Site of house of Garðar Svavarson, the first house built in Iceland.

On the Anniversary of Iceland’s Independence

Iceland is celebrating its 80th anniversary. Three photograph collections shared on JSTOR show how much has—and hasn’t—changed on the island since independence.
Design shows female with flag with "for the Union"

Capturing the Civil War

The images, diaries, and ephemera in Grand Valley State University’s Civil War and Slavery Collection reveal the cold realities of Abraham Lincoln’s world.
Group portrait of members of the Blackwell and Spofford families outside on a lawn. Photograph probably shows (back row, left to right): Dr. Emily Blackwell, Mr. Ainsworth Spofford, Alice Stone Blackwell, and Lucy Stone; (front row, left to right): Henry Browne Blackwell, Florence Spofford and Mrs. Sarah (Partridge) Spofford. (Source: similar image at Harvard University, Schlesinger Library, Blackwell Family Papers)

Archival Adventures in the Abernethy Collection

An archival collection shared by Middlebury College invites the curious to make connections across the history of American literature.
A collage of cover images from Johns Hopkins’ Collection of Middle East-inspired Sheet Music

Sheet Music: the Original Problematic Pop?

A Johns Hopkins University curator of sheet music and pop culture discusses a “Middle East-inspired” sheet-music collection that’s anything but.
James G. Birney

The Power of Pamphlets in the Anti-Slavery Movement

Black-authored print was central to James G. Birney’s conversion from enslaver to abolitionist and presidential candidate.
A front exterior view, Everyman's House

The Tiny House Trend Began 100 Years Ago

In 1924, sociologist and social reformer Caroline Bartlett Crane designed an award-winning tiny home in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
The Confederate States almanac for 1862

On Harvests and Histories

Almanacs from the Civil War era reveal how two sides of an embattled nation used data from the natural world to legitimize their claims to statehood.
A map that shows mountains and roads in Xigu Cheng

Maps, Power, and Identity

The Ancient East Asian Maps Collection at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology demonstrates the power held and discursive work done by mapmakers.
A spread from a yearbook featuring a collage of black and white photographs of students around campus and Portland

Keep Portland Yearbook Photos Weird

Across thousands of images, Portland State University's yearbooks captured both society's upheaval and the city's cultural metamorphosis.