Books
Revisiting the Nuclear Arms Race in 150 Business Cards
Los Alamos Rolodex: Doing Business with the National Lab, a new book by the Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI), is a tight little publication with a singular fascination.
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Witch Marks, Curses, and Magic in the Neglected History of Medieval Graffiti
The ornamentation of medieval churches is often associated with the elite, but carved right into the structure of the building are less visible traces of the lower and middle class: graffiti.
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The Ghosts, Mermaids, and Beautiful Rats of Japan's Tiny Netsuke Carvings
Miniature meditating skeletons, snarling cats, eerie ghosts, and gods of fortune carved in ivory, wood, and horn adorned the sashes of Japanese men throughout the Edo period.
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Success Secrets of a Famous Cat Photographer
Once upon a time, there was but One Cat Photographer to Rule Them All.
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Communist China's Cheery Propaganda Posters
In the thousands of propaganda posters produced in China between the birth of the People's Republic in 1949 and the early 1980s, the beaming face of Chairman Mao Zedong watches over a surreal utopia.
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A Visual Essay Recalls the Latin Alphabet's Pictorial Past
The Latin alphabet's letter A can be traced back to an Egyptian hieroglyph of an ox head; the letter M is believed to have its origins in a hieroglyph representing water.
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Unraveling the Gendered History of Hypnotism
Hypnosis straddles the line between science and entertainment, encompassing both the therapeutic practice of hypnotherapy and performative stage acts.
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Among the Bliss Ninnies: Photos of Today’s Neo-Hippie Culture
In 1967, Chicago-based photojournalist Steve Schapiro became famous for chronicling The Hippie in the Haight.
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The Mysterious Folk Art of America's Secret Societies
Almost every US town has one: that mysterious Masonic lodge with its borrowed Egyptian or Greek details, arcane symbols, and windows and doors that rarely open.
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Before Google Earth: A Rare Cartographic Compendium From Renaissance Europe
Long before the ubiquity of Google Maps, these colorful engravings, produced between 1572 and 1617, comprised the world's most accurate and elaborate collection of urban cartography ever made.
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The Design Nostalgia of Japan's Train Station Stamps
Railroad Station Stamp Designs captures the scope and evolution of these unique tokens, capturing the uniqueness of place through single small pictures.
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The Men Behind MoMA’s Taste for Modernist Design
Long before it became a cultural juggernaut, MoMA was helmed by a young intellectual named Alfred H. Barr Jr. who, from 1929 to 1934, worked in close collaboration with architect Philip Johnson to make the museum an influential platform for modernism.