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Get your costumes on. It's slush cup season.

Why Skiers Are Ending the Season With a Splash—and Keeping the Raucous Tradition of Pond Skimming Alive

For nearly 100 years, die-hards have been saying goodbye to winter by speeding down the slopes and water skiing over massive puddles

A batteau is a flat-bottomed vessel, a wooden relic of the 18th century that once carried tobacco, iron and flour through Virginia.

Two Centuries Ago, Batteaumen on Virginia’s James River Ended Long Work Days With a Taste of Freedom

The James River Batteau Company, an outdoor recreation-meets-historical tour business, has designed a dinner cruise that honors the resilience and culinary ingenuity of enslaved boatmen

Robert Caro, seen here in 1990, worked on a novel based on his time as a newspaperman.

We Rediscovered Robert Caro’s Abandoned Novel About an Intrepid Journalist Buried in His Archives

A deep dive into the legendary biographer’s papers leads to the surprising revelation of a work he has all but forgotten

The well-known Nabulsi knafeh consists of crumbled Nabulsi cheese topped with fried kataifi pastry.

The TikTok-Famous Dubai Chocolate Traces Its Origins to the 13th-Century Middle East

Generation Z is putting its own spin on knafeh, a dish first designed to quash a caliph’s hunger pangs

The Chicago Cubs host the San Francisco Giants in the friendly confines of Wrigley, June 2024.

Through Good Teams and Bad, Wrigley Field Remains the Coziest Park in Baseball

The Chicago landmark represents the purest form of the American pastime

Portrait of Doge Cristoforo Moro (ruler of Venice from 1462-1471), attributed to Lazzaro Bastiani; Ottoman-inspired fabric by 20th-century textile designer Mariano Fortuny.

Two Great Empires Traded for Financial Gain and Achieved a Brilliant Cultural Exchange as Well

A new show illuminates the rich artistic wonders that arose out of the 400 years of commerce between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire

During her clandestine efforts for the Italian Resistance, Anita Malavasi used these forged papers to travel under the identity of “Marta de Robertis.”

This New Book Reveals the Daredevil Lives of Four Italian Women Who Stood Up to Hitler and Mussolini

By delivering newspapers, munitions and secret messages to resistance groups, among many other incredible tasks, the brave fighters strove for a freer world

An 1896 illustration of Coffea stenophylla in Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, which noted the species’ “superior flavor” and market potential.

How a Forgotten Bean Could Save Coffee From Extinction

One leading botanist is scouring remote corners of the earth to find new species that could keep our mugs full

Left: Af Klint’s 1907 painting known as Group IV, The Ten Largest, No. 2, Childhood, from a series charting life’s four main stages—the others being Youth, Adulthood and Old Age. Right, a digital collage with a photograph of af Klint c. 1901. Right: Portrait photograph of Hilma af Klint c. 1901. Portrait is collaged with a tree image created by the photographer.

Women Who Shaped History

A Swirl of Intrigue Surrounds Swedish Painter Hilma af Klint’s Newfound Status as an Icon of Abstract Art

Long overlooked, the artist made pioneering works in the early 20th century. Today she’s a global star—but some scholars insist she should be sharing the spotlight

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See the Spectacular Winners of Smithsonian Magazine’s 22nd Annual Photography Contest

By toying with perspective, this year’s best photos capture the sublime—and the uncanny

A reproduction of a World War II-era package, featuring Sailor Jack and loyal Bingo.

The Salty, Sweet and Irresistible History of Baseball’s Most Famous Snack

Candy-coated popcorn, peanuts and a prize? That, and so much more, is what you get with a Cracker Jack

Flannery O'Connor with peacocks in the driveway of her family home at Andalusia Farm in 1962

Flannery O’Connor Wanted to Shake Her Readers Awake. Her Family Wanted Her to Write the Next ‘Gone With the Wind’

This year marks the writer’s 100th birthday. Through fiction anchored in her Southern background and Catholic faith, O’Connor revealed how candid confrontations with darkness lead to moments of reckoning

Mark Rylance (left) and Damian Lewis (right) as Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII in "Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light"

Based on a True Story

The Real Story Behind ‘Wolf Hall’ and the Fall of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s Most Controversial Adviser

Based on Hilary Mantel’s novel “The Mirror & the Light,” the last installment in the acclaimed television series chronicles the last four years of the statesman’s life

The Burren House in San Rafael, California, is one of the most recent projects of the Irish Pub Company, a Dublin-based design group that has created upwards of 2,000 pubs in more than 100 countries on every continent except Antarctica.

How the Irish Pub Became One of the Emerald Isle’s Greatest Exports

The Dublin-based Irish Pub Company has designed upwards of 2,000 pubs in more than 100 countries around the globe

The statue Brooklyn by Daniel Chester French being hoisted at the Brooklyn Museum in 1964

Over the Last 200 Years, a Small Library Became One of New York City’s Biggest Museums. A New Showcase Tells the Story of Its Unique Legacy

To mark its bicentennial, the Brooklyn Museum highlights the pieces that have shaped its collection—and the foundational art made in the borough

Completed in 2011, the Stuttgart City Library is one of the country’s most photographed locations.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

Discover These 15 Enchanting Libraries Sure to Thrill Any Book Lover

Wall-to-wall books tell an interior design story without saying a word

Ever since it debuted in 2008, the Running of the Reindeer has become one of the signature events of the Fur Rendezvous Festival.

Every March, Runners Race Reindeer Through the Streets of Anchorage

For three and a half blocks, athletes and ungulates share the road during the headlining event of Alaska’s Fur Rendezvous Festival

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Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

See 60 Remarkable Finalists From the 22nd Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

From stunning landscapes to captivating portraits, the photographs showcase the diverse beauty of the world around us. Vote for your favorite, too, for the Readers’ Choice competition

A statue of Clementina Rind, a trailblazing publisher and printer who took over the Virginia Gazette after her husband's death, is featured in the Virginia Women's Monument.

America's 250th Anniversary

Newly Discovered Letters Illuminate the Life of a Female Printer Who Published Revolutionary Texts and Pushed the Colonies Toward Independence

As Virginia’s first female newspaper publisher, Clementina Rind emphasized women’s viewpoints and collaborated with prominent politicians like Thomas Jefferson

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There's More to That

A Mystery Surrounding the Grave of JFK Is Solved

A sculpture recognizing a spontaneous gesture of affection towards the slain president vanished into thin air more than half a century ago. Here’s the story of how it was just recently rediscovered.

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