History

Close-up of a surgeon's amputation kit

Before Dr. Mutter, Surgery Was a Dangerous and Horrifically Painful Ordeal

The talented doctor changed the way the medical profession operated

Roman Vishniac, [Dancers Emily Frankel and Mark Ryder, Vishniac Portrait Studio, New York], early 1950s.

See Jewish Life Before the Holocaust Through a Newly Released Digital Archive

Roman Vishniac’s extensive work, now open to the public, is ready for some crowd-sourced historical detective work

Warren Harding's affair with Carrie Fulton Phillips carried on for 15 years, up through the time when he served as a U.S. senator.

Document Deep Dive

Warren Harding’s Love Letters Finally Give Us Something to Remember Him For

Locked away for 50 years, the secret correspondence reveals a steamy relationship between the future president and his mistress

A closeup of jars, probably once filled with wine, at Tel Kabri in modern-day Israel.

New Research

Huge Wine Cellar Unearthed at a Biblical-Era Palace in Israel

Residue from jars at a Canaanite palace suggest the ruler preferred his red with hints of mint, honey and juniper

For the first time in more than a decade, bison will roam at the National Zoo.

The Historic Return of the American Bison

A National Zoo exhibition featuring the animal, long tied to Smithsonian history, opens Saturday

The hand-axe, reimagined.

Designers Remake Our Oldest Tool Using Our Newest Tool

More than a million years old, the hand axe is over due for an update

Illustrator Anthony Freda adapted Norman Rockwell's The Runaway to comment on police following this month's events in Ferguson, Missouri.

Rethinking Rockwell in the Time of Ferguson

An illustrator adapted Rockwell’s The Runaway based on images of contemporary police

The Kennewick Man Finally Freed to Share His Secrets

He’s the most important human skeleton ever found in North America—and here, for the first time, is his story

Commemorate the War of 1812 With These Bicentennial Events

Gain new insight into the events of 1814 by attending these reenactments, concerts, walking tours and meals

In 1794, President Washington commissioned a wampum belt for the Canandaigua Treaty

Illuminating the Treaties That Have Governed U.S.-Indian Relationships

These documents were both a cause and a salve for the fraught relations between the United States and Indian Nations

What Lies Beneath Stonehenge?

A new Smithsonian Channel show reveals groundbreaking research that may explain what really went on there

An undated wash drawing depicts the burning of Washington, DC, in August of 1814.

Your Guide to the Three Weeks of 1814 That We Today Call the War of 1812

From the burning of Washington to the siege of Baltimore, what happened in those late summer days?

If there had been Academy Awards in the mid-1920s, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s The Big Parade produced by Irving Thalberg, directed by King Vidor, and starring John Gilbert and Renée Adorée, would have swept the prizes.

World War I: 100 Years Later

The Blockbuster World War I Film that Brought Home the Traumatic Impact of War

The blockbuster silent film <em>The Big Parade</em> is among the first to explore the psychological trauma of war

The creators of "Will & Grace" donated the pilot script and other items from the show to the National Museum of American History.

A Proud Day at American History Museum as LGBT Artifacts Enter the Collections

The creators of "Will & Grace" and others donated objects related to gay history

Lee surrendering to Grant at Appomattox

Which General Was Better? Ulysses S. Grant or Robert E. Lee?

The historic rivalry between the South's polished general and the North's rough and rugged soldier is the subject of a new show at the Portrait Gallery

A page out of the diary of William H. Dall, one of the many documents being transcribed by the Smithsonian Transcription Center's small army of volunteers. At the ripe age of 21, Dall set off in 1865 to explore the Arctic on a Western Union Telegraph Expedition.

The Smithsonian Wants You! (To Help Transcribe Its Collections)

A massive digitization and transcription project calls for volunteers at the Smithsonian

William James Aylward depicted a soldier looking down at the grave of his bunk mate in His Bunkie..

This Riveting Art From the Front Lines of World War I Has Gone Largely Unseen for Decades

During WWI, the War Department sent American artists to Europe. The Smithsonian recently digitized the captivating artwork

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Why Do Secretaries of State Make Such Terrible Presidential Candidates?

Before the Civil War, the cabinet position was considered a stepping stone to the Chief Executive; now, not so much

A 16th-century illustration of imaginary sea monsters from Cosmographia by Sebastian Mustern, based on creatures from Carta Marina by Olaus Magnus.

Shark Week

Sharks Were Once Called Sea Dogs, And Other Little-Known Facts

Centuries-old illustrations of sharks show just how much we've learned about the fish since our first sightings of them

The maze is constructed out of glossy maple plywood.

Washington, D.C.

The Winding History of the Maze

Love the idea of getting lost in crooked pathways? Check out the National Building Museum's summer installation

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