Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Articles

A vaccine passport would be a digital or paper document showing that the bearer had received a Covid-19 vaccination or, in some cases, has antibodies to the virus or recently tested negative.

Five Things to Know About Vaccine Passports

As travelers venture out, countries and states are experimenting with forms of documentation that show proof of Covid-19 vaccination

The “Spirit of Tuskegee” hangs from the ceiling at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. The blue and yellow Stearman PT 13-D was used to train Black pilots from 1944 to 1946.

The Legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen Soars on the Wing of This World War II Aircraft

The 80th anniversary of the first Black flying unit is a time to recall the era when military service meant confronting foes both at home and abroad

An illustration from an abolitionist paper shows the divide in border states like Ohio, where a small African American minority petitioned for change.

Decades Before the Civil War, Black Activists Organized for Racial Equality

Though they were just a small percentage of the state’s population, African Americans petitioned the state of Ohio to repeal racist laws

Cover of the autobiography of Beba Epstein written in the 1933-34 school year, with a picture of her.

Smithsonian Voices

How the Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Girl Inspired an Exhibition

The discovery of a forgotten document leads to a deep dive into a Jewish family’s Eastern European history that was all but lost

This 1936 photograph from the collections of the National Portrait Gallery—featuring eight of the nine Scottsboro Boys with NAACP representatives Juanita Jackson Mitchell, Laura Kellum, and Dr. Ernest W. Taggart—was taken inside the prison where the Scottsboro Boys were being held.

Who Were the Scottsboro Nine?

The young black men served a combined total of 130 years for a crime they never committed

Emanuel Martinez, Tierra o Muerte, 1967, screenprint on manila folder

Smithsonian Voices

Chicanx Graphic Artists Inexpensively Fomented Revolution, Using Recycled Materials

For protest artists, what receives the image is often of little importance; it is the image’s political message that is vital

The stories of children who participated in polio vaccine tests became a constant in media coverage, appearing alongside warnings and debates.

Vintage Headlines

The Press Made the Polio Vaccine Trials Into a Public Spectacle

As a medical breakthrough unfolded in the early 1950s, newspapers filled pages with debates over vaccine science and anecdotes about kids receiving shots

Skipjack tuna at a fish market in the Philippines

How Will Commercial Fishing Pressure Affect Skipjack Tuna?

The world’s most abundant tuna is resilient, but can the fish outswim our demand?

The Wheeler Geologic Area in Colorado's La Garita Wilderness was once a national park.

You Can Still Visit These Six Former National Parks

Despite being delisted by the NPS, these spots are worth exploring thanks to their rich history and sheer beauty

There are over eight million feet of film in the Human Studies Film Archives (HSFA), which is part of the Smithsonian’s National Anthropological Archives. HSFA specializes in storing ethnographic footage created by anthropologists, filmmakers and travelers.

Smithsonian Voices

How Film Helps Preserve the World’s Diversity

The Smithsonian’s Human Studies Film Archive houses eight million feet of film which can help future generations reflect on the past

Balaram Khamari's “Microbial Peacock” won second place in the traditional category in the 2020 American Society for Microbiology Agar Art Contest.

How Microbiologists Craft Stunning Art Using Pathogens

Scientists mix microorganisms with agar, a jelly-like substance from seaweed, to create amazing illustrations in petri dishes

Occupying forces murdered all the inhabitants of 629 razed Belarusian villages, in addition to burning down another 5,454 villages and killing at least a portion of their residents. Pictured: A statue of Khatyn survivor Iosif Kaminsky in front of a Belarusian village destroyed in 1941

How the 1943 Khatyn Massacre Became a Symbol of Nazi Atrocities on the Eastern Front

Decades after the murder of 149 residents of a Belarusian village, the tragedy has taken on layers of meaning far removed from the attack itself

A participant from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum's "Eva Zeisel: Designing in the Air" workshop explores connections between a Zeisel ceramic prototype and her carpet sample design.

Smithsonian Voices

Understanding the Power of Primary Sources

Artifacts and archives are silent until they come out from the attic, the shoebox, or a museum’s archive to find life again through shared discovery

In “Deep Time,” curators used each fossil, including the sea scorpion Eurypterus lacustris, to weave a detailed timeline of Earth’s history.

Secretary Lonnie Bunch on What Makes for a Great Museum Exhibition

A well-curated show makes the unknown feel familiar—and reveals the unexpected

Suffragist Rosalie Barrow Edge founded the world's first refuge for birds of prey.

Planet Positive

How Mrs. Edge Saved the Birds

Meet a forgotten hero of our natural world whose brave campaign to protect birds charted a new course for the environmental movement

John Wanamaker, New York, NY. Spring & Summer Catalog (1915), front cover.

Smithsonian Voices

Looking at Leisure Through Early 20th-Century Trade Catalogs

How did people a 100 years ago spend their free time outside? The Trade Literature Collection offers a few clues to some very recognizable pastimes

A scrapbook about Alonzo Orozco and David Salazar, semipro players in Los Angeles in the 1920s and ’30s.

This Summer, a New Smithsonian Exhibition Takes You Inside Béisbol

At the American History Museum, cover all the bases with Latino ballplayers

Clockwise from top left, caps worn by: Chris Lindsay of the Detroit Tigers during the 1906 season; Ila Borders, the first woman to pitch in an NCAA or NAIA game; Christy Mathewson (1880-1925), history and date unknown; Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees; Dennis Eckersley of the Oakland Athletics when he logged his 300th career save in 1995; Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves, 1972-73. (Richard Gary / National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum)

How the Baseball Cap Went From Athletic Gear to Fashion Statement

A tip of the cap to the nation’s crowning accessory

One of the most versatile harmonica players in pop history is Stevie Wonder, shown here in Paris in 1963 at age 13.

A Brief History of the Harmonica

How the world’s handiest instrument took over American music

Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Composition, 1930.

Is the Artwork of Sophie Taeuber-Arp Still Avant-Garde?

Decades after she painted this canvas, a new show reconsiders a misunderstood Swiss artist

Page 174 of 1327