American History

The first "phone book" (really a one-page sheet) came long before phones like this, but it was an important step towards the printed directories that were ubiquitous in the twentieth century and are now often considered outdated.

The First Telephone Book Had Fifty Listings and No Numbers

It came out less than two years after Alexander Graham Bell invented the device

This photo shows the Berkeley 60-inch cyclotron, build in 1939. The year before, technetium-99 was discovered by Emilio Segrè and Glenn Seaborg using the facility's 37-inch cyclotron. Ernest Lawrence, the cyclotron's inventor, is standing, third from left.

Old Particle Accelerator Tech Might Be Just What the Doctor Ordered

Shortages of important supplies for nuclear medicine has researchers looking for answers on how to produce technetium-99

The original design patent for the Statue of Liberty included this image, which isn't the final picture of what it would look like, but shows how far Bartholdi's image was developed by the time he applied for the patent.

The Statue of Liberty Was Once Patented

Reading the original patent documents can help us learn more about this history of this American icon

An 1817 illustration of a draisine.

This Wooden Running Machine Was Your Fixie’s Great-Great Grandpa

The draisine was invented as a potential replacement for the horse during a shortage

Joshua Speed found his BFF in Abraham Lincoln.

The True Friendship That Saved Abraham Lincoln's Life

Before he was president, Lincoln's lasting relationship with Joshua Speed brought him out of the doldrums of despair

Benjamin Montgomery succeeded despite being refused a patent.

With Patents or Without, Black Inventors Reshaped American Industry

American slaves couldn't hold property, including patents on their own inventions. But that didn't stop black Americans from innovating in our country

The first-known photograph of the White House, by John Plumbe, Jr.

Five Cool Finds From Google Arts & Culture's Presidents' Day Collection

The platform is sharing more than 2,000 items steeped in political history

An undated photo of video-game pioneer Roberta Williams during the early days of Sierra On-Line, the company she and her husband founded.

The Pioneer of Graphic Adventure Games Was a Woman

Mystery House was the first home computer game ever to include graphics as well as text

A former McDonald's, now a museum in Illinois. Richard "Dick" McDonald, one of the two McDonald brothers who started the chain (and who is played by Nick Offerman in a new movie) invented both the Golden Arches and the "over 1 million sold" sign.

Nick Offerman’s Character in “The Founder” Is Based on This Real Historical Figure

Richard “Dick” McDonald’s story in the film is true — to a degree

The phone that made the first 9-1-1 call in the U.S. is still in Haleyville, Alabama, now on display in the town's City Hall.

'9-1-1' Has Meant 'Help, Please' Since 1968

The first 911 call ever placed came from the small town of Haleyville, Alabama

Interior of Historic RCA Studio B today.

Play Paul Simon's Piano or Croon Into Elvis' Mic at These Seven Historic Recording Studios

Take a tour through Americana music history

Clifford the Big Red Dog has been delighting children for years. This collection was released by Scholastic in honor of the pooch's 50th birthday in 2013.

The Aww-Inspiring Origins of Clifford the Big Red Dog

Norman Bridwell, Clifford’s creator, was also a lot like his creation

One of the first teddy bears has been in the Smithsonian's collection for over a half-century.

Some of the Most Important (and Cutest) Teddy Bear Moments of the Past 114 Years

The American toy was introduced in 1903, and almost immediately made its mark

The "Little Laundress" was manufactured by a sister company to the one that invented the Erector Set.

This Sexist 1920s Toy is Part of the Reason for the Women in STEM Gap

Boys got Erector Sets. Girls got this stellar consolation prize

At the National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas, 20,000 women convened to debate the issues that affected them. Here, Congresswoman Bella Abzug (D-N.Y.), wearing her trademark hat, and Betty Friedan (left, in red coat).

The 1977 Conference on Women's Rights That Split America in Two

Feminism and the conservative movement clashed over issues such as abortion and LGBTQ rights

A segregated bus stop in North Carolina.

The Complicated Racial Politics of Going “Undercover” to Report on the Jim Crow South

How one journalist became black to investigate segregation and what that means today

Esther Howland popularized and mass-produced Valentine's Day cards like this one, using lace and colorful paper.

How to Make an Authentic Civil War Valentine

Handmade Valentine cards were popularized (and commercialized) in the U.S. during the Civil War years

From left to right: Bernard Baruch, Norman H. Davis, Vance McCormick, Herbert Hoover

The Century-Long History of Tapping Wall Street to Run the Government

Looking to the one-percent to lead the country goes back to the era of World War I

These grainy images, thought to have been originally published in a magazine dedicated to the paranormal, are all that remain of the "Coso artifact." The object itself hasn't been seen in decades. Clockwise from top: The "geode" in which the artifact was found, an x-ray of the interior, and a side view after the "geode" had been cut in half.

When Some 1920s Garbage Was Mistaken for an Ancient Artifact

The "Coso Artifact" was fuel for those who want to believe that the truth is out there

After the defeat of Cleopatra's forces by Octavian (later Augustus, emperor of Rome), the Egyptian queen and her lover Marc Antony fled to Egypt. In Shakespeare's imagining, one of Cleopatra's greatest fears was the the horrid breath of the Romans. Shown here: "The Death of Cleopatra" by Reginald Arthur, 1892.

The History and Science Behind Your Terrible Breath

Persistent mouth-stink has been dousing the flames of passion for millennia. Why haven’t we come up with a cure?

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