History

Dvorak's beloved 'New World' symphony was an anthem to what American music could be

5:05pm July 07, 2023

by Tom Huizenga

Antonin Dvorak's "New World Symphony" is an anthem to American roots. It was written by a foreigner and required white classical musicians to respect Black spirituals and Native American music.

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Louis Armstrong's dazzling archive has a new home — his

4:29pm July 06, 2023

by Nate Chinen

Across the street from the jazz icon's home in Queens, a site of pilgrimage for fans from around the world, sits the new Louis Armstrong Center, which brings his 60,000-item archive back to the block.

This image from Mordechai Bernstein's "In the Labyrinth of Times" exhibit shows the Munich synagogue on the eve of its destruction in June 1938.

Parts of a Munich synagogue demolished by Nazis are found in a river 85 years later

7:03am July 06, 2023

by Rachel Treisman

Munich's main synagogue was one of the first to be destroyed in Nazi Germany, under Hitler's orders. No one knew what had become of the rubble — until construction workers made a discovery last week.

National

A fan is reviving Orson Welles' poorly edited 'lost masterpiece' through animation

4:55pm July 05, 2023

by Neda Ulaby

The Magnificent Ambersons has been called Orson Welles' "lost masterpiece." The studio cut more than 40 minutes from the movie, but a filmmaker has used animation to recreate lost footage.

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A short history of the American tradition of competitive eating

5:08pm July 04, 2023

The 4th of July traditional hotdog eating contest got us thinking about why food and the holiday are so intertwined. Some experts have gone deep on the subject of competitive eating.

A new free play at Federal Hall reveals the bumpy early days of the government

4:28pm July 04, 2023

by Jennifer Vanasco

Democracy is messy. A new free play for visitors to the Federal Hall National Monument in New York shows just how messy the early days of the federal government were.

National

Frederick Douglass' descendants read 'What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?'

4:10pm July 04, 2023

Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" Douglass gave this speech to a group of abolitionists 170 years ago.

New PBS series tracks effects of humanity on the planet

4:10pm July 04, 2023

A new PBS miniseries explores the many effects the human species is having on the planet. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with its host, biologist and Princeton University professor Shane Campbell-Staton.

Colleen Shogan is the first woman appointed to be Archivist of the United States.

Arts

For the record: We visit Colleen Shogan, the first woman appointed U.S. Archivist

4:10pm July 04, 2023

by Tilda Wilson

Colleen Shogan loves being surrounded by documents — and that's probably for the best. The former political science professor is now in charge of the 13.5 billion records in the National Archives.

How America's debate over student loans has changed over the decades

5:29pm July 03, 2023

At the start of the 20th century, only the most privileged could afford to go to college. Today, millions of students pursue higher education, but collectively they owe $1.7 trillion in debt.