Water Logs
Log drivers once steered loose timber on rivers across America before railroad expansion put such shepherds out of work.
Athanasius Kircher’s “Musical Ark”
The first algorithmically generated music came to us in the seventeenth century, courtesy of Kircher and his Arca musarithmica.
The Serpentine Career of Loïe Fuller
Rising from the ranks of touring comedies and Wild West shows, the American dancer dreamed of a future of light, movement, and metamorphosis.
Florence Baker, Unsung Survivor
Narrowly escaping slavery herself, Baker risked her life to repress the Saharan slave trade, sought the source of the Nile, and challenged Victorian social conventions.
Gibraltar: Where Two Worlds Meet, the Monkeys Roam
Home to the genetically unique Barbary macaques, Gibraltar serves up an intriguing mix of European cultures to residents and tourists alike.
Searching for Queer Spaces
The dominant heteroview of architectural history means we may lose our queer spaces and their histories before we even know they exist.
Who and What Was a Knocker-Upper?
Pour one out for the people paid to rouse the workers of industrial Britain.
Ireland’s Upper Sea
In medieval Ireland, ships that sailed across the sky were both marvelous and mundane.
Public Media and the Infrastructure of Democracy
Federal support for broadband expansion reflects the understanding that communication is as vital as roadways to the republic.
The Triumphalism of American Wild West Shows
From the 1880s to the 1930s, hundreds of Wild West shows encouraged white audiences to view Native American culture as a rapidly vanishing curiosity.