U.S. History
All the major chapters in the American story, from Indigenous beginnings to the present day.
World History
History from countries and communities across the globe, including the world’s major wars.
Eras & Ages
From prehistory, though antiquity and into the 21st century, all of history’s biggest chapters.
Culture & Tradition
The stories behind the faiths, food, entertainment and holidays that shape our world.
Science & Innovation
The pivotal discoveries, visionary inventors and natural phenomena that impacted history.
Born to formerly enslaved parents, Lewis Latimer drew Bell’s telephone plans and later advised Edison on inventing the light bulb.
Snowmobiles are a common winter sight, but there was a time when driving in the snow took a bit more creativity.
On January 6, 1838, Samuel Morse demonstrated his telegraph at Speedwell Iron Works, using electric signals to send coded messages.
Harrison was an American designer, speaker, educator and the first African American to lead a major design department.
Mary Ross, one of the first Native American women engineers, helped shape top-secret Cold War projects that changed history.
Thomas Edison, America’s greatest inventor, was also deaf—a trait that sharpened his focus and fueled his groundbreaking innovations.
Out of the ashes of the Great Chicago Fire came a new and better way to build.
The invention of the safety bike gave women a newfound freedom of movement.
In 1894, two brothers opened NYC’s “Kinetoscope Parlor,” sparking the rise of movie theaters across America and the world.
The ice cream cone is one of America's favorite summertime treats, but it was actually a happy accident that gave us this beloved dessert.
Born from supermarkets' need to speed up checkout, the bar code revolutionized market research and boosted production efficiency.
When John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt spent three nights in Yosemite, it would soon pave the way for a National Park Service.
The invention of charcoal briquets came about thanks to a camping trip by Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.
The first USB flash drives hit the market in the late 1990s and were a game-changer. No more bulky floppy disks or slow CD-Rs—USB drives were small, portable and lightning-fast.
Grace Hopper, pioneer of computer science, lived in Virginia later in life and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Hedy Lamarr, Hollywood actress, is known for more than her acting—she invented a signal-hopping technology used in Wi-Fi.
In 1969, Stanford programmer Bill Duvall sent the first inter-computer communication, which many consider to be the birth of the internet.
Without their sister, Katharine, the Wright brothers may have never taken flight.