Women's History

An expedition last fall captured a sonar image of a roughly plane-shaped object near Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean, which the team suggests could be Amelia Earhart's vehicle.

Have Researchers Found Amelia Earhart's Long-Lost Plane?

A new sonar image shows an airplane-shaped object resting on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, not far from where Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, went missing in 1937

A pair of illustrations from Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White, which launched the sensation novel trend of the 1860s

The Sensation Novelist Who Exposed the Plight of Victorian Women

Wilkie Collins drew on his legal training to dramatize the inequality caused by outdated laws regarding marital and property rights

Marie Curie was the first individual to win two Nobel Prizes.

Building Used by Marie Curie Saved From Demolition

Cultural heritage supporters are hoping to see the facility listed as a protected site

On the morning of September 11, 2001 when the Twin Towers in New York City came under attack Univision's senior national correspondent Blanca Rosa Vílchez was one of the first journalists on the scene.

Seven Trailblazing Latina Journalists Anchor a New Museum Exhibition

Covering war, hosting presidential debates and conducting uncomfortable interviews, these women speak truths to their community

Between Christmas Day in 1941 and April 1, 1946, North Platte Canteen volunteers met as many as 24 trains carrying 3,000 to 5,000 military personnel every day.

How the Women of the North Platte Canteen Fed Six Million Soldiers During World War II

Volunteers based out of a Nebraska train station offered American troops encouragement and free food, including birthday cakes and popcorn balls

As a museum artifact, Lillian Vernon's kitchen table, where she started her multimillion-dollar catalogue business, is "an evocative piece of material culture that speaks to female entrepreneurship and the 'second shift,' or running a business while simultaneously running a household,” says curator Kathleen Franz.

Lillian Vernon’s Catalog Empire Got Its Start at a Kitchen Table

A keen sense of what shoppers wanted made her eponymous company the first woman-owned business on the American Stock Exchange

Shawn Michael Warren's oil-on-linen portrait of Oprah Winfrey depicts the talk show host in a resplendent purple dress.

What the Color Purple Means to Oprah Winfrey

A new Shawn Michael Warren portrait of the legendary talk show host is now on view at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery

Photographs and other items connected to Florence Nightingale

These May Be the Last Photos Ever Taken of Florence Nightingale

The rare images are among a collection of artifacts connected to the "Lady with the Lamp" that recently sold at auction

A selection of outfits designed by women on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

New Met Exhibition Celebrates Women Fashion Designers

"Women Dressing Women" gives often-forgotten figures in fashion history their due

Jane Austen's signature is on the title page of the book.

Jane Austen's Annotated Copy of 'Curiosities of Literature' Is For Sale

The novelist used a pencil to underline roughly 15 passages from the text by Isaac D'Israeli

The traveling exhibition "Simone Leigh" is now on view at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden through March 3, 2024, before traveling to Los Angeles next summer (above: the artist in 2021).

The World Is Running to Catch Up With Simone Leigh

The celebrated artist’s crusading works, now on view at the Hirshhorn Museum, upend the stereotypes too often foisted on Black women

Sandra Day O'Connor, Michael Arthur Worden Evans, circa 1982

How Sandra Day O’Connor Brought Compromise to the Supreme Court

The first woman justice to serve on the nation's highest court died on Friday at age 93

The full title of the painting by Clara Peeters is Still life of roses, carnations, tulips, narcissi, irises, love-in-a-mist, larkspur, and other flowers, in a wicker basket, with a butterfly and a cricket.

See the Rediscovered Still Life by Forgotten 17th-Century Master Clara Peeters

The painting by the influential Flemish artist could sell for as much as $883,000 at auction

The premier lady of sex work in Victorian St. Louis built an empire estimated to be worth at least $100,000—the equivalent of about $3.7 million today.

The Formerly Enslaved Black Bordello Queen Who Built a Notorious Business Empire

In 19th-century St. Louis, Madam Priscilla Henry earned a life-changing fortune—and scores of enemies vying for her crown

Vanessa Kirby, who plays Joséphine in Ridley Scott's Napoleon, says the empress “was just this massive contradiction.” ­

The Real History Behind Empress Joséphine in Ridley Scott's 'Napoleon'

A new Hollywood epic traces Napoleon Bonaparte's rise and fall through his checkered relationship with his first wife

Smithsonian's picks for the best history books of 2023 include King: A Life, The Sisterhood and The Wager.

The Ten Best History Books of 2023

Our favorite titles of the year resurrect forgotten histories and illuminate how the United States ended up where it is today

When the National Portrait Gallery opened more than a half-century ago, just 17 percent of its collection represented women—either as subjects or creators (above: Carmen de Lavallade, Michele Mattei, 2003, printed 2018). Today, that number has roughly doubled.

Beyoncé, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Other Iconic Women Take Their Place at the Smithsonian

This year, the National Portrait Gallery's annual showcase of new acquisitions spotlights female subjects and female artists

Child refugees from Germany and Austria at the Amsterdam Burgerweeshuis orphanage. Truus Wijsmuller stands at far left, looking at the children she helped save.

The Unsung Hero Who Saved Thousands of Children During the Holocaust

Truus Wijsmuller spirited Jewish refugees to safety and stood up to the architect of Adolf Hitler's "Final Solution"

On the new U.S. quarter, sculptor Joseph Menna and designer Benjamin Sowards depict Tallchief floating through the air in the middle of a dramatic leap in The Firebird.

New U.S. Quarter Honors Maria Tallchief, America's First Prima Ballerina

Born on Osage land in Oklahoma, the famous dancer broke barriers for Native American women

Flowers on the memorial for the 146 victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire during its dedication on October 11

New Memorial Honors Victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

A total of 146 workers died in the 1911 disaster, which galvanized the fight for workers' rights

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