Americana
Courage at the Greensboro Lunch Counter
Fifty years ago, four college students sat down to request lunch service at a North Carolina Woolworth's and ignited a struggle
February 2010 |
By Owen Edwards
Lincoln's Pocket Watch Reveals Long-Hidden Message
The Smithsonian opens one of its prized artifacts and a story unfolds
March 11, 2009 |
By Beth Py-Lieberman
Gettysburg Address Displayed at Smithsonian
Lincoln's timeless speech during the Civil War endures as a national treasure
December 2008 |
By Owen Edwards
Star-Spangled Banner Back on Display
After a decade’s conservation, the flag that inspired the National Anthem returns to its place of honor on the National Mall
November 2008 |
By Robert M. Poole
What So Proudly We Hailed
The story behind the flag that inspired America's national anthem
March 01, 2007 |
By Cate Lineberry
Salem Sets Sail
After the Revolutionary War, ships from a little Massachusetts seaport brought the new nation wares from China and the mysterious East
June 2004 |
By Doug Stewart
Magical Mystery Tour
In 1964 a psychedelic placard heralded the arrival of counterculture guru Ken Kesey and his entourage to America's cities
June 2004 |
By Owen Edwards
Capitol Discovery
Senate staffers come across a historic treasure in a dusty storage room
June 2003 |
By Philip Kopper
Macho in Miniature
For nearly 40 years, G.I. Joe has been on America's front lines in toy boxes from coast to coast
August 2002 |
By Ed Leibowitz
Hell's Bells
The 19th-century trolley bell may have ding-ding-dinged, but the factory bell clanged the workday
May 2002 |
By Kim Roberts
Washington Slept Here
A look at the first president's "best bed" leads to a recollection of the real man and his exemplary life
December 1999 |
By Timothy Foote
Ring King
"Who made the doughnut with the hole in the middle? Just how it got there will be always a riddle"
March 1998 |
By David A. Taylor
John Brown's Picture
A long-lost daguerrotype, made by a black artist in 1847, has lately come to rest at the Smithsonian
August 1997 |
By Edwards Park
The Object at Hand
A young war-horse helped Phil Sheridan win the day in the Shenandoah Valley and, made famous by a poem, helped Abraham Lincoln win re-election
November 1996 |
By John Fleischman
The Object at Hand
There was a time when a cane was the exclamation point to a true gentleman's attire, but canes have also been put to a remarkable range of uses, quite a few antisocial
October 1995 |
By Edwards Park
