Why 18th-Century Americans Were Just as Obsessed With Their Genealogy as We Are Today
People living in British America and later the nascent United States recorded their family histories in needlework samplers, notebooks and newspapers
How a Deadly Circus Fire on the ‘Day the Clowns Cried’ Traumatized a Community—and Led to Lasting Safety Reforms
On July 6, 1944, a blaze broke out at a Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey show in Hartford, Connecticut. At least 167 people died, and hundreds were injured
How the Beloved ‘Peanuts’ Found Its Way to Define the Modern Comic Strip
With poignant wisdom and gentle wit, Charles M. Schulz reinvented the form and introduced the nation to Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy and so many more indelible characters
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
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
Newly Discovered Letters Illuminate the Life of a Female Printer Who Published Revolutionary Texts and Pushed the Colonies Toward Independence
As Virginia’s first female newspaper publisher, Clementina Rind emphasized women’s viewpoints and collaborated with prominent politicians like Thomas Jefferson
![The New Jersey Morning Call said Billy Possum had “a head that is likely to give a baby [a] nightmare.”](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/C_ChOJDb93Bxfo23E_V2_PBylcs=/450x300/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/59/ef/59ef4b94-0d85-4b9a-90d1-c49db418433c/billy-possum.jpg)
How a Stuffed Animal Named Billy Possum Tried—and Failed—to Replace the Teddy Bear as America’s National Toy
In 1909, wealthy widow Susie W. Allgood marketed a plush marsupial inspired by President William Howard Taft. But children thought the toy looked “too much like a rat,” and it sold poorly
When a Deadly Winter Storm Trapped a Luxury Passenger Train Near the Donner Pass for Three Days
Snowdrifts stranded the vehicle in the Sierra Nevada in January 1952, imprisoning 226 people traveling from Chicago to California
Why the ‘Peanuts’ Characters Still Thrive 25 Years After the Last Original Comic Strip Was Published
In the decades since the end of the cherished newspaper strip, audiences continue to find reasons to chuckle and cheer over Charlie Brown’s gang
The Trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann—Accused Murderer of the Lindbergh Baby—Began in New Jersey on This Day in 1935
The German-born man was convicted of kidnapping and killing the son of pilot Charles Lindbergh
When 170 Wild Monkeys Escaped From a ‘Jungle Camp’ and Terrorized New York
In 1935, dozens of rhesus macaques absconded from Frank Buck’s Long Island menagerie. Nearly a century later, 43 members of the same species broke out of a South Carolina research facility
Six Cars Raced to the Finish Line of the U.S.’s First Automobile Race—at Speeds of Seven Miles Per Hour
Held on this day in 1895, the 54-mile round trip took more than ten hours and involved accidents with streetcars, horses and snowbanks
Archaeologists Piece Together the Origin Story of Florida’s Manatees, Revealing They Were Once Tourists
A new study suggests manatees weren’t permanent residents in the Sunshine State until around the 20th century, drawn in by a warming climate and construction of power plants
How an Interracial Marriage Sparked One of the Most Scandalous Trials of the Roaring Twenties
Under pressure from his wealthy family, real estate heir Leonard “Kip” Rhinelander claimed that his new wife, Alice Beatrice Jones, had tricked him into believing she was white
How British College Students Convinced Authorities That Flying Saucers Were Invading the U.K.
To raise awareness for a charity event, aspiring engineers planted six UFOs across southern England on a single day in 1967
Americans Fell in Love With Science When the Breathtaking Leonid Meteor Shower Lit Up the Skies Across the Nation
In 1833, hundreds of thousands of shooting stars inspired songs, prophecies and a crowdsourced research paper on the origins of meteors
When White Supremacists Staged the Only Successful Coup in U.S. History
The 1898 Wilmington massacre left dozens of Black North Carolinians dead. Conspirators also forced the city’s multiracial government to resign at gunpoint
Amateur Historian Discovers Lost Story by ‘Dracula’ Author Bram Stoker Hiding in Plain Sight at a Dublin Library
History forgot about “Gibbet Hill” for more than a century—until a fan of the Gothic horror writer stumbled upon the haunting tale at the National Library of Ireland
When Republicans Became ‘Red’ and Democrats Became ‘Blue’
The 2000 presidential election cemented the color-coded nature of political parties. Prior to that race, the colors were often reversed on electoral maps
Why a Minnesota Man Walked Around the World, Traversing 13 Countries and 14,450 Miles in Four Years
Fifty years ago, on October 5, 1974, David Kunst completed the first verified circumnavigation of the globe on foot. Along the way, he met Princess Grace of Monaco, raised money for UNICEF and lost a brother to bandits
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