circa 1955: American humorist and author John Henry Faulk (1913 - 1990), narrates the history of early America in a still from the television program,'They Call It Folk Music.' (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Hearing Harriet Smith

In the University of Texas library, our writer found a previously unknown audiotape of an interview with a woman who'd been born into slavery.
Ladies outside for a book club meeting.

Women’s Groups and the Rise of the Book Club

The history of the book club.
Oil painting of a wet nurse holding an infant

The Lifesaving, Horrifying History of Wet Nurses

The history of wet nurses
The Ashley Madison website sign-up window

Adultery and Secret Lives Way Before Ashley Madison

Long before Ashley Madison, married people found ways to cheat.
Close-up of a dial pack of birth control pills

Birth Control’s Slow Path to the Mainstream

A look at changing public opinion of birth control.
"Lincoln debating Douglas" by Cool10191. Licensed under Public Domain via <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lincoln_debating_douglas.jpg#/media/File:Lincoln_debating_douglas.jpg" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a>

Unlocking Your Ancestor’s Political Leanings

Ethnicity and job occupation are but a few factors in tracing the political leanings of your ancestors.
A woman in a hospital gown sitting on a hospital bed with a doctor behind her

What Mid-20th Century Gynecologists Were Taught About Female Sexuality

Gynecologists of the past would be shocked by today's insights on female sexuality.
Dr. Ossian Sweet Courtesy of the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library http://digitalcollections.detroitpubliclibrary.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A143138

Dr. Ossian Sweet’s Black Life Mattered

It has been 90 years since Ossian Sweet tried to move into his new home; since police stood by and did nothing as a mob threw rocks.
Black and white photograph of “369th 15th New York” from World War I

World War I Vets as the Vanguard of the ‘New Negro’

World War I saw several hundred thousand African-American soldiers discharged from a virulently segregated U.S. military into a virulently segregated society
Older black and white photograph of the all female staff at Bryn Mawr summer school

Class, Feminism and the Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers

A paper for Pennsylvania History looked at the way elite & working-class feminists worked together to create the Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers.