street

Chester Higgins’s Life in Pictures

All along the way, his eye is trained on moments of calm, locating an inherent grace, style, and sublime beauty in the Black everyday.
by Jordan Coley via The New Yorker on August 27, 2021
"The Washington Family," painting by Edward Savage, c. 1789–1796. (National Gallery of Art)

The Silence of Slavery in Revolutionary War Art

Artists captured and honored the intensity of the American Revolution, but the bravery and role of Black men in the war was not portrayed.
by Edna Gabler via Journal of the American Revolution on July 13, 2021
Illustration of Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley, the likely inspiration for Molly Pitcher, stoking a cannon for the U.S. Pennsylvania artillery during the Battle of Monmouth.

Molly Pitcher, the Most Famous American Hero Who Never Existed

Americans don't need to rely on legends to tell the stories of women in the Revolution.
by Cassandra A. Good via Smithsonian on March 17, 2021
An illustration of a skeleton apparition.

A History of Presence

The aesthetics of virtual reality, and its promise of “magical” embodied experience, can be found in older experiments with immersive media.
by Brooke Belisle via Art In America on January 25, 2021
An illustration of the caning of Charles Sumner.

The Caning of Charles Sumner in the U.S. Senate: White Supremacist Violence in Pen and Pixels

Absent social media, the artists of the past shaped public knowledge of historical events through illustrations.
by Peter H. Wood, Harlin J. Gradinn via Tropics of Meta on January 20, 2021
A Black enslaved woman holding a white child.

The Visual Documentation of Racist Violence in America

Before and during the Civil War, both enslavers and abolitionists used photography to garner support for their causes.
by Mary Niall Mitchell via Black Perspectives on November 4, 2020
"A National Game that is Played Out," political cartoon, engraving by Thomas Nast. From Harper's Weekly, 23 December 1876, page 1044.

Who Counts?

A look at voter rights through political cartoons.
via Massachusetts Historical Society on September 15, 2020
Broadway New York 1893

Perilous Proceedings

Documenting the New York City construction boom at the turn of the 20th century.
by David Gibson via Library of Congress on June 29, 2020

American Degeneracy

Michael Lobel on Confederate memorials and the history of “degenerate art."
by Michael Lobel via Art Forum on June 27, 2020
Eight daguerreotype portraits.

Samuel Morse and the Quest for the Daguerreotype Portrait

When a remarkable new invention by Louis Daguerre was announced by the French, it was American inventor Samuel Morse who sensed its commercial potential.
by Sarah Kate Gillespie via The MIT Press Reader on March 16, 2020

Emma Willard's Maps of Time

The pioneering work of Emma Willard, a leading feminist educator whose innovative maps of time laid the groundwork for the charts and graphics of today.
by Susan Schulten via The Public Domain Review on January 22, 2020
Engraving of the Boston Massacre by Paul Revere.
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Crispus Attucks Needs No Introduction. Or Does He?

The African American Patriot, who died in the Boston Massacre, was erased from visual history. Black abolitionists revived his memory.
by Matthew Wills, Karsten Fitz via JSTOR Daily on January 20, 2020
Hop Louie Restaurant in Los Angeles, California.

The Old Menus of New Chinatown

Retracing the history of Chinatown in Los Angeles using old Chinese restaurant menus as a guide.
by Aric Allen via Aricallen.com on May 28, 2019
Landscape shot of Los Angeles, with Hollywoodland sign in the background.

True West: Searching for the Familiar in Early Photos of L.A. and San Francisco

A look at early photography reveals the nuances of California's early development.
by Hunter Oatman-Stanford via Collectors Weekly on February 13, 2019
Photograph of murder victim by Weegee.

The Lost World of Weegee

Depression-era Americans viewed urban life in America through the lens of Weegee’s camera.
by Terry Teachout via Commentary on August 1, 2018
Movie poster for "American Gigolo," showing a man in a suit looking to the right, with his shadow on the wall behind him

Armani in America

Looking back on "American Gigolo," a love story about a wardrobe.
by Haley Mlotek via Lapham’s Quarterly on July 3, 2018
Section of "A Whaling Voyage 'Round The World," depicting three ships, with whales and sailors in rowboats in the water
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Did North America's Longest Painting Inspire Moby-Dick?

Herman Melville likely saw the panorama “Whaling Voyage,” which records the sinking of the whaler Essex, while staying in Boston in 1849.
by Allison C. Meier, Robert L. Carothers, John L. Marsh, Kevin J. Avery, Nenette Luarca-Shoaf, Henry F. Pommer via JSTOR Daily on June 20, 2018

America’s First Female Mapmaker

Through Emma Williard's imagination, a collection of rare maps that illustrates past reality.
by Ted Widmer via The Paris Review on June 18, 2018

Can Art Museums Help Illuminate Early American Connections To Slavery?

New labels at the Worcester Art Museum are drawing attention to the connections between art, slavery, and wealth in early America.
by Sarah E. Bond via Hyperallergic on April 25, 2018

Are Museums the Rightful Home for Confederate Monuments?

As museums formulate their approach to re-contextualization, they must also recognize their own histories of complicity.
by Elizabeth Merritt via American Alliance of Museums on April 3, 2018
Red Cross poster from WWI with woman wearing Red Cross hat and pin waving and saying Join Now.

Beginnings of the American Red Cross

A primary source set and teaching guide created by educators.
by Lucy Santos Green via Digital Public Library of America on February 22, 2018
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