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Arts & Culture

The Original Dixieland Jass Band included cornetist Nick LaRocca, trombonist Eddie Edwards, clarinetist Larry Shields, pianist Henry Ragas, and drummer Tony Sbarbaro.

The First Jazz Recording Was Made by a Group of White Guys?

A century ago, a recording of the startlingly novel “Livery Stable Blues” helped launch a new genre

Joan Crawford in Letty Lynton (1932)

When Hollywood Glamour Was Sold at the Local Department Store

During the 1930s, the world’s most fashionable looks came not from Paris, but from La-La Land

Most players of “Walden” go straight to survival tasks, admits Fullerton.

Can a Video Game Capture the Magic of Walden?

Henry David Thoreau’s famed retreat gets pixelated

Misty Copeland sees dance as a “language and a culture that people from everywhere, all over the world, can relate to and understand and come together for.”

In the Footsteps of Three Modern American Prima Ballerinas

A new exhibition shows that classical ballet and the role of the ballerina are rapidly changing

Left: Matisse's Notre Dame, a Late Afternoon, 1902. Right: Diebenkorn's Ingleside, 1963.

The Lasting Influence Matisse Had on Richard Diebenkorn’s Artwork

The great American painter owed a luminous debt to the French Modernist

A Silk Road Wine Trail Karas Monument at the entrance of Rind Village in Vayots Dzor, Armenia.

Armenia

Can Ancient Techniques Make Modern Wine Better?

A new generation of wineries are going to painstaking lengths to acquire hundreds of historic clay karases

Eight Secrets of the Taj Mahal

One of the world’s greatest memorials to love remains a place of mystery

Smart Startup

Will This App Turn More Readers On to Serialized Fiction?

Releasing a chapter at a time, Radish could have us binge reading romance and mystery novels

An African-American cowboy sits saddled on his horse in Pocatello, Idaho in 1903.

The Lesser-Known History of African-American Cowboys

One in four cowboys was black. So why aren’t they more present in popular culture?

Spring in the gardens.

American South

The Southern Romance of the Nation’s Oldest Public Garden

Three centuries of beauty and history are on display at the Magnolia Plantation and Gardens

Because donkeys definitely belong on Valentine's Day cards.

Nothing Says ‘I Hate You’ Like a ‘Vinegar Valentine’

For at least a century, Valentine’s Day was used as an excuse to send mean, insulting cards

Atlas of Eating

Reuben Riffel on Becoming a Top Chef in Post-Apartheid South Africa

South African food culture fosters connection, he says

La Tour d'Argent restaurant offers dramatic views of the Paris skyline.

Atlas of Eating

Does the Classic Paris Meal Still Exist?

Two food lovers set out to learn whether the Paris dining experience of their youth can still be found

Now on display in the museum’s “Musical Crossroads” exhibition, the boombox is a striking symbol of the early years of hip-hop.

The Ballad of the Boombox: What Public Enemy Tells Us About Hip-Hop, Race and Society

Thirty years after Public Enemy’s debut album, the group’s sonic innovation and powerful activism resonate powerfully today

A bicyclist rides by the destroyed old mosque and tomb of Nabi Jerjis, also known as Saint George, in central Mosul in July 2014.

Commentary

Why We Need to Fight to Save Mosul’s Cultural Heritage

As the battle to save Iraq from ISIS continues, Smithsonian experts are helping local people preserve their history

“The Hirshhorn’s unique modernist architecture offers a striking backdrop for the orchids’ brilliant color,” says the museum's director Melissa Chiu.

Why Orchids Belong in an Art Museum

Washington’s much-anticipated annual flower show moves to the Hirshhorn for the flora that loves to perform

Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield

The Soprano Who Upended Americans’ Racist Stereotypes About Who Could Sing Opera

Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield was in many ways the nation’s first black pop star

At the height of their popularity in the 1950s, children's coonskin caps like this one from the Smithsonian collections, sold at the rate of 5,000 per day.

The Invention of Vintage Clothing

It all began with the Davy Crockett coonskin hat craze and a bunch of Bohemians yearning to swathe themselves in decades-old fur

Atlas of Eating

Chef Margarita Carrillo Arronte on Why Mexican Cuisine Is a UNESCO Treasure

Meet the woman dedicated to preserving traditional Mexican cuisine

Stunning, Surreal Concepts Cast a Spell on the Fairy Tales Architecture Competition

Ukrainian architect Mykhailo Ponomarenko came in first this year for his sci-fi meditation “Last Day”

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