Celebrate World Bear Day!
The joy and concern we feel on World Bear Day perfectly represents our complicated—and sometimes contradictory—feelings about these massive mammals.
The Scholars Charting Black Music’s Timeline: Douglas Henry Daniels & Paul Austerlitz
Daniels and Austerlitz tell the story of jazz, from its origins in the blues, gospel, and funk to its impact on music around the world.
Christmastime in 1960s Japan
In the years following World War II, the Japanese people looked to Santa Claus as a symbol of not just kindness and beneficence, but of modernity.
Edmund Dulac’s Fairy Tales Go to War
One of the best-known illustrators of the “golden age of children’s gift books,” Dulac was also a subtle purveyor of Allied propaganda during the Great War.
Halloween: A Mystic and Eerie Significance
Despite the prevalence of tricks and spooky spirits in earlier years, the American commercial holiday didn’t develop until the middle of the twentieth century.
How to Use a Ouija Board
Read on, but beware, these tales of spine-tingling ghosts and eerie spirits...
Vampires and Public Health
At the end of the nineteenth century, the people of Rhode Island were drained by a mysterious force that caused them to slowly waste away.
Slumber Parties and Folklore
Slumber party rituals are indeed alive and well, and being passed down to the next generation in person and online.
The Plagiarism Scandal That Ended Nella Larsen’s Career
Larsen's 1930 story "Sanctuary" had a similar plot to an earlier British story. So what? Perhaps the tale never really belonged to either writer.
Plant of the Month: Elderberry
The recent entrance of elderberry into mainstream success is marked by an increasing popular desire to engage with traditional, “natural” remedies.