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The Wright Flyer is among the iconic artifacts held at the Smithsonian. When visitors come to see it, they tend to fall silent, says curator Peter Jakab. “People often recognize that they’re standing in front of something special.”

A New Look for the National Air and Space Museum

How the Wright Brothers Took Flight

The remarkable story of how the duo grew to become world-changing inventors and international celebrities

Magic was just another tool in a medieval animal healer's toolbox.

The Veterinary Magic of the Middle Ages

Medieval healers treated animals’ ailments with a mix of faith, tradition and science

Pro-choice protesters in 1972

Women Who Shaped History

The Underground Abortion Network That Inspired ‘Call Jane’

A new film offers a fictionalized look at the Janes, activists who provided illegal abortions in Chicago before Roe v. Wade

Frances F. Denny (b. 1984). Shine, (New York, New York), 2017, from Major Arcana: Portraits of Witches in America series. Archival pigment print.

What Does It Mean to Be a Witch Today?

A new exhibition on the Salem witch trials explores how the meaning of the word “witch” has evolved through the centuries

Blue jeans gained popularity in the late 19th-century American West due to their durability.

Cache of 19th-Century Blue Jeans Discovered in Abandoned Arizona Mineshaft

The seven pairs of pants open a portal into life in the Castle Dome mining district

"Sidedoor" host Lizzie Peabody creaks across museum attic floorboards and sneaks into an old house in the woods (above: What lurks inside the Sellman House at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center?) to investigate the spooky stories that only a few dare to tell.

The Ghosts Who Haunt the Smithsonian

Mysterious tales head up podcast offerings for late October and November

T.H. Matteson, Examination of a Witch, 1853

A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials

One town’s strange journey from paranoia to pardon

Put together, recent research on Tutankhamun—from new interpretations of X-rays and CT scans to studies of his footwear and mortuary temple—presents quite a different portrait from what is frequently seen in popular media.

Reimagining Tutankhamun as a Warrior

Recent research contradicts the image of the Egyptian boy-king as a frail, sickly pharaoh

Emmett Lewis' ancestor Cudjo Lewis was one of the last survivors of the Clotilda.

These Descendants Never Forgot the Story of the Last American Slave Ship

A new Netflix documentary follows the families of the “Clotilda” captives as they grapple with how their past informs their future

The Misses Porter (as they were sometimes called) arguably created the modern historical novel, weaving fascinating, romantic tales out of facts and events culled from history books.

The Forgotten Sisters Who Pioneered the Historical Novel

Jane and Anna Maria Porter ruled Britain’s literary scene—until male imitators wrote them out of the story

A stained-glass window depicting Empress Matilda's voyage from England to Normandy

Based on a True Story

The Medieval Power Struggle That Inspired HBO’s ‘House of the Dragon’

The “Game of Thrones” spinoff takes its cue from the Anarchy, a civil war that saw Empress Matilda and Stephen of Blois vying for the English crown

Divers examine an iron anchor believed to come from the British antislavery patrol ship H.M.S. Nimble, which ran afoul of the Florida Keys' sharp reefs in 1827 while chasing the illegal Spanish slaver the Guerrero.

What a Spanish Shipwreck Reveals About the Final Years of the Slave Trade

Forty-one of the 561 enslaved Africans on board the “Guerrero” died when the illegal slave ship sank off the Florida Keys in 1827

“Ulitsa Sezam” sought to teach young viewers the skills they would need to thrive in a nascent market economy, with Muppets serving as fluffy mascots of democratic values.

When the Muppets Moved to Moscow

A new book details the tangled tale of “Ulitsa Sezam,” a “Sesame Street” spinoff that aired until visions of Russia’s democratic future faltered

The Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia, the only part of the spacecraft from the first moon-landing expedition to return to Earth, is on view with the space suit that Neil Armstrong wore when he walked on the moon in July 1969.

A New Look for the National Air and Space Museum

The Incredible Technology That Made Humanity’s Moon Dreams a Reality

A new, completely reimagined exhibition goes beyond the Cold War narrative to explore the full story of lunar landings

Jalyn Hall (left) as Emmett Till and Danielle Deadwyler (right) as Mamie Till-Mobley in Till, a new movie directed by Chinonye Chukwu

Women Who Shaped History

How Emmett Till’s Mother Galvanized the Civil Rights Movement

A new film dramatizes the life of Mamie Till-Mobley, who forced America to confront the brutality of her son’s 1955 murder

Smithsonian officials announce the transfer of ownership of 29 works of art to Nigeria; 20 will be returned (above: Bell, Benin kingdom court style, Edo artist,18th century), while nine will remain on loan.

The Smithsonian Returns a Trove of Benin Bronzes to Nigeria

The transfer of ownership of 29 artworks is the first to be carried out under a new policy and practice

From Henry VII’s usurpation of the throne in 1485 to the death of Elizabeth in 1603, Tudor monarchs relied on paintings, sculptures, tapestries and other art forms to legitimize their nascent dynasty.

Why Art Was Such a Powerful Tool for England’s Tudor Monarchs

An exhibition at the Met features 100-plus paintings, sculptures, decorative works and objects that testify to the splendor of 16th-century English court

At the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Vivekananda presented a paternal, all-inclusive vision of India that made America seem young and provincial.

The Indian Guru Who Brought Eastern Spirituality to the West

A new biography explores the life of Vivekananda, a Hindu ascetic who promoted a more inclusive vision of religion

Among the eight exhibitions opening October 14, 2022, is "The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age," featuring the museum's iconic 1903 Wright Flyer.

A New Look for the National Air and Space Museum

A New Look for the National Air and Space Museum

Follow the October reopening of America’s most-visited museum with exclusive coverage from Smithsonian magazine

Six years after Wilbur and Orville Wright invented the first airplane in 1903, the Army purchased the Wright Military Flyer for $30,000.

After the Wright Brothers Took Flight, They Built the World’s First Military Airplane

The 1909 Military Flyer is the centerpiece of the “Early Flight” exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum

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