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Adam Francis Plummer began this diary in 1841 while enslaved in Prince George's County, Maryland. After his death, his daughter Nellie Arnold Plummer continued the diary.

This 19th-Century Diary Written by an Enslaved Maryland Man Is a Crucial Record of His Life and Family History—and the Only One of Its Kind Found in the United States

Adam Francis Plummer’s chronicle is believed to be the country’s sole known example of a multigenerational journal begun by an enslaved person. It’s now on view at the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum

Michelle Mehrtens

Fruit grows on a native avocado tree in southern Mexico

Ancient Genes Reveal That Big, Bright Avocados Were Carried Through the Americas Thousands of Years Ago

A view of the uncrewed Orion capsule in space during the 2022 Artemis 1 mission, with both the Earth and moon in the background. The Earth looks smaller because it is farther away.

Artemis 1’s Orion Spacecraft Withstood the Heat of Re-entry in a Critical Test for Humans’ Return to the Moon. Now, NASA Will Lend the Historic Capsule to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum

Ammonites swam in the Western Interior Seaway that once covered a large portion of North America. These iridescent fossils from South Dakota, around 69–72 million years old, preserve inner shell layers made of aragonite, the same mineral that gives pearls their luster.

An Ancient Sea Once Split North America Down the Middle. The Beautiful Multicolored Ammonite Shells From Its Waters Are So Perfectly Preserved That They Still Shimmer Today

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A blacktip shark, above, looks and behaves like a spinner shark. Scientists are tracking spinner sharks to get a clearer idea of the species' whereabouts.

These Shark Look-Alikes Have Long Confounded Fishers and Scientists on the East Coast. Tracking Where They Migrate Could Help Clear the Confusion

Researchers are tagging and tracking spinner sharks to map out their geographic distribution, because they’ve seen that the range of the very similar blacktip shark has shifted

Scientists studied the sweat bee species Megalopta genalis​​​​​​, native to Central and South America.

In This Bee Species, Why Do Some Daughters Leave Home While Others Stay ‘Bee-hind’ to Help Mom?

Biologists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute investigated a flexible social bee species, which helps shed light on the evolution of more complex organizational structures among other insects

A copy of the first daguerreotype photograph of a total solar eclipse

A Little-Known Photographer Captured the First Clear Image of a Total Solar Eclipse 175 Years Ago. Today, These Celestial Events Still Reveal the Mysteries of the Sun

Ever since that first daguerreotype on a light-sensitive metal plate, eclipse observations have continued to unveil the star’s corona and bring people together to experience the solar system’s majesty

An overview of the excavated track surface with a mix of deeper hippopotamus and antelope footprints and shallower hominin tracks visible

Ancient Fossil Footsteps Found in Kenya May Hint That an Early Human Relative Was Larger Than Previously Thought

The trackway sheds light on how some hominins moved around their environments and with one another

Fruit grows on a native avocado tree in southern Mexico

Ancient Genes Reveal That Big, Bright Avocados Were Carried Through the Americas Thousands of Years Ago

People brought large avocado seeds from South America to Central America, kicking off a burst of diversity for the fruit

Adam Francis Plummer began this diary in 1841 while enslaved in Prince George's County, Maryland. After his death, his daughter Nellie Arnold Plummer continued the diary.

This 19th-Century Diary Written by an Enslaved Maryland Man Is a Crucial Record of His Life and Family History—and the Only One of Its Kind Found in the United States

Adam Francis Plummer’s chronicle is believed to be the country’s sole known example of a multigenerational journal begun by an enslaved person. It’s now on view at the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum

A view of the uncrewed Orion capsule in space during the 2022 Artemis 1 mission, with both the Earth and moon in the background. The Earth looks smaller because it is farther away.

Artemis 1’s Orion Spacecraft Withstood the Heat of Re-entry in a Critical Test for Humans’ Return to the Moon. Now, NASA Will Lend the Historic Capsule to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum

The exact timeline for the spacecraft’s display hasn’t been announced, but the artifact will fit into an upcoming exhibition on how humans have built a long-term presence in Earth orbit and laid the groundwork for farther space travel

Ammonites swam in the Western Interior Seaway that once covered a large portion of North America. These iridescent fossils from South Dakota, around 69–72 million years old, preserve inner shell layers made of aragonite, the same mineral that gives pearls their luster.

