Art & Culture

Black and white photograph of the stone Cenotaph in Whitehall draped in Union flags before its unveiling on 11 November 1920, with troops and crowds around it

The Cenotaph Was Built in Plaster for One Parade and Never Taken Down

Hannah Lindqvist · November 9, 2026

Photograph of a wedding party in India, taken between 1909 and 1919, with the seated couple garlanded and guests standing around them

Periyar's 1928 Weddings Had No Priests. A DMK Leader Has Just Apologised

Hannah Lindqvist · November 8, 2026

Black and white photograph of Thomas Sully's painted portrait of an elderly Thomas Jefferson in a fur-collared coat

Jefferson Bought a Quran in 1765. Congress Has Owned It Since 1815

Hannah Lindqvist · November 7, 2026

Indian miniature painting of Hanuman offering healing herbs to Rama and Lakshmana on a green hillside, surrounded by an army of monkeys and bears

Before Ranbir Kapoor's Ramayana, a TV Show Stopped India Every Sunday

Hannah Lindqvist · November 6, 2026

Studio photograph of Annie Oakley in a wide hat and long dress, holding a shotgun, her chest covered with shooting medals

Annie Oakley Died 100 Years Ago. Her Longest Fight Was 55 Libel Suits

Priya Raman · November 3, 2026

Wood engraving of a family carving the turkey at a Thanksgiving dinner table, from Harper's Weekly, 1858

America's First Cookbook, 1796: An Orphan, a Pumpkin Pie and the Word 'Cookie'

Priya Raman · October 30, 2026

Photo of Patrick Stewart on a panel at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2013

Patrick Stewart Was the Captain Star Trek's Creator Refused to Have

Hannah Lindqvist · October 30, 2026

Johannes Vermeer's painting Young Woman with a Water Pitcher (about 1662): a woman in a white headdress and a deep blue ultramarine skirt stands by a window holding a brass pitcher

The Blue That Cost More Than Gold Came From One Valley in Afghanistan

Eleanor Whitcombe · October 29, 2026

Woodblock print by Kawanabe Kyōsai, about 1863, showing two long-necked goblins frightening a customer at a noodle stall

Instant Noodles Began in an Osaka Shed. Last Year the World Ate 124 Billion

Hannah Lindqvist · October 28, 2026

The Cloisters Playing Cards, a complete hand-painted deck of 52 made in the Burgundian Netherlands around 1475 to 1480, laid out in four rows

Why a Jack Is a Jack: The Deck in Your Drawer Is a 1480s French Design

Hannah Lindqvist · October 28, 2026

Black-and-white night photograph of three children on a New York street at Halloween in 1964, two of them in moulded plastic masks, one a grinning space monster and one a blonde woman's face

Halloween (1978) Cost $300,000 and Its Killer Wore a $2 Captain Kirk Mask

Hannah Lindqvist · October 27, 2026

Photograph of the painted food counter in Regio V at Pompeii, with jar openings set into the top and frescoes of hanging ducks, a rooster and a dog on a leash

Pompeii Had 80 Fast-Food Counters, and Four Emperors Tried to Close Them

Eleanor Whitcombe · October 27, 2026

A baker in white overalls cutting up a pumpkin for pies on a stool in a bakery back room, with pumpkin halves and a bucket of peeled pieces, 1939 photograph

Nearly All US Canned Pumpkin Comes From One Illinois Town

Hannah Lindqvist · October 26, 2026

Behind-the-scenes photograph from the making of Godzilla in 1954: two crew members adjust the monster suit on a miniature set of electricity pylons

Godzilla Was Born From a Tuna Boat Caught Under an H-Bomb in 1954

Hannah Lindqvist · October 25, 2026

Illustrated cover of Puck magazine from 13 September 1911 showing a woman in a blue dress and wide black hat on a striped sofa, captioned Why Worry About Mona Lisa

Picasso Was Born 145 Years Ago Today. In 1911 Paris Police Asked Him About the Mona Lisa

Jonah Okafor · October 25, 2026

Detail of Raphael's painting The Marriage of the Virgin (1504): Joseph places a ring on Mary's finger in front of a priest

Why Wedding Rings Go on the Fourth Finger: A Vein That Was Never There

Eleanor Whitcombe · October 25, 2026

Scene from the Bayeux Tapestry showing Harold enthroned as king of the English with Archbishop Stigand beside him

The Bayeux Tapestry Is in London at Last, and It Was Never a Tapestry

Hannah Lindqvist · October 24, 2026

Studio photograph of Harry Houdini in a three-piece suit and bow tie, leaning on a chair, about 1913

Houdini Did His Last Show 100 Years Ago Tonight With a Fever and a Burst Appendix

Priya Raman · October 24, 2026

Woodblock print of a huge blue wave with clawed white foam curling over three boats, with a small Mount Fuji in the distance

The Great Wave Cost About as Much as a Double Helping of Noodles in 1831

Hannah Lindqvist · October 23, 2026

Let Them Eat Cake Was in Print Before Marie Antoinette Could Read

Jonah Okafor · October 23, 2026

Close-up photograph of a torn strip of ancient papyrus with lines of Greek handwriting, a third-century BC fragment of Homer's Odyssey

How Sappho Survived on Rubbish-Dump Scraps and Reached Anne Carson's Nobel

Hannah Lindqvist · October 22, 2026

Four Halloween guisers in skull and wrestling masks, one holding a toy guitar, sitting on a sofa in Baltasound, Shetland

How Trick-or-Treating Began, From Soul Cakes to a 1927 Alberta Newspaper

Hannah Lindqvist · October 21, 2026

The crowd at the Woodstock festival in August 1969

Woodstock 1969: The Farm Festival That Ran Out of Everything but People

Hannah Lindqvist · Updated October 20, 2026

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A Man Finds a Photo of Himself on a Missing Person's List and It Challenges Everything He Thought He Knew

Lindsey Charleston