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A cartoon illustration of Brigid in Puck, 1883

From Saint to Stereotype: A Story of Brigid

Caricatures of Irish immigrants—especially Irish women—have softened, but persist in characters whose Irishness is expressed in subtle cues.

Read Before You Go

Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Arctic circle, Norway

Svalbard: Seeds of Hope

The Arctic archipelago is a bellwether for global climate change, but it also offers a safety net in a planetary disaster scenario.

Shared Collections

James G. Birney

The Power of Pamphlets in the Anti-Slavery Movement

Black-authored print was central to James G. Birney’s conversion from enslaver to abolitionist and presidential candidate.

Time Travels

Mbarak Mombée

Mbarak Mombée: An African Explorer Robbed of His Name

Kidnapped and sold into slavery, Mbarak Mombée was critical to the success of the most celebrated nineteenth-century European expeditions in Africa.

Suggested Readings

red fox pups playing in spring

Animals at Play, Ama Divers, and Nuclear Power

Well-researched stories from Nursing Clio, Nautilus, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.

Most Recent

Sheet music cover dated 1852

Christy’s Minstrels Go to Great Britain

Minstrel shows were an American invention, but they also found success in the United Kingdom, where audiences were negotiating their relationships with empire.
Map of the Missouri Compromise, 1820

Missouri Compromise of 1820: Annotated

The “compromise” attempted to answer the question of whether the Missouri territory would be admitted to the Union as a “slave” or “free” state.

More Stories

Read Before You Go

Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Arctic circle, Norway

Svalbard: Seeds of Hope

The Arctic archipelago is a bellwether for global climate change, but it also offers a safety net in a planetary disaster scenario.

Shared Collections

James G. Birney

The Power of Pamphlets in the Anti-Slavery Movement

Black-authored print was central to James G. Birney’s conversion from enslaver to abolitionist and presidential candidate.

Time Travels

Mbarak Mombée

Mbarak Mombée: An African Explorer Robbed of His Name

Kidnapped and sold into slavery, Mbarak Mombée was critical to the success of the most celebrated nineteenth-century European expeditions in Africa.

Suggested Readings

red fox pups playing in spring

Animals at Play, Ama Divers, and Nuclear Power

Well-researched stories from Nursing Clio, Nautilus, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.

Long Reads

Embroidery of a ginger cat with a mouse on a chequered floor made by Mary, Queen of Scots

Prisoners’ Pastimes

Isabella Rosner’s Stitching Freedom showcases embroidered works made by the incarcerated and examines this craft’s historical popularity behind bars.
Up the Junction by Nell Dunn

Up the Junction: A Place, A Fiction, A Film, A Condition

In addition to a New Wave hit, Nell Dunn's 1963 book about young women in a poor London neighborhood inspired a Ken Loach adaption that helped shift British attitudes toward abortion.
A rose, Zéphirine Drouhin, against a black background

What Do Gardens and Murder Have in Common?

Writers have long plotted murder mysteries in gardens of all sorts. What makes these fertile grounds for detective fiction?
Camellia sinensis

Camellia sinensis: Labor and the Tea Plant

Consumed as tea around the world, Camellia sinensis raises questions about plantation labor practices and the environmental impact of monocultures.

Roosevelt was a proponent of imperialism and racial domination, the architect of the interventionist corollary allowing the United States to become a hemispheric occupying force.

Island in the Potomac

Coal burning power plant with pollution in a twilight situation.

Not All Forms of Carbon Removal Are Created Equal

The carbon market and offsetting system have created “carbon cowboys” and perpetuated forms of neo-colonialism and other inequities.
An illustration of a globe being heated over a fire on a spit

Grilling the Globe

Could meat taxes help to curb over-consumption of beef and mitigate climate change?
People gather at the Federal Reserve building to call on financial institutions to divest from fossil fuels on the ninth anniversary of Superstorm Sandy on October 29, 2021 in New York City.

Divest or Invest? A Climate Change Question

Divestment from fossil fuel corporations is a common call of climate activists, but divesting could be counterproductive to efforts combating climate change.