Manhattan’s Last Farmhouse
In the midst of towering apartments and neon-lit bodegas, you’ll find the Dyckman Farmhouse, Manhattan’s oldest…
Category Obscure history
Inside America’s Secret Atomic City
Most of the 75,000 residents of Oak Ridge, Tennessee had no idea they were processing…
When Americans Lived in Tree Stumps
There are trees, and then there are trees out west. “Ancient sequoias,” “Mammoths,” or “Big…
A Brief Compendium of “Are You Seriously Going to Eat That?”
Crab cakes anyone? They should have a museum out of misfortunate mid-century menus. Seriously, what were…
Adored by Many, but Loved by Chanel: A Forgotten Parisian It Girl
Proust, turned her into a fictional princess and Ravel turned her into music. Renoir and…
Greetings from California, the Hellish Oil-Pumping State of Yesteryear
It looks like a scene out of a dystopian horror movie foreshadowing our planet’s bleak future. But not…
The Most Famous Band You’ve Never Heard Of
Whether you know it or not, you have definitely heard them play. Popular music of…
Loving Monsieur Butterfly: A Tale of Espionage, Romance and the Transgender Soprano
It began with a glance, as so many love stories do. Bernard Boursicot was your…
Night of the Living Painting
It was a flourishing trade in human flesh. A quest headed by art suppliers so…
Hiding Homosexuality on the Cover of America’s Magazines a Century Ago
One of the first things you’ll start to notice about Joe Christian Leyendecker’s work is…
The 19th Century Escort Cards with Pick-Up Lines you definitely haven’t heard before
Without Facebook, online dating sites and lest we dare mention applications like Tinder, in the…
The Hidden Mothers of the Victorian Era
It’s a tall order to take a nice picture of a screaming baby even with…