More than a millennium ago, a Maya community collapsed in the face of a devastating drought. One writer joined an intrepid archaeologist to upend what they thought they understood about why it all happened

Smithsonian Magazine

22.05.2025

These Trailblazing Black Paramedics Are the Reason You Don't Have to Ride a Hearse or a Police Van to the Hospital

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Freedom House Ambulance Service set the standard for emergency medical care, laying the groundwork for the services available today

Smithsonian Magazine

20.05.2025

The Shipwrecks From John Franklin's Doomed Arctic Expedition Were Exactly Where the Inuit Said They Would Be

In May 1845, 129 British officers and crew members set out in search of the Northwest Passage on HMS "Erebus" and HMS "Terror." None returned

Smithsonian Magazine

14.05.2025

Amaze Yourself With the Unbelievable Story of Bessie Coleman, the Black Aviator Who Wowed the Nation With Her High-Flying Achievements

Long before the Tuskegee Airmen, Coleman inspired a generation of pilots to take to the skies

Smithsonian Magazine

14.05.2025

The Real History of the Complex Relationship Between Chinese and Black Americans in the Mississippi Delta

The remarkable success of the movie “Sinners” has sparked a renewed interest in how the two communities wrestled with life under Jim Crow

Smithsonian Magazine

13.05.2025

How the Thirteen Colonies Tried—and Failed—to Convince Canada to Side With Them During the American Revolution

After peaceful attempts at alliance-building stalled, the Continental Army launched an ill-fated invasion of Quebec in June 1775

Smithsonian Magazine

09.05.2025

The Daring Polish Resistance Fighter Who Volunteered to Be Sent to Auschwitz So He Could Sabotage the Nazi Death Camp From the Inside

Witold Pilecki smuggled reports about Germany's war crimes to the Allies, urging them to stop the atrocities at Auschwitz by bombing the camp. But his warnings went unheeded

Smithsonian Magazine

08.05.2025

Meet the Mysterious Renaissance Muse Immortalized in the Only Leonardo da Vinci Painting in the Americas

Ginevra de' Benci was a poet famed for her beauty and intellect. But art historians know little about her beyond the writings and artworks left behind by the men who admired her

Smithsonian Magazine

06.05.2025

Meet the Dedicated Volunteers Who Honor World War II's Fallen American Service Members by Adopting Their Graves

Europe will commemorate the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany's surrender on May 8. But thousands of locals remain committed to preserving year-round the memories of those killed while fighting to liberate the continent

Smithsonian Magazine

30.04.2025

When a Historian Saw This Haunting Photograph of a Nameless Native Girl, She Decided She Had to Identify Her

In 1868, Sophie Mousseau was photographed at Fort Laramie alongside six white Army officers. But her identity—and her life story—remained unknown for more than a century

Smithsonian Magazine

29.04.2025

The Many Myths of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, the 19th-Century Royal Whose Beauty and Tragic Death Transformed Her Into a Legend

The reluctant empress known as "Sisi" painstakingly crafted her image through portraits and photographs, ensuring she would be remembered in a specific way

Smithsonian Magazine

23.04.2025

Was Talos, the Bronze Automaton Who Guarded the Island of Crete in Greek Myth, an Early Example of Artificial Intelligence?

The mythical sentry was depicted as thinking like a human and showing some human-like tendencies

Smithsonian Magazine

19.04.2025

Paul Revere Wasn't the Only Midnight Rider Who Dashed Through the Darkness to Warn the Patriots That the British Were Coming

Revere, who was later immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem, was one of many riders who rode through the countryside, spreading the alarm on April 18, 1775

Smithsonian Magazine

18.04.2025

Dive Into the Deeper Story of the American Revolution on How New England and Virginia United Against the British

Inside the steeple of Old North Church and among the Southern Colonies, less familiar stories of the events from 250 years ago emerge

Smithsonian Magazine

16.04.2025

How Dreams of Buried Pirate Treasure Enticed Americans to Flock to Florida During the Roaring Twenties

1925 marked the peak of the Florida land boom. But false advertising and natural disasters thwarted many settlers' visions of striking it rich in the land of sunshine

Smithsonian Magazine

15.04.2025

The Long, Strange Trip of the Titanic Victims Whose Remains Surfaced Hundreds of Miles Away, Weeks After the Ship Sank

Rescuers only recovered the bodies of 337 of the 1,500-plus passengers and crew who died in the disaster. Around one-third of these corpses were buried at sea

Smithsonian Magazine

11.04.2025

How Bergen-Belsen, Where Anne Frank Died, Was Different From Every Other Nazi Concentration Camp

A new exhibition at the Wiener Holocaust Library in London chronicles the German camp complex's history, from its origins housing prisoners of war to its afterlife holding displaced persons

Smithsonian Magazine

09.04.2025

We Rediscovered Robert Caro’s Abandoned Novel About an Intrepid Journalist Buried in His Archives

A deep dive into the legendary biographer’s papers leads to the surprising revelation of a work he has all but forgotten

