Kilts

How Highlanders Came to Wear Kilts

Kilts are traditional garb from Scotland, right? Well, that's not quite the whole story.
Christmas banquet

How Victorians’ Fear of Starvation Created Our Christmas Lore

One scholar sees more in the Christmas food of authors like Charles Dickens—English national identity and class.
Compleat Housewife frontispiece

What Amateur Cookbooks Reveal About History

Remember those spiral-bound cookbooks from your church group or your mom’s favorite charity? Those amateur recipe collections are history books, too.
traffic jam

The Science of Traffic

Traffic congestion has been a problem in the United States ever since the 1930s, and since that time, scientists have been studying on the problem.
Atacama Desert Solar Panels

China Denounces Coal, Chile Goes Solar, and Guinea Tackles Sleeping Sickness

Chile turned the Atacama Desert into a giant solar farm, China denounced coal power, and Guinea has been plagued by sleeping sickness.
Twelfth Night party

Shakespeare, Rembrandt, and the Real “Twelfth Night”

"Twelfth Night" was more than a Shakespeare play; for a very long time it was an extremely popular European winter feast.
Teddy Roosevelt hunting

Democracy, Aristocracy, and the American Hunter

In our own new Gilded Age, it’s worth asking what the big game hunters have in common with people who hunt to put some extra meat on the table.
Comic illustration of a mother ignoring her child in favor of a smart phone

Our Best Stories of 2017

JSTOR Daily published a whopping 834 stories in 2017—that’s a lot for our small staff. Here are the ...
Cars crashing at the demolition derby

A Crash Course in the Demolition Derby

The demolition derby was ready-made for the age of planned obsolescence from automobile manufacturers, who happily sponsored demolition derby venues.
human trafficking cover

“White Slavery” and the Policing of Domestic Life

In the early 20th century, journalistic exposés, novels, and vice commission reports trumpeted fears about "white slavery" sweeping the country.