Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

History

Edythe Eyde started writing under the pen name Lisa Ben after an editor rejected her first choice, Ima Spinster.

LGBTQ+ Pride

Who Was ‘Lisa Ben,’ the Woman Behind the U.S.’s First Lesbian Magazine?

Edythe Eyde published nine issues of “Vice Versa” between June 1947 and February 1948. She later adopted a pen name that doubled as an anagram for “lesbian”

A member of the Indigenous Bolivian women's skateboard collective Imilla Skate in La Paz on June 16, 2022.

How Indigenous Communities Preserve and Practice Heritage at the 2024 Smithsonian Folklife Festival

The annual festival returns to the National Mall to celebrate Indigenous traditions that span continents and generations

In 1881, Fanny Angelina Hesse suggested agar, a jelly-like substance she used in cooking, as a replacement for gelatin, which scientists used to study microorganisms.

Women Who Shaped History

Meet the Forgotten Woman Who Revolutionized Microbiology With a Simple Kitchen Staple

Fanny Angelina Hesse introduced agar to the life sciences in 1881. A trove of unpublished family papers sheds new light on her many accomplishments

Workers inside one of nine trenches excavated during the recent dig season this January.

A Buried Ancient Egyptian Port Reveals the Hidden Connections Between Distant Civilizations

At the site of Berenike, in the desert sands along the Red Sea, archaeologists are uncovering wondrous new finds that challenge old ideas about the makings of the modern world

Beginning on June 24, 1924, the summer convention in Madison Square Garden was a bleak, sweltering affair for the Democrats.

History of Now

Why the 1924 Democratic National Convention Was the Longest and Most Chaotic of Its Kind in U.S. History

A century ago, the party took a record 103 ballots and 16 days of intense, violent debate to choose a presidential nominee

A new documentary about the creation of Black Barbie is now streaming on Netflix.

How the First Black Barbie Was Born

A new documentary tells the story of Black Barbie, and why she has meant so much to so many

This still from The Bikeriders is a recreation of Danny Lyon's photo Crossing the Ohio River.

Based on a True Story

The Real Story Behind ‘The Bikeriders’ and the Danny Lyon Photography Book That Inspired It

A new film dramatizes the story of a motorcycle club chronicled by Lyon in the 1960s, offering a tribute to the outlaw spirit

Saxophonist Dexter Gordon at Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen in 1964

Why the Nordic Countries Emerged as a Haven for 20th-Century African American Expatriates

An exhibition in Seattle spotlights the Black artists and performers who called Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden home between the 1930s and the 1980s

“What made Willie so appealing," says author James S. Hirsch "was how he played the game: the grace and the tenacity and the sheer entertainment value that he brought to playing the game, the style with which he played.”

Why Baseball Legend Willie Mays, Dead at 93, Will Never Be Forgotten

Even decades after he redefined the game, the 24-time All-Star continued to be revered by fans and historians alike for his incredible athleticism, spellbinding defense, powerful bat and admirable sportsmanship

The Phrygian cap derives its name from the ancient region of Phrygia, in what is now Turkey. Also known as a liberty cap, it inspired revolutionaries in both the Colonies and France.

The Paris Olympics

The Paris Games’ Mascot, the Olympic Phryge, Boasts a Little-Known Revolutionary Past

The Phrygian cap, also known as the liberty cap, emerged as a potent symbol in 18th-century America and France

A lesson plan from the National Museum of the American Indian seeks to include missing narratives about the California Gold Rush.

There’s a Better Way to Teach the California Gold Rush

A new lesson plan centers Native American perspectives on the violence of Western expansion

Alicia Vikander portrays Henry VIII's sixth wife, Catherine Parr, in the new film Firebrand.

Based on a True Story

The Real Story Behind ‘Firebrand’ and Henry VIII’s Tumultuous Relationship With His Sixth Wife, Catherine Parr

A new film dramatizes how the Tudor queen narrowly avoided execution on charges of heresy

Rickwood Field is the oldest ballpark in the United States.

Everyone Should Know About Rickwood Field, the Alabama Park Where Baseball Legends Made History

The sport’s greatest figures played ball in the Deep South amid the racism and bigotry that would later make Birmingham the center of the civil rights movement

Abraham Lincoln, William Judkins Thomson, half-plate ambrotype, 1858

See the Photographs That Introduced Americans to Their Presidents

The National Portrait Gallery traces early images of American leaders, from John Quincy Adams to Abraham Lincoln

“When I was making it, people laughed at me a good deal,” Charles F. Ritchel later said. “But so they did at Noah when he built the ark.”

Untold Stories of American History

Twenty-Five Years Before the Wright Brothers Took to the Skies, This Flying Machine Captivated America

First exhibited in 1878, Charles F. Ritchel’s dirigible was about as wacky, dangerous and impractical as any airship ever launched

Louisiana Purchase State Park in Holly Grove, Arkansas, lies on the spot where the land surveys of the new territories originated.

How the United States Laid Claim to the Mississippi River, One Mile at a Time

Thomas Jefferson imagined the waterway as the heart of his “empire of liberty” as he dispatched surveyors to measure a land already occupied by Native Americans

Edmond O'Brien and Jan Sterling during the filming of a 1956 adaptation of George Orwell's 1984

History of Now

What Does George Orwell’s ‘1984’ Mean in 2024?

Now 75 years old, the dystopian novel still rings alarm bells about totalitarian rule

War correspondent Martha Gellhorn (left) and her first husband, Ernest Hemingway, in 1940

Women Who Shaped History

Martha Gellhorn Was The Only Woman to Report on the D-Day Landings From the Ground

In June 1944, the veteran journalist hid on a hospital ship so she could report firsthand as Allied soldiers fought their way onto the beaches of Normandy

Gilbert Stuart painted the famous Lansdowne portrait of George Washington. 

Before Andy Warhol Set His Eyes on Marilyn and Prince, There Was Gilbert Stuart and George Washington

Two court cases over 200 years apart reflect what happens when commercial and artistic interests meet

Pasquino is the most famous of Rome's six talking statues.

Rome’s Talking Statues Have Served as Sites of Dissent for Centuries

Beginning in the Renaissance, locals affixed verses protesting various societal ills to six sculptures scattered across the Italian city

Page 22 of 301