Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

History

John F. Kennedy addresses the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles after being nominated for President.

The Top 10 Political Conventions That Mattered the Most

As the two parties shift their conventions to be mostly virtual, we look at those conventions that made a difference in the country’s political history

The Metcalfs—Joni, 57, and Derek, 60—married in August 1983 and raised four children. When Derek lost his job with the federal government, they eventually ended up living in the streets. Recently, they found permanent housing.

A Washington, D.C. Couple Shares How the Pandemic Complicates Homelessness

Smithsonian curator James Deutsch speaks with the Metcalfs, who have long lived on the streets

Every so often, people get utterly lost, so lost that they scramble their brains along with their bearings.

Ten Curious Cases of Getting Lost in the Wilderness

Historical accounts of disorientation tell us a lot about how people have navigated relationships and space over time

When Geraldine Ferraro accepted the Democratic party's nomination on July 19, 1984, she became the first woman to be a major party's candidate for vice president.

100 Years of Women at the Ballot Box

How Geraldine Ferraro’s 1984 Campaign Broke the Vice-Presidential Glass Ceiling

The charismatic congresswoman from Queens forged a path for women in American politics

Assateague wild ponies parade through town during the Chincoteague Island Pony Swim in Virginia.

How America Became Obsessed With Horses

A new book explores the meaning the animal holds for people—from cowboys to elite show jumpers—in this country

This month's picks include Caste, Veritas and The Organ Thieves.

Books of the Month

The Forged Gospel of Jesus’s Wife, Hidden Castes and Other New Books to Read

These five August releases may have been lost in the news cycle

Scientists use a California condor specimen from 1835 — part of the Smithsonian’s very first collection of items — to study the critically endangered species. Pictured: a young California condor in Grand Canyon National Park.

Smithsonian Voices

Celebrate the Smithsonian’s 174th Birthday With a Look at Its First Collections

Historic museum specimens help us learn more about what a species once was like and what it could be like in the future

"The lines of this song repay me in elation, almost of exquisite anguish, whenever I hear them sung," wrote James Weldon Johnson in 1935.

Why the Black National Anthem Is Lifting Every Voice to Sing

Scholars agree the song, endowed with its deep history of Black pride, speaks to the universal human condition

To learn more about high school choruses, a team from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings collaborated with the chorus (above) at Oakcrest, an all-girls school in Vienna, Virginia.

How a Choral Director and Her Students Found Joy in the Folkways Archives

Watch this uplifting video giving voice to stalwarts of the American songbook

With a countrified accent, Will Rogers (Above: (detail) by Walter K. Kinstler, c. 1923) attempted to link arms with ordinary Americans, always reminding them of his Native American ancestry. “My ancestors didn’t come over on the Mayflower, but they met the boat,” he said.

Will Rogers Was One of a Kind

The popular raconteur touched Americans with his humor, newspaper columns, movie star power, philanthropy and as political agitator

A man wheels his bicycle through Hiroshima days after an atomic bomb leveled the city.

Nine Harrowing Eyewitness Accounts of the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

More than seventy-five years ago, the atomic blasts killed an estimated 200,000 people

Susie and Paul Sensmeier of Christiansburg, Virginia, got front row seats to the arrival of the first drone-shipped home delivery in the fall of 2019.

This Drone Made the First Home Delivery in the United States

Wing’s tether-toting drone delivered a winter vest to a retiree in Virginia and now its headed to the Air and Space Museum

A typist wearing her influenza mask in 1918 New York.

How the 1918 Pandemic Got Meme-ified in Jokes, Songs and Poems

In newspapers across the country, the public dealt with the heartache of the moment by turning to humor

A letter that tipped off authorities to the illegal conditions of the garment factory begs rescuers to work quickly and not arouse suspicion. “Don’t forget to be careful,” it concludes.

20th-Century Slavery in a California Sweatshop Was Hiding in Plain Sight

The El Monte sweatshop case exposed a web of corruption—and the enslavement of more than 70 Los Angeles-area garment workers

Jill Heinerth, a Canadian cave diver, underwater explorer, writer, photographer and filmmaker, shares stories from her expeditions in a live-streamed event on Aug. 12.

Smithsonian Voices

Exploring Underwater Caves and 22 Other Smithsonian Programs Streaming in August

Exploring Underwater Caves, Battle of Midway, Economics + Harry Potter. Don’t miss out

The League of Women Voters led registration efforts across the country.

100 Years of Women at the Ballot Box

What the First Women Voters Experienced When Registering for the 1920 Election

The process varied by state, with some making accommodations for the new voting bloc and others creating additional obstacles

The B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay was one of a few dozen World War II-era aircraft specially modified for the express purpose of delivering atomic weapons.

Why the Enola Gay, the Plane That Dropped the First Atomic Bomb, Will Always Inspire Debate

The Enola Gay, fully restored and on view at the Smithsonian, left an indelible mark

The 60,000-square-foot museum opens today.

A Champion in Accessible Design, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum Opens in Colorado Springs

The Games may be canceled this year, but you can still get a virtual taste of glory

A scene of the wreckage left behind by a hurricane that swept through the Florida Keys in 1935.

How Hurricanes Have Shaped the Course of U.S. History

A new book examines the 500-year record of devastating storms affecting the nation’s trajectory

Dressed in ceremonial regalia, Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Northern Cheyenne), a veteran of the Korean War, stands with World War II veteran Senator Daniel K. Inouye and Native American veterans of the Vietnam War during the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall. October 21, 2004, Washington, D.C.

Smithsonian Voices

A Native Remembrance on Korean Armistice Day

Some 10,000 Native Americans veterans served during the Korean conflict

Page 81 of 300