Explore hundreds of the brother’s personal photographs of flights, family and dogs

See shots of the Wright Flyer intact at the National Air and Space Museum

Since the museum’s opening in 1976, the wood-and-muslin plane has been available for public viewing with a model of Orville, the younger brother, lying on the plane’s mid-section.

The iconic photo of the Wright brothers' first flight was the photographer’s first

Using a then-state-of-the-art Korona V, rescue member John T. Daniels was tasked with squeezing the device’s rubber bulb the moment the plane left the wooden track on the sand. The camera produced negatives on 5 by 7 sheets of glass.

See a timeline of early flights, patent approvals and the birth of the Wright Company

The brothers’ most intense period of creativity and progress came between 1901 and 1910, when their work at Kitty Hawk culminated in the first powered flight. The pair, however, were not the most business-savvy, and they struggled to take financial advantage of their pioneering work in the field.

The Flyer sat in a shed for 13 years behind the brothers’ Dayton bike shop

While the wood is the same used in the 1903 flight, the muslin has been replaced twice. After laying forgotten in sheds, the vehicle eventually took on national importance. However, the Smithsonian Institution did not recognize it until the 1940s, after it spent time at the Science Museum in London.

The pair began their aviation research by studying the 'mechanics' of birds

Taking inspiration from gliding pioneer Otto Lilienthal—whose gliders resembled the wings of birds—Wilbur took to observing birds to understand how they do it, in order to solve the problem of flight. This opening episode on the brothers explores their lives and accomplishments.

100 years of passenger air travel: a visual guide

This interactive timeline covers the first 100 years of passenger air travel, which was created in 1925 when the U.S. Post Office allowed private airlines to start delivering mail.

Orville and Wilbur argued over everything, likely accelerating their progress

The two never married, and focused solely on their goal of achieving flight. While both were socially reserved, they were passionate about their project, regularly debating—even shouting—over the details of propellers, engines, wings and more. This video explores how their culture of open argument likely fueled their discoveries.

Browse an Orwell superfan's book collection

This Brown University Library exhibit displays scans from collector Daniel Leab's extensive trove of Orwell's works, including many first editions and translations. In addition to the beautiful covers, there's also plenty of fascinating bibliographic information.

Wilbur published key papers, gave speeches in the burgeoning aviation community

Much of the theoretical work is credited to Wilbur, whose scientific mind observed birds and early pioneers to discover the key problem to solve was control. This 1901 speech surveys the recent work in the field and showcases what the brothers worked on two years before their breakthrough flight.

The 1910 Wright Model B was the brother’s most successful aircraft

The model, built from 1910 to 1914, was the first designed to be constructed in bulk, with four built each month in 1911 and 1912. The two-seater was used in exhibition flights and training for some of the earliest uses of airplanes in military contexts.

A 94-year-old stumbles upon a photo of herself from 1947 at an airport

Earlier this year, Gwendolyn Bruhn, who worked for Hawaiian Airlines in the 1940s, spotted herself in a photo blown up on an airport wall. Here's her story.

A photographer's long-lost collection of images of mothers

Professional photographer Ken Heyman discovered a 50-year-old box of photos labeled "Mothers" in his storage unit, with images depicting various mothers with their children in touching, candid scenes. Check out the finest of the group with this gallery.

Explore rare artifacts from the archives at Mount Vernon

This series from Washington's Presidential Library showcases rare books, maps, letters, and artifacts from his collection. It illuminates how he learned, governed, traveled, and understood the world around him.

See rare Civil War photographs preserved by the National Archives

The Civil War was the first major American conflict documented by a camera, with its images distributed widely to the public. The National Archives' digital collection offers thousands of original Civil War images: portraits, battlefields, hospitals, and everyday life.

How did the Wright brothers invent the airplane?

This article explores the research processes that led Wilbur and Orville Wright to invent the airplane and includes photos and visualizations of their findings and inventions.

