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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

Every Generation of Teenagers Redefines Pop Culture Through Its Favorite Music, Fads, Movies and Trends

When new government policies allowed kids more time to grown up, the teenager was born. And every decade or so, they’ve changed the ways they entertain themselves … and everyone else

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

Cellphones Were Created to Untether Us. Then They Got Smart and Evolved Into an Omnipotent Appendage

One device made it possible to hold a telephone, a watch, a calculator, the mailbox, credit cards, a meteorologist, a television, a detailed map of the globe, millions of songs and books … all in one hand.

Ants are pictured at the Metropolitan Natural Park, a protected area in Panama City, on January 26, 2025.

Ants Can Get Distracted by Cookies, Chips and Other Junk Food. Here’s Why That Could Be a Problem for the Environment

The insects enjoy snack crumbs, but new research shows that this unnatural food source can divert them from one of their most significant roles: dispersing plant seeds

Jerry Lawson’s gaming system featured interchangeable cartridges, so users could swap out titles like “Space War” and “Math Quiz.”

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

This Unsung Black Developer Unlocked the Code to Turning a Video Game Console Into a Virtual Living Room Arcade

Jerry Lawson’s Channel F system was the first to put games on interchangeable cartridges, paving the way for Atari, Nintendo, Xbox and PlayStation

An aerial view of the Sesquicentennial International Exposition

America's 250th Anniversary

America’s 150th Birthday Celebration Was Deemed the Nation’s ‘Greatest Flop.’ What Went Wrong With the Sesquicentennial?

Philadelphia politicians hoped to replicate the success of the 1876 Centennial Exposition. Instead, the 1926 world’s fair lost millions of dollars, essentially bankrupting the city on the eve of the Great Depression

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

The Astounding True Story of America’s Comic Book Creators, From ‘The Yellow Kid’ to Superman to Webcomics

A groundbreaking cartoonist paired images with a running narrative in 1896 to create the first comic strip. They’ve mutated into books, blockbuster movies and Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novels

Iconic soap characters: Susan Lucci’s Erica Kane of All My Children; Eric Braeden’s Victor Newman of The Young and the Restless; and Tamara  Tunie’s Jessica Griffin Harris of As the World Turns. Tunie now stars in CBS’ Beyond the Gates. 

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

The Queen of Soap Operas Started Off By Telling Stories About the Drama She Was Missing in Her Own Life

Irna Phillips was a radio voice actor in Chicago when she was asked to create a serialized program. From that, she created a legacy that includes ‘Guiding Light’ and ‘As the World Turns’

Wrigley Field was the last Major League Baseball stadium to install lights: The Cubs first played under them on August 8, 1988, versus the Philadelphia Phillies. Photographer Ronald C. Modra captured the scene from a helicopter.

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

With a Few Tweaks, the Country’s Favorite Sports Went From Pastimes to Part of the Fabric of Our Culture

Can you imagine a football game where there was never a passing play? The forward pass is just one of the innovations that made these contests into events

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

When Clarence Birdseye Tasted the Trout That Had Been Frozen by Inuit Fishermen, It Changed the Way We Buy Food

The inventive entrepreneur concluded that the faster things were frozen, the less damage was done to the structure of the food. Once thawed, they were “exactly like fresh”

Lightning strikes in Peckham, Oklahoma.

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

When a Team of Meteorologists and Combat Pilots Set Out to Understand Thunderstorms, They Made Flying Safer for Everyone

The sky was a very dangerous place in the early days of commercial aviation. By flying into storms to learn how they worked, these experts made air travel and weather forecasting much more predictable

Clive Campbell in 1980. “Hip-hop is both an American immigrant story and a global story,” he later said. “It belongs to everybody.”

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

They Were Just Having a Back-to-School Party in an Apartment Rec Room. Little Did They Know They Were Creating Hip-Hop

The music genre that became a global sensation started with some creative teens just getting together and riffing rhymes to DJ Kool Herc’s curated beats

The Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula is a region where stars are born, seen in Smithsonian Starstruck.

See a Diamond Planet, an Exploding Star and a Black Hole Up Close in a New Immersive Virtual Reality Experience

Informed by science from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and astronomers worldwide, this “documentary that you can walk through” visualizes the cosmos in a 3D introduction to the universe

After moving 1,093 miles, the Jackson home sits in Greenfield Village, where visitors can tour it beginning this weekend.

The Events That Took Place in This Selma, Alabama, Home Were Key to the Civil Rights Movement, and You Can Now Visit It

The Jackson family opened their home to civil rights leaders planning the Selma-to-Montgomery march, which led to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The entire house was recently moved to Greenfield Village at The Henry Ford, in Dearborn, Michigan

Rock formations pierce still waters as the sun sets along the coast of Algarve.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

These 15 Stunning Photos Invite You to Take a Peek at the People, Places and Cultural Legacy of Picturesque Portugal

With its vibrant hues, vast landscapes and a venerable history, there’s much to love about the coastal country

Michael Twitty’s technique for preparing okra soup evokes West African cooking traditions. His recipe includes a broth—either chicken or beef—that takes about an hour or two to create. Onions, garlic, tomatoes and other vegetables, and herbs such as thyme and sage add flavor. It is garnished with parsley.

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

There Was No American Regional Cuisine Until One ‘Virginia Housewife’ Thought to Compile a Diverse Collection of Recipes

Mary Randolph, an in-law of the Jefferson family who was influenced by enslaved cooks and traditions of European immigrants, didn’t change Southern cooking with her 1824 cookbook … she originated it

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

How the Hashtag Became the Way to Instantly Invite Literally Everyone Into the Conversation

In the nascent days of Twitter, users wanted a quick way to cluster posts about a single subject. Someone suggested using a pound sign, and #TheRestIsHistory

Director Steven Spielberg on the set of Disclosure Day, his latest UFO-inspired film

What’s Behind Steven Spielberg’s Lifelong Obsession With Flying Saucers and Extraterrestrial Visitors?

Half a century after “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” the director returns to the subject of UFOs with “Disclosure Day.” His science fiction films are informed by his fascination with alien encounters in American suburbia

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

A Moment of Divine Inspiration Helped Melvil Dewey Bring Obsessive Order to the Infinitely Disorganized Stacks in the Library

The Massachusetts student let his mind wander during a Sunday sermon and created the decimal-based system that greatly simplified the search for any book you were looking for.

American journalist, lecturer and political philosopher Lincoln Steffens (1866-1936), in Union Square, New York City, April 1914.

When a Journalist Took on Corruption, He Used a Tool That Hadn’t Been Used Much in American History: the Unvarnished Truth

Lincoln Steffens was a reporter so dogged that political party bosses called him a “born crook that’s gone straight.” He and his fellow muckrakers redefined modern journalism

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

After the Concept of Peaceful Disobedience Was Established in America, It Traveled Around the World Before Taking Hold

“Force may subdue, but love gains”: The Quaker practice of conscientious objection evolved through Thoreau, Tolstoy and Gandhi before becoming the hallmark of the Civil Rights movement

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