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History

March on Washington, August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial

How the Redesign of U.S. Money Shows the Power of Protest

A Smithsonian curator notes how a heavy dose of social activism prompted the U.S. Treasury to honor historic social and political movements

Bottles of the two triumphant vintages 1973 Chateau Montelena chardonnay and 1973 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars cabernet sauvignon are now held in the Smithsonian collections.

That Revolutionary May Day in 1976 When California Wines Bested France’s Finest

Forty years ago, a Copernican moment took place in viniculture when the world realized the sun didn’t always revolve around French wines

Sponsor: National Portrait Gallery

Which of These Summertime Athletes Should Be Displayed on the Walls of the National Portrait Gallery?

Vote now for your pick!

The history behind America's five-cent coin

A Brief History of the Nickel

In honor of the coin’s 150th anniversary, read up on how the nickel came to be minted

The grand hall of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, Connecticut—the wellspring of some the most distinguished scholarship of our times.

The Scientific Daredevils Who Made Yale’s Peabody Museum a National Treasure

When an award-winning science writer dug into the backstory of this New Haven institute, he found a world of scientific derring-do

Print of Harriet Tubman

Breaking Ground

The Priceless Impact Harriet Tubman Will Have as the Face of the $20 Bill

Curator Nancy Bercaw from the African American History Museum discusses the freedom fighter’s ongoing legacy

Both genius and impresario, Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla reads in his remote Colorado Springs laboratory in 1899 next to a magnifying transmitter that generates millions of volts of electricity. While far too dangerous to sit near—the image is a double exposure—his gigantic Tesla coil created the first human-made lightning.

Nikola Tesla’s Struggle to Remain Relevant

An offbeat Belgrade museum reveals the many mysteries of the prolific, late-19th-century inventor

The slogan “unbought and unbossed” appeared on Chisholm’s campaign posters, one of which resides in the collections of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Breaking Ground

‘Unbought and Unbossed’: When a Black Woman Ran for the White House

The congresswoman tried to win the White House by consolidating the Black vote and the women’s vote, but she ran into trouble

The Slovak Radio Building, an inverted pyramid completed in 1983, has been called “one of the ugliest buildings in the world.” Recording studios at the center are surrounded by outward-facing offices. Its heavy weight and rough texture seem to capture the grim, waning years of Communist Party rule.

Is Bratislava’s Communist-Era Architecture Worth Preserving?

For residents of Slovakia’s capital, Cold War structures recall a painful past

Several of Minnijean Brown-Trickey’s school items, including a notice of suspension and the dress she designed for her high school graduation, are now held in the collections of the National Museum of American History.

Women Who Shaped History

A Member of the Little Rock Nine Discusses Her Struggle to Attend Central High

At 15, Minnijean Brown faced down the Arkansas National Guard, Now Her Story and Personal Items are Archived at the Smithsonian

German beers have been under strict rules for 500 years.

Celebrating 500 Years of German’s Beer Purity Law

Germany’s treasured—and controversial—rule has a fascinating past and an uncertain future

For Those Clutching Pearls Over Buzzfeed: A History of Newspapers Reveals That It’s Always Been This Way

From user-generated content to political screeds, the future of news happens to look a lot like the past

In 1781, Arnold ordered British troops to burn New London, Connecticut.

Why Benedict Arnold Turned Traitor Against the American Revolution

The story behind the most famous betrayal in U.S. history shows the complicated politics of the nation’s earliest days

Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles and Everett Sloane in the offices of Kane’s Inquirer.

Who Really Wrote “Citizen Kane”?

Two new books offer divergent theories on the authorship of the much-heralded film

One of a series of psychedelic concert posters done by artist Wes Wilson between 1966 and 1968 for concert promoter Bill Graham of San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium

How a Psychedelic Concert Poster Rocked the World

C’mon baby light my flier

An Oral History of “Star Trek”

The trail-blazing sci-fi series debuted 50 years ago and has taken countless fans where none had gone before

Levi Woodbury is on the $1 stamp; George M. Bibb, on the $5 stamp. Robert Walker is on the $10 stamp and James Guthrie is on the $50 stamp. George Washington is on the extremely rare $100 stamp.

Before Reefer Madness, High Times and 4/20, There Was the Marijuana Revenue Stamp

Originally designed in the 1930s to restrict access to the drug, these stamps draw a curious crowd to the Postal Museum

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