Bernadette Mayer

Stories That Got Lost in 2020’s Erratic News Cycle

No matter how hard you work on a story, especially this year, it might get overlooked. Here are 20 that deserve more love.
Illustration: Branding Iron by Henry Rasmusen, c. 1937

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_Rasmusen,_Branding_Iron,_c._1937,_NGA_21119.jpg

A Fistful of Data: Information and the Cattle Industry

Beef barons needed cowboys less and bookkeepers more as the nineteenth century wore on.
A postcard showing three trolleys at the Public Gardens Portal in Boston sometime before 1914

The Folk Song That Fought against Fare Hikes

"M.T.A." is a humorous ditty about a never-ending subway ride. But it began in Boston's progressive political circles.
The coronation of Charlemagne

Making Sense of the Divine Right of Kings

The United States threw off the yoke of a king more than two centuries ago. Funny how we can't get enough of our erstwhile sovereigns today.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie (1921 - 2000) addresses a Drop The Debt rally in Trafalgar Square, 13th June 1999.

Debt, History of

From debtors' prison to student loan debt, six stories from the archive.
Drawing of the funeral procession of Elizabeth I of England

Her Majesty’s Kidnappers

In the 17th century, Nathaniel Giles had the right to conscript young singers into the British royal children’s choir. He and a business partner went a step further.
Still Life with a Peacock Pie

The Joy of Eating in Utopia

The early socialist Charles Fourier had grand ideas about food. The pleasure of eating was right up there with sex.
A Thomas Kinkade puzzle

What’s Behind the Pandemic Puzzle Craze?

Puzzles, or “dissected maps,” were invented in Georgian-era England, probably by a mapmaker named John Spilsbury in the early 1760s.
A troupe of mummers in animal costumes performing in a Medieval Baronial Hall at Christmas, c. 1500

Nittel Nacht: The Jewish Christmas Eve

'Twas the night before Christmas, and an undead Jesus walked the earth. No wonder early modern Jews played games and sang songs to scare him off.
Care homes group managing director Mary Anson receives the Covid-19 vaccine as the Royal Cornwall Hospital begin their vaccination programme on December 9, 2020 in Truro, United Kingdom

The COVID-19 Vaccines Arrived at Warp Speed

Are they safe if they were developed so quickly? Research-backed answers to your virus questions.