The worn hands and nubby fingernails of Bentonia, Mississippi, bluesman Jimmy "Duck" Holmes reflect his years of experience. Holmes is one of the last bluesmen who play a style known as Bentonia blues.

At an Old Juke Joint in Mississippi, the Blues Are Alive

Jimmy Holmes is the last in a line of music legends as he seeks to keep a singular American art form thriving

Fixed up to look like "Dusty," the Disney animated aircraft that had high-flying aspirations, the Air Tractor AT-301/400A became a hit at air-shows following the success of the first film and its 2014 sequel Planes: Fire and Rescue.

Disney’s Dusty Crophopper—the Little Airplane that Could—Comes to the Smithsonian

Iconic Air Tractor aircraft on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center this Saturday

The Larry J. West Collection features an array of early photography, (above: Untitled (pin, woman in hat) by unidentified artist, ca. 1865), presenting a stunning new visual record.

New Collection of Portraits Presents the Diversity of 19th-Century American Photography

Smithsonian American Art Museum announces major acquisition of the works of Black photographers James P. Ball, Glenalvin Goodridge and Augustus Washington

Workers outside the village of Geldibuldu in southeastern Turkey in 1981, when researchers were collecting botanical remains at an archaeological site nearby.

Why British Archaeologists Are Battling With the Turkish Government Over Seeds

The ancient plants at the heart of the conflict are essential to science—and might hold clues to new superfoods

The choir performs at the ruins of a mill in Sweetwater Creek State Park in Douglas County, Georgia

Smithsonian Voices

Hear a Georgia Choral Group as They Rediscover the Art of Sacred Harp Singing

Students find lasting resonance in the words and simple notes of the 1869 hymn ‘How Can I Keep from Singing?’

Three Covers from Drawn to Art: Ten Tales of Inspiring Women Artists

Smithsonian Voices

Ten Emerging Illustrators Tell the Stories of Ten Powerhouse Women Artists

A new graphic art series, “Drawn to Art,” brings to light the visionary, but unheralded, work of ten rule-breaking females

Oceanix is gearing up to build a prototype of a 5-acre city for 300 residents in a yet-to-be determined location.

Innovation for Good

In the Face of Rising Seas, Are Floating Cities a Real Possibility?

A scale model of Oceanix City, a concept capable of supporting more than 10,000 residents, will be featured in the Smithsonian’s upcoming ‘Futures’ exhibit

Production still from "Reservation Dogs."

‘Reservation Dogs’ Marks a Breakthrough for Indigenous Representation Onscreen

“Thor: Ragnarok” director Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo developed a comedy about Native American teens in Oklahoma that stars four young Native actors

Just over 150 employees handcraft 12 million cigars a year from the historic J.C. Newman Cigar Company.

The Last Cigar Factory in Tampa

After a multi-million renovation, the J.C. Newman Cigar Company in Ybor City offers visitors a museum and tours of its working factory

Were it not for tuberculosis, artist and furniture maker Daniel Mack writes, “It’s unlikely that there would have been an Adirondack chair.”

How the Adirondack Chair Became the Feel-Good Recliner That Cures What Ails You

The furniture piece has gone through countless permutations, but it all started at a time when resting outdoors was thought to be a matter of life or death

Preparing klulik from Sasoun at Noosh.

Smithsonian Voices

Eat Like an Armenian With These Tips From a Local Guide

Did you know that Armenian culture is heavily gastro-centric? Any occasion, be it happy or sad, has associations with food

Some of the details between the film and its source material are, of course, different, but the themes at their respective hearts remain consistent.

‘The Green Knight’ Adopts a Medieval Approach to ‘Modern’ Problems

A new film starring Dev Patel as Gawain feels more like a psychological thriller than a period drama

Breezing Up (A Fair Wind) by Winslow Homer (1873-1876) is one of the many artworks recreated for the Pageant of the Masters.

At the Pageant of the Masters, Famous Works of Art Come to Life

For nearly a century, a volunteer cast has recreated visual masterpieces on stage in Laguna Beach, California

Jenova Chen, Kellee Santiago, Flower, 2007, video game for SONY PS3, color, sound

Smithsonian Voices

This Week, the Popular SAAM Arcade Is Game On for Video Game Makers

Chris Totten reflects on how the gaming community around SAAM Arcade has grown since the first event debuted seven years ago

The Cardboard Boat Museum tells the quirky history of a 28-year tradition.

A Small Town in Ohio Is Home to the World’s Only Cardboard Boat Museum

For nearly 30 years, New Richmond has hosted the International Cardboard Boat Regatta, a high-spirited race on the Ohio River

Professional puzzler Stanley Newman leads a Smithsonian Associates Streaming seminar "Mastering Crossword Puzzles" on August 21.

Smithsonian Voices

Master Crosswords, Learn Embroidery, Visit Venice or Explore Copper Canyon, Mexico

Beat the August heat with these 20 Smithsonian Associates online programs

Angel Rodríguez-Díaz, The Protagonist of an Endless Story, 1993, oil on canvas, 72 x 57 7/8 in. (182.9 x 147.0 cm.)

Smithsonian Voices

How Artists Challenge Mythic Conceptions of the American West

Forty-eight modern and contemporary artists who are reclaiming the narratives of their region

Butler is not just a talented writer, says curator Monica Montgomery. She is “this magnifying, visionary author and was and is a social justice warrior for our times.”

Futures

The Pioneering Sci-Fi Writer Octavia E. Butler Joins a Pantheon of Celebrated Futurists

The author’s career is honored by a newly commissioned work by digital artist Nettrice Gaskins

Carolyn Smith collecting beargrass in Klamath National Forest, 2015. For beargrass to be supple enough for weavers to use in their baskets, it needs to be burned annually. Ideally, it is burned in an intentionally set cultural fire, where only the tops are burned, leaving the roots intact. Prescribed fires in the Klamath National Forest are few and far between, so weavers “follow the smoke” and gather, when they can, after wildfires sweep through the landscape.

Smithsonian Voices

How Indigenous Ecological Knowledge Offers Solutions to California’s Wildfires

“We need to reintegrate Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge and cultural and prescribed burning into our landscape,” Carolyn Smith says

The Anacostia Community Museum was able to serve incarcerated audiences through use of newly issued tablets at the D.C. Jail.

Smithsonian Voices

Reaching Out to Those Behind Bars

Learn how the Anacostia Community Museum redesigned its acclaimed exhibition “Men of Change” as a digital offering for incarcerated audiences

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