Civil War soldiers on the cover of James Marten's book "The Sixth Wisconsin"

Ancestry.com and the Long Civil War

The sad remnants of a soldier’s life revealed through probate and Ancestry offer a moving glimpse into the afterlife of Civil War service.
Digital rendering of a woman looking out over rows of blue digital file folders.

Archivists Aren’t Ready for the ‘Very Online’ Era

The challenge: how to catalog and derive meaning from so much digital clutter.
Drawing of an early baseball game.

If You Print It, They Will Come

Baseball’s early years.
Tamara Lanier

Harvard Relinquishes Photographs of Enslaved People in Historic Settlement

Tamara Lanier, who sued the school over daguerreotypes of her enslaved ancestors held in its museum, called the outcome “a turning point in American history.”
Sanitation truck.

W.A.S.T.E. Not

John Scanlan’s “The Idea of Waste” argues that all civilization is an attempt to make waste disappear.
Dyed ostrich feather samples in a book.

As Bright as a Feather: Ostriches, Home Dyeing, and the Global Plume Trade

In the 19th century, dyed ostrich feathers were haute couture, adorning the hats and boas of fashionistas on both sides of the Atlantic.
Lin Taiyi takes dictation from her father, Dr. Lin Yutang, on a typewriter he invented.

Lost and Found: The Unexpected Journey of the MingKwai Typewriter

Its ingenious design inspired generations of language-processing technology, but only one prototype was made and had long been assumed lost.
California gold miners, ca. 1850–1852.

A Gold Rush of Witnesses

Letters, diaries, and remembrances shared on JSTOR by University of the Pacific reveal the hardships of day-to-day life during the California Gold Rush.
Indigenous girl among a line of U.S. peace commissioners.

American History Needs More Names

Identifying Sophie Mousseau from a Civil War-Era photo helps us understand our complex past.
O-o-be' grins at the camera dressed in traditional clothing.

A Rare Smile Captured in a 19th Century Photograph

O-o-be' stood out in an era when smiles on camera weren't common.
Jason Chernesky

Their Jobs Vanished. These Historians Want to Ensure Their Stories Don’t.

An oral history project to document the stories of federal workforce cuts is open to all feds and contractors — even DOGE and Musk.
Collage of Abram Colby and his newspaper.

They Tried to Bury Him: The Hidden History of Abram Colby

The radical legacy of Abram Colby, one of Georgia’s first Black legislators, was almost erased by racist revisionists.
President John F. Kennedy's motorcade shortly before his assassination in Dallas.

What the New JFK Files Reveal About the CIA’s Secrets

A presidential lawyer and historian combed through the latest document dump so you don’t have to. Here’s what he found.
A gloved hand reaches for a magnifying glass to view photos on slides.

Photos Are Disappearing, One Archive at a Time

We risk losing not just the images but also our ability to bear witness to history itself.
A drawing of a scuba diver holding a flare, exploring the wreck of a slave ship underwater.

Dredging Up the Ghostly Secrets of Slave Ships

A global network of maritime archeologists is excavating slave shipwrecks—and reconnecting Black communities to the deep.
Mugshot (side profile, left, and front-facing, right) of Malcolm Little (Malcolm X).

A New Discovery Sheds Light on Malcolm X’s Journey to Islam

The civil rights leader’s lone poem, written from prison, reveals his love of language — and his quest for truth.
Harrison Williams holding a Camera.

Seeking Clues in Cabinet Cards

The poignant images, at once banal and intimate, in the Lynch Family Photographs Collection contain mysteries perhaps only the public can solve.
Mottled photographs of immigrants set against the Statue of Liberty.

The American Dream 100 Years After the National Origins Act

How a clerk on Ellis Island at the dawn of the 20th century documented discrimination through photography, and what that tells us about today’s malaise.
A drawing of a slave revolt on a ship.

Rare Portraits Reveal the Humanity of the Slaves Who Revolted on the Amistad

William H. Townsend drew the rebels as they stood trial, leaving behind an invaluable record.
Person using a magnifying glass to examine aerial photographs of naval vessels.

When America’s Top Spies Were Academics and Librarians

How scholars achieved some of the most consequential intelligence victories of the twentieth century.
1999 Yugoslavian stamp depicting a NATO jet launching a missile at an oil refinery.

Stamps Capture Unchanging Face of U.S. Violence Abroad

Countries have also used their postal systems to fight back against aggression.
Collage of letters and postcards detailing a fraudulent scheme.

Letters Hidden in My Family’s Attic Reveal a 1910s Bank Con in Key West

The con artist was either a very unlucky man or a trickster who got away with it all.
A 1,200-year-old dugout canoe in Lake Mendota, Wisconsin.

Archaeologists Are Finding Dugout Canoes in the American Midwest as Old as Egypt's Great Pyramids

Tamara Thomsen discovered a 1,200-year-old dugout canoe in Wisconsin’s Lake Mendota in 2021, spurring efforts to catalog historic canoes statewide.
American Indian children in boarding school.

More Than 3,100 Students Died at Schools Built to Crush Native American Cultures

The Washington Post has found more than three times as many deaths as the U.S. government documented in its investigation of Indian boarding schools.
The Griffith Observatory, constructed by the Works Progress Administration, on a hill overlooking Los Angeles.

A New Deal for Architecture

What it conveys is quite specific: grandeur, beauty, dynamism, and power.
Belle da Costa Greene.

The Hidden Story of J. P. Morgan’s Librarian

Belle da Costa Greene, a brilliant archivist, buried her own history.
New release of Louis Vasnier recording.

The Earliest Known ‘Country’ Recording Has Been Found. The Singer? A Black Man.

A new release of an 1891 song by Louis Vasnier deepens what we know about the genre’s origins.
Bob Dylan performing on stage.

The Lines, They Are A-Changin’

Getting lost and found in the Bob Dylan archives.
Title page of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Searching for the Elusive Man Who Inspired Uncle Tom’s Cabin

John Andrew Jackson spent a night at Harriet Beecher Stowe’s home as he fled north. Why do so few traces of his visit remain?
1937 ad showing three women in underwear.

From Torpedo Bras to Whale Tails: A Brief History of Women’s Underwear

The popular reception of thongs, bras, boy shorts and other intimate items.