A Fresh Hell (Chicken)
A newly identified “Hell chicken” species suggests dinosaurs weren’t sliding toward extinction before the fateful asteroid hit.
Birth of A National Immigration Policy
Until the Civil War, regulating immigration to the US was left to individual states. That changed with Emancipation and the legal end of slavery.
Historian J.T. Roane Explores Black Ecologies
Considerations of climate change and environmentalism have for too long paid no mind to where Black people live and in what conditions.
As You Lakh It
How did an oleoresin produced by insects in Asia become a standard part of European furniture manufacture and conservation?
Wormholes, Baitfish, and Neo-Medievalism
Well-researched stories from Slate, Literary Hub, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Paul Revere Williams: An Architect of Firsts
The first African American architect licensed in the state of California, Williams blazed a trail to the (Hollywood) stars.
Jain Ascetics in a Material World
The Jain Śvētāmbara Terāpanth sect began as an ascetic discipline, but it has increasingly emphasized physical health over renunciation of the body.
James Holman, the “Blind Traveller”
Once a celebrated travel writer, Holman struggled to find a publisher for his books thanks to a Victorian reluctance to witness his disability.
G. Legman and the Bawdy Eclectic
A fierce opponent of censorship, Gershon Legman helped legitimize the academic study of erotic folklore as manifested in jokes, limericks, and songs.
Combustible Cinema? The Nitrate Film Issue
The early plastic called celluloid was made of nitrocellulose and camphor. It made for spectacular pictures. It also made for spectacular fires.