As the nation prepares to mark 250 years of history, communities across the country are reflecting on the people and institutions that shaped America. In North ...

Nineteenth-century presidential campaigns have evolved from years of restrained candidate participation to the dawn of 20th century’s media driven contests. In seeking to persuade the citizenry for ...

There’s one question I get every time I give a talk. I’m a curator of political history at the Smithsonian Institution, and when I discuss the deep history of political division in our country, ...

Robin Blackburn’s sweeping history of slavery and freedom in the 19th century. Robin Blackburn’s sweeping history of slavery and freedom in the 19th century. Robin Blackburn is undoubtedly one of the ...

A sledgehammer dealt the final blow to New York City’s dream of a paleontology museum. On May 3, 1871, workers broke into the workshop of famed British artist Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins. Inside, they ...

A story. An imagined future. An “intellectual funhouse” in the words of Jonathan Michael Square. Square guest curated an exhibition at the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library in Winterthur, DE ...

It was December 24, and historian Jon K. Lauck and his family were stuck at the Omaha Airport. Their rental car reservation was canceled. They needed to get to his mother's home in Sioux Falls for ...