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A pard from the 12th-century <em>Aberdeen Bestiary</em> manuscript.
cryptozoology

Just About Everything We Know About the Pard

The mythical big cat was once believed to make up half of every leopard.
Natasha Frost October 13, 2017
An unidentified Studio Duplicating employee uses a homemade, oversized magnifying glass to compare a script typed in mimeostencil to the original manuscript to his left, assisted by the office cat.
film

The Small Script-Copying Service That Powered NYC Entertainment for Decades

Among many other jobs, Studio Duplicating staff did frenzied, last-minute typing for Saturday Night Live.
Erin Schreiner October 11, 2017
A waxwork of Madame Tussaud herself, with Sleeping Beauty, c. 1850.
31 days of halloween

How the Real Madame Tussaud Built a Business Out of Beheadings

Marie Grosholtz sure loved to make death masks of freshly executed criminals.
Betsy Golden Kellem October 10, 2017
The iconic Gibson Girl, drawn by Charles Dana Gibson, pinned her hair up on her head, with hatpins to keep her hat in place.
sexism

Before Mace, a Hatpin Was an Unescorted Lady’s Best Defense

Accessories to assault.
Natasha Frost October 10, 2017
Northern Puerto Rico on September 26, 2017.
disasters

Help Puerto Rico Recover by Mapping Damaged Areas

Response workers need the best possible information to direct aid.
Sarah Laskow October 9, 2017
Albert Baldwin Wood is at center during the dedication of his pumps in 1915.
floods

New Orleans Has Been Using the Same Technology to Drain the City Since the 1910s

The Wood screw pumps are mechanical marvels, but the turbines that power them are another story.
Sarah Laskow October 6, 2017
witchcraft

The Scandalous Witch Hunt That Poisoned 17th-Century France

The Affair of the Poisons was one to remember.
Natasha Frost October 5, 2017
A dugout canoe circa 1918.
boats

Florida Has More Archaeological Canoes Than Anywhere Else in the World

The oldest dugout ever found there is almost 7,000 years old.
Sarah Laskow October 5, 2017
Lisa Levy, the contest's 2017 winner, said she was completely stunned by her win.
transportation

The Miss Subways Pageant Charted the Highs and Lows of 20th-Century Feminism in New York

From a 1940s beauty queen to a 2017 performance artist.
Natasha Frost October 4, 2017
Held over two days in southern Italy, Camp Hobbit I in 1977 attracted far-right youth from across the country.
features

How 'Hobbit Camps' Rebirthed Italian Fascism

From 1977, crowds of militant youth gathered to discuss Tolkien and totalitarianism.
John Last May 27, 2024
An adaptation of Banksy's "Flower Bomber," this depicts a librarian in protest, throwing Margaret Atwood's <em>A Handmaid's Tale</em>.
libraries

The Radical Reference Librarians Who Use Info to Challenge Authority

An unshushable social movement is afoot.
Natalie Zarrelli October 3, 2017
A skeleton awakens! (1779)
31 days of halloween

The Gruesome History of Making Human Skeletons

From quicklime to boiling to bugs.
Sarah Laskow October 3, 2017
The notebooks were deteriorating fast.
abandoned

Forgotten Notebooks Chronicled the Lives of Congolese Trees for 20 Years

The data could help biologists understand how climate change is affecting forests.
Sarah Laskow September 28, 2017
The house at 5015 Eugene Street in Boise, Idaho, c.1940.
museums

The Art of James Castle, Created With Spit, Scraps, and Soot

He hid his sketches, made with DIY supplies, in the nooks and crannies of the family home.
Eve Kahn September 27, 2017
The headdress on display at the Museum of Ethnology, Vienna.
museums

The Fight to Bring Home the Headdress of an Aztec Emperor

The brilliant object sits on display in a Viennese museum—and Mexico's been wanting it back for decades.
Jacob Mikanowski September 26, 2017
A composite image showing Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, against a Hubble telescope capture. Gagarin flew on a Vostok spacecraft, of which Sputnik IV was the first.
features

The '60s Soviet Satellite That Crashed Into Wisconsin

When Sputnik IV hit the streets of sleepy Manitowoc, it ushered in the age of space junk.
John Wenz September 26, 2017
"The Solider Takes a Wife."
feminism

What Planned Parenthood Taught WWII Veterans About Birth Control

“The step-up in your pulse when a nifty number looks your way isn’t love. That’s sex, mister.”
Sarah Laskow September 26, 2017
farms

Barbed Wire Telephone Lines Brought Isolated Homesteaders Together

And then let them snoop on each other.
Natasha Frost September 25, 2017