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Arts & Culture

The Armenian countryside on the road from Yerevan to Vanadzor.

Unfurling the Rich Tapestry of Armenian Culture

This year’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival will offer a window on Armenian visions of home

Porquerolles Island

You’ll Have to Take a Boat Ride and a Hike Through the Forest to Get to France’s Newest Art Museum

A new French museum puts an out-of-the-box spin on the usual gallery experience

The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus suffered one of the worst train wrecks in history in 1918, with more than 100 people injured and 86 killed.

The Hammond Train Wreck of 1918 Killed Scores of Circus Performers

One hundred years ago, a horrific railway disaster decimated the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus—but the show still went on

Dancing during the last day of Hatun Puncha.

Andean Solstice Celebrations Capture the Wondrous Churn of Spacetime

Exploring the similarities and differences between Indigenous and Western cosmologies

Maya Freelon's Reciprocity Respite & Repass at the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building

Future of Art

Maya Freelon’s Immersive and Interactive Sculptures Bring Tissue Paper to Life

Her artwork will be a part of this weekend’s By the People Festival at the Arts and Industries building

The smart, menacing, powerful T. rex of 1993's Jurassic Park has lodged itself in the minds of millions.

How We Elected T. rex to Be Our Tyrant Lizard King

The true story behind our obsession with the last and largest of the tyrannosaurs

The Nasotek is on display at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, an art museum in Copenhagen, Denmark.

What a Cabinet of Fake Noses Tells Us About How Art Preservation Has Evolved

The collection of replica appendages is on display in Copenhagen’s Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek art museum

Dr. Tedi Asher

Future of Art

The Neuroscientist in the Art Museum

At Massachusetts’s Peabody Essex Museum, Tedi Asher is using neuroscience research to create impactful art experiences

Among the colorful characters immortalized in the colorless daguerreotype medium are (clockwise from upper left): writer Henry Thoreau, Seneca leader Blacksnake, Navy Commodore Matthew Perry, mental health crusader Dorothea Dix, showmen P.T. Barnum and Tom Thumb, and actress Charlotte Cushman.

How Daguerreotype Photography Reflected a Changing America

The National Portrait Gallery brings the eerie power of a historic medium into focus

Artist Evan Keeling will be meeting visitors at the four-day "By the People Festival," a new gathering for arts and dialogue that the DC incubator Halcyon presents June 21 to 24.

How This Comic Maker Plans to Make Everyone an Artist

The first annual “By the People Festival” kicks off in the Washington, D.C. area with interactive art, gospel, Jazz, opera and other performances

Clockwise from upper right, the items Feliciano donated to the Smithsonian included: his beloved Concerto Candelas guitar, a Braille writer his wife Susan used, a pair of his trademark glasses, and a heartfelt embroidered note from a Japanese admirer.

For More Than Five Decades, José Feliciano’s Version of the National Anthem Has Given Voice to Immigrant Pride

The acclaimed musician offers a moving welcome to the newest U.S. citizens and donates his guitar

Anderson Valley Vineyards

This Secret Corner of California Is a Paradise for Lovers of Great Food and Top-Notch Wines

Jody Rosen meets the free spirits giving shape to this flourishing wine region with a soon-to-be-legendary culinary scene, California’s Mendocino County

Trevor Brazile is the winningest cowboy ever, as the first PRCA cowboy to cross the $3 million threshold in career earnings back in 2008 -- and he hasn't let up since.

The First Family of Rodeo

Will a cowboy legend have what it takes to recapture the championship?

What if Napoleon hadn't stopped at invading Russia and instead created a world under French control?

What if Napoleon Hadn’t Lost Europe and Other Questions of Alternate History

How the 200-year-old literary genre reflects changing notions of history and society

We now know that velociraptors were closer to dog-sized than horse-sized, meaning full-grown Blue should be closer to these dimensions. Also: FEATHERS.

Five Ways Real Science Would Make the New Jurassic World So Much Better

It appears that Fallen Kingdom has not evolved alongside 21st century research

Saturated invites visitors to contemplate the essence of color, and the fascinating ways in which different hues interact.

Future of Art

How Newton, Goethe, an Ornithologist and a Board Game Designer Helped Us Understand Color

A new exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum explores the kaleidoscope of figures who shaped color theory

Computer-generated dinosaurs walk the Earth

How ‘Jurassic Park’ Made History 25 Years Ago, Propelling Computer-Generated Animation Forward

It was the first time that computer-generated characters interacted with human actors on screen. How has the technology improved since then?

In 2013, Winfrey was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Oprah’s Undeniable Influence on American History Recognized in New Smithsonian Exhibition

The National Museum of African American History and Culture follows Winfrey’s life, from her roots in rural Mississippi to her success as a cultural phenom

The 20 Best Small Towns to Visit in 2018

From Oregon Trail stops to Mister Rogers’ original neighborhood, these towns are worth seeing this year

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