An Ancient Sea Once Split North America Down the Middle. The Beautiful Multicolored Ammonite Shells From Its Waters Are So Perfectly Preserved That They Still Shimmer Today

Spectacular marine fossils tell the story of the long-gone Western Interior Seaway and the planet’s past aquatic life

Bernardo de Gálvez by José Nicolás de la Escalera on display in the National Portrait Gallery exhibition “Out of Many: Portraits from 1600 to 1900.”

This Spanish Officer Besieged the British During the American Revolution, Giving George Washington Time to Plan a Pivotal Attack

Bernardo de Gálvez indirectly contributed to the Continental Army’s victory at the 1781 Siege of Yorktown. A rare painting of him is now on view at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery

Bartlett Frost's Declaration of Independence diorama, copy after John Trumbull

America's 250th Anniversary

To Recreate One of the American Revolution’s Most Famous Paintings, This Artist Painstakingly Crafted Miniature Wax Figures of the Nation’s Founders

Bartlett M. Frost’s diorama is modeled after John Trumbull’s depiction of the presentation of the Declaration of Independence. Newly conserved, the work is now on view at the National Portrait Gallery

An image of Skylab captured by its final crew as they departed. During launch, one of the solar array wings broke off, and the gold sheet at the center was quickly manufactured afterward to serve as a makeshift sunshield and control the internal temperature.

America’s First Space Station Proved Humans Could Live and Work in Orbit for Months. Now, the Public Can See What It Looked Like in Person for the First Time in Eight Years

A backup version of Skylab was displayed when the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum opened 50 years ago. After renovation of the building, the artifact is once more on view in a new gallery

Hujar's last portrait of Thek, taken in 1975

Queer Artists Peter Hujar and Paul Thek Drew From Their Intimate Relationship to Create Unique 20th-Century Works

Their fascinating, intense pieces are being highlighted in new exhibitions this year—and their story is chronicled in a recent book

Poster of the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia

Everyone Wanted Alexander Graham Bell to Debut the Telephone at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition. He Almost Avoided It Entirely

The inventor had to be persuaded to make the trip from Boston, then balked at the thought of a delay in debuting his device. But history interceded, and his American innovation got its proper accolades

A circa 1846 photo of the Patent Office Building

This Building Hosted Lincoln’s Inaugural Ball and Displayed the Declaration of Independence. Today, It’s Home to Two World-Class Art Museums

The Old Patent Office Building now houses the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. A new exhibition spotlights the structure’s rich history of encouraging innovation

How an ebonyshell mussel becomes a button

How One German Button Maker Searched the Rivers of the American Midwest for the Shells That Could Make Him a Fortune

John Boepple settled in Muscatine, Iowa, where he produced pearl buttons made from freshwater mussel shells. His innovations brought economic prosperity to the town—and disaster to the local mussel populations

A male red fox (silver morph) with a playful kit on San Juan Island in Washington State, May 17, 2024

These Devoted Dads Across the Animal Kingdom Will Warm Your Heart This Father’s Day

From foxes that bring home dinner to fish that keep watch over their young, male animals across several species take an active role in building nests and caring for their babies

Benitoite mineral from California

What Natural History Objects Represent Your State? You Can Find Out in This New Exhibition of More Than 600 Specimens and Artifacts

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History celebrates America’s 250th anniversary by spotlighting fascinating items from across the nation

Ants are pictured at the Metropolitan Natural Park, a protected area in Panama City, on January 26, 2025.

Ants Can Get Distracted by Cookies, Chips and Other Junk Food. Here’s Why That Could Be a Problem for the Environment

The insects enjoy snack crumbs, but new research shows that this unnatural food source can divert them from one of their most significant roles: dispersing plant seeds

An aerial view of the Sesquicentennial International Exposition

America's 250th Anniversary

America’s 150th Birthday Celebration Was Deemed the Nation’s ‘Greatest Flop.’ What Went Wrong With the Sesquicentennial?

Philadelphia politicians hoped to replicate the success of the 1876 Centennial Exposition. Instead, the 1926 world’s fair lost millions of dollars, essentially bankrupting the city on the eve of the Great Depression

The Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula is a region where stars are born, seen in Smithsonian Starstruck.

See a Diamond Planet, an Exploding Star and a Black Hole Up Close in a New Immersive Virtual Reality Experience

Informed by science from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and astronomers worldwide, this “documentary that you can walk through” visualizes the cosmos in a 3D introduction to the universe

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