Synthetic Fabrics Inspired a Cultural Revolution
The advent of synthetic fabrics played a surprising role in bringing women into the workforce, as Mercury 13 trainee Geraldine Sloan’s story illustrates.
Why Women Burned Their Stockings in the 1930s
The average 1930s American woman bought up to 15 pairs of silk stockings a year—until, that is, women boycotted the fabric behind an essential garment.
Knowledge and Nostalgia at the Museum: From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler imagines the museum as a site of hands-on learning and intimacy with the past.
What Time is it When You Pass Through A Wrinkle in Time?
Do we need two distinct conceptions of time, chronos (clock time) vs. kairos (real time), to understand Madeleine L’Engle’s classic novel?
The Singing, Dancing Hormel Girls Who Sold America SPAM
SPAM was introduced 80 years, but it was a military-style corps of singing women that helped the canned meat skyrocket in the years after World War II.
How to Recreate Palestine: Researching Salt Houses
Debut novelist Hala Alyan on how she researched her new, much-buzzed-about novel Salt Houses, with a little help from JSTOR.
Why Art Historians Still Ignore Comics
In recent history comic art has crossed boundaries to enter other mediums. So why aren't art historians paying more attention?
When Did Colonial America Gain Linguistic Independence?
By the time the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, did colonial Americans still sound like their British counterparts?
Ruth Mazo Karras
Ask a Professor offers an insider’s view of life in academia. Up this month: Ruth Mazo Karmas, Professor of History at the University of Minnesota.
How Virtual Reality Could Change the Art World
Acute Art is a kind virtual reality marketed directly to artists. Marina Abramović, Olafur Eliasson, and Jeff Koons have been the first to try it out.