artifacts

The Modern Relics in Crow's Cabinet of Curiosities

by Matthew Dennis

Understanding Harlan Crow's collection, including Nazi memorabilia, as a set of relics (and not trophies or investments) helps to clarify the unease Americans feel about his understanding of power and cultivation of relationships with people of influence over the federal judiciary.

Why is University of Minnesota Slow to Meet Obligations to Repatriate Native Artifacts?

Many institutions have been able to avoid repatriating artifacts because of the stringency of requirements that individual tribes document an affiliation with the objects in question, as well as a lack of transparency about holdings. 

Harvard Peabody Museum Returns Sacred Scrolls to White Earth Tribe

Professor Philip Deloria praised the repatriation of the artifacts as a "rebalancing" of accounts between the tribe and the university. 

A Mysterious Autograph Hound’s Book Is Up for Auction

Jeweler Lafayette Cornwall collected the autographs of the most famous figures of his time, including Melville, Houdini, Edison, Mark Twain and Sarah Bernhardt.

Kindergarten Goes to the University Classroom: The Educational Value of Show and Tell

by Andrew Joseph Pegoda

During the Fall 2019 semester, I experimented with having students do 10-minute Show and Tell presentations in my Secularisms/Atheisms religious studies and U.S. history seminar. The results couldn’t have been better.

This Art Was Looted 123 Years Ago. Will It Ever Be Returned?

The Benin Bronzes, some of Africa’s greatest treasures, were looted in 1897. After a chance encounter, two men made it their mission to return them.

Archivist and bookseller plead guilty to pilfering $8M in rare texts from Carnegie Library

One by one, rare books vanished from the library — the Journal of George Washington; a copy of Isaac Newton’s “Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica” valued at nearly $1 million; an Atlas by a 19th-century German explorer worth $1.2 million.

As the Newseum closes its doors, pieces of history and human remains to find a new resting place

“Everything goes,” said Sonya Gavankar, a Newseum spokeswoman and 20-year veteran of the facility.

A Stolen Letter Written by Alexander Hamilton in 1780 Resurfaces

The three-paragraph letter — now valued between $25,000 and $35,000, according to the Virginia auction house — warned Lafayette, the French general who commanded troops in several Revolutionary War battles, of pending danger from the British.

Now for Sale on Facebook: Looted Middle Eastern Antiquities

Artifacts said to have been taken from the ancient city of Palmyra, Syria have been offered for sale on Facebook.

Abraham Lincoln’s $6 Million Hat

It’s a relic of a beloved president. But did he ever wear it?

Relics of Rebel Slave Fort Unearthed by Hurricane Michael

The site was recently listed as part of the NPS’ Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.

Should These Clothes Be Saved?

Thousands of articles of everyday women’s clothing are being preserved in lockers in a college basement. But where, exactly, does their value lie?

Bonn Library Recovers More Than 600 Books Looted After World War II

The trove was flagged after a Belgian woman unwittingly tried to auction the stolen books.

Museum Curator In Florida Races Against Time To Preserve Holocaust Items

"Truly, the clock is ticking. We need to meet eyewitnesses as soon as possible, before they are no longer with us."

Her image had been buried near a Civil War battlefield for 100 years. Then I found her.

A story uncovering and restoring a piece of Civil War history.

Archaeologists Find Trove Of Maya Artifacts Dating Back 1,000 Years

This collection may help researchers in their quest to learn more information about the rise and fall of the ancient Maya civilization.

The Holocaust Prisoners Who Risked Their Lives to Sneak Evidence from Concentration Camps

A new exhibition at London's Wiener Library tells the story of the men and women who enlightened the world as to what was happening in the extermination camps.

Students Unearth Black History at Green-Wood Cemetery

In restoring a neglected corner of Green-Wood Cemetery, in Brooklyn, students found fragments of information about life in nineteenth-century New York.

Yemen Asks U.S. for Help to Curb Smuggling of Looted Ancient Artifacts

Four years into a civil war, thousands of antiquities have been taken from Yemen’s museums.