Smithsonian Voices

From the Smithsonian Museums

Sign marking an evacuation route, tilted by the storm. Photograph by Hugh Talman.

How the Smithsonian Collected Artifacts That Told the Story of Hurricane Katrina

R2-D2 droid costume featured in the movie

Why Isn't My Favorite Artifact on Display?

Rea Ann Silva with an oversized version of the Beautyblender sponge (Courtesy of Beautyblender)

How Rea Ann Silva Invented the Beautyblender—and Changed Makeup Forever

Girlhood (It’s complicated) opened to the public on October 9, 2020. Artwork by Krystal Quiles for NMAH.

Why Did the Smithsonian Create an Exhibit About Girlhood?

Rebecca Lukens (National Iron and Steel Heritage Museum, Coatesville, Pennsylvania)

How Rebecca Lukens Became the Nation's First Woman Industrialist

Robert Abbe's hourglass (NMAH)

Curing Cancer with a Single Gram of Radium

This glass tube, part of the museum’s collection, once contained a sample of helium. Its paper label reads, “HELIUM / SIR W. RAMSAY, K.C.B., LL.D., F.R.S. / THOMAS TRYER & CO., Ltd. / STRATFORD, LONDON, ENGLAND.”

The History of Holding Helium

Team USA stamps

The Science Behind a Faster, Higher, Stronger Team USA

Cher Ami, April 1918–June 1919 (NMAH)

Solving a 100-Year-Old Mystery About a Pigeon

Museum visitors participate in a flag folding while singing (or humming) the anthem (NMAH)

Why is the National Anthem So Hard to Sing?

The first stanza of the national anthem is projected prominently on the wall above the Star-Spangled Banner in the museum. (NMAH)

Why is There a Question Mark at the End of the National Anthem?

The Star Spangled Banner, the flag that inspired our national anthem (NMAH)

8 Things You Didn't Know About the Star Spangled Banner

The Story Behind the Iconic Photo of Gay Dads Kissing

Title page to Garrard Conley's workbook from the gay-conversion camp Love in Action (NMAH)

The History of Getting the Gay Out

Matt Shepard in high school, taken in Lugano, Switzerland (NMAH)

Matt Shepard's Objects at the Smithsonian Show Us the Familiarity of an Icon

Leo Baker's personalized skateboards (NMAH)

How LGBTQ Skateboarders Have Carved Out a Place at the Park

Transgender flag designed by Monica Helms (right), and friends. The flag's stripes represent the traditional pink and blue associated with girls and boys and white for intersex, transitioning, or of undefined gender. Helms served in the United States Navy and became an activist for transgender rights in the late 1990s in Arizona where she grew up. She designed the flag in 1999. (NMAH)

Can an Object Be Gay? LGBTQ Collecting

Picket signs carried by protestors at the White House and Independence Hall in Philadelphia, 1960s (Frank Kameny Collection, NMAH)

The Most Radical Thing About Stonewall Wasn't the Uprising

Miscellaneous objects from the museum’s collection that feature rainbows, including “That’s So Gay!” trivia game, coasters, and flags promoting marriage equality and immigration equality (NMAH)

Where Did the Rainbow Flag Come From, Anyway?

Speaker’s card advertising Walker’s services as a lecturer. Walker described herself as

Mary Walker, the Original "New Woman"

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Marking Asian American and Jewish American Heritage Months and EMS Day

Museum Acquires Marcella Hazan Culinary Tools

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