Dolly Parton Was One of the Biggest Stars in the History of Country Music. She Wanted to Be Remembered as a Songwriter

After growing up in poverty, she became famous for her legendary songs, big heart and larger-than-life style. But the iconic musician insisted that "the songs lead to everything else"

Ellen Wexler

This might be the view a seal gets as it comes up from underwater to breathe: a polar bear, looking down for its prey.

Smart News

See 16 Stunning Animal Images From the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards

August 26, 2026 2:28 p.m.

Smart News

For the First Time, a Selection of Islamic Masterpieces From the Louvre Is Coming to the United States. See the Treasures Soon to Be Displayed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art

August 26, 2026 3:00 p.m.

Turn Your Eyes to the Night Skies This Week to See a Near-Total Lunar Eclipse. It’ll Temporarily Turn the Moon Red

August 26, 2026 2:57 p.m.

A Brittle Coating on a 2,200-Year-Old Roman Shipwreck Reveals How Ancient Sailors Kept Their Ships Afloat

August 26, 2026 2:45 p.m.

See 16 Stunning Animal Images From the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards

August 26, 2026 2:28 p.m.

These Medieval Manuscript Fragments Were Reused as Parchment, Inadvertently Preserving Them for Centuries

August 26, 2026 2:20 p.m.

More Smart News

Latest Features

Arts & Culture

Dolly Parton Was One of the Biggest Stars in the History of Country Music. She Wanted to Be Remembered as a Songwriter

August 26, 2026 1:58 p.m.

History

To Dismantle the Concept of Separate but Equal, Thurgood Marshall Methodically Devised a Winning Strategy: Divide and Conquer

September/October 2026

Mickey Mantle appears on Topps card number 311 (1952), sometimes called the Holy Grail for baseball card collectors. In 2022, one in mint condition sold for $12.6 million, a record.

At the Smithsonian

In 1952, You Could Buy a Pack of Baseball Cards That Included This Mickey Mantle at a Corner Store. Today, You Would Probably Have to Go to an Auction House

September/October 2026

At its peak, the movement grew to include more than 130 participating restaurants. Today, 111 authentic trattorias still promote regional cuisine in this special way.

Travel

In Some Trattorias in Italy, Diners Can Enjoy a Meal and Take the Plate It Was Served on Home as a Souvenir

August 25, 2026

A pair of African wild dogs at Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, the largest privately owned nature reserve in South Africa, near the Botswana border.

Science

Africa’s Wild Dogs Are the Most Hated Carnivores on the Continent. Here’s Why Some Conservationists Are Saving Them Anyway

September/October 2026

A view of Pluto from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft shows the planet’s signature heart-shaped feature.

Science

Once the Solar System’s Ninth Planet, Pluto Was Reclassified 20 Years Ago. Here’s Why Planetary Scientists and the Public Alike Love the Small Icy Body

August 24, 2026

Uncovering the past. Understanding the present. Informing the future.

Give a Gift Renew

Summer 2026

The “Ether Dome” at Massachusetts General Hospital is now a National Historic Landmark.

Science Theater of Relief

Medical procedures used to be a scream-filled endurance test until doctors at this Boston institution learned to tame the pain of patients

The view from Olana State Historic Site in Hudson, New York.

Travel Rediscovering America’s Original Grand Tour

Follow along as we retrace the route one journalist laid out in “The Fashionable Tour,” from New York City to Niagara Falls, when memories of the fight for independence were still fresh

History How to Build a Character

Silence Dogood. Richard Saunders. Benevolus. Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim. All were pen names that allowed Franklin to say things he couldn’t have otherwise said

Most Popular

History

When a Carpenter in California Found a Nugget of Gold, It Started a Rush Toward Nothing Less Than the Modern World

At the Smithsonian

See the Cutest Photos of Three Red Panda Cubs Born at the Smithsonian’s Conservation Biology Institute This Year

Smart News

Scientists Gave Dogs MRIs and Learned That They’re Surprisingly Good at Distinguishing Between Human Emotions, Even Some Negative Ones

Smart News

Archaeologists Have Found Thousands of Intact Ancient Human Brains. Scientists Say They’ve Figured Out Why the Organs Don’t Always Rot

Voices

These Photos Visualize the Legacy of Peter Spencer, Founder of America’s First Independent Black Church

Special Report

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

A Smithsonian magazine special issue in celebration of the nation's 250th

View Full Report

Featured Stories

Arts & Culture

Georgia O’Keeffe Ignored Advice to Mimic Great European Masters. Her Goal Instead Was to Be a Great American Painter

O’Keeffe’s New Mexico studio Ghost Ranch. Opposite, a 1918 photo portrait by future husband Alfred Stieglitz.

