Everything Has a History

  • Bronze Bell

    Paula R. Curtis | Feb 24, 2022

    Large cast bells like the one found in Kyoto’s Tōji temple were a crucial part of everyday life in premodern Japan.
  • The Ohio River

    Tiya Miles | Jan 27, 2022

    I am from Cincinnati, a town on the Ohio River; Ohio is an Iroquoian word that translates as “beauti...
  • Portrait of a Man

    Brian Piper | Dec 28, 2021

    This daguerreotype invites us to explore the important history of how people of African descent participated in New Orleans's early photography scene.
  • The Abortionist

    Gillian Frank | Nov 29, 2021

    Pulp novels of the mid-20th century were titillating and salacious—but this book appeared as abortion became more accepted among Americans.
  • Roses

    Tara Mulder | Oct 27, 2021

    Roses in the ancient Mediterranean were a vital ingredient in gynecological treatments.
  • Muscle Motion

    Natalia Mehlman Petrzela | Sep 29, 2021

    The Chippendales, an all-male striptease show, were a mainstay of 1980s material culture, even appearing in a popular at-home fitness video.
  • Big Mouth Billy Bass

    Sherri Sheu | Aug 26, 2021

    Billy Bass might be considered mere kitsch, but dismissing this singing fish would ignore some critical linkages between culture and environment. 
  • Clothing Scrapbook

    Dina Kalman Spoerl | Apr 27, 2021

    Hannah Ditzler Alspaugh's clothing scrapbook chronicles a half-century of fabric swatches, with descriptions noting when each item was worn, for...
  • A Crocodile’s Gaze

    Danielle Alesi | Mar 30, 2021

    Crocodiles have been our gods, predators, commodities, and pests, and though they inhabited this planet long before us, our histories are intertwined.
  • The Fateh Al-Khayr

    Fahad Ahmad Bishara | Feb 25, 2021

    The transnational history of the Fateh Al-Khayr, a pre-oil-era dhow, is in tension with its future as a symbol of Kuwait's national past. 

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