American History

The Black List features portraits of fifty African Americans who are influential in their fields, such as Chris Rock.

Celebrate Black History Month with the Smithsonian

From Kenyan storytelling performances to Black Power film screenings, February on the Mall is buzzing with Black History Month events

The Art of Video Games exhibit opens at the American Art Museum on March 16.

The Top Five Most Anticipated Exhibits of 2012

Take a look at the five upcoming exhibits we're most excited about

A 1920 poster by Howard Chandler Christy.

Here & Now

Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's plantation, was run by hundreds of enslaved African Americans in his lifetime.

“Paradox of Liberty” Tells the Other Side of Jefferson’s Monticello

Presented by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, this exhibit looks at the iconic founding father through the eyes of his slaves

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Curators, Scientific Adventurers and Book Worms to Watch in 2012

Our top ten picks from the Smithsonian Twitterati and blogrolls

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Q & A with Governor and Children's Book Author Frank Keating

The newly commissioned Alice Waters portrait

Historian Amy Henderson: Food, Glorious Food

At the Portrait Gallery, Historian Amy Henderson Awaits the Presentation of a New Portrait of Chef Alice Waters

According to NOAA marine archaeologist Joe Hoyt, shown here, 50 to 60 Allied, Axis and merchant vessel wrecks rest off the North Carolina coast.

Diving for the Secrets of the Battle of the Atlantic

Off the coast of North Carolina lie dozens of shipwrecks, remainders of a forgotten theater of World War II

Honor Martin Luther King, Jr. this weekend

Weekend Events January 13-15: Martin Luther King Jr’s Birthday, To the Mountaintop and Native Dance

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How Newspapers Reported the Civil War

A collection of historic front pages shows how civilians experienced and read about the war

Morse's 1837 telegraph receiver prototype, built with a canvas-stretcher

How Samuel Morse Got His Big Idea

On this day in 1838, Samuel Morse publicly demonstrated his telegraph for the first time. But how did he get the idea in the first place?

Come make your own stamp collection at a drop-in workshop at the Postal Museum.

Weekend Events Jan 6-8: “This is Not a Film,” Stamps, Masterworks of Three Centuries

This weekend, watch an Iranian film, attend a stamp collecting workshop or listen to eclectic Baroque chamber music

Graceland, Elvis Presley’s home in Memphis, has been kept largely as it was when he lived there, from 1957 until his death in 1977. Dining room mirrors reflect a stairway to the private quarters.

Annie Leibovitz's American Pilgrimage

In a new book and exhibition, the esteemed photographer pursues a passion for history and lets us see familiar icons in a fresh light

According to author John M. Barry, Roger Williams, center, had a great facility with language—a great curiosity for language—and began trading with Indians and trying to learn their language.

John M. Barry on Roger Williams and the Indians

The founder of Rhode Island often helped out the early colonists in their dealings with Native Americans

Come see the ZooLights holiday festival on January 1st

Weekend Events Dec. 30-Jan 1: Treasures at the Museum, Flights of Fancy, and Last Day of ZooLights

This New Year's weekend, meet a children's book author and archivist, come to aviation story time, and catch ZooLights before it's over

Curator Carlene Stephens, on left, and collections manager Shari Stout look at a glass disc containing a sound recording from the 1880s.

From the Collections, Sound Recordings Heard for the First Time

The National Museum of American History recovers sound from recordings that have been silenced for over a century

More than four months before his famous "midnight ride," Paul Revere made a midday gallop to Portsmouth, New Hampshire and some consider that the true starting point of the war for independence.

The Midday Ride of Paul Revere

Longfellow made the patriot’s ride to Lexington legendary, but the story of Revere’s earlier trip to Portsmouth deserves to be retold as well

Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine proved to be pivotal in the history of information technology.

Herman Hollerith’s Tabulating Machine

On this day in 1888, the groundbreaking tabulator machine was installed in a government office for the first time

Secretary of State William Seward, far right, with British Minister Lord Lyons, sitting third from right, and other international diplomats at Trenton Falls in New York.

The Unknown Contributions of Brits in the American Civil War

Historian Amanda Foreman discusses how British citizens took part in the war between the Union and the Confederacy

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Unflinching Portraits of Pearl Harbor Survivors

Seventy years after the day that lives on in infamy, the soldiers stationed at Pearl Harbor recall their experiences

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