Asian American detectives played by actors Anna May Wong and Keye Luke had a minor but notable place in 1930s and 40s Hollywood.

In Regency England, a novel cost about $100. Subscription-based circulating libraries became a way for women of modest means to gain knowledge.

The first criminal conviction based on fingerprint evidence took place in Argentina on 1892, thanks to a police official inspired by eugenics.

Centuries before the computer, whimsical automata pushed the uncanny boundary between human and machine.

A new exhibit of silhouette artists surfaces Moses Williams, a former slave who created thousands of beautiful works of art but never got credit for them.

A patient was convinced that her runny nose indicated a deeper problem. She was right. Her case brought cerebrospinal fluid into the national spotlight.

During the Cold War, America's libraries helped patrons prepare for nuclear war, from stocking reference materials to providing fallout shelters.

Esquire, 1940: “Salads are really the man’s department... Only a man can make a perfect salad.”

When gay and lesbian people had to invent their own languages with which to talk with each other, camp led the way.

For the frontier women of the 19th century, the experience of childbirth was harrowing, and even just expressing fear was considered a privilege.