Our mission is to empower people to create a just and compassionate future by exploring, preserving, and sharing the complexity of our past.

In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, the first machine that could record sound and play it back. On the first audio recording Edison recited, “Mary had a little lamb. Its fleece was white ...

African Americans turned to the courts to help protect their constitutional rights. But the courts challenged earlier civil rights legislation and handed down a series of decisions that permitted ...

With no specialized medical training or preparation, Amanda Akin arrived at Armory Square Hospital on an April evening in 1863 to begin work. Nursing was not yet established as a profession, and most ...

This Smith press with Washington frame was made by R. Hoe & Company after 1835. It is missing its original toggles, finials, and maker’s plate. The press has a height of 68 inches a width, at cheeks, ...

“I meekly followed [the nurse] through the long ward, unable to return the gaze of the occupants of the twenty-six beds, … and with a sinking heart watched her raise the head of a poor fellow in the ...

The indications or uses for this product as provided by the manufacturer are: A diuretic for the kidneys and a mild laxative. "Swamp-Root" tends to promote the flow of urine thereby aiding the kidneys ...

Latino history is American history. Latinos trace their origins to Latin America and other Spanish colonies, both in the Caribbean and in the contemporary United States. These groups include, but are ...

Destroy This Mad Brute. American World War I poster by artist Harry R. Hopps for the U.S. Army. Depicted is a crazed gorilla, representing Germany, carrying a bloody club and the limp body of a woman ...

Cookie Monster is a live-hand puppet originally performed by Frank Oz and currently performed by David Rudman. In a live-hand puppet, like Cookie Monster, one of the performer’s hands is in the puppet ...

A desire to remove employees from Manhattan’s teeming humanity, particularly organized labor and “the machinations of the anarchists and socialists,” inspired William to purchase 400 acres across the ...

These small metal badges, most often made of copper, were produced in Charleston, South Carolina between 1800 and the Civil War. They were worn by slaves working in the city; slaves living and working ...