JSTOR Daily published a more than 650 stories in 2023, with topics ranging from chess to climate justice, diamonds to dancers. Here are a few of our editors’ favorite stories. As always, each of these stories includes free, open links to relevant scholarship on JSTOR. Happy New Year!
Mills Panoram and Soundies
February 22, 2023
In the 1940s, these short films set to music transgressed Hollywood’s racial mythology to create space for Black artists to experiment—and have fun.
Chess, Unlike War, is a Game of Perfect Information
April 12, 2023
The late poet Charles Simic was a chess prodigy who used the queen and her court to conjure a hellscape that invoked a childhood in war-time Belgrade.
Climate Justice as Climate Reparations
December 7, 2023
Climate justice activists want countries of the Global North to make up for centuries of uneven industrialization, deforestation, extraction, and consumption.
“The Poet Is a Man Who Feigns”
September 20, 2023
Portuguese modernist Fernando Pessoa channeled a grand, glorious chorus of writers—heteronyms, he called them—robust inventions of his unique imagination.
Marshall Islands Wave Charts
February 23, 2023
Charts constructed of carefully bound sticks served as memory aids, allowing sailors of the Marshall Islands to navigate between the islands by feel.
Workers of the World, Take PTO!
April 26, 2023
Vacations in the Soviet Union were hardly idylls spent with one’s dearest. Everything about them—from whom you traveled with to what you ate—was state determined.
The 1970s Cow Mutilation Mystery
March 17, 2023
When ranchers began reporting incidents of mutilated cattle, the ensuing panic fed both conspiracy theories and a growing cynicism about the government.
Suicide by Proxy
March 13, 2023
In early Modern Europe, suicide was a sin to be punished with eternal damnation. Some women found an awful workaround: committing murder.
The First Famous Football Team Behind Bars
February 8, 2023
Sing Sing's football team, The Black Sheep, ascended to fame even though its players were incarcerated. One player was so good, he signed with the Eagles.
Slavery and the Modern-Day Prison Plantation
November 8, 2023
"Except as punishment for a crime," reads the constitutional exception to abolition. In prison plantations across the United States, slavery thrives.
Scrub-a-Dub in a Medieval Tub
November 22, 2023
Contrary to popular misconceptions, Europeans in the Middle Ages took pains to keep themselves clean.
Reading Between the Lines of an “Americanization” Campaign
June 7, 2023
Manuals used to teach “American” ways of homemaking in California c. 1915–1920 offer a rare opportunity to hear the voices of Mexican immigrant women.
Country Roads and City Scenes in Japanese Woodblock Prints
March 31, 2023
Explore two centuries of printmaking—from Hokusai and Hiroshige through Hiratsuka—in this online collection shared by Boston College.
The Gruesome History of Ohio’s “Fingers in the Jar”
August 19, 2023
Three of Mary Bach’s fingers, hacked off by her murderous husband in 1881, were displayed in a jar for more than a century in Bowling Green, Ohio.
Empress Matilda, George R. R. Martin’s Muse
August 15, 2023
Like the fictional character she inspired, Matilda was at the center of a civil war, fighting her own relatives for control of the royal throne.
Remembering Her Memories: Lucille Clifton’s Generations in Our Time
February 1, 2023
The poet stares history down in an artful, Whitman-infused exploration of traumas her family endured and survived.
Who and What Was a Knocker-Upper?
September 5, 2023
Pour one out for the people paid to rouse the workers of industrial Britain.
Marion Mahony Griffin, Prairie School Architect
July 11, 2023
A founding member of the Prairie School, Mahony defined the movement’s now-familiar aesthetic for a global audience.
“Zombie” Anthony Comstock Walks Among US (Again)
April 19, 2023
Or, how a moribund act of legislation continues to shape the fight for reproductive rights in the United States.
Game, Saw, Conquered: Nationalism in Indonesian Video Games
August 24, 2023
Whether in cutscenes or gameplay, multi-player video games can help rewrite history or encourage an investment in national sovereignty.
The Enduring Appeal of Architect Geoffrey Bawa
June 18, 2023
Bawa's global travels helped him to create buildings and landscapes that are inextricably linked to Sri Lankan sensibilities and craftsmanship.
Gibraltar: Where Two Worlds Meet, the Monkeys Roam
September 15, 2023
Home to the genetically unique Barbary macaques, Gibraltar serves up an intriguing mix of European cultures to residents and tourists alike.
Dervla Murphy: The Godmother of Hitting the Road
November 20, 2023
Perhaps the greatest female travel writer of her generation, Murphy defied the narrative of the dutiful Irish daughter—and motherhood—to find freedom.
Shine On You Eagle Diamond
September 13, 2023
The year 1893 was a big one for Eagle, Wisconsin. Workers found a huge diamond on the Devereaux farm: sixteen carats, uncut, and now, all these years later, missing.
Plant of the Month: London Rocket
March 30, 2023
London rocket was observed in abundance following the Great Fire of London in 1666, but why does this non-native weed still interest English botanists?
The Serpentine Career of Loïe Fuller
September 27, 2023
Rising from the ranks of touring comedies and Wild West shows, the American dancer dreamed of a future of light, movement, and metamorphosis.
The Surprising Contents of an American POW’s Journal
August 15, 2023
There were 35 million prisoners of war held during World War II. One soldier's diary full of collages and drawings brings a human dimension to that number.
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