World History

Museums and Marketing

As philanthropy ebbs, the Smithsonian Council advises prudence in our search for corporate sponsorship

January 1, 1998

Mutiny on the Amistad

In 1839, African freemen, seized as slaves, struck a daring blow for freedom

December 1, 1997

Miriam Leslie: Belle of the Boardroom

November 1, 1997

"Expand the Pie Before You Divvy It Up"

Sound half-baked? Not to Bill Ury, coauthor of the "negotiator's bible," as he mediates a peace talk between the Russians and the Chechens

November 1, 1997

The Strange Journey of Heinrich Harrer

The Austrian mountain climber escaped from a prison camp in 1944, slipped into forbidden Tibet, tutored the Dalai Lama and wrote a famous book

September 30, 1997

They Flew & Flew & Flew

How two brothers in an old Curtiss Robin set a record that's stood for 62 years

September 30, 1997

Mark Catesby

Both Audubon and Linnaeus were indebted to this intrepid British limner of the New World

August 31, 1997

A Gem of an Exhibition

August 31, 1997

Shadows on the Rock

Spain wants Gibraltar; the people of the Rock hate the very idea; England is caught in the middle

September 1997

An Englishman Looks at India Fifty Years After British Rule

July 31, 1997

Near and Far, We're Waving the Banner for Flags

Across time and distance, these colorful emblems fluttering in the breeze are symbols steeped in our history and our cultures

May 31, 1997

Even Our Most Loved Monuments Had a Trial by Fire

Controversies like those swirling around the FDR Memorial are the rule when Americans try to agree on anything to be cast in bronze

April 30, 1997

Declaring an Open Season on the Wisdom of the Ages

Under the stewardship of scholars Diderot and d'Alembert, the 18th-century's Encyclopédie championed fact and freedom of the intellect

April 30, 1997

The Object at Hand

A bejeweled box from a sorely beset emperor leads to a Yankee dentist, and how he rescued the beautiful empress Eugénie from a Paris mob

March 1997

A Family, a Colony, a Life of Good Works in the Holy City

Founded more than a century ago, the American Colony in Jerusalem has endured hardships, wars, upheaval, and the ebb and flow of empires

March 1, 1997

A Stout Ship's Heartbreaking Ordeal by Ice

Heading north for the pole, the Jeannette was frozen fast for 21 months, then sank; for captain and crew, that was the easy part

March 1, 1997

The Grave at Vukovar

A war crimes tribunal sent forensic scientists to investigate mass graves in the former Yugoslavia. What happened there?

March 1, 1997

Cleopatra: What Kind of a Woman Was She, Anyway?

Serpent of the Nile? Learned ruler? Sex Kitten? Ambitious mom? African queen? History is still toying with the poor lady's reputation

February 1997

A Nova Crew Strains, and Chants, to Solve the Obelisk Mystery

The public television team put theories to the test to uncover the secrets of how the ancient Egyptians moved and raised the giant blocks

January 1, 1997

Sir Francis Drake is Still Capable of Kicking Up a Fuss

Westward the corsair of England's empire made his way, plundering Spain for Queen and country; now modern moralists are nibbling at his fame

January 1, 1997