Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Articles

None

What Camera?

Look what photographer Robert Creamer can do with a flatbed scanner

Comedy group 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors has performed around the world.

Taking the Stage

The National Asian American Theatre Festival makes its debut

Foucan and Belle called their efforts "parkour," from the French "parcours," meaning "route."

Extreme Running

Made popular by a recent James Bond film, a new urban art form called free running hits the streets

A carving of the tale of Gilgamesh

Lost Treasure

In Gilgamesh, scholars unearthed literary gold

None

The Epic of Gilgamesh Translation

Translated by Stephen Langdon, University of Pennsylvania

The unlikely researcher, George Smith, made one of archaeology's most sensational finds when he uncovered the cuneiform-inscribed clay tablet containing fragments of a lost Babylonian epic.

Epic Hero

How a self-taught British genius rediscovered the Mesopotamian saga of Gilgamesh —after 2,500 years

This Honus Wagner baseball card sold for $2.35 million in March.

A Brief History of the Honus Wagner Baseball Card

From cigarette pack insert to multi-million-dollar treasure

The Institution's treasures were under 24-hour guard until World War II's end. The superintendent of the Shenandoah National Park selected five residents of Luray and the vicinity to serve as guards. "All fine men thoroughly conscientious in their duty," these guards were led by Lynn Black (far left, front row), and protected the collections against sabotage, theft and fire.

In the Event of War

How the Smithsonian protected its “strange animals, curious creatures” and more

The first thing Terry Smith did after moving to Washington in 1977 was buy a boat and sail it on the Bay.

A Great Adventure

Terry Smith, author of “Beyond Jamestown,” sailed in the 400-year-old wake of colonial explorer Capt. John Smith

The question doesn't rank up there with, say, What is gravity? But where was the hamburger invented? To promote its claim, Akron, Ohio, hosts the National Hamburger Festival on July 21 and 22. Over 20,000 people served, including competitive eater Dave "Coondog" O'Karma.

Highlights & Hotspots

A selection of the season’s noteworthy events

None

Cajun Country Highlights & Hotspots

The British colonists who settled a bit of land they soon named Jamestown (depicted in a 19th-century engraving) gave England its first enduring encampment in the New World--and, not incidentally, began our national narrative.

Beyond Jamestown

After the colony was founded, 400 years ago this month, Capt. John Smith set out to explore the riches of Chesapeake Bay

None

Galena’s 2007 Summer Highlights

"It caught the public's imagination," says Heaney. "We will be dead and gone for years, and people will still be saying, coming off the boat: 'That's Alcatraz.'"

Breaking into Alcatraz

A former guard’s inside look at America’s most famous prison

At Café Des Amis in Breaux Bridge, breakfast comes with zydeco music and dancing on the side, a tradition begun in 1998. Melding "pragmatism and adaptability," says historian Carl Brasseaux, is typically Cajun.

Cajun Country

Zydeco and étouffée still reign in western Louisiana, where the zesty gumbo known as Acadian culture has simmered since 1764

In 1851, Herman Melville completed his opus, Moby-Dick, in the shadow of Mount Greylock (the view from his study); some see the form of a white whale in the winter contours of the peak--"like a snow hill in the air," as Melville put it.

The Berkshires

The hills are alive with the sounds of Tanglewood plus modern dance, the art of Norman Rockwell and a tradition that goes back to Nathaniel Hawthorne

Grant moved to Galena in 1860. The town, known as the "outdoor museum of the Victorian Midwest," boasts landmarks including Grant's post-Civil War mansion and Main Street.

Galena, Illinois

Ulysses S. Grant’s postwar retreat is not the only reason to visit this restored Victorian showcase

"The basic question was, What can Mozambique do to build its economy?" says Carr, in Gorongosa Park. His answer: eco-tourism.

Greg Carr’s Big Gamble

In a watershed experiment, the Boston entrepreneur is putting $40 million of his own money into a splendid but ravaged park in Mozambique

"During Derby Week, Louisville is the capital of the world," wrote John Steinbeck in 1956.

Derby Days

Thoroughbreds, mint juleps, big hats—the Kentucky Derby’s place in American history

The first Chicago Blues Festival was held in 1984. Today it draws hundreds of thousands of listeners and is the largest free blues festival in the world.

Blues Alley

How Chicago became the blues capital of the world

Page 1212 of 1327