Dynamic Directory - August 23, 2026

Samuel A. Mudd was a young doctor with several children when he met John Wilkes Booth in the fall of 1864.

This is a cropped image of the only-known photograph depicting Roxie Hart who was involved, as a witness, in a 1914 trial in Montgomery County, Indiana.

Lewis Thornton Powell was born in Alabama, lived in Florida and served as a Confederate soldier. He became a "Lincoln Conspiracy" Defendant.

The Surratt family owned two properties - one, in Surrattsville, and the other in Washington City.

After attacking Secretary of State William Seward - on the night of April 14, 1865 - Lewis Powell (also known as Lewis Paine/Payne) hid in a wooded area for three days and nights.

Los Angeles has a large homeless population. Some of the city's homeless people live in the Skid Row section of town, not far from Disney Hall.

Joanne Pearce-Martin is principal keyboardist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

(Robert) Vijay Gupta, child prodigy and friend of Nathaniel Ayers, is a violinist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Toronto Music Garden is inspired by J.S. Bach's Suite No. 1 in G Major for Unaccompanied Cello. In this video clip, Yo-Yo Ma—who was involved in the garden project—plays the Prelude.

In 1987, Lillian Disney - the widow of Walt Disney - decided to give a gift to the people of Los Angeles.

Oliver Wendell Holmes is known for some of his free-speech decisions which he wrote while serving as a Supreme Court Justice.

Learn the story behind one of the most-famous photos of the U-boat War: The attack of U-569.

As Alan Turing and his Bletchly Park colleagues worked feverishly to break the Enigma code, they caught a break when the Royal Navy captured U-110 on May 9, 1941. Onboard was a working Enigma machine and secret codes for the following month. Initially towing the disabled U-boat to Iceland, the crew with the secret treasure was redirected to Scotland.

Before he became a pope, Giuseppe Sarto had a great deal of experience living among his parishoners. As Pope Pius X, he strongly opposed the outbreak of WWI.

Before the Pearl Harbor bombing, Japanese-Americans lived and worked on Terminal Island. After the bombing, their homes were destroyed and their way of life was gone forever.

Ansel Adams, one of America's greatest photographers, started his professional life as a pianist. What made him decide to switch profressions?

Professor Wiles has won the Abel Prize for solving Fermat's Last Theorem. How long did it take to solve it? How did he do it?

On January 6, 1838, Samuel Morse successfully tests an electrical telegraph. So why did it take years longer to send the first message?