Yaks in Tibet
As China tried to expand into Tibet in the late 1930s, it looked to the yak as a way to "modernize" Tibetan culture.
Banks’ Own Private Currencies in 19th-Century America
Before the Civil War local banks issued their own money. It was totally legit, too.
Sophia Thoreau to the Rescue!
Who made sure Henry David Thoreau's works came out after his death? His sister.
A Little Light Reading
The content you need right the heck now. Have a great long weekend!
Joanna Koerten’s Scissor-Cut Works Were Compared to Michelangelo
And then, snip by snip, she was cut out of the frame of Renaissance art history.
Solar Housing Is Actually Kind of Retro!
The domestic fuel scarcity of World War II led to innovation in home heating—especially passive solar technology.
How LGBTQ+ Activists Got “Homosexuality” out of the DSM
The first DSM, created in 1952, established a hierarchy of sexual deviancies, vaulting heterosexual behavior to an idealized place in American culture.
Album Cover Artwork Was Super Boring before Alex Steinweiss
Inspired by the Bauhaus and WPA posters, the midcentury designer all but invented the modern record-album cover.
How Women Fought for the Right to Be Bartenders
As Life magazine put it, “angry barmaids are tough opponents in any hassle.”
Prosthetic Limbs, Ancient Arabic, and Moving Species
Well-researched stories from Scientific American, Hyperallergic, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.