When American Governors and Moguls Came Together to Prevent Environmental
Catastrophe

A Historic 1908 Conference Transcended Party and Personal Interest for the ‘Common Good’

At the turn of the 20th century, floods, fires, and waste plagued the United States. Industries burned through resources and blew toxins into the air, with few restrictions. States and federal governments were only beginning to approach questions of the environment and did so in piecemeal ways.

In 1907, responding to the need to improve transportation, President Theodore Roosevelt tasked the Inland Waterways Commission with studying how to better manage rivers. The commissioners recognized a need for interstate coordination in this effort. Two in particular—Gifford Pinchot and William John “WJ” McGee—went …

by Adam M. Sowards | August 17, 2023

The D.C. Boarding House That Moved the Needle on Slavery

Where Abolitionists and Congressmen—Including Lincoln—Dined, Debated, and Became Bedfellows

by Bennett Parten | July 31, 2023

In the early 1840s, where the steps of the Library of Congress now stand, a group of American abolitionists gathered in a modest boardinghouse to plot the destruction of slavery.

The …

The Red Brick Bungalow Where Hardcore Made a Home

In a D.C. Suburb, the Dischord House Became the Unlikely Epicenter for Reagan-Era Punk

By Shayna Maskell | September 30, 2021

Walking through the leafy Arlington, Virginia, neighborhood of Lyon Park, you might not even notice the bungalow-style house with its fading red paint and overgrown lawn, a relic from the …

How the Yellow House Helped Make Washington, D.C. a Slavery Capital

The Notorious Jail Lent Institutional Support to Slavery Throughout the South

by Jeff Forret | July 15, 2020

Washington, D.C., was a capital not just of the United States, but of slavery, serving as a major depot in the domestic slave trade. In the District, enslaved men, women, …

Where I Go: Meeps Vintage

Finding Liberation in a D.C. Clothing Shop

by Allison Miller | May 8, 2020

Washington, D.C., is a beautiful, tidy town. For the better part of my years there, I was mostly very sad.

It was not a city I thought I’d first move to …

While Modern Life May Exacerbate Depression, It May Also Give Us the Tools to Treat It

Technology Will Uncover the Causes of the Disease and Offer New Therapies

by LISA MARGONELLI | September 12, 2019

Is there something about modern life that causes depression?

Worldwide, rates of depression increased by 15 percent between 2005 and 2015, according to the World Health Organization. Almost everyone has been …

Washington D.C.