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Libertas Americana medal 

America's 250th Anniversary

Benjamin Franklin Styled Lady Liberty’s Look in This Medal He Commissioned to Honor American and French Allies in the Revolutionary War

Franklin combined art with diplomacy to create the Libertas Americana. For the United States’ 250th anniversary, the Paris Mint is giving the design a refresh

Baptism records identifying the boy

New Clues Help Solve the Mystery of an Enslaved Boy Pictured in a Portrait by a Leading English Artist

An oil painting by Joshua Reynolds features a named naval officer and a Black child whose life story was unknown until researchers searched through captains’ logs, letters and admiralty records

Two U.S. Navy officers stroll past the sunlit Georgian splendor of Middleton Tavern in Annapolis, Maryland. Horatio Middleton established the tavern here in 1750. Today, visitors can order classic Chesapeake seafood, including oysters and rockfish.

America's 250th Anniversary

Follow in the Footsteps of the Founders and Have a Drink Where They Planned the Revolution Over a Few Beers

Taverns, public houses and inns served as meeting places before the war and unofficial headquarters during it. Some still stand—including these nine, where you can raise a glass in memory of the founders

The Green Dragon Tavern, a coffeehouse in Boston that served as a meeting place for the Sons of Liberty

America's 250th Anniversary

In Colonial America, Patriots Flocked to Coffeehouses to Debate Politics and Sow the Seeds of Revolution

These storied establishments served up more than just hot drinks. They acted as intellectual hubs and meeting places for dissenters

Emerson was among the leaders of the transcendental movement in Boston.

This 1837 Harvard Speech by Ralph Waldo Emerson Inspired a Generation of American Writers to Declare Their Independence From ‘the Courtly Muses of Europe’

His address advocated for scholars of the young United States to be less “timid,” “imitative” and “tame”

This John Trumbull painting of the Battle of Bunker Hill presents a romanticized version of Joseph Warren's death.

America's 250th Anniversary

This Forgotten Founding Father Hoped to ‘Die Up to My Knees in Blood’ in the Fight for American Independence. He Got His Wish

Joseph Warren was a key leader of the American Revolution, mobilizing troops and managing a circle of spies. But he’s mainly remembered for his death at the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775

An 1864 statue of George Washington is silhouetted against the night sky.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

Get Into the Revolutionary Spirit With These Beautiful Photographs of Boston

Massachusetts’ capital city offers American history lessons at every turn

In Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1861 poem "Paul Revere's Ride," the 40-year-old silversmith was a lone hero who "spread the alarm / through every Middlesex village and farm."

America's 250th Anniversary

Paul Revere Wasn’t the Only Midnight Rider Who Dashed Through the Darkness to Warn the Patriots That the British Were Coming

Revere, who was later immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem, was one of many riders who rode through the countryside, spreading the alarm on April 18, 1775

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There's More to That

Dive Into the Deeper Story of the American Revolution on How New England and Virginia United Against the British

Inside the steeple of Old North Church and among the Southern Colonies, less familiar stories of the events from 250 years ago emerge

Rebecca Lee Crumpler's gravestone was only installed in 2020, 125 years after her death in 1895.

Women Who Shaped History

The Nation’s First Black Female Doctor Blazed a Path for Women in Medicine. But She Was Left Out of the Story for Decades

After earning a medical degree in 1864, Rebecca Lee Crumpler died in obscurity and was buried without a headstone

Postman Joseph Roulin, Vincent van Gogh, 1888

Why Did Vincent van Gogh Paint 26 Portraits of a Postman and His Family While Staying in the South of France?

The artist met Joseph Roulin, a 47-year-old postal worker, in the late 1880s. The series of artworks will be reunited at upcoming exhibitions in Boston and Amsterdam

“Here … we claim the first blow was struck in the war of independence,” wrote Salem historian Charles Moses Endicott in his account of Leslie's Retreat.

America's 250th Anniversary

Was This Little-Known Standoff Between British Soldiers and Colonists the Real Start of the American Revolution?

On February 26, 1775, residents of Salem, Massachusetts, banded together to force the British to withdraw from their town during an oft-overlooked encounter known as Leslie’s Retreat

Best known for her semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar and poetry collections The Colossus and Ariel, Plath sourced much of the fodder for these great works from the troubled last years of her life.

On This Day in History

When This Brilliant Author Died, She Left Behind a Legacy of Grief, Haunting Poetry and Surprising Resilience

Modern accounts of Sylvia Plath’s renowned work and legacy seek to highlight the author’s resilience through a decade-long journey of depression

A pink man looking into a bar at the Vermillion Club in Boston

These Massive Inflatable Pink Men Are Waving From Rooftops and Peering Into Windows in Boston

Created by French artist Phillippe Katerine, the figures are part of an artistic movement known as Mignonisme, which promotes the aesthetics of cuteness

Atop Faneuil Hall sits a grasshopper weather vane, imitating a similar one on London’s Royal Exchange.

America's 250th Anniversary

Why Faneuil Hall Is the Perfect Metaphor for the American Revolution’s Complicated Definition of Liberty

How a lively market on Boston Harbor became part of many defining moments of the Colonial and Revolutionary eras

Harriet Bell Hayden 

The Remarkable Life of One of Boston’s Most Fervent and Daring Abolitionists

Harriet Bell Hayden is believed to have helped hundreds of people fleeing slavery from her Beacon Hill residence

Painted around 1730, the angels were covered up in 1912.

Conservators Are Uncovering Elaborate Angel Murals Hidden Behind Seven Layers of White Paint at a Colonial-Era Church

The colorful wall paintings adorn Boston’s Old North Church, which played a crucial role during Paul Revere’s famed 1775 midnight ride

This necklace was likely stolen from a Turkish archaeological site in 1976.

Boston Museum Returns Looted 2,700-Year-Old Necklace to Turkey

The gold and carnelian artifact is nearly identical to other jewelry found at an archaeological site in western Turkey

The five musket balls were found near the Concord River in Massachusetts, just under 20 miles northwest of Boston.

Cool Finds

Musket Balls Fired in Early Revolutionary War Battle Unearthed in Concord

Colonial militiamen fired the lead balls on April 19, 1775—and likely missed their mark

Not everyone was a fan of rumor clinics. Some critics faulted them for helping hearsay reach an even larger audience.

History of Now

World War II ‘Rumor Clinics’ Helped America Battle Wild Gossip

Newspapers and magazines across the United States published weekly columns debunking lurid claims that were detrimental to the war effort

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