Photographer Mathieu Stern found a little girl's 120-year-old time capsule containing two glass plate negatives in his family home, and developed the photos, unveiling images of the child's pets.

Explore over 46,000 pages of Charles Darwin's manuscripts

The American Museum of Natural History hosts almost 35,000 digitized folios related to evolution within the fields of botany and zoology from Darwin's Beagle voyage. High-resolution color images, geological findings, and annotated books from Darwin's personal library are also viewable.

Some of the oldest photographs in the world

Scholar and artist Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey ventured around the Mediterranean with some of the earliest photographic equipment in tow. He captured hundreds of images during his tour of Rome, Venice, Cairo, and more, in what would become...

Famed historian David McCullough on five things to know about the Wrights

The bestselling author of popular, beloved histories on US presidents, engineering feats and disasters published a study of the Wrights in 2015. Here. he highlights five key facts to know about the brothers, including that their efforts were bootstrapped—meaning they paid for their work themselves with no outside investors.

See a massive collection of Norman Rockwell's paintings

Rockwell's works sought to capture authentic scenes from American life and, in the process, came to define the American ideal. This collection includes 244 of his paintings, from his early days at the Saturday Evening Post through his more socially minded work for Look, to the end of his career. Below is 1951's "Saying Grace."

See nine airplane models that transformed aviation

This visual guide jumps over the dawn of modern air travel and begins with the open-cockpit biplane flown by the first scheduled airline, the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

A free archive of firsthand historical documents from explorers of America

Maintained by the Wisconsin Historical Society, the American Journeys collection contains more than 18,000 pages of primary source documents—journals, letters, maps, and accounts written between roughly 1000 CE and the early 1800s. These include eyewitness records of the Norse arrival in North America, Spanish conquistador expeditions, and the Lewis and Clark journey. Browse this list of highlights where pages from the original texts are specified (clicking a link opens a PDF).

See a collection of LIFE's most iconic photos in history

Famous images, like a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square to celebrate the end of World War II, are each shared with context in this article. See some of history's most famous moments from a unique point of view, including photos of Marilyn Monroe, the Beatles, and Muhammad Ali.

Explore the massive home library of Larry McMurtry, author of 'Lonesome Dove.'

Check out the most iconic images captured by Dorothea Lange, the American photographer known as one of the 20th-century's greatest social documentarians.

Explore a timeline of advancements in American aviation

From the Wright brothers' flight of the first powered plane in 1903 near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to SpaceX's debut of the Falcon 9 rocket in 2010 with reusable boosters, this interactive shows off the technological evolution of flight, from mechanical propulsion to ballistic spaceflight. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Before their historic flight, the Wright brothers ran a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, where they built the world's first successful powered aircraft.

What Kitty Hawk looks like today, including a 60-foot memorial to the brothers

This short video surveys the flat, empty expanse near Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina’s barrier islands, highlighting the area’s attractive conditions for early flight. Also shown are the stone monument to the Wright’s and replica wooden shacks like the ones they lived in those fateful years.

View a collection of digital museum resources about the Apollo program

Created by the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, this collection includes detailed biographies of astronauts and scientists who worked on the program and interactive features on the technologies that made it possible.

Kitty Hawk’s wide space, isolation and winds were ideal for flight experiments

North Carolina’s Outer Banks at the turn of the 20th century were not the summer resort destinations they are today. The brothers sought privacy as they toyed with their aviation designs, camping in Kill Devil Hills and using its sand dunes as launch points for early glider designs.

Photographing abandoned structures in the southeastern US

Leland Kent is a photographer and historian who has captured hundreds of buildings across the southeast United States over the last 10 years in order to preserve the past before it's too late. His subjects include decommissioned power plants, closed youth jails, vacant plantation homes, and more, and he has published several city-focused books. Get lost in Kent's dramatic portrayals of once-lively structures in this extensive and gripping gallery.

