U.S. History

Black and white photograph of Senator Birch Bayh speaking at a lectern marked Democratic National Convention, with glass teleprompter screens on either side

The House Voted 338 to 70 to Abolish the Electoral College in 1969

Priya Raman · November 8, 2026

Studio photograph of William W. Belknap in a Union general's uniform, seated, with a long beard

Belknap Quit Hours Before His 1876 Impeachment. The Senate Tried Him Anyway

Priya Raman · November 7, 2026

Aerial photograph of San Quentin prison on a point of land in San Francisco Bay, with hills across the water behind it

California Emptied Death Row in 1972, and Manson Got a Parole Hearing

Priya Raman · November 6, 2026

The 1812 Gerry-mander cartoon: an engraved map of an Essex County senate district drawn as a winged monster with claws and a beak

The Original Gerrymander Flipped on Its Makers in a Single Year

Marcus Delacroix · November 6, 2026

Photographic portrait of P.B.S. Pinchback, a bearded man in a dark suit

America's First Black Governor Left Office in 1873. The Next Took 117 Years

Priya Raman · November 5, 2026

Press photograph of the crowded House chamber at the swearing-in of Speaker Nicholas Longworth, opening the 69th Congress

Republicans Won the House in 1930 and Lost It to 14 Funerals

Priya Raman · November 4, 2026

Wood engraving of President Andrew Johnson shaking a man's hand in a crowded White House room while clerks work at a table, 1865

The Preemptive Pardon Comes From a Confederate Senator's 1867 Case

Tomás Ferreira · November 4, 2026

Thomas Nast cartoon from Harper's Weekly, 1874: a White League man and a Klansman shake hands above a shield showing a Black family kneeling beside a burned schoolhouse

Election Day 1874 in Alabama: Gunfire at the Polls, 700 Ballots Burned

Priya Raman · November 3, 2026

Black and white photograph of a farmer tuning a large wooden console radio with his young daughter on his lap, California, 1940

The Great Martian Panic of 1938 Was Mostly Invented by Newspapers

Jonah Okafor · October 31, 2026

Photograph of the white stone obelisk of the Governor Sevier Monument in Knoxville, Tennessee, about 1900

Franklin Was a 14th State for Four Years. Congress Said No by Two Votes

Priya Raman · October 30, 2026

Photograph of Obispo Street in Havana around 1906, with shop awnings, signs in Spanish and English and people on the pavements

The United States Has Governed Cuba Twice. The Second Time, Almost Nobody Remembers

Tomás Ferreira · October 30, 2026

Chromolithograph of about 1872 showing a boy carving a face into a pumpkin while a small girl watches

Why We Carve Pumpkins: An Irish Turnip, a Man the Devil Would Not Take, and a Bigger Vegetable

Jonah Okafor · October 30, 2026

Photograph of Miller Park in Milwaukee, now American Family Field, under a clear blue sky in 2016, with its arched roof trusses and brick facade

Milwaukee's Last Title Was 1957. Eight Years Later the Braves Were Gone

Priya Raman · October 29, 2026

Oil painting by Edward Moran of the unveiling of the Statue of Liberty in 1886, with the statue above a crowd of flag-decked boats and gun smoke in New York Harbor

The Statue of Liberty Was Unveiled 140 Years Ago Today in Fog, Rain and a Mistimed Speech

Priya Raman · October 28, 2026

Black-and-white photograph of Washington pitcher Walter Johnson walking across the infield past a row of press photographers during the 1925 World Series

The Rays Need Three Straight Wins. Six Teams Have Done It, One With an Umpire's Help

Priya Raman · October 28, 2026

Lithograph of a Salem witch trial courtroom scene, a young woman standing accused before the judges, published in 1892

The Salem Witch Trials Ended With a Fast Day, a Jury's Apology and One Accuser Standing Up in Church

Priya Raman · October 27, 2026

A 1778 Continental Congress thirty-dollar note, printed in Philadelphia, promising the bearer thirty Spanish milled dollars

Why the Dollar Sign Is an S With a Line Through It: Blame the Spanish Peso

Priya Raman · October 27, 2026

Reading room of the Kansas City Central Library in Missouri, with wooden tables, lamps and bookshelves, photographed in 2021

25 Years Ago the Patriot Act Passed 98 to 1, and Librarians Fought Back

Priya Raman · October 26, 2026

Photograph of the playing field and stands inside Tropicana Field on opening day 2010

The World Series Comes Monday to a Dome That Waited Eight Years for a Team

Priya Raman · October 25, 2026

Photograph of a head waiter, a waiter and a diner at the Occidental Hotel restaurant in Washington, D.C., 1942

Why Americans Tip: A Habit Copied From Europe That Six States Once Banned

Priya Raman · October 25, 2026

Engraved portrait of Benjamin Franklin in a fur cap and spectacles, after a 1777 drawing by Charles-Nicolas Cochin

Franklin Sailed for France 250 Years Ago and Conquered Paris in a Fur Hat

Hannah Lindqvist · October 24, 2026

Old Judge Cigarettes baseball card of pitcher Charles Radbourn in a Boston uniform tagging a sliding runner, 1887

Why It Is Called the World Series: A Freezing Weekend in 1884, Not a Newspaper

Priya Raman · October 24, 2026

Printed broadside of the 29 September 1690 order by the Governor and Council of Massachusetts suppressing the newspaper Publick Occurrences

America's First Newspaper Lasted Four Days Before Boston Shut It Down

Hannah Lindqvist · October 23, 2026

Engraving of a crowd of men in hats gathered around the porch of a courthouse on election day, with a banner reading The Will of the People the Supreme Law

Why Americans Vote on a Tuesday in November: An 1845 Law for Farmers

Priya Raman · October 23, 2026