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A woman knitting, Washington DC, 1941.
wwi

The Wartime Spies Who Used Knitting as an Espionage Tool

Grandma was just making a sweater. Or was she?
Natalie Zarrelli March 16, 2022
The so-called “Nag’s Head Portrait,” possibly of Theodosia Burr Alston.
mystery

The Dramatic Life and Mysterious Death of Theodosia Burr

The fate of Aaron Burr's daughter remains a topic of contention.
Hadley Meares March 9, 2022
In the late 19th century, "ghost hoaxers" wore costumes to terrify unsuspecting victims.
victorian

The Mischievous 'Ghost Hoaxers' of 19th-Century Australia

To stave off boredom, some people donned sheets and menaced the public.
Joseph Hayes October 29, 2019
An 1876 map showing Laurel Cemetery.
cemeteries

The Grim History Hidden Under a Baltimore Parking Lot

After an African-American cemetery was bulldozed, families wondered what happened to the graves.
Sarah Laskow October 25, 2019
Brother Jonathan celebrates the American centenary by straddling the towers of the main building at the Philadelphia World's Fair of 1876.
independence day

Before America Got Uncle Sam, It Had to Endure Brother Jonathan

Brash, bold, and bigoted, he made for an uneasy national mascot.
Adee Braun July 4, 2019
A 1973 chicken barbecue fundraiser for a fire department.
farms

Why All of Upstate New York Grew Up Eating the Same Barbecue Chicken

The true legacy of the Cornell professor who invented the chicken nugget.
Sarah Laskow May 26, 2019
Giant African land snails are among the largest land snails in the world.
geology

How Giant, Intelligent Snails Became a Marker of Our Age

Ages from now, giant snails could be one of the lasting signs of human influence on Earth.
Sarah Laskow November 29, 2018
maps

In Its First Decades, The United States Nurtured Schoolgirl Mapmakers

Education for women and emerging nationhood, illustrated with care and charm.
Sarah Laskow November 28, 2018
subterranean

Meet the Fatbergs

Digging into the science of three cities' sewer-clogging blobs.
Jessica Leigh Hester November 20, 2018
The models of three Lego figurines sent with the Juno spacecraft are Galileo Galilei and the Roman gods Juno and Jupiter.
libraries

Is There Anybody Out There… Keeping Track of the Weird Stuff We Send Into Space?

This catalog attempts to figure out what we're telling the rest of the universe about ourselves.
Sarah Laskow November 19, 2018
All of these garages were photographed in the early 1970s in Van Nuys, California.
architecture

Why There's No Place Quite Like the American Garage

The garage is a symbol of suburbia, a site of rebellion, and a very strange room.
Sarah Laskow November 13, 2018
The Walhalla railway in Australia.
railroads

Glimpses of Lost Railway Journeys of the Past

A new book collects 33 routes that went off the rails.
Sarah Laskow November 12, 2018
Eleanor Roosevelt voting in 1936.
design

Voting Booths Were a Radical 19th-Century Reform to Stop Election Fraud

An idea imported from Australia, they helped enable the "secret" part of secret ballots.
Sarah Laskow November 5, 2018
Greenland's melting ice from above.
climate change

Exploring the Tragic Beauty of Greenland's Melting Ice Sheets

From above, the textured landscape can be almost abstract.
Sarah Laskow November 5, 2018
Cremated remains enter the water in biodegradable bags.
oceans

Can Hong Kong Sell Its Residents on Watery Graves?

Sea burial is a way to save space in a dense city, but runs counter to funeral traditions.
Jessica Leigh Hester October 31, 2018
A lithopedion extracted 55 years after it formed.
medical museums

A Fetus Can Turn to Stone in Its Mother's Body and Go Undiscovered for Decades

"Stone babies"—or lithopedions—are incredibly rare.
Sarah Laskow October 29, 2018
cemeteries

Union Soldiers Buried Their Dead in Robert E. Lee’s Garden

Before Arlington was a national cemetery, it was the Lee homestead, and then a tent city for occupying troops.
Jessica Leigh Hester October 26, 2018
Plants grow in graves at Woodlands Cemetery, Philadelphia.
cemeteries

A Year Gardening the Grave of a Stranger

At Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia, green-thumbed volunteers participate in a unique program.
Sydney Schaedel October 25, 2018