The Surprising Backstory of Victory Gardens
In World War I, the Victory Garden movement encouraged people to grow their own food to conserve home-front supplies. But kids' gardens had planted the roots.
Joan of Arc, for Fascists and Feminists
As Catholics mark the centennial of her canonization, it’s clear that there is more than one Joan of Arc. How did that happen?
Doctors Have Always Been Against High-Heeled Shoes
Every generation of medical professionals has issued the same warnings about high heels. For hundreds of years.
The Black Nurse Who Drove Integration of the U.S. Nurse Corps
In World War II, Mabel Keaton Staupers tirelessly fought for the integration of the Army and Navy Nurse Corps—and eventually won.
Nurses Have Always Been Heroes
Nothing drives that home more than this amazing photo collection from the Philadelphia General Hospital School of Nursing.
“Beating the Bounds”
How did people find out where their local boundaries were before there were reliable maps?
Has the U.S. Government Abandoned Birds?
Recent changes to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 leave birds vulnerable to industry, experts say.
How Reading Got Farm Women Through the Depression
They worked over sixty hours a week but were also insatiable readers.
Was Russia Destined to Be an Autocracy?
The most important factors that steered Russia away from democracy, says one scholar, weren't inevitable.
How to Memorialize a Plague
Vienna's baroque Plague Column, completed in 1693, gave thanks for the survival of a city.