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Arts & Culture

Detail of Rembrandt's Let the Little Children Come Unto Me

Rembrandt Began a Biblical Painting. Another Artist Finished It ‘Rather Crudely.’ Now, Restorations Have Revealed the Long-Lost Original

An art dealer stumbled across “Let the Little Children Come Unto Me” at a German auction house in 2014. Experts have now carefully removed layers of overpaint from the forgotten masterpiece

Ellen Wexler

Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends live in a case at the New York Public Library.

The Real Winnie-the-Pooh Lives at the New York Public Library. When Queen Camilla Visited the Bear, She Reunited Him With a Dear Friend

The game has taken a variety of twists and turns.

How the Classic American Game of Twister Went From Risqué to Record-Breaking

A damaged portrait of Mary Magdalene by Artemisia Gentileschi (left) and a similar version of the same scene (right) housed at the Pitti Palace in Florence, Italy

Rolled Up in a Cellar for Decades, This Artemisia Gentileschi Painting Is Now Up for Auction. Why Is Mary Magdalene’s Face Missing From the Portrait?

A detail of Lucknow From the Gomti, made between 1821 and 1826 in India

A Mysterious, Monumental Scroll on Public Display for the First Time Paints a Picture of Artistic Fusion in Colonial India

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The Creature Shop is located in Queens, inside the former Standard Motors building, a two-block-long behemoth with high ceilings and freight elevators capable of accommodating even the biggest birds. 

A Peek Inside Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, Where ‘Sesame Street’ Characters and Other Whimsical Puppets Are Designed

Every weekend, the magical workshop opens its doors for the public to see how legendary film and television characters are made

Bartlett Frost's Declaration of Independence diorama, copy after John Trumbull

America's 250th Anniversary

To Recreate One of the American Revolution’s Most Famous Paintings, This Artist Painstakingly Crafted Miniature Wax Figures of the Nation’s Founders

Bartlett M. Frost’s diorama is modeled after John Trumbull’s depiction of the presentation of the Declaration of Independence. Newly conserved, the work is now on view at the National Portrait Gallery

Two people wearing hot dog hats line up to watch the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4, 2025.

From a Sea Turtle Release to an Outhouse Race, These Ten Fourth of July Traditions Celebrate America Like No Other

Revelers typically mark Independence Day with a barbecue and fireworks show, but these festivities across the country offer quirky alternatives

Neon lights illuminate an oddly empty Santa Monica Pier at night.

You’ll Be More Than Amused by These 15 Photos of Theme Parks. Their Electrifying Attractions Will Have Your Heart Racing Before You Even Set Foot on a Ride

These images from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest remind us that amusement parks have entertained generations of thrill-seekers

A circa 1846 photo of the Patent Office Building

This Building Hosted Lincoln’s Inaugural Ball and Displayed the Declaration of Independence. Today, It’s Home to Two World-Class Art Museums

The Old Patent Office Building now houses the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. A new exhibition spotlights the structure’s rich history of encouraging innovation

With a full-size basketball court, and conspicuously without any presidential paper documents, the center, in many ways, is a departure from presidential institutions that came before.

Here’s How the Obama Presidential Center Is Different From Other Presidents’ Museums

More than a library and archives, the new Chicago institution is a place for the community to gather, talk and play together

Henry Geldzahler and Christopher Scott on display ahead of a Christie's auction in 2019

Who Were the Couples That Posed for David Hockney’s Famed Double Portraits?

One of his subjects was a cousin I never knew. I wanted to learn more about the large-scale portraits that helped define the English artist’s legacy

The indomitable Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story (1995). The film made history as the first feature-length, 3D-rendered film produced entirely with computer animation.

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

Five Advances That Helped Turn a Night Out at the Movies Into the All-Enveloping Experience It Has Become

The power of film is often in its ability to feel larger than life. Movie makers have been developing ways to accentuate that aspect for more than a century

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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

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’

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

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

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

Later in his career, Harpo made appearances on television, always in character. 

A Rare Recording of Harpo Marx Speaking Publicly Was Mislabeled in an Archive for Decades. Now You Can Listen to the ‘Silent’ Comedian Yourself

The comedian of the stage and big screen thrilled millions of Americans without ever speaking a word, leaving many to wonder what his voice sounded like

Lomax hit the road in search of as many folk traditions as he could discover. “Folk music,” he wrote, “blooms hard by the crossroads.”

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

Alan Lomax Spent Years Traveling the Country to Record the Sounds of America. The Legacy of His Obsession Will Live Forever

By letting Muddy Waters hear himself for the first time, he unlocked a new confidence that set the sharecropper on the path to superstardom. And that’s just the start of what he found in churches, prisons and even lumberjack camps

Workers bake bread, pastries and meat at a communal oven in Marrakesh.

How Tanjia, a Meat Stew Slow-Cooked in Bathhouses, Shaped Marrakesh’s Social Life

In the Moroccan city, shared infrastructure, labor and ritual gave rise to a savory dish prepared in hammams and neighborhood ovens

Two young boys at a Georgia cotton mill. Their slim arms and tiny hands were considered ideal for machine work.

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

When a Photographer Turned His Focus on Social Injustice, It Helped Usher in the First Child Labor Laws

Lewis Hine didn’t consider his job as taking pictures; it was “detective work.” Sometimes gaining access with ruse and subterfuge, he captured stark images that touched hearts and changed minds

This painting, titled Excelsior, shows Liberty and Justice as allegorical figures. A new exhibition “moves past symbolism to center the real expertise and labor of women who navigated a world of blurred allegiances to help found the United States,” says Louise Mirrer, president and CEO of the New York Historical.

America's 250th Anniversary

During the Revolution, American Women Fought for Freedom, Spied on the British, Cared for the Sick and Fell in Love. A New Exhibition Reveals Their Rich Wartime Stories

Now on view at the New York Historical, “Revolutionary Women” spotlights figures with connections to the state, including a Jewish chocolatier, a Mohawk leader and a woman who disguised herself as a man to enlist in the Continental Army

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