History

Born in 1810, Margaret Fuller Was Labeled a Child Prodigy. She Later Used Her Intellect to Ask Important Questions About Women’s Role in America

A portrait of Fuller, inspired by her 1845 Woman in the Nineteenth Century, which argued for equality of the sexes. The book’s opening illustration featured mystical symbols of harmonizing opposites, including the Ouroboros, a snake eating its own tail.

History

The American Revolution’s Overlooked Influence? Physics. How ‘Common Sense’ Spelled Out Astronomical Expectations for a New Nation

After Isaac Newton, above, revolutionized celestial mechanics, admirers such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Paine, left, saw in Newton’s natural laws a model for democratic self-government.

Photo of the Day

End of the Iditarod Dog Sled Race, Nome, Alaska

By Johann P. Gebhardt

Get the Photo of the Day directly to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Sign Up

Podcast

Smithsonian Podcast: There’s More to That

Smithsonian magazine covers history, science and culture in the way only it can — through a lens on the world that is insightful and grounded in richly reported stories. In There’s More to That, meet the magazine’s journalists and hear how they discover the forces behind the biggest issues of our time.

Listen In

Latest Episodes

The Remarkable, Amazing Stories of Route 66 Reflect the Twists and Turns of 100 Years of Americana

April 23, 2026 | 34 minutes

A Photographer’s Glimpse Into the Dwindling World of the Cascade Red Fox

April 9, 2026 | 32 minutes

The Real Story Behind Abigail Adams’ ‘Remember the Ladies’ Letter

March 26, 2026 | 31 minutes

Venomous Snakes Represent a Serious Public Health Problem. Scientists Are Biting Back With a Groundbreaking Antidote

March 12, 2026 | 28 minutes

History

A series of floods devastated medieval Europe.

Centuries Ago, Europeans Were Plagued by Constant Flooding, With 16 Major Events That Killed Thousands Over the Course of Just Three Years

When researchers went looking for information about the legendary Magdalena Flood, they were surprised to discover that it was just one of many extreme weather events that ravaged the region in the early 1340s

August 24, 2026

This 18th-Century British Queen Turned King Arthur Into a P.R. Strategy, Drawing on Myth to Promote Her Dynasty’s Claim to the Throne

August 24, 2026

When an American Airplane Crashed Into a School in 1944, an English Village Lost Almost All of Its Youngest Children. Why Has WWII’s Worst Civilian Aviation Accident Been Forgotten?

August 20, 2026

More History

Science

Africa’s Wild Dogs Are the Most Hated Carnivores on the Continent. Here’s Why Some Conservationists Are Saving Them Anyway

Meet the team that closely monitors the playful canines, which need help to form diverse packs and stop their numbers from dwindling

September/October 2026

Once the Solar System’s Ninth Planet, Pluto Was Reclassified 20 Years Ago. Here’s Why Planetary Scientists and the Public Alike Love the Small Icy Body

August 24, 2026

Earth’s Organisms Developed Via Evolution. Some Theorists Wonder: What if the Entire Cosmos Did, Too?

August 18, 2026

More Science

Innovation

Of the estimated 899 species of ticks worldwide, about 90 are found in the continental U.S.; however, only four species are responsible for most of the infections found in the U.S. today.

The First At-Home Test for Infected Ticks Could Improve Lyme Disease Diagnosis

LymeAlert will hit the market in August. The latest tool against the tick-borne illness could become a medicine cabinet staple

July 31, 2026

A Brief History of Hold Music, From Early Patents to the Soundtrack of Customer-Service Purgatory

July 24, 2026

How A.I. Will Reshape Radiology—Without Replacing Radiologists

July 29, 2026

More Innovation

Travel

At Nona Manis, dining guests can enjoy a prix-fixe menu that may include any of these dishes: ikan pindang patin (braised fish), steak semur (steak with kecap manis sauce), laksa (seafood curry soup), oyster sambal matah and oyster gulai Aceh (oyster on the half shell with Balinese sambal and Aceh curry).

A New Generation of Chefs Reimagines Indonesian Cuisine in the Netherlands to Tell the Stories of Its Origins

The shift reflects a larger cultural moment, with chefs asking whether the cuisine should remain tied to colonial nostalgia or evolve into a reflection of modern Indonesian identity

July 30, 2026