Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

History

Kurt Riley, governor of the Acoma Pueblo people, spoke on the ever-present specter of theft of cultural objects.

Native Americans Decry the Auctioning-Off of Their Heritage in Paris

Community leaders convene at the National Museum of the American Indian to push for change

Inside Alabama’s Abandoned Buildings

As Birmingham flourishes again, an urban explorer documents what is left behind

Today, most poor renting families are spending more than half of their income on housing.

History of Now

Experts Have Been Studying Income Inequality for Decades. Has Anything Changed?

The author of the blockbuster book Evicted talks about those who came before him

Meet the First and Only Foreign-Born First Lady: Louisa Catherine Adams

Almost 200 years ago, the wife of John Quincy Adams set a precedent

The Dueling Oaks in New Orleans' City Park

Discover America’s Bloody History at Five Famous Dueling Grounds

Men defended their delicate honor at these bloody sites across the U.S.

Sanora Babb with unidentified migrant workers

The Forgotten Dust Bowl Novel That Rivaled “The Grapes of Wrath”

Sanora Babb wrote about a family devastated by the Dust Bowl, but she lost her shot at stardom when John Steinbeck beat her to the punch

Blair's Snow White Hair Beautifier

Old Cosmetics Made New Again Through the Art of Digitization

Arsenic Complexion Wafers? A whole new world of yesteryear cosmetics just got a refresh

The Liberty Tree in colonial-era Boston

The Story Behind a Forgotten Symbol of the American Revolution: The Liberty Tree

While Boston landmarks like the Old North Church still stand, the Liberty Tree, gone for nearly 250 years, has been lost to history

A cross marks the Austrian line in the Pasubio mountains, a relic of their 1916 “Punishment Expedition.”

World War I: 100 Years Later

The Most Treacherous Battle of World War I Took Place in the Italian Mountains

Even amid the carnage of the war, the battle in the Dolomites was like nothing the world had ever seen—or has seen since

Why Do Humans Have Canine Teeth and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

This Powerful Stokely Carmichael Portrait Never Made It to the Cover of Time Magazine

The artwork, by famed artist Jacob Lawrence, captured the turning point in the Civil Rights Movement

The Temple of the Plumed Serpent is adorned with carved snake heads and slithering bodies.

A Secret Tunnel Found in Mexico May Finally Solve the Mysteries of Teotihuacán

The chance discovery beneath a nearly 2,000-year-old pyramid leads to the heart of a lost civilization

Watkins photographed vistas like the valley’s Half Dome.

How an Obscure Photographer Saved Yosemite

The beauty of the national park became clear long before Ansel Adams

In the tranquility of old Vienna, Stefan Zweig writes, one could never “dream how dangerous man can be.” This 1901 photograph shows a city market.

Austria

The Unhurried World of Pre-War Vienna

Author Stefan Zweig, who inspired Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, recalls Austria at the dawn of the 20th century

The Biodiversity Heritage Library has the digitized version of the University of Toronto’s Fisher Library’s copy of Evelyn’s work

Celebrate National Salad Month with Rare and Historic Books that Include Your Favorite Leafy Greens

A Smithsonian librarian journeys through history and time on a quest to explore salads throughout antiquity

The scope of Dyar's tunnel networks, first discovered in 1917 against the chaotic backdrop of World War I, didn't truly sink in until 1924, when the weight of a truck in Dupont Circle caused one to collapse.

The Bizarre Tale of the Tunnels, Trysts and Taxa of a Smithsonian Entomologist

A new book details the sensational exploits of Harrison G. Dyar, Jr., a scientist who had two wives and liked to dig tunnels

Voskehat, “the queen of Armenian grapes”

Armenia

History in a Glass: (Re)discovering Armenian Wine

With more than six thousand-year-old history of viniculture, Armenian wines are gaining popularity

The Keukenhof Floral Park in Lisse, The Netherlands.

Where to See Thousands and Thousands of Tulips

From the Netherlands to Kashmir, get lost in tulip mania

Archaeologists look for pieces of metal in their search for the remains of a massacre of Native Americans in 1863 in Idaho.

The Search Is On for the Site of the Worst Indian Massacre in U.S. History

At least 250 Shoshone were killed by the Army in the 1863 incident, but their remains have yet to be found

Page 182 of 300