Erin Blakemore

The archives’ treasures are the stuff of legend—but their existence is absolutely real.

A proclamation by King George III set the stage for Native American rights—and the eventual loss of most tribal lands.

Would-be mail thieves didn’t stand a chance against Stagecoach Mary. The hard-drinking, quick-shooting mail carrier sported two guns and men’s clothing.

In the late 1880s, Weldon was vilified as a harpy who was in love with Sitting Bull. Both she and the Lakota leader would meet tragic fates.

How the Plattsburg camps for young men tried to raise a volunteer army ahead of World War I.

Appointed by a Republican president, the Associate Justice’s views on the death penalty and affirmative action shifted dramatically over time.

Did it help or hurt the civil rights movement?

Fleming Begaye, Sr. was deployed to the Pacific Theater.

There were multiple memorials and tributes to the fallen civil rights leader.

Centralia, Pennsylvania was once a bustling mining center, but a hidden, underground fire has turned it into a smoldering ghost town.

Horrifying medical experiments on twins helped Nazis justify the Holocaust.

Ride was eminently qualified for space flight. So why did the press ask about makeup and periods?

Caroll Spinney—the puppeteer in the yellow suit—was in talks to go to space.

The more than 900 passengers of the M.S. St. Louis were denied entry by immigration authorities in multiple countries in the lead-up to the Holocaust.

Normal Danes sprang into action and pulled off an astounding feat.

When Helmuth Hübener learned the truth about Nazi Germany, he spread the word—and paid the ultimate price.

General Orders No. 11 gave Jewish people just 24 hours to leave their homes and lives behind.

“My Yiddishe Momme" became an anthem for new immigrants in the 1920s. Victimized Jews later sang it in concentration camps.

In the 20th century, the country issued reparations for Japanese American internment, Native land seizures, massacres and police brutality. Will slavery be next?

Publishers were initially reluctant to publish the teenage author’s chronicle of life during the Holocaust. They thought readers were not ready to confront the horrors of World War II.

Desperation drove ingenuity among East Germans determined to reach West Berlin.

The Los Alamos Historical Museum halted a Japanese exhibition on the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki because of a controversy over its message of abolishing nuclear weapons.

Born in the ashes of World War II, the currency used by 19 European countries went into effect on January 1, 1999.

During the Great Depression, St. Louis residents who were down on their luck built their own city on the banks of the Mississippi River.

Hitler’s war against Boy Scouts fueled the Third Reich’s ideology—and its military might.

The death of King Kamehameha II and Queen Kamamalu was a harbinger of disaster.

Maya Lin won a design competition—and sparked a national controversy.

Innocent Italian-Americans got caught in the crosshairs of a bigoted mob.

It's a pithy term that sparked outrage among rich and poor New Yorkers during the 19th century.

Meet the man who recreates colonial recipes.

The state was once known as 'the world’s sanatorium.'

As many as 1.3 million people may have been swept up in the Eisenhower-era campaign called 'Operation Wetback.'

The “Rainbow Herbicides” left a lethal legacy.

The Mann Act was designed to prevent human trafficking—but used to punish interracial relationships.

The third president had a secret: his carefully edited version of the New Testament.

The Tri-State Tornado claimed nearly 700 lives.

The very existence of the V.A.—which began in 1930—marked a change in how Americans perceived the people who fought its wars.

Germany settled its war debts decades ago. So why do Polish officials want more?

Using the term 'Polish death camp' is now punishable by up to three years in prison.

When Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists in protest at the 1968 Summer Games, Australian runner Peter Norman stood by them. It lost him his career.

While some had been driven from the camp, thousands of emaciated prisoners had been left behind to die.

For decades, the country's Black majority was controlled by racist laws enshrining white supremacy.

The iconic music festival faced massive resistance from local residents who feared an invasion of long-haired druggies in August of 1969.

During the course of their 57-year-long marriage, Clementine Churchill repeatedly supported her husband through trying political and personal times.

Law enforcement knew who killed Harry and Harriette Moore on Christmas in 1951. So why wasn’t justice served?

Thousands of Union POWs died on the steamboat Sultana.

Ralph Lazo wasn’t of Japanese descent, but he spent spent two years at Manzanar in solidarity with his friends.

