A Century Ago, Women Played Ice Hockey
Ice hockey came to the U.S. from Canada at the end of the nineteenth century. Women started playing immediately, forming their own clubs.
Sewing Saved Us from a “Cold Snap” 13 Thousand Years Ago
Sewing a full winter outfit from animal hides took 105 hours. And we needed lots of them to survive the Younger Dryas Cold Event.
Where Do Finger Names Come From?
Our names for our fingers show a surprising depth of cultural variation—and similarity.
The Invention of the Archive
Seventeenth-century scholars were horrified by how much ancient knowledge had been lost when the monasteries dispersed.
Why Ottoman Sultans Locked Away Their Brothers
Fratricide among rival princes was legal and widely practiced until 1603, so confinement to the palace was actually an improvement.
The Anti-Jewish Tropes in How the Grinch Stole Christmas
You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch. You’re in keeping with the medieval tradition of viewing the Jew as an outcast and a baleful force in society.
Bolívar in Haiti
Simón Bolívar was a man of contradiction. He was willing to set in motion the gradual abolition of slavery, but that would be as far as he would go.
Vulgarity: An Alternative Language of the People
Was Francis Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue the font of all popular culture studies?
Yes, Women Participated in the Gold Rush
“Conventional wisdom tells us that the gold rush was a male undertaking,” writes the historian Glenda Riley. But women were there, too.