Watch Walt Disney's early innovative film, 'Alice's Wonderland'

'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' was inspired by a real-life Alice

Carroll invented "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" to entertain a family with whom he was traveling, particularly its young children, one of whom, Alice, he worked into the story. Scholars have scrutinized the relationship between Carroll and Alice, with many biographers noting that many of the photographs he took during his career were portraits of children.

Walt Disney’s Laugh-O-Gram Studio featured his earliest innovations in animation

Before he founded his iconic film company, Walt Disney was a young animator in Kansas City, Missouri. After scoring a contract to create animated newsreels for local movie theaters, Disney formed Laugh-O-Gram Studio, where he created innovative animated shorts that set the path for his later work.

Disney was originally called the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio

In 1923, brothers Walt and Roy formed what would later become The Walt Disney Co. They began by continuing to produce Walt's "Alice Comedies" and a series based on Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a precursor to Mickey Mouse.

'Steamboat Willie' was the first film to feature Mickey Mouse

This short film introduced Mickey Mouse, the character who would define the Disney brand, to the world. It might be almost 100 years old, but you'll be surprised at how much humor still holds up.

In 1945, Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and legendary animator Walt Disney began collaborating on a short film that was not completed until 2003, years after both men had died.

Watch Dalí's surreal collaboration with Disney

Production for "Destino," a surreal short by Salvador Dalí and Walt Disney, began in 1945 but stalled when the Walt Disney Company ran into financial trouble due to the commercial failure of "Fantasia" and the economic downturn of World War II. It was finally released in 2003, after Disney animators completed it based on Dalí's original storyboards.

George Méliès' 'The Haunted Castle' is considered the first horror film

The 1896 film short uses a series of camera tricks to depict supernatural experiences, including a bird turning into a man and a woman being summoned from a smoking cauldron. Its subject matter and surprising visuals have led scholars to call it the first horror film.

Disney was saved by 'Cinderella,' which brought the company out of debt

Producing war propaganda and training films helped the company towards solvency, but the military content wasn't a cure-all. Disney wasn't in the clear until 1950's "Cinderella," a much-needed hit. The movie's success was largely due to the return of the company's best writers and the work of Mary Blair, a watercolor artist who brought a more whimsical style to the film.

Disneyland opened in 1955

Walt Disney teased the amusement park a year in advance through his ABC show, "Walt Disney's Disneyland." This episode was from the park's opening day, an event that necessitated a news-like live broadcast and walked viewers through the park's attractions and amenities. One in three Americans watched the broadcast, despite its numerous technical difficulties.

The first horror movie is believed to be George Méliès' 1986 short 'The Haunted Castle,' which pioneered the use of special effects

‘Snow White’ was honored by the Oscars two years in a row

“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was not only Hollywood’s first full-length animated film—it was also Disney’s first massive hit and, at the time, was the highest-grossing film of all time. The Academy Awards honored the film in 1937 with a nomination for best music, though the film didn’t win the award. The following year, the Academy explicitly acknowledged the film’s unprecedented success with a one-of-a-kind award, a rarity in the Academy’s storied history.

The 1939 ‘Wizard of Oz’ reimagined Baum’s book for a new age

Technological breakthroughs brought high-quality, synchronized sound to films by the end of the 1920s. By the 1930s, the movie-musical, a genre that blended artful cinematography and Broadway-style musicals, became more popular. “The Wizard of Oz” evolved the form further by structuring the plot into episodes anchored by memorable, revelatory songs.

Imagining the memoirs of aging Disney princesses

This resource shares a collection of drawings that humorously imagine the books Disney princesses would write as middle-aged women. See Cinderella’s guide to passive income or Sleeping Beauty’s story of becoming sober in this creative collection of comics.

Dorothy's famous entrance into Oz in 'The Wizard of Oz' relied on analog tricks, including a body double and sepia-toned paint, as much as it did on technology

Charlie Chaplin's 'Modern Times' blended slapstick and satire

The 1936 film thrust Chaplin's iconic Little Tramp character into the Industrial Revolution, satirizing how mass production was dehumanizing individuals. The movie was not only a hit, but it was also the product of a burgeoning Hollywood: Chaplin had founded his own company (United Artists) in 1919.

A young Spielberg was changed by DeMille’s ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’

The first movie Steven Spielberg saw was Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Greatest Show on Earth.” The movie’s on-screen train wreck frightened yet fascinated the young Spielberg—illustrating the visceral impact movies have on their audiences.

Walt Whitman's lost novel

In 2016, a long-forgotten piece of Walt Whitman's earliest work was uncovered. First published anonymously in 1852, "Life and Adventures of Jack Engle" is a serialized story that predates "Leaves of Grass." It offers a rare look at Whitman's early writing, before he became one of the most influential poets in US history.

