History

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What's Up

Duke Ellington, animated movies and the old ballgame

Capt. John Smith and Chief Powhatan had historic encounters in Werowocomoco.

Lost City of Powhatan

The Algonquian settlement crucial to the survival of Jamestown 400 years ago has been found. Finally

Congress finally passed the suffrage amendment in January 1918, but the Senate and the states took more than two years to approve it. In August 1920, a young Tennessee representative cast the deciding vote—at the urging of his mother—and ratified the amendment, thereby enfranchising half of the U.S. population. After a 72-year struggle, women had finally won the right to vote.

Equal Say

A photographic essay of how women won the vote

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Celebrating St. Patrick

On March 17, everyone's green-even the Chicago River. Yet St. Patrick remains colored in myth

A conservator works on the Star-Spangled Banner in 1914.

The Story Behind the Star Spangled Banner

How the flag that flew proudly over Fort McHenry inspired an anthem and made its way to the Smithsonian

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General Resent

In this interview, Ernest "Pat" Furgurson, author of "Catching Up with 'Old Slow Trot,'" says some people are still fighting the Civil War

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The Stranger and the Statesman

An excerpt from Nina Burleigh's book, The Stranger and the Statesman: James Smithson, John Quincy Adams, and the Making of America's Greatest Museum

James Smithson by Hattie Elizabeth Burdette, 1872

Why This Wealthy British Scientist Saw So Much Potential in the United States of America

James Smithson's biographer offers insight into ideals born of the Age of Enlightenment that gave rise to the founding of the Smithsonian

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The Forgotten General

Historians' perspectives on George H. Thomas

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March Anniversaries

Momentous or Merely Memorable

The Amazon loses 8,800 acres a day to "This army does not retreat," Gen. George H. Thomas famously asserted. Later in 1863, he rallied Union troops in the Battle of Chickamauga, in Georgia. His equanimity shows in a Civil War portrait, as it did in the heat of combat.

The Civil War

Catching Up With "Old Slow Trot"

Stubborn and deliberate, General George Henry Thomas was one of the Union's most brilliant strategists. So why was he cheated by history?

Smithson (in 1816 portrait) was viewed as a dejected recluse.

A Man in Full

A new biography depicts benefactor James Smithson as an exuberant, progressive man enamored of science

Francine Prose

Against the Grain

Rebels by any name

Teenager Chen Daidai and her mother, Hu Shuzhen, a part-time real estate agent, live in an apartment that the family owns in Wenzhou, a hub of manufacturing—and growing prosperity (from A Tale of Two Chinas)

China Rising

Rediscover five articles published between May 2002 and May 2006 that reveal another side of the emerging superpower

The restored family home of First Lady Ida McKinley (wife of President William McKinley) became part of the National First Ladies' Library in 1998.

Remembering the Ladies

A new series of commemorative coins honors presidential spouses whose achievements have long been overlooked

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Tea's Time

The ancient drink makes a comeback

Unveiled at a recent ceremony in Washington honoring Virginia Hall, this portrait will be added to the CIA's Fine Arts Collection. Painted by artist Jeff Bass, it shows her transmitting messages from occupied France using her suitcase radio. The painting was underwritten by a donation from attorney Robert Guggenhime.

WANTED: The Limping Lady

The intriguing and unexpected true story of America's most heroic—and most dangerous—female spy

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The Past Informs the Present

In this Q & A, Caroline Alexander, author of "Faces of War," discusses robotic faces and the timelessness of war stories

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February Anniversaries

Momentous or Merely Memorable

In his picture of Y. A. Tittle, Morris Berman captured the vanquished warrior's bloody struggle. But the now-classic photograph wasn't even published at first.

Fallen Giant

"A whole lifetime was over," legendary quarterback Y.A. Tittle recalls

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