A Hawaiian postcard, 1962

Consuming Hawai‘i’s Golden People

With statehood in 1959 came “Aloha Spirit” tourism, turning Hawai‘i’s ethnic diversity into a commodity that benefited both business and US foreign policy.
A pedestrian uses the press-button system in order to cross the road in Croydon, London, 1932

Look Both Ways

With the arrival of the automobile, governments had to scramble to find ways to protect and control pedestrian use of the road.

The Partisans of Modena

The legacy of anti-Mussolini resistance in the northern Italian city endures as fascist impulses once again loom.
Fairy King and Queen, 1910

Building a Fairy Kingdom in Britain

Around the fourteenth century, folk and literary traditions concerning elves, demons, and other creatures coalesced into a unified fairy kingdom.
Etching of Catherine of Aragon by Wenceslaus Hollar (Bohemian, 1607-1677)

Catherine of Aragon: Europe’s First Female Ambassador

Remembered as the wife Henry VIII brushed aside for Anne Boleyn, Catherine of Aragon was viewed as a strong leader and diplomat in her own lifetime.
The Devonshire Manuscript facsimile 6v

The Devonshire Manuscript

The sixteenth-century handwritten collection of poetry and commentary offers a glimpse of intellectual life at the court of King Henry VIII.
The Rosetta Stone

Jean-François Champollion Deciphers the Rosetta Stone

On September 27, 1822, the French philologist announced that he’d decrypted the key that would unlock Egypt’s ancient past.
The second page of Austen's The History of England, with illustrations by Cassandra Austen

Jane Austen’s Mock History Book

Working with her sister, Cassandra, the teenaged Austen composed a satirical send-up of England's monarchs.
Harvey Milk at Gay Pride, San Jose 1978

Harvey Milk’s Gay Freedom Day Speech: Annotated

Five months before his assassination in 1978, Harvey Milk called on the president of the United States to defend the rights of gay and lesbian Americans.
A meeting of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) leaders, c.1906 - c.1907

Can a Woman Be a Genius?

Many Edwardian progressives and utopians put their hopes in the exceptional individual who was able to overcome obstacles with a force of will.