women in a reading room at Smith College in 1898

The Reading Rooms Designed to Protect Women from “Library Loafers”

In the late 1800s, American women began to move more freely in public. In response, public libraries created sex-segregated reading rooms, intended to keep women in their proper place.
Benjamin Lay portrait

Benjamin Lay: The Radical “Quaker Comet”

Benjamin Lay was a radical abolitionist who helped turn the Quakers from slave-holders to leaders of the anti-slavery movement.
Source: https://flic.kr/p/5krZLr

The Decadent Art of Butter Sculpture

Butter sculpture is a fixture of American state fairs. The practice of using food as a medium for art dates back centuries.

How Mr. Coffee Made Coffee Manly

Mr. Coffee, the first electric-drip coffee machine for home use, debuted in 1972, forever changing the way Americans made coffee.
Biombo screen

Did the Aztecs Simply Disappear? Surviving Biombo Paintings Tell Another Story

Colonial narratives often boast triumphant victory and catastrophic defeat, but Mexican biombo paintings suggest a surprising alternative.
soap carving

When Corporations Co-opt Crafts

Procter & Gamble made its industrially produced soap the basis for a revival of an ancient craft, leading to a huge fad for soap carving.
Migrant Mother, Dorthea Lange

Dorothea Lange and the Making of Migrant Mother

Follow the rich history of Dorothea Lange, as she captured the iconic and lasting portrait of Florence Thompson, more famously known as Migrant Mother.
Delmonico's dinner, 1906

The Evolution of the New York Restaurant Scene

In colonial America, restaurants as we know them today were virtually unheard of.
Paul Gauguin, Nafea Faa Ipoipo? (When Will You Marry? ) 1892, oil on canvas, 101 x 77 cm

The Real Reason Fine Art Costs So Much

To outsiders, art auctions can seem like a parody of bizarre spending by wealthy people. The origins of ultra-expensive art lies in the nineteenth-century.
Colonial kitchen

What “Colonial Kitchens” Say About America

We've been fantasizing about colonial kitchens since soon after the Colonial era itself was over. What's that about?