an overflowing trash can

Food Waste: A Persistent Problem

Even when people think wasting food is bad, they tend to toss out as much (or more) food than they eat. Can that behavior be changed?
Three pence Colonial currency from the Province of Pennsylvania. Signed by Thomas Wharton. Printed by Benjamin Franklin and David Hall, 1764

Building an Economy on Paper Money

A shortage of coined currency led Pennsylvania to begin using paper money in the 1720s. The British didn't like it, but the colonists did.
Episode of the Siege of Sebastopol During the Crimean War in 1855

Empire: The Russian Way

Russia's rise as an imperial power was built on intercontinental expansion, and a mission of "civilizing, protecting and educating" the conquered.
Newcomb featured in Spalding's Red Cover series of athletic handbooks in 1914

Clara Gregory Baer and the “Lost” Sport of Newcomb Ball

The sport of Newcomb ball was created by Clara Gregory Baer two years before volleyball. Now forgotten, it's a good bet it lives on in the gyms and beach courts of today.
A hand holding a smartphone with a tumblr logo

How Tumblr Helps Youth Continue to Be Seen And Heard

Tumblr may be obsolete for the first generation or two of Internet users, but Gen Z has taken it on as a platform for representation online.
Gathering Sap at a Maple Sugar Camp, Vermont

Praising Maple Sugar in the Early American Republic

In Early America, some prestigious residents advocated for the replacement of cane sugar, supplied by enslaved workers, with maple sugar from family farms.
Shakespeare volumes on a shelf

In Memoriam of the Convict Scholar

An 1899 issue of The Monthly Record reports the death of an acclaimed Shakespearian "convict scholar," who served over 20 years on a life sentence.
A woman wearing a head scarf

Muslim Women and the Politics of the Headscarf

For many women, wearing the hijab was—and is—an element of piety, but it's been coopted into a political symbol.
Jim Allen (L), a self-described member of the Vice Lords street gang, gets a hug from former Gangster Disciple and current community activist Q. L. Anthony following a press conference September 2, 2010 in Chicago, Illinois.

What Do Chicago Gangs Provide to Their Members?

Confronted with discrimination and violence, gangs evolve and serve members differently, even when patterned after existing groups.
A painting by Makis E. Warlamis

Utopias, Imperial Horrors, and Bug-Based Dyes

Well-researched stories from Psyche, The New Yorker and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.