Smithsonian Magazine

08.04.2025

History-Hunting Mudlarks Scour London's Shores to Uncover the City's Rich Archaeological Treasures

A new exhibition at the London Museum Docklands spotlights hundreds of mudlarking finds, from Bronze Age tools to Viking daggers to medieval spectacles

Smithsonian Magazine

04.04.2025

Through Good Teams and Bad, Wrigley Field Remains the Coziest Park in Baseball

The Chicago landmark represents the purest form of the American pastime

Smithsonian Magazine

04.04.2025

A Field of Dreams Built in an Unlikely Place: A Japanese American Internment Camp

A baseball diamond buried long ago at Manzanar has been rebuilt to honor the Americans who once played the sport there

Smithsonian Magazine

04.04.2025

How an American Merchant, a French Official and a Pioneering Chemist Smuggled Much-Needed Gunpowder to the Continental Army

The trio's scheming became a crucial element of the fledgling nation's success in the Revolutionary War

Smithsonian Magazine

03.04.2025

What Spurred the South to Join the American Revolution?

How a disagreement with a Scottish lord over westward expansion, a cache of gunpowder, and the future of enslaved labor helped kick-start the southern colonies' embrace of the radical cause

Smithsonian Magazine

02.04.2025

Newly Declassified Documents Reveal the Untold Stories of the Red Scare, a Hunt for Communists in Postwar America | Smithsonian

In his latest book, journalist and historian Clay Risen explores how the House Un-American Activities Committee and Senator Joseph McCarthy upended the nation

Smithsonian Magazine

01.04.2025

The Nation's First Black Female Doctor Blazed a Path for Women in Medicine. But She Was Left Out of the Story for Decades | Smithsonian

After earning a medical degree in 1864, Rebecca Lee Crumpler died in obscurity and was buried without a headstone

Smithsonian Magazine

28.03.2025

The Daring 19th-Century Reformers Who Sought to End Prostitution by Offering Financial and Emotional Support to Urban Sex Workers | Smithsonian

Led entirely by women, the American Female Moral Reform Society gave material aid to those in need and pushed for men to be held accountable for frequenting brothels

Smithsonian Magazine

26.03.2025

The Spy Who Exposed the Secrets of the Black Chamber, One of America's First Code-Breaking Organizations | Smithsonian

In 1931, Herbert O. Yardley published a tell-all book about his experiences leading a covert government agency called the Cipher Bureau

Smithsonian Magazine

26.03.2025

Rifling Through the Archives With Legendary Historian Robert Caro | Smithsonian

Reams of papers, revealing how the scholar came to write his iconic biographies of Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson, are preserved forever in New York. But his work is far from over

Smithsonian Magazine

26.03.2025

Born Enslaved, This Black Millionaire Attempted to Colonize Mexico and Aspired to Be the Emperor of Ethiopia | Smithsonian

William Henry Ellis masqueraded as a Mexican businessman, but he never shied away from his Black roots

Smithsonian Magazine

26.03.2025

After Confederate Forces Captured Their Children, These Black Mothers Fought to Reunite Their Families | Smithsonian

During the Civil War, Confederates targeted free Black people in the North, kidnapping them to sell into slavery. After the conflict ended, two women sought help from high places to track down their lost loved ones

Smithsonian Magazine

26.03.2025

What Archaeologists Are Uncovering About the Buddha in His Legendary Nepali Hometown | Smithsonian

The birthplace of the Buddha beckons worshipers from around the world, as well as researchers hoping to dig up new evidence about the revered spiritual leader

Smithsonian Magazine

26.03.2025

The Mystery of the World's Oldest Writing System Remained Unsolved Until Four Competitive Scholars Raced to Decipher It | Smithsonian

In the 1850s, cuneiform was just a series of baffling scratches on clay, waiting to spill the secrets of the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia

Smithsonian Magazine

26.03.2025

Flannery O'Connor Wanted to Shake Her Readers Awake. Her Family Wanted Her to Write the Next 'Gone With the Wind' | Smithsonian

This year marks the writer's 100th birthday. Through fiction anchored in her Southern background and Catholic faith, O'Connor revealed how candid confrontations with darkness lead to moments of reckoning

Smithsonian Magazine

26.03.2025

For Centuries, Indigenous People Lived in These Desert Canyons. Now, New Technology Reveals Extraordinary Details About This Sacred Site | Smithsonian

In the Arizona desert, researchers are learning so much more about the peoples who have inhabited this land since antiquity

Smithsonian Magazine

25.03.2025

The Trailblazing Black Librarian Who Rewrote the Rules of Power, Gender and Racial Passing | Smithsonian

Belle da Costa Greene, the first director of the Morgan Library, was a Black woman who passed as white in the early 20th century

Smithsonian Magazine

25.03.2025

Why Oscar Wilde's Play About a Biblical Temptress Was Banned From the British Stage for Decades | Smithsonian

"Salome," a one-act tragedy by the Irish playwright, terrified the Victorian public with its provocative depiction of a teenage girl whose lust for a man quickly morphs into bloodlust

