One Last Thing Archives

Objects That Matter: Concrete

More than 130 Berliners died trying to cross the "death strip," the no-man’s-land between two massive concrete walls that divided their city for nearly 30 years.

Morgan Baskin

Objects That Matter: The Disposable Camera

Kodak embraced the ideals of the Progressive Era early on, aggressively marketing cameras to women from the outset with the launch of advertisements featuring the Kodak Girl—a pretty, camera-wielding woman—in 1893.

Elena Gooray

Objects That Matter: Party Plates

Public support for criminal registries has grown despite inconsistent evidence that they reduce crime, which social scientists attribute to a human need to feel a sense of control over threats.

Meghan Walsh

Objects That Matter: The Bird-Saving Collar

Vigilantes who hunt down feral cats run up against animal-cruelty laws and social norms; one Texas veterinarian sparked outrage after she bragged on Facebook about killing what she thought was a feral tomcat with a bow and arrow.

Peter Andrey Smith

Objects That Matter: White Picket Fence

In the 1940s, the mass-produced tract homes that formed Levittown, New York—one of America's first suburbs—specifically barred "any person other than members of the Caucasian race" in their leases.

Madeleine Thomas