Civil War

Children have been crippled by land mines in Cambodia.

The Historic Innovation of Land Mines—And Why We've Struggled to Get Rid of Them

A number of researchers are developing tools to defuse or detonate land mines without harming civilians

Abraham Lincoln photographed shortly after the presidential election in November 1860, by Alex Hesler of Chicago, at Lincoln's home in Springfield, Illinois.

When Lincoln Was More a Politician Than an "Honest Abe"

He resorted to a dirty trick to embarrass a rival

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

This Map Shows Over a Century of Documented Lynchings in the United States

Mapping the history of racial terror

Some states still celebrate the birthdays of Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general, and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the same day.

Some States Celebrate MLK Day and Robert E. Lee’s Birthday on the Same Day

Martin Luther King, Jr. has been celebrated on the third Monday in January since the federal holiday was first observed in 1986

Civil Rights-era freedom riders are just one of the groups whose history is honored in three new national monuments.

New National Monuments Highlight Reconstruction and Civil Rights History

President Obama designated three Southern sites critical to sharing that story

Harriet Tubman in 1911. The later years of her life are being preserved at a new national historical park that bears her name.

Harriet Tubman Is Getting Her Own National Historical Park

The park will tell the story of Tubman’s later years

This six-shooter, in the collection of the National Museum of American History, is not the very first Colt six-shooter, but an updated, slightly lighter version Colt produced between 1848 and 1861.

On This Day in 1847, a Texas Ranger Walked Into Samuel Colt’s Shop and Said, Make Me a Six-Shooter

Samuel Colt was a clever marketer as well as a talented inventor

Several armed guards accompanied Luiz Rocha and his colleagues throughout their work in Somaliland.

Meet the Researchers Who Scour the World's Most Dangerous Corners in Search of Biological Riches

Militants, malaria and pirates are just some of the challenges these scientist-explorers face in their quest to map the world’s diversity

President Coolidge conducts the first official transatlantic phone call with the king of Spain in 1927

From the Telegram to Twitter, How Presidents Make Contact With Foreign Leaders

Does faster communication cause more problems than it solves?

A brittle letter addressed to Orrin W. Shephard of Croton, Newagyo Co., Michigan from his son Nelson.

Mystery Solved: A Michigan Woman Says She Mailed Civil War Letters to the Post Office

Smithsonian curator Nancy Pope learns how and why these letters showed up in the mail 153 years later

Confederate Memorial Day exercises at the Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia.

A Controversial Museum Tries to Revive the Myth of the Confederacy’s “Lost Cause”

The ideology has been used to whitewash slavery’s role in the Civil War for generations

When Was the First Map Produced and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

Re-enactor John Holman displays a newly discovered letter alongside period objects including a hardtack-crate desk.

Newly Discovered Letters Bring New Insight Into the Life of a Civil War Soldier

A mysterious package holds long-lost correspondence from a young Union infantryman

Sumando Ausencias (2016) Doris Salcedo

An Artist Blanketed Bogota’s Bolívar Square With the Names of Victims of Colombia’s Civil War

Remembering the dead as the country struggles to make peace

A set of Civil War-era cannonballs were uncovered on a South Carolina beach after Hurricane Matthew.

Civil War-Era Cannonballs Unearthed by Hurricane Matthew

The destructive storm dug up some old history

Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Colombian President Who Got Guerillas to Come to the Table

As Colombia faces an uncertain future, the Nobel Committee recognizes its president who has worked to broker peace

Why Do We Still Have Morse Code and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answer

The Williams Dreamland Theatre, Tulsa, OK, c. 1921

Your Questions About African-American History, Answered

A special edition of Ask Smithsonian on the occasion of the opening of a new Smithsonian museum

Once 2,000 square miles in Virginia and North Carolina, the swamp today is perhaps one-tenth that size.

Deep in the Swamps, Archaeologists Are Finding How Fugitive Slaves Kept Their Freedom

The Great Dismal Swamp was once a thriving refuge for runaways

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