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Articles

NASA's Stardust capsule returned from a seven-year, three-billion-mile trip to collect dust from comet Wild 2.

Stardust Memories

Cosmic dust may reveal some of the uncovered secrets of our universe

"First lady of the children's folk song," Ella Jenkins.

Holiday Spirit

The only known image of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg was uncovered in 1952 at the National Archives. It was taken by photographer Mathew Brady.

Gettysburg Address Displayed at Smithsonian

Lincoln’s timeless speech during the Civil War endures as a national treasure

Installation artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Together they built "Running Fence", a 24.5-mile fabric divide through Northern California.

Q and A: Christo and Jeanne-Claude

The artists discuss Running Fence, their 1976 fabric installation that ran through Northern California and subject of an upcoming Smithsonian exhibition

North African artisans combined gold and silver to forge jewelry like the khamsa.

What’s Up

Lincoln’s face, African alchemy, and Victory Mail are all on display at Smithsonian museums

Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia

Big Deals

Revelry and Architecture

"Years later, in the Kremlin," Karsh would recall, "[Leonid] Brezhnev agreed to sit for me only if I made him as beautiful as Audrey Hepburn."

From Castro to Warhol to Mother Teresa, He Photographed Them All

Yousuf Karsh took a singular approach to fame and the famous

Thanks to the Internet, everyone's a book critic.

Amazon Warriors

Thanks to the Internet, everyone’s a book critic

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Letters

Readers Respond to the November Issue

A Sufi pilgrim dances at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, in Sehwan Sharif, Pakistan, in 2006.

Pakistan’s Sufis Preach Faith and Ecstasy

The believers in Islamic mysticism embrace a personal approach to their faith and a different outlook on how to run their government

Pier M. Forni's book, The Civility Solution: What do Do When People Are Rude.

Choosing Civility in a Rude Culture

Professor Pier M. Forni has devoted his career to convincing people to conduct their lives with kindness and civility

Author of Karsh Reality, Mathew Gurewitsch.

Matthew Gurewitsch on “Karsh Reality”

Mark Catesby's Blue Jay.

Mark Catesby’s New World

The artist sketched American wildlife for Europe’s high society, educating them on the creatures living among the unexplored lands

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December Anniversaries

The Great White Hope, Beethoven, and more…

This 1852 lithograph depicts extensions to Thornton's House and Senate Wings; the additions, authorized in 1851, were not yet constructed.

A Capitol Vision From a Self-Taught Architect

In 1792, William Thornton designed America’s defining monument, where a new visitor center opens in December

As James Chaney's family awaited the drive to his burial, 12-year-old Ben gazed outward. "There were a dozen questions in that look," says photographer Bill Eppridge.

The Lasting Impact of a Civil Rights Icon’s Murder

One of three civil rights workers murdered in Mississippi in 1964 was James Chaney. His younger brother would never be the same

Mary's marriage to Cord Meyer would reflect Washington's gender dramas.

44 Years Later, a Washington, D.C. Death Unresolved

Mary Pinchot Meyer’s death remains a mystery. But it’s her life that holds more interest now

One of the highlights of Emancipation Hall is a skylight view of the Capitol Dome, from below the East steps of the building.

Inside the Capitol Visitors Center

After years of delays and millions of dollars spent, the brand-new Capitol Visitors Center opens in December

The basillica and its storied mosaics constitute a matchless and threatened treasure. Architectural historian Dan Cruickshank calls it a "sacred mountain of a building, vast and elemental."

A Monumental Struggle to Preserve Hagia Sophia

In Istanbul, secularists and fundamentalists clash over restoring the nearly 1,500 year-old structure

John White likely did this study of a male Atlantic loggerhead on a stop in the West Indies en route to "Virginia" in 1585. "Their heads, feet, and tails look very ugly, like those of a venomous serpent," wrote Thomas Harriot, the expedition's scientist, of New World tortoises. "Nevertheless they are very good to eat, as are their eggs."

Sketching the Earliest Views of the New World

The watercolors that John White produced in 1585 gave England its first startling glimpse of America

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