History

October 1, 2025

Watch ‘Momijigari’: Japan’s Oldest Surviving Film From Over 100 Years Ago During the Meiji Period

Film has come a long way since the grainy, black and white images that first appeared on screen. But despite modern tools like technicolor, CGI, and HD cameras, there’s still something special about the earliest films ever made. One of the most important examples is Momijigari (1899), which is widely recognized as the oldest Japanese film to still exist.

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August 12, 2025

Kindergarteners in 1949 Drew Their Dads from Memory, and Life Magazine Captured the Results

In 1949, Doris Morcom, a kindergarten teacher at Sedgwick Elementary School in West Hartford, Connecticut, had a playful idea for the school’s upcoming Father’s Night. She asked her young students to draw their dads entirely from memory. The resulting portraits were both surprisingly accurate and hilariously imperfect, capturing the way each child saw their dad in their mind’s eye.

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July 27, 2025

Albert Einstein’s 1915 Letter to His Son Reveals the Key To Learning

In 1915, a 36-year-old Albert Einstein was living in wartime Berlin, tirelessly chipping away at what would become one of the world’s most foundational truths: the theory of general relativity. By then, the young physicist had been working on his revolutionary theory for about eight years, and he had finally condensed it into a mere two pages.

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My Modern Met

Celebrating creativity and promoting a positive culture by spotlighting the best sides of humanity—from the lighthearted and fun to the thought-provoking and enlightening.