“The Indian School on Magnolia Avenue: Voices and Images from Sherman Institute,” written and edited by historians connected to the University of California, Riverside, tells the history of an Indian boarding school in Southern California.
Smithsonian Snapshot celebrates the Thanksgiving season with this 1905 Thanksgiving menu by George Elbert Burr from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
In the early 20th century, Burr worked as an illustrator for several magazines including Harper's, Cosmopolitan and Frank Leslie's Weekly Newspaper, the same newspaper in which Winslow Homer provided illustrations.
In 1905, Burr created this menu for a Thanksgiving dinner that included mashed potatoes, English plum pudding, Charlotte Russe dessert and of course, the turkey, illustrated here in a simple pen, ink and watercolor drawing.
This Smithsonian Snapshot celebrates Halloween with this 1889 scientific illustration of a vampire squid from Smithsonian Libraries. Its jet-black skin, the caped appearance of the webbing between its arms and eyes that appear red under some light conditions are what gave the vampire squid its name.
Featuring more than 200 examples of the century’s best political art, a new history of health care reform provides an entertaining review of 100 years of partisan wrangling over medical insurance.
As Barack Obama and Mitt Romney prepare to square off in a series of presidential debates, the candidates and their running mates could go medieval on their opponents by using a rhetorical technique that dates back to Nordic and Germanic legends of the Middle Ages, says a scholar of medieval literature at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T).
President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation 150 years ago this Saturday. Indiana University faculty experts are available to discuss the historical context and impact of the proclamation.
A team of University of South Carolina archaeologists dive, map and complete first survey of the prolonged Civil War naval battle that took place in Charleston Harbor in 1861 - 1865.
The story of westward expansion in the United States is often told from the perspective of the men and women who crossed the Great Plains in search of a better life in the west. But a historian at Missouri University of Science and Technology is bringing to light the role settlers’ animals played in the westward migration of the mid-1800s.
"The year was 1874, and the Hennepin Canal had achieved national significance and would be built as a federal waterway." Through this succinct declaration, the introduction section of Western Illinois University Geography Professor Emeritus Donald "Bill" Griffin's new book, "Voices of the Hennepin Canal: Promoters, Politicians, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers," sets the stage for this historical account of how this waterway, located in Western Illinois and opened in 1908, was built and operated until 1951 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Washington and Lee University historian Richard Bidlack used previously secret Soviet documents to paint a vivid picture of the 872-day siege of Leningrad by the Germans and Finns during World War II in his new book, “The Leningrad Blockade, 1941-1944.”
Bucket lists are more than goals or accomplishments a person wants to achieve before dying. They are also a way for people to discuss death -- even though most of us probably would rather avoid doing so.
When antiquities go MIA, sometimes the sleuthing of a network of scholars can lead to rediscovery . That's what happened recently at the American Geographical Society Library at the UW-Milwaukee.
This Smithsonian Snapshot celebrates the July 4, 1776, U. S. independence from Great Britain. In 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence on this portable desk. It features a hinged writing board and a locking drawer for papers, pens and inkwell.
In commemoration of the bicentennial of the start of the Revolutionary War, the United States went to great lengths to celebrate the war that led to the founding of an American nation. Events were planned across the country. Reenactments depicted battle scenes. Even anniversary coins were minted to celebrate 200 years since the Declaration of Independence.
In 2012 however, none of those items are on the docket for the bicentennial of the War of 1812. Despite the similarities in foes, as the U.S. squared off against Great Britain for a second time, several circumstances have seemed to downgrade the War of 1812 into mediocrity in the minds of Americans today.
This Smithsonian Snapshot marks the start of summer with this 1969 airline poster.
The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum’s collection of more than 1,300 posters focuses on advertising for aviation-related products and activities. In the mid 1900s, airline advertisements like this one from Continental Airlines promoted exotic travel destinations.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian invites visitors to experience its newly opened imagiNATIONS Activity Center, which offers bilingual learning tools and hands-on activities highlighting the diversity, history, culture and contributions of tribes across the Western Hemisphere. Located on the third level and open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the imagiNATIONS Center is a sunny, 5,400-square-foot space lined with a wall of windows offering a stunning view of the Capitol and the National Mall. It features interactive games, storytelling programs and craft workshops throughout the year.
This Smithsonian Snapshot marks the June 15, 1942, launch of Victory Mail or V-Mail, the overseas communication service used between military personnel, family and friends.
During World War II, Army post offices, Fleet post offices and U.S. post offices were flooded with mail sent by service members and family. V-Mail was a solution to the volume of mail competing with essential wartime supplies for cargo space.
The War of 1812, the first constitutionally declared war in the history of the United States and the first war to be fought in a modern democracy, was also a conflict fueled by family-oriented appeals, New York University historian Nicole Eustace writes in her new book, 1812: War and the Passions of Patriotism, which examines the role of emotion in the making of war.
The Statue of Liberty is arguably the most beloved and unifying of American symbols, but its history is a complicated one. In The Statue of Liberty: A Transatlantic Story, NYU Professor Edward Berenson tells the little-known stories of the statue’s improbable beginnings, transatlantic connections, and meanings it has held for generations of Americans.
