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History

Suffragettes form a part of Emily Davison's funeral procession through London. She was a fellow campaigner who was trampled to death when, as a protest gesture, she tried to catch the reins of King George V's horse as it ran in the 1913 Epsom Derby.

Women Who Shaped History

The True History of Suffragette

Emily Wilding Davison was a tireless and ingenious activist for the cause of women’s suffrage in Britain

Pollutants hang in the air at a coke plant in Pennsylvania. This plant was photographed in 1973, but humans have been polluting their air for many years before that.

Age of Humans

Air Pollution Goes Back Way Further Than You Think

Thousands of years ago, humans were adding lead fumes and other pollutants to the air

Knee bending machine from Dr. G. Zander’s medico-mechanische Gymnastik by Alfred Levertin (Stockholm: 1892).

Dr. Gustav Zander’s Victorian-Era Exercise Machines Made the Bowflex Look Like Child’s Play

A Smithsonian librarian highlights the precursor to today’s gym enthusiasts

Glacier National Park is located in Montana and is part of the National Park Service, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.

Visit These Ten Sites Celebrating Major Anniversaries in 2016

From Winnie the Pooh’s 90th birthday to the National Park Service’s centennial, you won’t want to miss out on these once-in-a-lifetime events

A researcher examines the mummified hand of Ötzi the Iceman.

New Research

The Iceman’s Stomach Bugs Offer Clues to Ancient Human Migration

DNA analysis of the mummy’s pathogens may reveal when and how Ötzi’s people came to the Italian Alps

Austin Reed learned to write as a juvenile prisoner. His handwritten manuscript runs 304 pages.

The Earliest Memoir by a Black Inmate Reveals the Long Legacy of Mass Incarceration

The story of “Rob Reed” is finally published, 150 years after his release

Lorcan Ortway turned his lifelong obsession with organized crime into a museum in New York.

This Mobster Museum Was Once One of New York City’s Most Notorious Speakeasies

See shell casings from Bonnie and Clyde’s final shoot out and John Dillinger’s death mask in the Museum of the American Gangster’s unusual collection

Brown bears in Alaska’s Katmai

Why Robert Redford Loves America’s National Parks

The famed actor and director celebrates the great outdoors of the United States in a new documentary

Dr. Maxime Aubert, archeologist and geochemist, uses his headlamp to examine the cave art at Leang Lompoa in Maros, Indonesia.

A Journey to the Oldest Cave Paintings in the World

The discovery in a remote part of Indonesia has scholars rethinking the origins of art—and of humanity

In 1938, Hans Asperger, a pediatrician at the University of Vienna, described numerous children he observed as “autistic.”

The Early History of Autism in America

A surprising new historical analysis suggests that a pioneering doctor was examining people with autism before the Civil War

Flying Fortresses of the 303rd bomber group (Hell’s Angels) drop a heavy load on industrial targets in Germany.

There Are Still Thousands of Tons of Unexploded Bombs in Germany, Left Over From World War II

More than 70 years after being dropped in Europe, the ordnance is still inflicting harm and mayhem

“I just wrote my best song,” Paul Simon told Art Garfunkel.

How “The Sound of Silence” Became a Surprise Hit

The Simon and Garfunkel song catapulted the duo to stardom

Illustration of the slave revolt in Haiti, and what slaveholders in the United States feared.

History of Now

The History of the United States’ First Refugee Crisis

Fleeing the Haitian revolution, whites and free blacks were viewed with suspicion by American slaveholders, including Thomas Jefferson

Zodiac woodcut

How Are Horoscopes Still a Thing?

No, there’s no science behind an astrologer’s prediction for 2016, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be accurate

Everybody Loves Lists

Our Top Ten Videos of 2015

From Hitler’s home videos to the suffocating upbringing of an American princess, here are the most-watched videos on Smithsonian.com this year

The Verreaux's sifaka is one of the unique mammals found only on Madagascar.

Tiny Fossils Reveal the Rise of Mammals on Madagascar

Recent finds are helping paleontologists piece together what happened after dinosaurs vanished from the island

A gondolier navigates the Venetian Lagoon, a shallow, 210-square-mile bay fed by the Adriatic Sea, at sunset.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The Enduring Mystique of the Venetian Lagoon

Among islands barely emerging from the water, you find yourself in an ageless world

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