Detail from the recently rediscovered Seldon Map from the Bodleian Library (

Plant of the Month: Agarwood

Agarwood has long been prized for its olfactory splendor. Its essential oil is even known as liquid gold today.
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Klu_Klux_Klan,_3-18-22_LOC_npcc.05904.jpg

A German Klan in the Weimar Republic

The little-known story of how the vicious American hate group spawned a counterpart in 1920s Germany.
A pan full of mealworms

Eating Worms, Keening, and Sea Shanties

Well-researched stories from The Guardian, Nursing Clio, and other publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
a caricature of three women whose depicted clothing satirizes the beginnings of neo-classical fashion influences in England.

Why Are So Many Romances Set in the Regency Period?

The British Regency era lasted less than a decade, but it spawned a staggering number of unlikely fictional marriages.
Ho Chi Minh, 1921

The First Vietnamese in America

Before 1945, many Vietnamese migrants to the United States were laborers. One was Ho Chi Minh.
Florence Nightingale

How Courageous Should Nurses Have to Be?

According to three scholars, it's asking a lot for health care professionals to be completely selfless.
Vintage engraving of an old fisherman drinking a cup of tea, 1900

What’s the Difference between a Shanty and a Sea Song?

“Soon May the Wellerman Come” is the heart of ShantyTok—but it’s not a sea shanty at all. Two authoritative essays roil the waters.
Bombardment of Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor: 12th & 13th of April, 1861

How the Civil War Got Its Name

From "insurrection" to "rebellion" to "Civil War," finding a name for the conflict was always political.
A large group of Native Americans stage a protest over land rights by occupying the Bureau of Indian Affairs building and steps in front, Washington DC, November 6, 1972.

Native Nations and the BIA: It’s Complicated

Historically, relations between Native Americans and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have been contentious. Is that still the case?
From a movie ad for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, 1917

The Shark-Fighting Brothers behind 20,000 Leagues under the Sea

In 1916, the Williamson brothers used their father's underwater photography device to film a fight with a shark, piquing Universal Pictures' interest.