The Tamest Grizzly of Yellowstone

Adored by tourists and studied by scientists, a grizzly mother named Sylvia became an emblem of the fragile balance between humans and the wild.
Three colorful shapes against a black background demonstrating the idea of national parks and public lands

The Victory of Public Lands

Most Americans agree on the value of preserving public lands. How did the idea of public lands come about, and how can we ensure they exist in the future?
A view of the landscape seen along the Golden Gate Trail in the Paradise area of Mount Rainier National Park, Washington.

The Promise and Problems of Public Lands: A Reading List

Discover key research on U.S. public lands through scholarly works exploring conservation, Indigenous knowledge, and public policy.
Theodore Roosevelt speaking with reporters

The President and the Press Corps

Theodore Roosevelt was the first White House occupant to seek control over how newspapers covered him.
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erie_Canal,_Lockport_New_York,_c.1855.jpg

The Erie Canal at 200

Finished in October 1825, the Erie Canal connected increasingly specialized regions, altering the economic landscape of the northeast United States.
The Fifteenth Amendment and its results, drawn by G.F. Kahl, 1870

The Fifteenth Amendment: Annotated

The brevity of the Fifteenth Amendment of the US Constitution belies its impact on American voting rights.
"The trek of bums, tramps, single transients and undesirable indigents out of Los Angeles County because of police activity." Photographed by Dorothea Lange.

Los Angeles’s War on Tramps

In the 1880s, Los Angeles began a large-scale project of incarcerating unemployed men whom they viewed as a threat to the vigor of white America.
Aerial shot of an autumn sunset over the Long Island Sound taken from Port Washington, NY

The Long and Winding Island

New York’s Long Island has long served as a backdrop for social and political conflicts between the newly arrived and the established residents.
pumpkins, squashes and gourds , dried a corn cob with kernels and dried beans were randomly spread on a wooden plate on a black background.

The Macronutrients of the Three Sisters System

If the intercropping of beans, squash, and corn produces smaller yields, why did the the Haudenosaunee prefer the Three Sisters system?
Dancers prepare to enter the contest powwow at the 100th Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial at Red Rock Park on August 13, 2022

Honoring Indigenous Peoples’ Day: A Reading List

With scholarship on Indigenous knowledge, environmental justice, resistance, and decolonization, this list honors Native sovereignty and self-determination.