When Cleveland's Cuyahoga River burned, the nation noticed.

Right-wing paramilitary groups killed political foes with no repercussions in Weimar Germany.

The 1882 trial of laborer Yee Shun set a new legal precedent in America.

Plagued by bad press and fraught with racial and ethnic tensions, the huge steel strike was doomed to fail.

Under the Treaty of Versailles, the German emperor was supposed to be tried as a war criminal. Why wasn't he?

After 77 years, the exact location of the World War II stinger has been discovered.

Richard Nixon derided environmentalists in private, but became the main driver behind legislation protecting the country’s air, water and animals.

During Operation Peter Pan, over 14,000 children became exiles with the help of the United States.

The Panthers’ popular breakfast programs put pressure on political leaders to feed children before school.

John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown flew across the Atlantic with the help of a sextant, whisky and coffee in 1919—eight years before Charles Lindbergh's flight.

Nearly 500 patrons perished in the 1942 inferno at Boston’s Cocoanut Grove.

The Cold War-era law went into effect during a time when President Truman felt the nation was unprepared.

Many memorable performances were fueled by “pep pills.”

Over a 75-year period, up to 200,000 indigent children went from city to farm.

In 2019, the island nation long ruled by dictator Fidel Castro and his family, got a new leader: Miguel Díaz-Canel.

The Great Fire of 1835 destroyed nearly 700 buildings.

The country's military is disobedient by design.

1960s television executives weren’t ready to put a blended family on air.

As rain poured down, conflicts between Mary Shelley and her fellow vacationers reached a boiling point.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that marriage isn’t always in the cards.

After Michael Donald’s brutal murder, his mother, Beulah Mae, fought for justice beyond the conviction of his killers.

How the death of a domestic worker’s baby became a symbol in the fight for equal rights for women.

In the winter of 1945, the Nazis tried to destroy the evidence of the Holocaust.

Eugenics and unethical clinical trials are part of the pill’s legacy.

Nisei members of the Military Intelligence Service were discriminated against by their own country—even as they worked to protect it.

The Civil War hero brought his scorched-earth policy to the Plains—and wiped out Native Americans’ food supply.

The Supreme Court Justice was the second woman to hold the role—and battled gender discrimination since the 1970s.

More than a third of the island's residents were of Japanese descent, and military officials doubted their loyalty.

Between 1932 and 1945, Japan forced women from Korea, China and other occupied countries to become military sex slaves.

Bacon's Rebellion was triggered when a grab for Native American lands was denied.

Her ordeal helped draw attention to a national epidemic of spousal abuse.

The third president declined to participate in the tradition.

Over 136,000 GM workers participated in the strike in Flint, Michigan that became known as 'the strike heard round the world.'

The writer's epic 1966 party helped relaunch Katharine Graham’s social life.

During the 1920s, hatred was a family affair.

Panic set in after the partial nuclear meltdown as the public tried to decide which story to trust—and whether to evacuate.

Newly uncovered court records reveal what happened after the Civil Rights icons were arrested in Montgomery, Alabama.

The casket letters were scandalous. But were they really written by Mary Stuart?

For decades, the Mothers and Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo have demanded answers.

Up to 16,000 Native Americans were murdered in cold blood after California became a state.

Richard Hornberger was famous for his wisecracking characters, but his real accomplishments were as a surgeon.

A historic surplus and a bright idea led to relief for thousands of unemployed men during the height of the Depression.

It didn't end when Central High School was integrated.

When FDR found out how beholden New York politicians were to mobsters, he ordered the Seabury commission to investigate.

Prisoner exchanges were critical to a ceasefire in the Korean War—but a peace treaty was never signed.

The star of the Thanksgiving table was revered by the Maya.

At first, colonists used trees as meeting places to protest and plan resistance. Then their significance grew.

Between 1910 and 1945, Japan worked to wipe out Korean culture, language and history.

Napoleon was eager to sell—but the purchase would end up expanding slavery in the U.S.

U.S. women served their country bravely during multiple wars. But once the fighting stopped, they were expected to step down.

In 1871, the Wisconsin town of Peshtigo burned to the ground, killing up to 2,500 people. But it was overshadowed by another fire.

In marriage and divorce, the strong-willed princess helped modernize royal love.

The French emperor escaped his island prison in plain sight.