Explorers in History

Only Explorers: the latest headlines first, then BRO’s own Explorers stories and video. All of History →

BRO hasn’t published anything on Explorers yet. Here’s the latest in History in the meantime.

StoryWes Dunbar4 Oct 20267 min

Before Paul Bunyan Was an Ad, He Was a Few Thousand Real Men

The north woods camps ran on pine, pancakes and nerve. They built the Midwest, nearly burned it down, and left a lesson in how to clean up after yourself.

The Flour Sack Dress and the Neighbors Who Fed Each Other

Our grandparents didn't get through the 1930s on grit alone. They had a system: the garden, the sewing box and the family next door.

StoryMarcus Vale3 Oct 20266 min

Proving up took five years and two neighbors willing to swear

The Homestead Act's paperwork was easy. Staying alive on the claim was the hard part, and at the end your neighbors had to vouch for you.

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StoryDean Shaw3 Oct 20266 min

From the Plow to the Combine, One Broken Bottleneck at a Time

For most of history a farm was only as big as one family could harvest. How a blacksmith, a Virginian, and a few stubborn tinkerers changed that.

Dude.com — 16 advisers who listen, talk and pray with you

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7 min read

Baseball's Birth Story Was Made Up, and the Real One Is Better

A commission handed America a tidy origin myth in 1907. The true history has clerks, prisoners, a paid shortstop and a man who refused to swing back.

Poll

Where does your phone charge overnight?

StoryMarcus Vale3 Oct 20267 min

Every Rodeo Event Was Somebody's Job First

Rodeo started as ranch hands settling an argument. It became the one sport where every event began as a day's work.

StoryDean Shaw3 Oct 20266 min

Farmers Invented the Pickup and Detroit Caught Up Later

Before Ford built a single pickup, men were sawing the backs off their cars. The truck has been shaped by its owners ever since.

Delicious.com — Nine thousand recipes and a plan for tonight

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StoryMarcus Vale1 Oct 20266 min

A Hundred Years Ago, Christmas Started With a Catalog

Raccoons at the White House, candles on the tree, and a whole country waiting on the mail. What the holidays of 1926 can still teach your family.

Quiz

Does your wardrobe actually fit you?

Five questions, honestly answered, and a plan for the next fortnight.

GuideDean Shaw23 Sept 20266 min

Seven Historic Stops Worth Making the Kids Sit in the Car

Valley Forge to the Alamo, the places where the story actually happened, what to see when you get there, and the parts nobody puts on the brochure.

StoryNina Castellan23 Sept 20266 min

Harriet Tubman Walked Back Into Maryland Thirteen Times

She had a fractured skull, a price on her head, and a revolver in her bag. She went back anyway, and she never lost a passenger.

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StoryWes Dunbar23 Sept 20267 min

The Cowboy Was Real For About Twenty Years

Thirty dollars a month, eighteen-hour days, and a job most men quit by thirty. The record is harder and better than the movies.

Names.com — The name is the first thing you sell

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StoryMarcus Vale23 Sept 20267 min

Frozen Chosin and the War America Agreed to Forget

Five months after a beaten battalion tried to stop tanks with bad rockets, 30,000 men walked out of a Korean valley at 30 below. Most of them made it.

Poll

When did you last ask for a raise?

StoryDean Shaw23 Sept 20266 min

The Men Who Built Your Ordinary Tuesday

Edison sold a system, not a bulb. Ford sold a price, not a car. Both changed how Americans live, and both left a record worth reading whole.

GuideSam Ortiz23 Sept 20266 min

How to Find Your Ancestors Without Paying for It

A burned warehouse in St. Louis, the 1950 census, and the county courthouse that still has your great-grandfather's signature on file.

CancerDefying.com — The research, protocols and reading in one place

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StoryMarcus Vale23 Sept 20266 min

Easy Company From Currahee to the Eagle's Nest

They ran a Georgia mountain until they hated it, then jumped into Normandy in the dark. What happened to Easy Company, and what the legend leaves out.

Quiz

Is your money actually in order?

Six questions. No email required, no sales pitch at the end.

6 min

The Ten-Dollar Runaway and Other Presidents Who Had Nothing

6 min

The Two Hours at Pearl Harbor and the Answer That Followed

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StoryMarcus Vale23 Sept 20266 min

Lincoln Hired the Men Who Thought He Was a Fool

He ran a cabinet full of rivals, a war he was losing, and a country that hated itself. The record shows exactly how he did it.

GermProof.com — An invisible germ barrier on your skin for hours

PartnerGermProof.com

6 min read

Ten Miles of Track in One Day

On April 28, 1869, a crew in the Utah desert broke a record nobody has broken since. Getting there took seven years, a mountain of granite, and men who kept showing up.

Poll

When did you last ask for a raise?

Older articles

Explorers in History

Before Paul Bunyan Was an Ad, He Was a Few Thousand Real Men

The Wright Brothers Flew for Five Years Before the World Believed It

The Railway Canada Couldn't Afford and Built Anyway

The Pony Express Went Broke Delivering the Mail on Time

Wash Day, the Iceman and the Lamp Chimney Nobody Misses

The Can Came Almost Fifty Years Before the Can Opener

The Flour Sack Dress and the Neighbors Who Fed Each Other

Proving up took five years and two neighbors willing to swear

From the Plow to the Combine, One Broken Bottleneck at a Time

Baseball's Birth Story Was Made Up, and the Real One Is Better

Every Rodeo Event Was Somebody's Job First

Farmers Invented the Pickup and Detroit Caught Up Later

A Hundred Years Ago, Christmas Started With a Catalog

Seven Historic Stops Worth Making the Kids Sit in the Car

Harriet Tubman Walked Back Into Maryland Thirteen Times

The Cowboy Was Real For About Twenty Years

Frozen Chosin and the War America Agreed to Forget

The Men Who Built Your Ordinary Tuesday

How to Find Your Ancestors Without Paying for It

Easy Company From Currahee to the Eagle's Nest

The Ten-Dollar Runaway and Other Presidents Who Had Nothing

The Two Hours at Pearl Harbor and the Answer That Followed

Lincoln Hired the Men Who Thought He Was a Fool

Ten Miles of Track in One Day