Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

History

None

See All 50 States From the Air

Smithsonian Channel’s popular Aerial America series has filmed its 50th and final state

The legendary home base of blues pioneers.

Where the Blues Was Born

At Dockery Farms, the original bluesmen created a sound that would become legendary

“Table Bay Cape Town,” Table Bay in the 1790’s by Thomas Luny (1759-1837)

Breaking Ground

Smithsonian to Receive Artifacts From Sunken 18th-Century Slave Ship

In 1794, the Portuguese slave ship São José wrecked with 400 slaves aboard; iron ballast and a wooden pulley from that ship will come to Washington, D.C.

A sumptuously appointed room within the Borgia family's castle in Tuscany, now available for everyday people to rent.

Urban Explorations

Want to Sleep Like a King, Queen or Borgia For a Night? Stay in these Historic Airbnbs

Whether it’s the former home of a national icon or an extravagant estate in Europe, the sharing economy offers the chance to go back in time for a night

Tackling the prickly issue of history-malaise.

How Much U.S. History Do Americans Actually Know? Less Than You Think.

We ask David Bruce Smith, founder of the Grateful American Foundation, how we can fix this problem

New Research

Investigating the Case of the Earliest Known Murder Victim

A 430,000-year-old skull discovered in a Spanish cave bears evidence of deliberate, lethal blunt force trauma

Aquascutum, stemming from Latin for "water" and "shield," was a leading trenchcoat manufacturer.

World War I: 100 Years Later

The Classy Rise of the Trench Coat

World War I brought with it a broad array of societal changes, including men’s fashion

A rendering of the USS Nautilus, the world's first atomic submarine. The real Nautilus is now open to the public, docked in Connecticut so that visitors can walk around inside and explore the torpedoes and living quarters.

Urban Explorations

Step Inside a Famous Submarine

Where to visit historic subs this summer—or ride in a modern one

Did This Map Guide Columbus?

Researchers decipher a mystifying 15th-century document

Nude dancer Micheline Bernardini models the first bikini in Paris, France.

How the Summer of Atomic Bomb Testing Turned the Bikini Into a Phenomenon

The scanty suit’s explosive start is intimately tied to the Cold War and the nuclear arms race

More than 3,000 lights adorned Ferris' wheel.

The Brief History of the Ferris Wheel

Originally the American answer to the Eiffel Tower, the summertime amusement became a hallmark of summer fun

Why We’d Be Better Off if Napoleon Never Lost at Waterloo

On the bicentennial of the most famous battle in world history, a distinguished historian looks at what could have been

Inside the Daily Lives of Iraq’s Kurds

America’s most important ally in the battle against ISIS is closer than ever to fulfilling their hope of founding a new nation

Just a mile down one of the park’s most popular and accessible trails, hikers reap views of Dream Lake.

When Colorado Was (And in Many Ways Still Is) the Switzerland of America

A hundred years ago, city slickers looking for wild times in Rocky Mountain National Park invented a new kind of American vacation

Still from Coca-Cola advertisement

American History Museum Scholar on the History of the “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” Advertisement

The commercial that closed out the series finale of “Mad Men,” explained

Swedish designer Sighten Harrgard and his fiancee model a unisex belted jacket and scarf with wide-legged double-knit trousers—March 1969.

How His’n’Her Ponchos Became A Thing: A History Of Unisex Fashion

“Unisex” was rarely used before the fashion trend hit it big in the late 1960s

A display of Jim Beam bourbons at a Kentucky distillery.

What Makes Bourbon Uniquely American?

A new book examines everything that makes the spirit special to the United States

The first pair of experimental nylon stockings made by Union Hosiery Company for Du Pont in 1937 resides in the Smithsonian collections.

How Nylon Stockings Changed the World

The quest to replace natural silk led to the very first fully synthetic fiber and revolutionized the products we depend on

What the new National Museum of African American History and Culture will look like when it opens.

Breaking Ground

New Exhibition Highlights the Monumental Milestones of African American History

Artifacts reveal the vibrant stories of everyday people, while also adding nuance to the landmark events taught in history classes

Page 199 of 300