An advertisement for a performance by Richard Potter

America’s First Ventriloquist

Richard Potter, the first American-born ventriloquist and stage magician, learned his trade after being kidnapped and abandoned as a child in Great Britain.

The Blu’s Hanging Controversy

Some have argued that the 1997 novel Blu's Hanging perpetuates East Asian racism against Filipinos while undermining criticism through violent sexuality.
Storage jar by Dave the Potter

Dave the Potter’s Mark on History

An enslaved African American in South Carolina did the unthinkable, writing his name on the walls of his vessels—and forever inscribing history.
Scottish singer and actress Lulu listens to a small portable Rhapsody DeLuxe radio

Music Only for a Woman: The Birth of Easy Listening

A 1970s radio format geared towards the "feminine psyche" featured musical rearrangements with softer and gentler styles of the day's hits.
The Kim Sisters with Dean Martin

Ladies and Gentlemen, It’s The Kim Sisters

The diversification of talent on American variety shows obscured the reality of race relations in the United States during the Cold War.
A couple in a Studebaker in Santa Barbara, CA, 1962 on a television screen

The Rise of the LA Suburb in 1960s TV

The shift from city centers to suburbs was reflected in post-World War II television programming.
Isokon Flats, c. 1978

The Spy Who Shared My Foyer

Luminaries from Agatha Christie to Walter Gropius gravitated to London’s “Lawn Road Flats.” So too did a far less conspicuous cohort: assets for the USSR.
Engraved portrait of Empress Matilda of Flanders, wearing a crown and holding a scepter, circa 1100.

Empress Matilda, George R. R. Martin’s Muse

Like the fictional character she inspired, Matilda was at the center of a civil war, fighting her own relatives for control of the royal throne.
A 19th century Kalighat painting from Calcutta, India

How Bengal’s Nineteenth-Century Art Defined Women

Women’s roles as icons ranged from being seductive and erotic to mythical and religious as they imparted social, political, and ethical values.
An illustration of Agaricus muscarius from Illustrations of British mycology by Anna Maria Hussey

The Fungi-Mad Ladies of Long Ago

In mycology’s early days, botanical drawing was, for some women, a calling. Their mushroom renderings were key to establishing this new field.