A 16th-century Florentine noblewoman, Lisa Gherardini was the wife of a successful silk merchant named Francesco del Giocondo. But was she also the subject of the Mona Lisa? Many scholars believe she ...

Hygiene and ritual marked every moment of life for pregnant Aztec women. The tlamatlquiticitl—midwife—offered those in her charge a remarkable 16th-century birthing plan, combining practical ...

In the 16th and 17th centuries, people supported capital punishment as it fulfilled their desire for retribution, and also served as a deterrent to others. Women who were said to scold or argue ...

Now, nearly a century after her death in 1931, she is the 16th woman recognized on the quarter through the US Mint’s American Women’s Quarter Program, a four-year initiative in partnership ...