Industrial Revolution

An early oil well.

A Civil War Colonel Invented Fracking in the 1860s

His first invention was an 'oil well torpedo,' but it was followed by others

In 19th century England, women often had fewer legal protections than animals, even in cases involving murder.

“Are Women Animals?” Asked One 19th-Century Letter Writer

If women couldn't have the rights of full human beings, "An Earnest Englishwoman" asked, could they at least have as many legal protections as animals?

The caption to this cartoon from 'Scribner's Monthly' reads "Henry Bergh on Duty"

The ASPCA’s Founder Was Known as “The Great Meddler”

Although Bergh's efforts to prevent animal cruelty weren't well-received by all, the ASPCA did change how animals were seen in the United States

Portrait of women shirtwaist strikers holding copies of "The Call," a socialist newspaper, in 1910

The American Garment Workers Who Helped Inspire International Women’s Day

Jobs in the garment industry were some of the first to empower women in the industrial workforce

A portrait of John D. Rockefeller circa 1900, after he had built Standard Oil into the largest oil company in the United States.

John D. Rockefeller Was the Richest Person To Ever Live. Period

Standard Oil, his company, is one of the biggest reasons we have anti-monopoly laws

When Robots Take All of Our Jobs, Remember the Luddites

What a 19th-century rebellion against automation can teach us about the coming war in the job market

Besides exceptional facial hair, what could these two gentlemen have in common?

The Hidden Connections Between Darwin and the Physicist Who Championed Entropy

These magnificently bearded men both introduced a dose of randomness and irreversibility into the universe

How the American Civil War Built Egypt’s Vaunted Cotton Industry and Changed the Country Forever

The battle between the U.S. and the Confederacy affected global trade in astonishing ways

Light- and dark-colored peppered moths. The black variety is thought to have evolved to camouflage moths on sooty surfaces during the Industrial Revolution.

New Evidence Shows Peppered Moths Changed Color in Sync With the Industrial Revolution

Scientists used “jumping genes” as a time machine to track down changes in moths’ appearance

Newspapers chronicled gun incidents, referring to them as "melancholy accidents"

When Newspapers Reported on Gun Deaths as "Melancholy Accidents"

A historian explains how a curious phrase used by the American press caught his eye and became the inspiration for his new book

You can thank William Perkin for that garish dress your best friend will make you wear at her wedding.

How Malaria Gave Us Mauve

Tropical diseases and coal tar have a lot to do with brightly-colored clothing

Poster, Gib acht sonst . . [Be Careful or Else . .], 1929–30.

When “Danger” Is Art’s Middle Name

A new exhibit looks at the inspiration that comes from the clash of glory and catastrophe

Mills and smokestacks in Lowell, Massachusetts, considered by some historians to be the first real company town in the U.S.

America’s Company Towns, Then and Now

A look at these small towns across the United States shows the good, the bad and the ugly of the industrial boom

The Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, P.A. is celebrating its city in a long-term exhibition, "Pittsburgh a Tradition of Innovation."

Celebrating Pittsburgh, the City Behind Pro Football, Big Macs and the Polio Vaccine

The Pennsylvanian city had more lives than a cat and thrives as a hub of innovation

Ludd, drawn here in 1812, was the fictitious leader of numerous real protests.

What the Luddites Really Fought Against

The label now has many meanings, but when the group protested 200 years ago, technology wasn't really the enemy

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The Steam Locomotive

Even in the computer age, a thousand-ton train driven by fire and water inspires awe

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