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Julia Ross

Julia Ross is a writer, editor and communications specialist with the Smithsonian’s Office of Advancement.

Stories from this author

In Slavery's Wake Exhibition Photo

Legacies of Resilience

A National Museum of African American History and Culture Exhibition frames the history of slavery in a global context

Panda chewing bamboo

Smithsonian Welcomes Two Pandas

National Zoo builds on long history of wildlife conservation

Panda

A Texas Tradition

Learn about escaramuzas, a Texas tradition, by taking a closer look at Mexican American Verónica Dávila's dress featured in the National Museum of American History's exhibition, <em>Girlhood (It's Complicated)</em>.

Amazon Fish

Fishes of the Amazon

Current methods of identifying fish species require scientists to examine specimens through a microscope or conduct DNA testing. But what if identification could be achieved simply by taking a cell phone photo?

Exoplanet

Life on Exoplanets

Could there be life on planets outside our solar system? For astrophysicists, it’s a big unanswered question, and one that AI technology can help investigate.

Space Suit Digitization

A 3D Space Suit

To tell the story of the first American in space, the Smithsonian Digitization Program Office and the National Air and Space Museum are digitizing in 3D—with the help of AI—one of the museum’s most iconic objects: astronaut Alan Shepard’s 1961 Mercury space suit.

Citizen's Forest Park Chan-kyong 003 (1).png

A Contemporary Look at Asian Art

South Korean artist Park Chan-kyong brings new perspectives to the National Museum of Asian Art this fall with the opening of <em>Park Chan-kyong: Gathering</em>, the inaugural exhibition in the museum’s just-opened modern and contemporary galleries.

LandAirSea-banner.jpg

Air, Land and Sea: New Tools for Resilience

In the air, on land and in the sea, the Smithsonian is building new tools for resilient ecosystems—innovative approaches and technologies that will provide knowledge and open up avenues to understand and protect our planet.

Prince's Guitar

On With The Show

The National Museum of American History's newest exhibition explores the power of pop culture.

Grace Young

Conserving Food Cultures

Food History Weekend 2022 Spotlights Advocates, Innovators

Los científicos ciudadanos

Woodlawn House: Un Nuevo Capítulo

La edificación más antigua de la colección del Smithsonian abre al público por primera vez.

citizen scientists

Woodlawn House: A New Chapter

The oldest building in the Smithsonian’s collection opens to the public for the first time.

A prairie warbler greets the spring in New Jersey. PHOTO Cameron Darnell

Deciphering the Mysteries of Migratory Birds

Each spring across the forests, lakes and suburbs of North America, millions of birds take a long journey north in search of summer nesting territory.

In June 2020, a protest against racial injustice and police brutality made its way through the streets of Washington, D.C. Photographer Talia Hawley submitted this photo as part of the Anacostia Community Museum’s Moments of Resilience storytelling project. PHOTO Talia Hawley

Healing A Nation

In a year marked by widespread protests against racial injustice and calls to reckon with America’s racial past, the Smithsonian is taking a big step toward helping the country heal. A new Race, Community and Our Shared Future initiative—to launch nationwide this winter with generous support from founding partner Bank of America—will explore how Americans understand, experience and confront race.

Smithsonian Education

Diverse Voices, New Narratives: Education at the Smithsonian

Smithsonian museums and research centers are bringing more diverse voices and perspectives to educational programs. Here, two Smithsonian educators talk about presenting new narratives, challenging stereotypes and creating role models.

IwamotoScott, Voussoir Cloud, SCIArc Gallery (Los Angeles, California, 2008). PHOTO Judson Terry.

In IwamotoScott Architecture's 2008 installation Voussoir Cloud, heavy wood blocks become translucent petals depending on the changing light of day. The firm won the 2019 National Design Award for Interior Design.

Design Minds

The National Design Awards celebrate 20 years of inspiration.