Watch a 1908 Wright Flyer demo with Wilbur and a passenger near Le Mans, France

One of the earliest filmed flights, this demonstration in France helped dispel doubts over the Wrights’ claims to powered, controlled flight. Such demos helped launch the pair to fame five years after their seminal flight in Kitty Hawk.

A rich archive of the visual imagination of the Cold War era

The blog aggregates art, design, fashion, and technology from the atomic and space age, spanning mid-century American futurism and its Soviet counterpart. The content has a broad range: escape pods from a B-58 bomber sit alongside Tour de France caravan vehicles and unidentified industrial designs.

One hundred rare, vintage photos of the British royal family

Their power may be in symbol only, but the Royal family commands our attention anyway. Take a look through the last few decades at some of the more choice, unknown shots of the Royal family, from Queen Elizabeth II to King Charles III.

Explore r/ColorizedHistory, a Reddit community that collects colorized versions of black-and-white historical photographs, from Olympic podiums to family portraits.

The expedition documented 240 plant species, 178 new to western science

Lewis and Clark’s botanical records introduced species to Americans like bitterroot, ponderosa pine, and Oregon grape—plants unknown to western science at the time. See a selection of these species in this image gallery.

2 months after Pearl Harbor, American libraries launched a drive to collect 10 million books for soldiers

The 1942 Victory Book Campaign—sponsored by the American Library Association, the Red Cross, and the USO—asked the public to donate books to both train and entertain troops. The national campaign exceeded its goal, collecting more than 10.2 million books.

Explore personal 9/11 oral histories from survivors, first responders, and families

The 9/11 Memorial Museum's archive includes over 3,500 firsthand interviews—spanning survivors, first responders, family members, and residents—offering rare, deeply personal perspectives on the tragedy and its aftermath.

Dorothea Lange's photos of Japanese Americans interred in US concentration camps were censored.

Forty-nine top-notch photos of springtime around the world

Peruse this collection of stunning images gleaned from thousands submitted in a 2020 "springtime" contest which features close-ups and drone photos from Vietnam to Ireland.

During the Great Depression, the US government used photography to document rural poverty.

Explore a collection of famous literary maps, including original images from 'Treasure Island,' 'The Swiss Family Robinson, ' and 'Walden.'

Their 1901 Wind Tunnel system revolutionized the study of aeronautics

Only the second to be built in the US, the wind tunnel allowed the brothers to study how air moves around more than 200 different wing shapes. This data helped them refine a key math equation, long held as the standard, that had been based only on one wing shape.

Dorothea Lange and her economist husband sought to document American poverty through collaborative works.

The Library of America, a reissue series that began in 1982, repackaged classic works of American writers at a low cost to encourage readers to engage with what it considered the American literary canon.

King George III assembled a 65,000-volume personal library.

The Wright brothers' sister hyped their work, and was the only one to attend college

Katharine Wright became the de facto household caretaker after their mother, Susan, died, when Katharine was 15. After graduating from Oberlin, Katharine took over household duties so her father and brothers could work. She promoted their work in the US and abroad.

View a collection of images and videos of coral reefs from around the world.

View a collection of historical documents about molecular biology's history

The collection features materials related to those involved in the discovery of DNA and provides historical context for the discoveries of RNA, various viruses, and important bioproteins. The items include photographs, business correspondence, manuscripts, and scientific instruments.

Rockwell's 'Four Freedoms' raised millions for the US war effort

Rockwell initially pitched the "Four Freedoms" project to the US Ordnance Department, but was rejected. Rockwell's editor at the Saturday Evening Post, however, loved the idea and published the images across four consecutive issues. After they became a sensation, the Saturday Evening Post partnered with the US Department of the Treasury to send the paintings on a 16-date national tour, which raised $133M in war bonds and stamps. Meanwhile, the Office of War Information printed four million sets of the posters with "Buy War Bonds" emblazoned on them.