Beale Street, Memphis

Memphis: The Roots of Rock in the Land of the Mississippians

Rising on the lands of an ancient agricultural system, Memphis has a long history of negotiating social conflict and change while singing the blues.
Gift for the grangers

The Gift of the Grange

Originally a secret society, the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry today is an important health and education resource in rural communities.
An Elberta peach from Georgia, 1901

The Georgia Peach: A Labor History

The peach industry represented a new, scientifically driven economy for Georgia, but it also depended on the rhythms and racial stereotypes of cotton farming.
Ostrich farm in the desert

Ostrich Bubbles

The birds aren’t the only ones with their heads in the sand.
The "world's littlest skyscraper" in Wichita Falls, Texas, 2015

Boom, Bust, and the “World’s Littlest Skyscraper”

The discovery of oil near Wichita Falls in 1911 not only brought money to the Texas town, it brought a swindler who promised the sky(scraper).
American athlete Nancy Voorhees clears the bar as she trains for the high jump event ahead of the 1922 Women's World Games, during a training session at Weequanic Park in Newark, New Jersey, 1922

Sport in America: A Reading List

Covering the colonial era to the present, this annotated bibliography demonstrates the topical and methodological diversity of sport studies in the United States.
A cattle roundup in Nevada, 1973, with a photoshopped UFO in the sky

The 1970s Cow Mutilation Mystery

When ranchers began reporting incidents of mutilated cattle, the ensuing panic fed both conspiracy theories and a growing cynicism about the government.
Ilex paraguariensis

Plant of the Month: Yerba Mate

The biological and cultural profile of mate has affected its global expansion, unlike other plants native to the Americas, such as cacao and maize.

Wanting to Believe In Rainmakers

A form of entertainment and outgrowth of desperation, self-styled rainmakers allowed the powerless people of the Great Plains to seemingly take action.