Letters reveal how language changes. They also offer a peek into the way people--especially women--have always constructed their private and public selves.

Though he was once dismissed as a dilettante, naturalist Francis Willughby was in fact part of the vanguard of observation-based modern science.

May of 1568 was a fateful month for Mary, Queen of Scots. She managed to escape prison, but only to be being defeated in battle soon after. Then she made the fateful decision to run to England.

London's winters used to colder—and a bit more magical, thanks to chilly conditions on the Thames River. "Frost fairs" were popular public celebrations.

Fake news has plenty of precedents in the history of mass media, and particularly, in the history of American journalism.

The Stamp Act of 1765, which inspired the “taxation without representation” cry, imposed taxes that outraged specific groups of people.

Before Audubon (1785-1851), there was Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) the "father of American ornithology"

In the rare book world, the earliest printed books are known as incunables or incunabula.

For scholars of American history, letter-writing makes historical research possible.