Declaration drafting

When Did Colonial America Gain Linguistic Independence?

By the time the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, did colonial Americans still sound like their British counterparts?
Ruth Mazo Karras

Ruth Mazo Karras

Ask a Professor offers an insider’s view of life in academia. Up this month: Ruth Mazo Karmas, Professor of History at the University of Minnesota.
Marina Abramovic

How Virtual Reality Could Change the Art World

Acute Art is a kind virtual reality marketed directly to artists. Marina Abramović, Olafur Eliasson, and Jeff Koons have been the first to try it out.
Source: Confederation Centre Art Gallery

Caroline Louisa Daly Is Finally Getting Her Due

The works of the Canadian painter Caroline Louisa Daly were for years incorrectly attributed to Charles Daly, a municipal bureaucrat turned artist.
Illustration of Delaney flowers

An 18th-Century “Sapphist”’s Sexy Garden

The 18th-century "sapphist" gardens of Mary Granville Pendarves Delany were piquant places that expressed same-sex desires.
Mae West

How The “Fag Hag” Went From Hated to Celebrated

At its core, the relationship between single women and gay men has longstanding historical roots.
Giovanni's Room, Philadelphia

Book Club Made Me Gay

Book clubs and reading groups have long been important to marginalized communities.
Dan Rather

Dan Rather on Dan Rather

Dan Rather's ruminations on politics and morality feel so 2017. This interview he gave in the '70s lends insight into how seriously he takes journalism.
Untitled Basquiat

How Basquiat Went From Underrated to Record-Breaking

A 1982 Untitled work of Jean-Michel Basquiat broke records as the highest selling US-produced artwork. Learn how Basquiat and his work gained its fame.
Howard square dance

The African Roots of Square Dancing

Square dancing’s lily-white reputation hides something unexpected: A deep African American history that’s rooted in a legacy of slavery.