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Arts & Culture

A spirit medium pauses to light a cigarette.

Photos Celebrate the Lives of Gender Non-Conforming Spirit Mediums in Southeast Asia

The pioneering photographer’s latest book documents the welcoming community of transgender individuals who serve as spirit mediums in Burma and Thailand

Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks in "The Post."

What The Post Gets Right (and Wrong) About Katharine Graham and the Pentagon Papers

A Smithsonian historian reminds us how Graham, a Washington socialite-turned-publisher, transformed the paper into what it is today

Each chapter progresses from the very small to the very big.

Learn to Speak the Language of the Universe With This Mindblowing New Book

Magnitude helps you imagine the outer limits of time, speed and distance—without breaking your brain

The stunning image that opens the Siphonophorae chapter in The Art and Science of Ernst Haeckel. Each gelatinous siphonophore is actually a group of colonial organisms all living and working together. To grow, they clone themselves—each new minion specialized for a specific function.

Art Meets Science

This 19th-Century Illustrator Found Beauty in the Slimiest of Sea Creatures

A new book chronicles Ernst Haeckel’s life and his gorgeous renderings of wild things—scales, spikes, tentacles and all

Hugh Jackman in "The Greatest Showman."

Based on a True Story

P.T. Barnum Isn’t the Hero the ‘Greatest Showman’ Wants You to Think

His path to fame and notoriety began by exploiting an enslaved woman, in life and in death, as entertainment for the masses

Elyse Butler got up close and personal to capture this fiery scene of lava flowing dramatically into the Pacific Ocean from Kilauea volcano.

Smithsonian Magazine’s Most Powerful Photos of the Year

Our photography editors select their favorites from a year full of stunning photojournalism

Mónico Márquez plays a Hohner button accordion with Venezuelan band Mestros del Joropo Oriental at the 2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

The Remarkable Rebirth of the Button Accordion

Musician Gilberto Reyes redesigned the instrument to meet the needs of Latino musicians

MICRO's Smallest Mollusk Museum is inside the central branch of Brooklyn Public Library.

Putting Miniature Museums Where You Are Likely To See Them

The nonprofit MICRO is on a mission to meet people where they are, staging small exhibitions in busy, public places

A townsperson walks around as Gryla, the Christmas Witch

Why Iceland’s Christmas Witch Is Much Cooler (and Scarier) Than Krampus

With roots dating back to the 13th century, Gryla is not to be messed with

A still from Emmett Otter's Jug-Band Christmas

This Cult Classic Christmas Special Is Quintessential Jim Henson

Although it features few of the usual Muppets, ‘Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas’ brings the holiday spirit to the whole family

Femme en Extase (Woman in Ecstacy) (detail) by Ferdinand Hodler, 1911

Around the Globe, Revered Artist Ferdinand Hodler Receives His Due, the Portrait Gallery Joins In

A swirl of dance portraits complement a single Swiss loan of Hodler’s Italian dancer

Conveyor bridges to Bin Structure.

These Photos of the Abandoned Domino Sugar Refinery Document Its Sticky History

A new photography book uncovers the last days (and lasting legacy) of a New York institution

Artist’s representation of “neglected story on Smithsonian.com.”

The Ten Stories You Didn’t Read in 2017 But Should Have

From music behind prison bars to a San Francisco building with a dark past, here are the top 10 pieces we published last year that deserve another look

For some Manhattan sybarites, the department store's 1982 bag spelled Christmas.

Finding the Sacks Appeal in a Collection of Holiday Shopping Bags

The Cooper Hewitt’s collection of some 1,000 bags reveals a few with some very cheery holiday scenes

The Ten Best Children’s Books of 2017

Our picks are full of silly words, weird animals and unknown histories

Jimi Hendrix was “a central figure in the history of African-American music,” says Kevin Strait, a historian and curator at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, home to this gold-brocade vest that the musician wore.

Gone at 27 and Eternally Youthful For the Ages, Jimi Hendrix Would Have Been 75 This Year

A gold-brocade vest at the Smithsonian evokes the innovative musician’s enduring legacy

A Plea to Resurrect the Christmas Tradition of Telling Ghost Stories

Though the practice is now more associated with Halloween, spooking out your family is well within the Christmas spirit

Bradford saw the dollhouse, shown decorated for Christmas, as ever evolving: "I shall never be completely satisfied with its creation."

Christmas at the Smithsonian’s Dolls’ House Includes All the Trimmings—in Miniature

It’s ‘Deck the Halls’ with Christmas cheer at the beloved Victorian-style dollhouse at the National Museum of American History

BB-8 is an “astromech droid” who first appeared in The Force Awakens.

What the Robots of Star Wars Tell Us About the Future of Human Work

The films’ much-loved robots exist mostly to assist rather than replace humans—and like us, they are prone to errors

In a recent presentation held at the National Museum of Natural History, University of Melbourne researcher Gerald Roche called attention to 21 minority languages spoken in villages across Tibet.

The Incredible Linguistic Diversity of Tibet Is Disappearing

Thanks to national schooling and the Internet, many of the plateau’s unique languages are in danger

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