Skip to content
Judi Iranyi
Politics & History

Community Care in the AIDS Crisis

The Shanti Project’s work in caring for people with AIDS provides valuable lessons in the efficacy of mutual aid in fighting disease.

And Also Too

Artist-Designer John Preus

Artist John Preus maintains a professional design studio that uses 2nd hand materials, including discarded furniture from closed Chicago Public Schools.

Syllabus

Pro-Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol following a rally with President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Politics and Power in the United States: A Syllabus

Historical and scholarly context for the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

Security State of Mind

A researcher works in a lab that is developing testing for the COVID-19 coronavirus in New Jersey

With the Coronavirus, Science Confronts Geopolitics

The containment of COVID-19 raises pressing questions related to the freedom of scientific information, civil liberties, and human rights, one scholar explains.

Open Community Collections

Cover of The Seed

The Campus Underground Press

The 1960s and 70s were a time of activism in the U.S., and therefore a fertile time for campus newspapers and the alternative press.

Most Recent

New Orleans, 1939
Business & Economics

How St. Louis Domestic Workers Fought Exploitation

Without many legal protections under the New Deal, Black women organized through the local Urban League.
A funny fisheye image of a zoned out kitty rolling in loose catnip.
Suggested Readings

Catnip, Conspiracy, and Forest Defense

Well-researched stories from Science Magazine, Knowable Magazine, and other publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
New York, 1855
Politics & History

How One Household Avoided Emancipation Laws

The Volunbruns enslaved twenty people and moved relentlessly between empires and states as more jurisdictions outlawed slavery.
African Phantasy : Awakening by Winold Reiss
Art & Art History

The New Negro and the Dawn of the Harlem Renaissance

In 1925, an anthology of Black creative work heralded the arrival of a movement that had been years in the making.

More Stories

And Also Too

Artist-Designer John Preus

Artist John Preus maintains a professional design studio that uses 2nd hand materials, including discarded furniture from closed Chicago Public Schools.

Syllabus

Pro-Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol following a rally with President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Politics and Power in the United States: A Syllabus

Historical and scholarly context for the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

Security State of Mind

A researcher works in a lab that is developing testing for the COVID-19 coronavirus in New Jersey

With the Coronavirus, Science Confronts Geopolitics

The containment of COVID-19 raises pressing questions related to the freedom of scientific information, civil liberties, and human rights, one scholar explains.

Open Community Collections

Cover of The Seed

The Campus Underground Press

The 1960s and 70s were a time of activism in the U.S., and therefore a fertile time for campus newspapers and the alternative press.

Trending

A collection of rare beer cans
Politics & History

An Archeologist’s Guide to Beer Cans

Here's how to figure out how long it's been since someone left their empties around, only to be dug up later.
a caricature of three women whose depicted clothing satirizes the beginnings of neo-classical fashion influences in England.
Arts & Culture

Why Are So Many Romances Set in the Regency Period?

The British Regency era lasted less than a decade, but it spawned a staggering number of unlikely fictional marriages.
Bombardment of Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor: 12th & 13th of April, 1861
Politics & History

How the Civil War Got Its Name

From "insurrection" to "rebellion" to "Civil War," finding a name for the conflict was always political.

Long Reads

I.W.W. Picnic, July 1919, Seattle, Washington.
Arts & Culture

How the IWW Grew after the Centralia Tragedy

A violent confrontation between the IWW and the American Legion put organized labor on trial, but a hostile federal government didn’t stop the IWW from growing.
A Thomas Kinkade puzzle
Education & Society

What’s Behind the Pandemic Puzzle Craze?

Puzzles, or “dissected maps,” were invented in Georgian-era England, probably by a mapmaker named John Spilsbury in the early 1760s.
Care homes group managing director Mary Anson receives the Covid-19 vaccine as the Royal Cornwall Hospital begin their vaccination programme on December 9, 2020 in Truro, United Kingdom
Health

The COVID-19 Vaccines Arrived at Warp Speed

Are they safe if they were developed so quickly? Research-backed answers to your virus questions.
Science & Technology

How Do Archaeologists Know Where to Dig?

Archaeologists used to dig primarily at sites that were easy to find thanks to obvious visual clues. But technology—and listening to local people—plays a bigger role now.

Editors' Picks

Politics & History

Creating the Voter Fraud Myth

Although in-person voter fraud is close to nonexistent, it’s a big concern for many voters.
Arts & Culture

How “This Land Is Your Land” Went From Protest Song to Singalong

Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” has lost a bit of its protest oomph—in part because of a decades-long denial of its later verses.
Education & Society

Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus

How can we help students understand George Floyd's death in the context of institutionalized racism?
Education & Society

Media Literacy & Fake News: A Syllabus

Ten lessons from the past and steps we can take now to educate ourselves and our students about how to be a thoughtful consumer of information.
Politics & History

Voting in American Politics: A Syllabus

From battles to expand the franchise to the mysteries of turnout, voting is one of the most important things to understand about U.S. politics.
Politics & History

The History of Mourning in Public

After a massive factory fire in 1911, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to stage a "symbolic funeral."

