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History

The Evidence Room represents thousands of pages of testimony that was assembled by Robert Jan van Pelt, an architectural historian and the main expert witness in a British lawsuit brought by a Holocaust denier.

Using Art to Talk About the Holocaust in ‘The Evidence Room’

Museum staff discuss the reception of a difficult work that showed the vivid and painful documentation of a Nazi death camp

“We call ourselves the Great Convener,” says the new Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III, “but really we’re a Great Legitimizer. And I want the Smithsonian to legitimize important issues."

Lonnie Bunch Sizes Up His Past and Future at the Smithsonian

Bunch’s new memoir details the tireless work it took to build NMAAHC and offers insights into his priorities as Smithsonian Secretary

Illustration by Be Boggs

How the ‘Blonde Rattlesnake’ Stirred Public Fascination With Female Accomplices

In 1933, Burmah White was punished harshly—and amidst a media frenzy—after she and her husband committed a spree of crimes in Los Angeles

Soldiers take a psychological test (the exact type of examination is unclear) in Camp Lee in Virginia in November 1917, the year the United States entered World War I and Woodworth first developed his test.

The Future of Mental Health

The First Personality Test Was Developed During World War I

Long before online quizzes and Myers-Briggs, Robert Woodworth’s “Psychoneurotic Inventory” tried to assess recruits’ susceptibility to shell shock

Charlotte Moore Sitterly made huge strides in our understanding of how atoms are structured and what stars, especially our sun, are made of.

Women Who Shaped History

How Charlotte Moore Sitterly Wrote The Encyclopedia of Starlight

The “world’s most honored woman astrophysicist” worked tirelessly for decades to measure the makeup of the sun and the stars

The mostly retired singer-Songwriter Paul Simon told financier and philanthropist David M. Rubenstein that a recent dream has prompted him to work on a new extended piece of music.

Paul Simon Has 50 Ways to Charm an Audience

As the 2019 recipient of the Smithsonian’s Great Americans Medal, the musician divulged he still has one more song to write

This marker now resides beside Highway 64 near the site of where the Roanoke settlement is believed to have sat.

Joachim Gans, the First Practicing Jew to Set Foot in North America, Finally Gets His Due

The metallurgist came to the Roanoke settlement looking for raw materials to support the English war effort

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How Lonnie Bunch Built a Museum Dream Team

An exclusive excerpt from the Smithsonian Secretary’s new book, ‘A Fool’s Errand’

The word "teetotaler" dates back to the temperance movement that preceded Prohibition.

Where Does the Word ‘Teetotaler’ Come From? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions, we’ve got experts

By regulation, British officers wore a red coat. Washington later outfitted his troops in blue regimental coats faced with scarlet.

Secrets of American History

When Young George Washington Started a War

A just-discovered eyewitness account provides startling new evidence about who fired the shot that sparked the French and Indian War

This school year, three new Smithsonian lesson plans on the Inka Empire, Native American treaties and the history of 19th-century Cherokee removal became available to K-12 educators.

Inside a New Effort to Change What Schools Teach About Native American History

A new curriculum from the American Indian Museum brings greater depth and understanding to the long-misinterpreted history of indigenous culture

The type of socialism that took root in Oklahoma was unique—it allowed private farms and invoked evangelical Christianity.

Secrets of American History

When the Socialist Revolution Came to Oklahoma—and Was Crushed

Inside the little-known story of the Green Corn Rebellion, which blazed through the Sooner State a century ago

Margaret Rossiter's research spotlights the women in science whose intellectual contributions have not been given their due.

Women in Science

Women Scientists Were Written Out of History. It’s Margaret Rossiter’s Lifelong Mission to Fix That

The historian has devoted her career to bringing to light the ingenious accomplishments of those who have been forgotten

The late journalist Cokie Roberts recently visited the Smithsonian to discuss some of the presidents' wives in a new podcast "Portraits." If only, she remarked the First Ladies had been painted when they were young and vivacious, before they had gray hair.

Why Cokie Roberts Admired Dolley Madison

The legendary newswoman, who died at 75, appeared on a Smithsonian podcast earlier this summer to speak about a favorite topic, the first ladies

A hurricane in the West Indies. Line engraving, late 16th century.

The Bahamas and the Caribbean Have Withstood Hurricanes for Centuries

Europeans came to the islands unprepared for the destructive storms, even as indigenous people understood their massive power

Illustration by Edward Kinsella III

Secrets of American History

The Mayor and the Mob

William O’Dwyer was beloved by New York City. So why did he abruptly leave office and head to Mexico?

The Randall Park Mall in Ohio, photographed here in 2014, was opened in 1971 and abandoned in 2009. Amazon has built a new distribution center on the site.

The Rise of the Zombie Mall

Hundreds of big retail centers have gone under, but the shop-til-you drop lifestyle isn’t dead yet

The Smithsonian has launched the first national-scale, scholarly research and collecting project to gather and preserve the artifacts, documents and voices associated with the beer industry’s craft revolution (above: label, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company).

Food, Glorious Food

Here’s What’s Brewing in the New Smithsonian Beer Collections

After two years of documenting the nation’s craft brewing industry, curator Theresa McCulla makes ready for a public debut

Rutgers student on move-in day in the early 1960s

How College Dorms Evolved to Fit America’s Gender and Racial Politics

Ever since the 17th century, educators and architects designed university housing with societal mores in mind

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