The Governess, in Her Own Written Words
Although few women were employed as governesses in Victorian Britain, their potential for social and class transgression left Britons awash with worry.
Eisenhower and the Real-Life Nautilus
The voyage of the USS Nautilus under the North Pole in August 1958 was a strategic use of technological spectacle as propaganda under Eisenhower.
Endangered: North American Cricket
Cricket was played and cheered in the United States and Canada in the nineteenth century. Why did it fall out of favor with sports fans?
Monastic Chant: Praising God Out Loud
For medieval monks, chant was often a crucial part of worship, but theologians had different ideas about how the words and sounds helped evoke piety.
The Scientists, the Engineers, and the Water Wheel
In the eighteenth century, a mathematician, an astronomer, and an engineer each tried to apply their expertise to increasing the efficiency of water wheels.
Reclaiming a Coal Town
When the coal business tanked in the 1930s, the company town of Pardeesville, Pennsylvania, briefly transformed itself through collective action.
Printing Anarchy
The stock figure of the “anarchist” is a bomb-thrower or assassin, but political scientist Kathy E. Ferguson argues it should be a printer.
Gonna Make You a (Bangsawan) Star
The bangsawan theater in early twentieth-century Malaya offered women a chance to build a public identity beyond marriage and motherhood.
The Complex History of American Dating
While going out on a date may seem like a natural thing to do these days, it wasn't always the case.
Richard Nixon Redux
On the fiftieth anniversary of US President Richard M. Nixon’s resignation from office, we offer a collection of stories to contextualize his decision.