U.S. History

New York, 1855

How One Household Avoided Emancipation Laws

The Volunbruns enslaved twenty people and moved relentlessly between empires and states as more jurisdictions outlawed slavery.
A postcard for Ruby Foo's Den in Boston

Have Chinese Restaurants Always Looked “Chinese”?

In some places, that red-and-gold flair might not fly.
Ho Chi Minh, 1921

The First Vietnamese in America

Before 1945, many Vietnamese migrants to the United States were laborers. One was Ho Chi Minh.

Guthrie penned the original song "This Land is Your Land" in protest to Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America,” which he deemed jingoistic and offensive to the realities of the Great Depression.

How “This Land Is Your Land” Went From Protest Song to Singalong

Pedagogies

Malcolm X at Temple 7, a Halal restaurant on Lenox Avenue and 116th Street, Harlem, 1963

Teaching U.S. History with JSTOR Daily

A survey course may be the only college-level history course a student takes. Here's an easy way to incorporate fascinating scholarship.
A person typing on a computer

How to Use Zotero and Scrivener for Research-Driven Writing

This month, I’m doing something a little different with my column: I’m sharing the system I use to write it, so that you can use or adapt my system.
A person's hand drawing a Big Mac hamburger on a sheet of lined paper

Are Students Just Telling Us What We Want to Hear?

Students tend to fill out end-of-year evaluations so as to describe a “narrative of progress.” For teachers, this is fast food of the mind.

Open Community Collections

Anti-War Posters from City College of New York

A collection of flyers and other material circulated at The City College of New York (CCNY) between 1934 and 1936.
A teacher teaches her young pupils how to spell, 1930.

The Woman Teacher Documents a Feminist Labor Union’s Victory

The UK’s National Union of Women Teachers went from splinter group to union in its own right, winning on equal pay—as The Woman Teacher shows first-hand.

Nine Black Cat Stickers

They crossed our path and we lived to tell the tale. Check them out in the Street Arts Graphics Collection!

Syllabus

"I Voted" stickers

Voting in American Politics: A Syllabus

From battles to expand the franchise to the mysteries of turnout, voting is one of the most important things to understand about U.S. politics.
A forest fire reflected in Okanagan Lake, British Columbia, Canada

Wildfires and Climate Change

Scholarly research offers insight into the ways climate change and other factors are contributing to the wildfire crisis.
A woman reading a newspaper

Media Literacy & Fake News: A Syllabus

Ten lessons from the past and steps we can take now to educate ourselves and our students about how to be a thoughtful consumer of information.

Health

Florence Nightingale

How Courageous Should Nurses Have to Be?

According to three scholars, it's asking a lot for health care professionals to be completely selfless.
A person's palms presented to the camera

The Trouble with “Native DNA”

Genetic testing to determine who is Native American is problematic, argues Native American studies scholar Kim TallBear.
Jones Edward Salk

Verbatim: Jonas Salk

Virologist Jonas Salk led the team that developed the breakthrough vaccine for polio. He was also a social critic.

Education

Malcolm X at Temple 7, a Halal restaurant on Lenox Avenue and 116th Street, Harlem, 1963

Teaching U.S. History with JSTOR Daily

A survey course may be the only college-level history course a student takes. Here's an easy way to incorporate fascinating scholarship.
A girl scout troupe marching in parade in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn in the 1960s

Desegregating the Girl Scouts

The Girl Scouts had always professed that they were open to all girls. But how did that play out in segregated cities?
An illustration from America's story for America's children, 1900

How (Not) to Teach Kids about Native Cultures

Even well-intentioned books for children can romanticize (or demonize) Native Americans. But better materials exist.

Arts & Culture

African Phantasy : Awakening by Winold Reiss

The New Negro and the Dawn of the Harlem Renaissance

In 1925, an anthology of Black creative work heralded the arrival of a movement that had been years in the making.
a caricature of three women whose depicted clothing satirizes the beginnings of neo-classical fashion influences in England.

Why Are So Many Romances Set in the Regency Period?

The British Regency era lasted less than a decade, but it spawned a staggering number of unlikely fictional marriages.
Vintage engraving of an old fisherman drinking a cup of tea, 1900

What’s the Difference between a Shanty and a Sea Song?

“Soon May the Wellerman Come” is the heart of ShantyTok—but it’s not a sea shanty at all. Two authoritative essays roil the waters.

Support JSTOR Daily

Help us keep publishing stories that provide scholarly context to the news.