When All the English Had Tails
Where did the myth that English men (and probably women) were hiding tails beneath their clothing come from? And what was that about eggs?
Webster’s Dictionary 1828: Annotated
Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language declared Americans free from the tyranny of British institutions and their vocabularies.
What Do Gardens and Murder Have in Common?
Writers have long plotted murder mysteries in gardens of all sorts. What makes these fertile grounds for detective fiction?
Human Remains and Museums: A Reading List
Questions over their value for research conflict with the ethics of possessing the dead, especially when presenting human remains in the setting of a museum.
The Birth of the Modern American Military Hospital
The founding of Walter Reed General Hospital at the beginning of the twentieth century marked a shift in medical care for military personnel and veterans.
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God: Annotated
Jonathan Edwards’s sermon reflects the complicated religious culture of eighteenth-century America, influenced not just by Calvinism, but Newtonian physics as well.
Vampires and Public Health
At the end of the nineteenth century, the people of Rhode Island were drained by a mysterious force that caused them to slowly waste away.
RV144: The Largest HIV Vaccine Trial in History
One of the biggest advances in AIDS vaccine research was a controversial, landmark treatment that tested a new vaccine on 16,000 Thai volunteers.
Scientists vs. Animal Welfare Activists in the 1920s
The movement against vivisection—experiments involving live animals—swelled with women. A group of scientists was determined to stop them.
When Ambulances Were Hearses
The federal government pushed the improvement of emergency services from several directions in the 60s and 70s.