Dance marathon, April 20, 1923

Dance Marathons

In the early twentieth century, dance marathons were an entire industry—and a surprisingly hazardous business.
From the cover of Issues in the Indiana Women’s Prison

Injustice at the Indiana Women’s Prison

Medical neglect, food injustice, and mental health woes serve as the creative inspiration for poetry. Plus, how many days of work does it take to buy a bra?
News reporters mingle with members of the International Brigade, amongst them is Ernest Hemingway (with mustache and glasses), during the Spanish Civil War, c. 1937.

The International Brigades

Foreigners fighting for Ukraine may call to mind the International Brigades that fought in defense of the Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War.
The cover of issue 4 of Adventures in Poetry

Adventures in Poetry

Published in the East Village from 1968 to 1975, Adventures in Poetry features poems by New York School poets Anne Waldman, Frank O’Hara, John Ashbery, Allen Ginsberg, Bernadette Mayer, and more.
an illustration of bananas

Losing Bananas, Fighting Malaria, and Naming Objects

Well-researched stories from Salon, The New Yorker, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Chlorella algae under a microscope

Algae: The Food of the Future of the Past

In the years following World War II, American and European food scientists hoped to feed the world with common pond scum supplemented with plastics.
A spread of contraband from Dixon Digest, Volume 18, Issue 2

My Name is Meth

Drugs, drug-themed poetry, and more drugs in the American Prison Newspapers collection.
Women digging near damaged train tracks during the Battle of Stalingrad, USSR, during World War II.

Counting War’s Civilian Dead

Despite claims of precision strikes and the proliferation of smart bombs, the number of civilians killed in war appears staggeringly high.
Portia K. Maultsby, 1981

The Scholars Who Charted Black Music’s Timeline

Portia K. Maultsby documents the course of African American music, tracing the histories of the sounds alongside the histories of the people who made them.
Jackie Ormes

The Groundbreaking Work of Jackie Ormes

The first Black woman to have a regularly published comic strip, Ormes gave form to the political and social concerns of Black Americans.