JSTOR Daily Homepage - JSTOR Daily

Native American midwives weighing a crying Native Amerian child on a set of scales in the hospital at the Glacier National Park, in northwestern Montana, on the Canada–United States border, circa 1945

Call the Midwives—Assuming Any Are Left

While midwife-attended deliveries are the norm in the United Kingdom, they’re the exception in the United States. Time was, this difference wasn’t so stark.

In the Limelight

In the Palm of Your Hand

Palm reading, also known as palmistry or chiromancy, has fascinated us as a practice and a party trick for centuries.

Shared Collections

Can You Photograph a Ghost?

William Hope claimed to be able to document the visitations of ghosts. The controversial images he produced add to our understanding of the history of photography.

Unearthing Justice

Voting as a Tool for Environmental Justice

Casting a vote at your local polling place helps elect candidates who can enact environmental policies while in office. But is voting enough to bring change?

Reading Lists

All Travelers are Infiltrators: An Introduction to the Study of Travel Writing

Travel writing as a genre has arguably been around for centuries, but it didn’t emerge as a distinct field of academic study until the 1980s.

Most Recent

The crescent and star, a symbol of Islam

Business & Economics

The Rewards and Risks of Islamic Finance

The principles of Islamic finance date to the seventh century. What do they have to offer to the contemporary global financial system?

The covers of three Chinese Science Fiction novels

Arts & Culture

What’s so Chinese About Science Fiction from China?

Commentators have latched onto science fiction to explain all manner of social phenomena in China, from unemployment and the economy to air pollution.

In the Limelight

In the Palm of Your Hand

Palm reading, also known as palmistry or chiromancy, has fascinated us as a practice and a party trick for centuries.

Shared Collections

Can You Photograph a Ghost?

William Hope claimed to be able to document the visitations of ghosts. The controversial images he produced add to our understanding of the history of photography.

Unearthing Justice

Voting as a Tool for Environmental Justice

Casting a vote at your local polling place helps elect candidates who can enact environmental policies while in office. But is voting enough to bring change?

Reading Lists

All Travelers are Infiltrators: An Introduction to the Study of Travel Writing

Travel writing as a genre has arguably been around for centuries, but it didn’t emerge as a distinct field of academic study until the 1980s.

Suicide by Proxy

In early Modern Europe, suicide was a sin to be punished with eternal damnation. Some women found an awful workaround: committing murder.

A "Gremlin" decorates a B-1B aircraft of the 28th Bombardment Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, 1988

Arts & Culture

Ghosts in the Machine

Forty years ago, Hollywood made gremlins loveable—portraying them as adorable, furry creatures. Their folkloric origins are far more sinister.

Concert of Apollo and the Muses on Mount Helicon by Maerten van Heemskerck

Arts & Culture

A Brief History of the Muses

Scholar Alison Habens tells us more about the Greek goddesses who provided divine inspiration for ancient poets.

Long Reads

Poster for the film The Deadly Mantis, 1957

Arts & Culture

The War on Bugs

In the 1950s, supersized insects were the villains in a rash of big-screen horror movies. What did those monstrous roaches represent, and how were they vanquished?

Arts & Culture

Ghosts in the Machine

Forty years ago, Hollywood made gremlins loveable—portraying them as adorable, furry creatures. Their folkloric origins are far more sinister.

Politics & History

The Genocide Before the Shoah

For a century, Jews in Turkey have maintained a strategic silence when it comes to recognizing the Armenian genocide. Could that be changing?

The cover of Lost Literacies: Experiments in the Nineteenth-Century US Comic Strip

Art & Art History

Lost Literacies Strips Down the Dawn of Comics

In his new book, literary historian Alex Beringer demonstrates how the birth of the genre of printed comic long preceded the Sunday Funny Pages.

Editors' Picks

Education & Society

Jews vs. the “Judeo-Christian Tradition”

Since the 1930s, the idea of a “Judeo-Christian tradition” has been used in American politics, but some Jews have always taken issue with the entire concept.

Science & Technology

Ghost of the Forest: Monotropa uniflora

Look for this other-worldly plant in moist, shaded areas of mature forests throughout much of North America, East Asia, and northern South America.

Arts & Culture

Verbatim: Fredric Jameson

Marxist cultural critic Fredric Jameson offered a philosophy of late capitalism that gave us a language for talking about globalization and the end of modernism.

Politics & History

The Genocide Before the Shoah

For a century, Jews in Turkey have maintained a strategic silence when it comes to recognizing the Armenian genocide. Could that be changing?

Arts & Culture

Lost Literacies Strips Down the Dawn of Comics

In his new book, literary historian Alex Beringer demonstrates how the birth of the genre of printed comic long preceded the Sunday Funny Pages.

Quirky History

A detail from Portrait of Ferry Carondelet with his Secretary by Sebastiano del Piombo, 1510

The Merchants of Venice—In Code

Sixteenth-century Venice conducted its affairs in code, so much so that cryptology was professionalized and regulated by the state.

Two poachers with a sack. At their feet their lurcher dogs and the corpses of several hares.

Frederick Gowing, King of Poachers

The cultural construction of poaching meant Gowing’s trespasses were understood differently than other kinds of theft in an industrializing Britain.

A Selection of Student Confessions

Did you break a campus rule? Let the students of Millersville Normal School show you how to confess to the administration.

Shared Collections on JSTOR

A Purrrrfect Political Storm

Crazy cat ladies have come to dominate this election season. It’s hardly the first time.

A Selection of Student Confessions

Did you break a campus rule? Let the students of Millersville Normal School show you how to confess to the administration.

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.

Syllabus

Celebrating Indigenous Peoples and Cultures

More and more states are choosing to celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day instead of Columbus Day.

Voting in American Politics: A Syllabus

From battles to expand the franchise to the mysteries of turnout, voting is one of the most important things to understand about US politics.

An illustration of a hand holding a set of hand cuffs

A True Crime Syllabus

How did we become so obsessed with “true crime”? This multidisciplinary syllabus shows how we view crime as a whole and how those views have changed over time.

Reading Lists

Surrealist artists at the first Surrealist Exhibition to be held in London. Back row, from left, are Rupert Lee, Ruthven Todd, Salvador Dali, Paul Eluard, Roland Penrose, Herbert Read, E LT Mesens, George Reavey and Hugh Sykes-Davies. Front row, from left, Diana Lee, Nusch Eluard, Eileen Agar, Sheila Legge and unknown.

Surrealism at 100: A Reading List

On the centennial of the founding of Surrealism, this reading list examines its radical beginnings, its mass popularity, and its continued evolution.

A young woman sits on the grass with her baby, USA, circa 1975

Motherhood in America: A Reading List

The experience and work of motherhood remained understudied for generations, but since the 1970s, scholars have engaged with the topic in diverse ways.