History
Thousands of Objects Tell of Sex, Drugs, and Transcendence Across the Centuries
Altered States: Sex, Drugs, and Transcendence in the Ludlow-Santo Domingo Library at Harvard's Houghton Library explores the human desire to escape the ordinary.
Houghton Library
Art
Beyond Gorgeous: Illuminated Manuscripts from Boston Collections
For viewers accustomed to looking at paintings on canvas and panel, manuscripts are a different beast.
Art
The Intricate Designs of an 18th-Century Love Token
Today, as the art of handwritten notes gradually fades, one common way to court someone is to slide into his or her DMs.
Art
Broadsides for Broadband: Digitizing the People's Literature of the 17th Century
Considered the "people's literature" in the 17th century, broadside ballads were sold for a penny or halfpenny, their pairing of a comic or satiric song alongside a woodblock illustration making them popular bawdy amusement across classes.
Art
Our View from the Cosmic Shore: Early Modern Interpretations of Celestial Events
When Milton was writing Paradise Lost in the 17th century, a comet grazed through the sky, inspiring the English poet to describe how Satan "stood Unterrified, and like a comet burn'd."
Books
The 19th-Century Story of the Wonderful Tattooed Man
The story of how a boy from Providence, Rhode Island, became "the most wonderful tattooed man ever known in the civilized world" involves menacing sailors and voyages across the sea, and was recently digitized so that we can all read this tale of the 19th century.