Two geology professors have discovered tiny bits of shrapnel and other microscopic remnants of the D-Day invasion in samples of sand collected on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. The scientists were surprised that these tiny traces survived for decades despite the scouring action of sand and waves, and the rusting action of seawater.
The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum has launched a new microsite, “RFD: Marketing to a Rural Audience,” telling the story of how an experimental mail service in the late 1800s created a new commercial market.
“Operation Market Garden” may be one of World War II’s most ambitious battles, but it is also one of the least understood, particularly from an American perspective. In his latest book, Dr. John C. McManus tells America’s side of the story.
The Smithsonian is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouts with displays, public programs, special discounts, blog posts and online programs across the Institution. A special website was designed to list all events and exhibitions related to the Girl Scouts anniversary: http://www.si.edu/Events/GirlScouts100.
The War of 1812, the first constitutionally declared war in the history of the United States and the first war to be fought in a modern democracy, was also a conflict fueled by family-oriented appeals, New York University historian Nicole Eustace writes in her new book, 1812: War and the Passions of Patriotism, which examines the role of emotion in the making of war.
The oceans teemed with life 600 million years ago, but the simple, soft-bodied creatures would have been hardly recognizable as the ancestors of nearly all animals on Earth today.
Eighty-five years after the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in the Atlantic Ocean, a faculty member at Missouri University of Science and Technology answered one of maritime sleuths’ burning questions about the disaster: Was the steel used to build the ship at fault?
As the 150th anniversary of the DC Emancipation Act approaches, scholars have transcribed and published online hundreds of documents showing who the District’s slaves were, how they lived and how slavery and emancipation changed their lives.
In the 100 years that have followed the Titanic disaster, there have been countless disasters in war and in peacetime. But it is the Titanic we remember. It is both a morality tale and a lesson about the faith we often put into technology, when deep down we know that anything can go wrong in an instant.
A Binghamton University historian is contributing to new ideas about the Civil War and its consequences. Diane Miller Sommerville’s latest project, “Aberration of Mind: Suicide, the South and Civil War,” shines new light on an under-examined topic.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, something rather fascinating occurred. The part of the world we typically call “the West” suddenly showed tremendous growth in population, change in technology and production of wealth. Boise State University professor Rick Moore is available to discuss this phenomenon.
Western Europe has long been held to be the “cradle” of Neandertal evolution since many of the earliest discoveries were from sites in this region. But when Neandertals started disappearing around 30,000 years ago, anthropologists figured that climactic factors or competition from modern humans were the likely causes. Intriguingly, new research suggests that Western European Neandertals were on the verge of extinction long before modern humans showed up. This new perspective comes from a study of ancient DNA carried out by an international research team. Rolf Quam, a Binghamton University anthropologist, was a co-author of the study led by Anders Götherström at Uppsala University and Love Dalén at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, and published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.
On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking, marine forensics expert Richard Woytowich will present a paper re-interpreting the statements made by survivors at the 1912 official inquiries into the disaster.
Did Shakespeare work as an attorney before achieving immortality at the Globe Theatre? Researchers speculated on that theory after using advanced imaging to compare a known Shakespeare signature with another one on a well-known legal treatise.
In the first new book on Hoover in 25 years, Glen Jeansonne concludes the blame the president took for the Great Depression was undeserved. Hoover was the first president to pit government action against the economic cycle, setting precedents and spawning ideas employed by his successor and all future presidents.
Peter Hirtle, an archivist and senior policy advisor in the Cornell University Library, highlights the exciting new business model behind the upcoming public release of the 1940 Census, which will provide one of the most intimate glimpses into American lives during the Great Depression.
Presidents have consistently sought to bolster the country’s role overseas, stretching from Europe to Asia to South America during the post-WWII era. But, despite the appearance of consensus across presidential administrations, U.S. policy has been fiercely debated behind closed doors. In The Dissent Papers: The Voices of Diplomats in the Cold War and Beyond, Hannah Gurman explores the overlooked opposition of U.S. diplomats to American foreign policy in the latter half of the 20th century, beginning with the Cold War and concluding with the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Katherine Howe is a Cornell University lecturer in American Studies and author of “The House of Velvet and Glass,” an upcoming novel set during the aftermath of the Titanic sinking.
She compares the 100-year anniversary of the Titanic to the Occupy movement, and discusses some of the ship's lasting effects on society and its laws.
This year a series of events around the world will celebrate the work of Alan Turing, the father of the modern computer, as the 100th anniversary of his birthday approaches on June 23. Mathematician Robert Soare now proposes that Turing’s achievement was artistic as well as scientific.
Diaries belonging to a Civil War soldier who witnessed the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln have been digitized and published by UC Merced's Kolligian Library.
A group of American University students fascinated by the scandal produced a website: Nixon Detached for “Watergate: A Constitutional Crisis,” a class offered at American University’s School of Public Affairs each fall, taught by adjunct professor Don Fulsom, a former White House correspondent and a Washington bureau chief for United Press International who covered the Watergate scandal.