The first comic strip appeared in American newspapers in 1895

This video traces the evolution of the comic book from early newspaper strips to the Golden, Silver, and Modern Ages—highlighting milestones such as the debut of Superman in 1938 and Marvel’s humanized heroes of the 1960s and marking their rise as cultural icons.

Watch a 1934 short film starring jazz legend Cab Calloway, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance's music scene

Minnelli's acting career began as a toddler

Her first film appearance was at age three in 1949's "In the Good Old Summertime," which starred her mother, Judy Garland. Minnelli's stage debut came not long after, at the age of 10. At age 19, she'd made her Broadway debut in "Flora, the Red Menace," and landed a Tony Award for the performance.

Thomas Edison captured the only known footage of Mark Twain

The inventor was a pioneer in the early film industry and made his own motion pictures. In 1909, he shot a short film featuring Twain at Stormfield, his property in Connecticut. In it, Twain wears his iconic white suit and drinks tea with his daughters.

The 31 best science fiction films ever

This list refreshingly starts off with the best first—1968's "2001: A Space Odyssey," Stanley Kubrick's cerebral, futuristic icon. Coming in at 31st is Disney's "Wall-E."

Dickens' live readings sometimes used visual projectors that predated cinema

Dickens was interested in adapting his work in various forms. With his live readings, he sometimes used a 'magical lantern,' a popular tool that projected moving slides. In addition, some stage plays of Dickens' work that included ghost scenes used the magical lantern to cast apparitions on stage.

Hear a joke from Charley Case, the first stand-up comedian

Vaudeville performer Case is believed to be the first modern stand-up. While others before him told jokes onstage, Case was the first to do it without props or costuming. This 1909 recording features one of his jokes. The content may be outdated, but the structure can still be found in stand-up sets today.

The art of miniature sets in Hollywood

Many films utilize meticulously designed miniature sets to produce scenes that would otherwise be too big to film. While artsy filmmaker Wes Anderson is well-known for reviving this technique in an idiosyncratic style, more mainstream films like "Star Wars" and "Inception" rely heavily on small-scale sets filmed in such a way as to make them appear normal-sized. This nine-minute video breaks down how it all works.

Explore a gallery of electric vehicles from before 1920

In 1884, Thomas Parker invented the first practical electric car in London. By the turn of the century, early EVs were seen on the streets of Washington, DC. Automaker promotional materials included photographs of cars on mountain roads and other terrains.

Take a look at an early rock 'n' roll artifact

This 1956 jukebox musical, "Rock, Rock, Rock!," is an early example of the burgeoning rock 'n' roll culture—with performances from Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, D.J. Alan Freed, and several others. It was also a catalyst, sending the new youth culture into theaters around the country.

The first robot in literature may have been a 'mechanical man' in 1907's 'Ozma of Oz,' a book in L Frank Baum's 'Wizard of Oz' series.

Documenting the first year of the WNBA

The WNBA was launched in 1997, providing a historic opportunity for women’s basketball. Two weeks after the WNBA kicked off its inaugural season, NBC aired this hourlong documentary, giving viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the league’s first games. The documentary also looks at the first pro league, the All-American Red Heads, and provides stories of the premier players in the WNBA.

Watch every 'Simpsons' short from 'The Tracey Ullman Show'

Before it was a standalone sitcom, "The Simpsons" began in 1987 as a series of interstitials on "The Tracey Ullman Show," a short-lived sketch comedy show. You'll notice some slight differences—off-kilter voices, oddly drawn characters—but the series' premise was there, leading Fox to spin it off into its own show in 1989.

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, and became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

Learn more about the history of fireworks, which dates back to an accidental invention during an alchemist's quest for information about immortality.

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

The animatronic shark from Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws,' the first modern blockbuster, was a complex underwater apparatus called 'Bruce.'

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

One disco producer saw 'Star Wars' four times on its opening weekend and was so inspired that he recorded the album 'Star Wars and Other Intergalactic Funk,' which produced a chart-topping single.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

The distributor behind 'Rocky Horror' pulled the film from its scheduled national release, believing it would be a failure, though it eventually amassed a dedicated fanbase through midnight showings, a trend that continues over 50 years later.

The idea for the Federal Reserve was conceived in secret in 1910—with bankers donning duck hunt gear for disguise while traveling to a remote country club on Georgia's Jekyll Island

Explore the animals that populate the depths of the ocean, from fish and coral in the first few hundred feet, all the way down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

Objects can be 3D printed with light by projecting 2D computerized tomography (CT) scans onto rotating cylinders of resin, which solidify upon exposure.