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After her marriage in 1933 to Harold S. Vanderbilt (“Mike” to friends and family), Gertie sailed as one of the few women allowed on board racing J-class yachts in the 1930s. Aboard Rainbow in 1937, the couple successfully defended the America’s Cup…

Architectural portraits of medieval buildings often popularize restorations. When Victor Hugo made the cathedral famous in his novel, Notre-Dame de Paris (1831), he described a building that had been badly damaged during the French Revolution. It was…

In June 1900, anti-western riots in Peking and the 54-day siege of foreign embassies by Chinese militants made headlines. In this image of the foreigners' quarter, Ketteler Street has been renamed for the murdered German Minister Clemens von…

James Ricalton photographed sites, survivors, and daily life in October 1900 in Peking after the rebellion for Underwood & Underwood. Troops posted in Peking found distractions at the YMCA with games, coffee, lunch, and books. The Y provided similar…

James Ricalton wrote of being the first westerner inside the Imperial City. He described the palace as “empty of nearly all portable articles” after the looting by Allied troops and missionaries. Ricalton wanted armchair travelers to experience "the…

Stereographers often structured their images around a human in the foreground so viewers focused on a vanishing point. This allowed viewers to feel as if they were in the depths of the picture.

Georgina Smith ran the London Mission’s girls’ boarding school inside the embassy quarter. Her success sheltering Chinese Christian refugees there earned her fame in the West. Mark Twain and other pundits loudly criticized the wholesale looting of…

Ambassador Edwin H. Conger and his family, with civilians from eleven western diplomatic legations and over 2,500 Chinese Christians were besieged in the embassy district for 54 days in summer 1900. Protesting against western Christian intrusions in…

Ed Marlowe worked in the mines for twenty years before breaking his back in 1957 when the roof of a mine fell in on him. Federal inspectors were not even allowed to enter mines until 1941; it would be another six years before Congress authorized the…

The miners’ 1972 strike against Duke Power Company over working conditions, wages, and labor practices inspired the award-winning documentary "Harlan County, USA." The miners struck to join United Workers of America, hoping to improve their jobs and…