Punch vs. Tea in the 18th Century
In the 18th century, whether a person drank punch or tea revealed a lot about gender, stereotypes, sociability, and domesticity.
Emma Amos’s Family Romance
Postmodernist painter and printmaker Emma Amos makes artwork that references historical figures as well as her family legacy.
Codifying What Counts as a Word in Scrabble
Alfred M. Butts first created a word game called Lexico (or Lexiko) for his family in 1931. His business partner renamed it Scrabble.
Wampum was Massachusetts’ First Legal Currency
First Nations' seashell-derived wampum was Massachusetts' first legal currency, used as currency throughout northeastern America into the 19th century.
What Hippie Commune Cookbooks Reveal About Communal Living
The cookbooks of the communes of the 1960s and 1970s share the recipes and politics of the era, and still speak to us today about what we eat and why.
A Puritan War on Wigs
In colonial New England, moral quandaries were everywhere. A surprisingly big one in the 17th and 18th century was whether it was okay to wear a wig.
The Rise and Fall of the Supersonic Concorde
Once a major advancement in aircraft technology, the Concorde jet was retired in 2003.
Suggested Readings: Zombie Fungus, Helpful Dogs, and the 19th Century #MeToo
Well-researched stories from around the web that bridge the gap between news and scholarship. Brought to you each Tuesday from the editors of JSTOR Daily.
The Truth About Sherlock Holmes: He’s Actually Henry David Thoreau
A tongue in cheek comparison between the British fictional sleuth and the American Transcendentalist author, just because.
The Joy of Fasting
Fasting was once a religious endeavor. The idea that skipping meals could lead to improved health emerged around the turn of the twentieth century.