Child workers at Avondale Mills, 1910

The Age of the Birth Certificate

When states began restricting labor by children, verifying a person's age became an important means of enforcement.
Freedom House library, September 1964

Freedom Libraries and the Fight for Library Equity

Freedom libraries in the south provided Black residents with access to spaces and books, whether in church basements or private homes.
Spring desert wildflowers in Anza Borrego Desert State Park, CA

Making the (California) Desert Bloom

The question of Zionism in post World War II America did not have a single answer. One group proposed bringing agriculture to the California desert instead.
FNV headquarters occupied by sympathizers of the British mine strikers; the police remove the activists

How LGBTQ Groups Supported Striking Miners vs. Thatcher

During a national miners strike, LGBT activists became unexpected allies, united against the Thatcher government.
The cover of Adelante from April 1, 1972

50 Years Later: The Evolution of Prison Policy

Buried within Adelante is evidence of a fleeting attempt at prison reform and oversight in Connecticut. Is history repeating itself?
Mayan zodiac circle

How the Maya Kept Time

Many scholars contrast linear and cyclical time and note that cycles were an important part of Maya concepts of temporal reality.
A print based on David Gilmour Blythe's fanciful painting of Lincoln writing the Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation: Annotated

Abraham Lincoln proclaimed freedom for enslaved people in America on January 1, 1863. Today, we've annotated the Emancipation Proclamation for readers.
A bull elk searches for food beneath the snow in Yellowstone National Park

Our Most Popular Stories of 2021

This year, readers were into peanut butter and jelly, semi-conductors, bayonets, Victorian knitting manuals, plus the hard-working dogs of Medieval Europe.
An advertisement for Burdock Blood Bitters

Our Writers’ Favorite Stories of 2021

Without our writers (and editors and fact checkers and producers) and you, we're nothing.
Limnoria quadripunctata, male and female, ventral view.

How “Termites of the Sea” Have Shaped Maritime Technology

These small marine pests have been eating our ships for millennia, forcing us to keep building better boats throughout history.