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Articles

Monty Python’s Flying Circus

And Now For Something Completely Different

“Monty Python’s Flying Circus” went on to conquer America

Art photographer Terry Evans' 2001 colorful homage to museum collections, titled Fields Museum, Drawer of Cardinals, Various Dates.

Photos for All Time

A new book, At First Sight, draws on all the Smithsonian’s vast archives to chart photograph’s profound place in history

"These places contain the residue of the many souls that have passed through over the years," says Solis of such locales as Rochester's abandoned Court Street subway station.

Tunnel Visionary

Intrepid explorer Julia Solis finds beauty in the ruins of derelict urban structures

Alfred Hitchcock

Colossal Ode

Without Emma Lazarus’ timeless poem, Lady Liberty would be just another statue

The Secretary with a few "collaborators."

A Task for Every Talent

Since the Smithsonian’s earliest days, the help of volunteers has been essential

Today, visitors to downtown San Antonio find a weathered limestone church—63 feet wide and 33 feet tall at its hallowed hump. Says historian Stephen L. Hardin, "The first impression of so many who come here is, 'This is it?'"

Remembering the Alamo

John Lee Hancock’s epic re-creation of the 1836 battle between Mexican forces and Texas insurgents casts the massacre in a more historically accurate light

By 2005, the second of two U.S.-backed pipelines spanning Georgia, a cash-strapped nation of 5 million about the size of South Carolina, will have opened world energy markets to Caspian Sea oil, said to be the world's largest untapped fossil fuel resource.

Georgia at a Crossroads

From our archives: How the republic’s troubled history set the stage for future discord and a possible new Cold War

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Flower Child

A Vietnam War protester recalls a seminal ‘60s image, part of a new book celebrating French photographer Marc Riboud’s 50-year career

A life vest from the Titanic.

Titanic Sank This Morning

An artifact from the doomed ocean liner evokes that catastrophic night in April 1912

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Towering Mysteries

Who built them and why? An amateur archaeologist tries to get to the bottom of some astonishing structures in Tibet and Sichuan Province, China

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Harriet Tubman

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Rescue Missions

Quests to Save a Tree… and a Country

Situated on the Atlantic migratory route, New Jersey ranks among the nation's top birding states. More than 450 species have been documented there, including, the marsh wren (above).

Birds of a Feather

Scores of teams battle for fame and glory in the no-holds-barred World Series of Birding

Vancouver has the fastest-growing residential population of any downtown in North America.

Vaunted Vancouver

Set between the Pacific Ocean and a coastal mountain range, the British Columbia city may be the ultimate urban playground

GRAND PRIZE WINNER Puerto Vallerta, Mexico • Photographed July 2003 "Just as I snapped the shutter," says Williams, a trumpet player, "this kid ran into the picture.... Wow! I knew I had something very special. It was almost spiritual like going up a stairway to heaven."

1st Annual Photo Contest Winners and Finalists

See the winning photos from our 2003 contest

Electric towing locomotives guide the Astral Ace through the Pedro Miguel Locks. Says lockmaster Dagoberto Del Vasto, who began as a janitor and has worked at the canal for 22 years, of Panama's four-year stewardship of it: "I am very, very, very proud."

Panama Rises

The Central American nation, now celebrating its centennial, has come into its own since the United States ceded control of its vital waterway

"These are my husband's friends. They went hunting one day and came back empty-handed.." - Jin Shenghua, 24 Xuehua village

Visions of China

With donated cameras, residents of remote villages document endangered ways of life, one snapshot at a time

The "Turkish Room" was created from pieces of the interior of a 19th-century Damascus mansion.

Doris Duke’s Islamic Art Retreat

The Honolulu hideaway built by “the richest girl in the world” is now a museum showcasing her unique collection of Islamic art

Bubley (c. 1960) made wartime photos in Washington, D.C. (1943) on her own.

Private Eye

Noted for her sensitive photojournalism in postwar magazines, Esther Bubley is back in vogue

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Magic Wand

Clarinetist Artie Shaw’s recordings recall the nostalgic power of the big-band sound

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