The only surviving image that may depict Anne Hathaway, made by Sir Nathaniel Curzon in 1708.

Anne Shakespeare: Toward a Biography

Let’s check in with Anne Shakespeare, née Hathaway, about whom so little is known.
An acrobatic water skier performs during a show at Cypress Gardens theme park in 1953 near Winterhaven, Florida.

The Wonderful World of the Water Ski

Invented in 1922, water-skiing quickly became shorthand for American ideas on beauty, athleticism, and affluence.
Ron Jaffe/AMC

Mad Men and Its Obsession with Frenchness

Mad Men’s in-universe fascination with Frenchness was so frequent and important to the plot(s) that it might as well have been a main character.
Clockwise: Agha Shahid Ali, Elizabeth Bishop, William Logan, Paisley Rekdal, Charles Fort, Tim Seibles.

10 Villanelles by Modern and Contemporary Poets

Read these recursive, nineteen-line poems by Elizabeth Bishop, Paisley Rekdal, William Logan, Agha Shahid Ali, and more.

Send in the Clowns

Lulu Adams came from a long, illustrious line of circus performers and was credited—even if wrongly—with being the world’s first female clown.
Minerva Parker Nichols beside the New Century Club building she designed in Philadelphia

(Re)discovering Minerva Parker Nichols, Architect

The first American woman to establish an independent architectural practice, Minerva Parker Nichols built an unprecedented career in Philadelphia.
Cher

Cher’s Vocoder Is the Sound of Both Y2K and Camp

Released on the global stage by Cher, the vocoder effect speaks for the millennium and for queer subculture.
William Merritt Chase with Parsons School of Design students

William Merritt Chase, the Accidental Ally

Painter William Merritt Chase opened an art school for a new generation of women, teaching them how to draw as well as how to advocate for themselves.
The cover of the play Abbu San in Old Japan

Blackface on Stage in “Old Japan”

The use of blackface may seem out of place in a Japanese-inspired stage production—until you think about the money to be made by dealing in stereotypes.
Detail of The Story of the Florentine Antonio Rinaldeschi, dated 1501/2

Tavolette: Paintings to Comfort the Condemned

Charged with saving the immortal souls of the condemned, comforters held tavolette showing the Crucifixion in front of the eyes of those facing execution.