Smithsonian Magazine

25.03.2025

Discover the Short Life and Long Legacy of Casimir Pulaski, a Polish Cavalry Officer Who Became an American Revolutionary Hero | Smithsonian

On the first Monday in March, Pulaski Day festivities at Chicago's Polish Museum of America honored the "Father of American Cavalry," 280 years after his birth

home›Smithsonian Magazine›History

Smithsonian Magazine - History

The Stunning Search for the Remains of Fallen WWII Airmen

From Peasant Fodder to Fine Dining, Feast on the Tasty History of How Snails and Oysters Became Luxury Foods

Would You Wear a Wedding Dress Made of Disposable Paper? These 1960s Brides Donned Them to Save Money—and Make a Daring Fashion Statement

What Can We Learn From Apocalyptic Times of the Past?

These Trailblazing Black Paramedics Are the Reason You Don't Have to Ride a Hearse or a Police Van to the Hospital

The Shipwrecks From John Franklin's Doomed Arctic Expedition Were Exactly Where the Inuit Said They Would Be

Amaze Yourself With the Unbelievable Story of Bessie Coleman, the Black Aviator Who Wowed the Nation With Her High-Flying Achievements

The Real History of the Complex Relationship Between Chinese and Black Americans in the Mississippi Delta

How the Thirteen Colonies Tried—and Failed—to Convince Canada to Side With Them During the American Revolution

The Daring Polish Resistance Fighter Who Volunteered to Be Sent to Auschwitz So He Could Sabotage the Nazi Death Camp From the Inside

Meet the Mysterious Renaissance Muse Immortalized in the Only Leonardo da Vinci Painting in the Americas

Meet the Dedicated Volunteers Who Honor World War II's Fallen American Service Members by Adopting Their Graves

When a Historian Saw This Haunting Photograph of a Nameless Native Girl, She Decided She Had to Identify Her

The Many Myths of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, the 19th-Century Royal Whose Beauty and Tragic Death Transformed Her Into a Legend

Was Talos, the Bronze Automaton Who Guarded the Island of Crete in Greek Myth, an Early Example of Artificial Intelligence?

Paul Revere Wasn't the Only Midnight Rider Who Dashed Through the Darkness to Warn the Patriots That the British Were Coming

Dive Into the Deeper Story of the American Revolution on How New England and Virginia United Against the British

How Dreams of Buried Pirate Treasure Enticed Americans to Flock to Florida During the Roaring Twenties

The Long, Strange Trip of the Titanic Victims Whose Remains Surfaced Hundreds of Miles Away, Weeks After the Ship Sank

How Bergen-Belsen, Where Anne Frank Died, Was Different From Every Other Nazi Concentration Camp

We Rediscovered Robert Caro’s Abandoned Novel About an Intrepid Journalist Buried in His Archives

History-Hunting Mudlarks Scour London's Shores to Uncover the City's Rich Archaeological Treasures

Through Good Teams and Bad, Wrigley Field Remains the Coziest Park in Baseball

A Field of Dreams Built in an Unlikely Place: A Japanese American Internment Camp

How an American Merchant, a French Official and a Pioneering Chemist Smuggled Much-Needed Gunpowder to the Continental Army

What Spurred the South to Join the American Revolution?

Newly Declassified Documents Reveal the Untold Stories of the Red Scare, a Hunt for Communists in Postwar America | Smithsonian

The Nation's First Black Female Doctor Blazed a Path for Women in Medicine. But She Was Left Out of the Story for Decades | Smithsonian

The Daring 19th-Century Reformers Who Sought to End Prostitution by Offering Financial and Emotional Support to Urban Sex Workers | Smithsonian

The Spy Who Exposed the Secrets of the Black Chamber, One of America's First Code-Breaking Organizations | Smithsonian

Rifling Through the Archives With Legendary Historian Robert Caro | Smithsonian

Born Enslaved, This Black Millionaire Attempted to Colonize Mexico and Aspired to Be the Emperor of Ethiopia | Smithsonian

After Confederate Forces Captured Their Children, These Black Mothers Fought to Reunite Their Families | Smithsonian

What Archaeologists Are Uncovering About the Buddha in His Legendary Nepali Hometown | Smithsonian

The Mystery of the World's Oldest Writing System Remained Unsolved Until Four Competitive Scholars Raced to Decipher It | Smithsonian

Flannery O'Connor Wanted to Shake Her Readers Awake. Her Family Wanted Her to Write the Next 'Gone With the Wind' | Smithsonian

For Centuries, Indigenous People Lived in These Desert Canyons. Now, New Technology Reveals Extraordinary Details About This Sacred Site | Smithsonian

The Trailblazing Black Librarian Who Rewrote the Rules of Power, Gender and Racial Passing | Smithsonian

Why Oscar Wilde's Play About a Biblical Temptress Was Banned From the British Stage for Decades | Smithsonian

Discover the Short Life and Long Legacy of Casimir Pulaski, a Polish Cavalry Officer Who Became an American Revolutionary Hero | Smithsonian

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