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At the Smithsonian

A brown-green vessel bearing the inscription, "A noble Jar for pork or beef / then carry it a round to the indian chief" made by the enslaved craftsman David "Dave" Drake, is now on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

For the Enslaved Potter David Drake, His Literary Practice Was His Resistance

This 19th-century vessel, made to store meat, carries a powerful backstory of Drake’s defiance of the laws of enslavement

Astronomers and musicians have developed “sonifications” to bring the symphony of the cosmos to a wider audience.

What Does the Universe Sound Like?

The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and other researchers have melded astronomy and music to offer a new oeuvre

“A Window Suddenly Opens: Contemporary Photography in China” (above: Chinese Landscape Series No. 3 by Huang Yan, 1999) continues at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. through January 7, 2024.

A Window Opens on China’s Avant-Garde With This Explosion of Photographic Art

The Hirshhorn Museum displays dynamic works of Chinese self-expression

One standout feature of the renovated Bird House at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute is the chance for close-up, interactive experiences (above: a cedar waxwing).

The Wonderful World of Birds

Experience the Wonder of Migration at the National Zoo’s New Bird House

Following a six-year renovation, the revamped exhibition will open March 13 with three indoor aviaries

Yemeni artifacts on display during a ceremony to celebrate their repatriation

The Smithsonian Will Temporarily House 77 Repatriated Artifacts Amid Unrest in Yemen

Until the items can be returned, the National Museum of Asian Art will keep them safe

Ihor Poshyvailo, director of the Maidan Museum in Kyiv and co-founder of Ukraine’s Heritage Emergency Response Initiative, along with his crew, salvages the remains of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary built in 1862 and shelled by the Russians in March 2022.

How Ukrainians Are Defending Their Cultural Heritage From Russian Destruction

The Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative and its partners are aiding in the fight to protect the country’s history and to document attempts to erase it

“Abraham Lincoln” (1865) by W.F.K. Travers in the "America's Presidents" gallery at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, on loan from the Hartley Dodge Foundation.

Life-Size 1865 Portrait of Abraham Lincoln Stands Tall at the National Portrait Gallery

The W.F.K. Travers painting hid in plain sight at a New Jersey town hall for 80 years before it was restored and brought back to Washington

The Great Hall of the Castle (pictured in 1969) has housed exhibits, a library, special events and a visitor information center.

Why the Smithsonian Castle Is Getting a Major Overhaul

The iconic building on the National Mall will be closed for five years as its interior gets a highly anticipated makeover

How much advance warning would we have if a large comet were headed on a collision course with Earth?

How Much Warning Would We Have of an Earth-Shattering Comet? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

Cacao growing on a tree at Zorzal Cacao, the first farm certified by Smithsonian's new Bird Friendly cocoa program.

The Wonderful World of Birds

Why Buying ‘Bird Friendly Cocoa’ Is a Sweet Deal

The Smithsonian launches a new certification for chocolate lovers looking to help their feathery friends

McClintock used this Bausch & Lomb wide-field binocular microscope to examine morphological mutations in corn.

Women in Science

By Studying Corn, Barbara McClintock Unlocked the Secrets of Life

A look through a historic microscope helps explain what we all owe the Nobel Prize-winning scientist

A fossil hippo skeleton and associated Oldowan artifacts were exposed at the Nyayanga site.

Who Made the First Stone Tool Kits?

A nearly three-million-year-old butchering site packed with animal bones, stone implements and molars from our early ancestors reignites the debate

The cabbage soup diet of the 1950s allowed the indulgence in as much cabbage soup as one could consume.

The Seesawing History of Fad Diets

Since dieting began in the 1830s, the ever-changing nutritional advice has skimped on science

“When an individual walks through this experience, they are a part of history, and now they can contribute to the future,” says the museum's Asantewa Boakyewa.

This Show Is Everything You Need for a Year of Meaningful Community Activism

The immersive exhibition, “The Utopia Project,” at the Anacostia Community Museum is about setting high goals and the means for achieving them

Neal V. Loving in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1954

In 1946, a Black Pilot Returned to the Cockpit After a Double Amputation

Neal V. Loving, whose memoir will soon be released by Smithsonian Books, built his own planes, ran a flight school and conducted research for the Air Force

At the Paris World's Fair a powerful display of hand-drawn diagrams (above: Income and expenditure of 150 Negro families in Atlanta, Ga.,U.S. designed by W.E.B. Du Bois and his students) called attention to the unrecognized contributions of Black Americans. The fragile posters are being rotatated in and out of an exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum through May 2023.

How W.E.B. Du Bois Disrupted America’s Dominance at the World’s Fair

With bar graphs and pie charts, the sociologist and his Atlanta students demonstrated Black excellence in the face of widespread discrimination

Miriam Wosk's illustration of a blue-skinned, eight-armed multitasking woman adorned the first cover of Ms. magazine. "Making her blue was a way of making her universal," says Gloria Steinem in this month's "Portraits" podcast.

Explore the Founding of ‘Ms.’ Magazine and the Making of a Space Telescope Photograph in This Month’s Featured Podcasts

“AirSpace” speaks to astronomer Shauna Edson and “Portraits” drops in on activist and author Gloria Steinhem

Jill Biden addresses a crowd at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History on January 25. Inaugural ensembles by Gabriella Hearst (left) and Alexandra O'Neill (right) stand next to her.

Jill Biden’s Inaugural Attire Is on View at the Smithsonian

The day and evening ensembles are now the centerpiece of the American History Museum’s popular “First Ladies” exhibition

The installation Create to Free Yourselves: Abraham Lincoln and the History of Freeing Slaves in America by Georges Adéagbo (above) will be on view at President Lincoln’s Cottage in Washington, D.C. through February 15. ​​

At Abraham Lincoln’s Cottage, Artist Georges Adéagbo Pays Homage to the Great Emancipator

The award-winning Beninese artist unveils a work dedicated to the president’s “generosity of heart”

C-3PO and R2-D2 from the 1983 Star Wars — Return of the Jedi takes center stage at the new exhibition "Entertainment Nation / Nación de Espectáculo" on long-time view at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

The Stars Are Aligned at the National Museum of American History

Banged-Up, but Still Sassy, R2-D2 and C-3PO Are Back and Thrilling Fans

Actor Jimmy Vee says climbing inside the droid costume, now on view at the Smithsonian’s American History Museum, is like entering “your own world”

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