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History & Archaeology
How Dolley Madison Saved the Day
As invading British troops approached in August 1814, the first lady coolly took command of the White House
By Thomas Fleming
History & Archaeology
Demolishing Kashgar's History
A vital stop on China's ancient Silk Road, the Uighur city of Kashgar may lose its old quarter to plans for "progress"
By Joshua Hammer
Science & Nature
Barrow, Alaska: Ground Zero for Climate Change
Scientists converge on the northernmost city in the United States to study global warming's dramatic consequences
By Bob Reiss
Travel
Searching for Hanoi's Ultimate Pho
With more Americans sampling Vietnam's savory soup, a noted food critic and an esteemed maestro track down the city's best
By Mimi Sheraton
People & Places
Joyce Carol Oates Goes Home Again
The celebrated writer returns to the town of her birth to revisit the places that haunt her memory and her extraordinary fiction
By Joyce Carol Oates
Travel
Lodging in the Trees, Underwater and in the Ground
From Tunisian caves to Swedish mines, unusual hotels can be found around the world to make your vacation a special one
By Robin T. Reid
Arts & Culture
The Skeletons of Shanidar Cave
A rare cache of hominid fossils from the Kurdistan area of northern Iraq offers a window on Neanderthal culture
By Owen Edwards
People & Places
Capturing Appalachia's "Mountain People"
Shelby Lee Adams' 1990 photograph of life in the eastern Kentucky mountains captured a poignant tradition
By Abigail Tucker
Science & Nature
A Closer Look at Evolutionary Faces
John Gurche, a “paleo-artist,” has recreated strikingly realistic heads of our earliest human ancestors for a new exhibit
By Abigail Tucker
History & Archaeology
Hollywood's Historic Buildings
Theaters and other architectural gems lined Hollywood's famous boulevards during its Golden Age and now hold restored star appeal
By Laura Kiniry
Arts & Culture
Q and A: Rick Potts
The Smithsonian anthropologist turned heads in scientific circles when he proposed that climate change was the driving force in human evolution
By Beth Py-Lieberman
Science & Nature
The Human Family's Earliest Ancestors
Studies of hominid fossils, like 4.4-million-year-old "Ardi," are changing ideas about human origins
By Ann Gibbons
Science & Nature
Wild Things:
Life as We Know It
Pollinating crickets, the longest migration, puffed up toads and more...
By T.A. Frail, Megan Gambino, Abigail Tucker and Sarah Zielinski
History & Archaeology
Witness to History
The first memoir by a White House slave recreates the events of August 23, 1814
By Kathleen Burke
History & Archaeology
An Ancestry of African-Native Americans
Using government documents, author Angela Walton-Raji traced her ancestors to the slaves owned by American Indians
By Katy June-Friesen
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Smithsonian Videos
The Sights and Tastes of Hanoi
In Vietnam's capital city, pho restaurants dot the streets and fill them with the aromas of the flavorful soup
Unearthing Our Roots
Fossil hunters have documented numerous ancient hominid species
Mustangs: Spirits of the Wild West
Photographer Melissa Farlow traveled across the American West capturing the majestic beauty of wild mustangs
The Pollinating Cricket
For the first time ever, researchers observed a cricket as a pollinator for a flower
Life of Lincoln
In an interactive slideshow, take a virtual tour of Abraham Lincoln's life
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In The Magazine
March 2010
CultureSpotter
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New at Viva MexicoExplore Mexico's history, people and art through a range of engaging essays in the all-new "Mexican Culture" section. |
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Travel & Adventure
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Opera Lover's ItalyOpera and Cuisine in Puglia, Basilicata, Campania and Rome (Jul 15 - 24, 2010) |
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Travel WireWe know travel is one of your passions, and we're here to help you pursue it. We've collected some of the best offerings from our most valued travel partners. |
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6th Annual Smithsonian Photo Contest Winners
Out of more than 17,000 entries contributed from around the world, Smithsonian and its readers select the year's best
Celebrating American Indian Heritage
Sitting Bull's legacy, Native American languages, a national list of events and more
15 Must-See Endangered Cultural Sites
Some of the world's most precious and historic sites can be visited today—but might be gone tomorrow
Black History Heritage Month
Carter G. Woodson created the first Negro History Week in 1926 to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln
The Great Destinations of the World
From Rome to Cape Town to Vancouver, this guide to our favorite places explores ancient cultures, geologic marvels and urban meccas
The Magellanic Penguins of Punta Tombo
On a tiny peninsula in southern Argentina, nearly 400,000 penguins gather to breed and usher in a new generation of their species
What Is Your Dream Travel Destination?
Six extraordinary writers picked their dream travel assignments. Where would you go if you could travel anywhere in the world?
Your Kind of Town
What makes your city, suburb or small town special? Share a favorite memory or anecdote about your hometown
Object at Hand: Smithsonian.com's Favorite Things
As the magazine's Object at Hand column turns 20, we look back on some of the treasures inside the Smithsonian Institution
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