Thirteen “Because of Her Story” interns spent the summer uncovering stories of remarkable American women and learning museum practice. Pictured: Stella Hendricks, intern, National Portrait Gallery. (Michael Barnes)

“Because of Her Story” Interns Look to Historical Role Models

As they wrapped up their Smithsonian assignments this month, interns reflected on their summer experience and individual research projects, which included studying the skeletal remains of 19th century African American women; planning a major traveling exhibition on the history of American girlhood; and writing about the women who worked on the Apollo space program.

Thirteen “Because of Her Story” interns spent the summer uncovering stories of remarkable American women and learning museum practice. Pictured: Stella Hendricks, intern, National Portrait Gallery. (Michael Barnes)

“Because of Her Story” Interns Look to Historical Role Models

As they wrapped up their Smithsonian assignments this month, interns reflected on their summer experience and individual research projects, which included studying the skeletal remains of 19th century African American women; planning a major traveling exhibition on the history of American girlhood; and writing about the women who worked on the Apollo space program.

Firooz Zahedi, Ellen DeGeneres, 1997. Gift of Time magazine, National Portrait Gallery (NPG.99.TC23.1) ©Firooz Zahedi

LGBTQ Women Who Made History

In celebration of Pride Month, we honor LGBTQ women who have made remarkable contributions to the nation and helped advance equality in fields as diverse as medicine and the dramatic arts. Here are a few of their stories, represented by objects in the Smithsonian collections.

(Dino Morrow Photography)

Hawai'i’s Women Canoe Carvers

In Hawai'i, the art of carving outrigger canoes has traditionally been a male pursuit. Many women have captained and paddled the canoes, but few have learned to build them—an undertaking that requires carving a vessel of 25 feet or more out of a massive tree trunk. In an effort to bring a new wave of women into the trade, the Smithsonian recently organized a canoe carving workshop in Hilo, Hawai'i, as part of the annual Merrie Monarch Festival celebrating Hawaiian culture.

Effie Kapsalis is the Senior Digital Program Officer for the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative.

A Conversation with Effie Kapsalis

Effie Kapsalis has a cool job. As the Senior Digital Program Officer for the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative, she works with curators and researchers to uncover girls' and women's stories embedded deep within the Smithsonian and give them a new life—and long-deserved recognition—online. Recently, we talked with her about the Smithsonian's "digital-first" approach to women's history, correcting the Wikipedia gender imbalance and finding inspiration from an early 20th century museum elevator operator who became an expert on insects.

Participants at a 1971 whale biology conference. Sheila Minor is pictured in the second row, center left. Photo via @mycandacejean

Uncovering Hidden Stories

When an illustrator recently posted a blurry, black and white photo (below) of a group of scientists attending a 1971 whale biology conference, the question reverberated across Twitter. Who was the sole unidentified figure and only woman in the picture, partially hidden behind a male colleague?

Ariana Curtis

Ariana Curtis: Museums and the Everyday Woman

When Débora Nazareno, an Afro-Indian woman who lived in remote Ecuador in the early 20th century, sat in her hand-carved boat seat to tell stories to her grandson, little did she know the seat would be the first object donated to a new Smithsonian museum nearly a century later.

Gail Anderson

Gail Anderson: A Lifetime in Design

In October 2018, New York-based designer, writer and educator Gail Anderson received the Lifetime Achievement National Design Award, bestowed by the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. The award recognizes Anderson’s innovative body of work and longtime leadership in the design field; her 30-plus-year career has spanned magazine covers to theatre posters and postage stamps.

Constance Stuart Larrabee (left) and friend photographing among Ndebele women, near Pretoria, South Africa, 1936. 

All photos used in this story are courtesy Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Photographing Africa: A Woman’s View

From the time she received a Kodak Brownie at age 10, South Africa-raised Constance Stuart Larrabee captured the world around her with an unsparing eye, ensuring her place as one of the 20th century’s foremost photojournalists