A Phrenologist’s Dream of an Octagon House
Orson S. Fowler thought houses without right angles would offer a better life, but his own architectural experiments did not end well.
How Impressionist Berthe Morisot Painted Women’s Lives
Berthe Morisot never became as famous as her counterparts Claude Monet and Édouard Manet, but her work has an important place in art history.
The Memoirs of Catherine The Great
Catherine II ruled Russia for many years. She also wrote her own memoirs, in a time when such writing was considered inappropriate for a monarch.
When Very Bad Words Are the Sh*t (Linguistically Speaking)
The fact that people can use “literally” about things that can’t possibly be factual may literally make your blood boil.
Hollywood Froze Out the Founding Mother of Cinema
French filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché was the first female film director, and renowned as an innovator in the field. Then she moved to Hollywood.
The Painting That Changed New York City
Classical nudes were once reserved for learned men in elite spaces. Then a hotelier hung Nymphs and Satyr in a public bar, shaking up NYC's bourgeoisie.
“Mad Meg,” the Poet-Duchess of 17th Century England
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, shocked the establishment by publishing poems and plays under her own name.
The Wonderland Awaits: Researching The Good Echo
Author Shena McAuliffe describes how she used JSTOR to research her debut novel, The Good Echo.
Frida Kahlo’s Forgotten Politics
Museum exhibitions of Frida Kahlo's work tend to focus on her personal style and persona. But Kahlo was intensely political, as were her paintings.
How Mary Colter Made the Grand Canyon an Experience
Architect Mary Colter created buildings that incorporated local materials and indigenous motifs, blending with the environment rather than dominating it.