Everything Has a History

  • The Peach Tree

    Robert Antony | Aug 30, 2022

    From their wood to their fruit, peach trees form a powerful guard against evil in Chinese folklore.
  • The Elocution Cage

    Jeremy C. Young | Apr 27, 2022

    Could training in a bamboo cage make for better public speaking?
  • Elevator Sounds

    Alexandra Hui | Mar 30, 2022

    Elevators are inherently noisy contraptions. The conveyance machinery hisses and whirs, bells ding i...
  • 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. 

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