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At the Smithsonian / From the Collections

Conjunto masters Flaco Jiménez and Max Baca team up for an album of duets, "Legends & Legacies," out this month from Smithsonian Folkways

LISTEN: Five-Time Grammy Winner Flaco Jiménez Returns to his Tex-Mex Roots

Virtuoso 12-string bajo sexto player Max Baca talks about his long-time partner Flaco Jiménez

The JFK Christmas Card That Was Never Sent

A rare White House card from 1963 evokes one of the nation’s darkest holiday seasons

Bao Bao at 10 weeks. Scientists estimate that a giant panda ancestor split from the bear lineage 18 million years ago.

Get Up Close and Personal with Bao Bao in Amazing New Photos

Take an exclusive backstage tour of the National Zoo and meet Bao Bao, the newest giant panda star

What Did the FAO Schwarz Catalog Look Like in 1911?

Old photos from an FAO Schwarz 1911 catalog provide a glimpse at past holiday toys

"Cloud Music" scans the skies about the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Lincoln Gallery and turns the clouds (and occasional flock of birds) into sound.

If Clouds Could Make Music, What Would it Sound Like?

How an engineer, video analyst and musician created a pioneering artwork that makes music from the sky

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LISTEN: Smithsonian Folkways Re-releases Anthology of Indian Classical Music

This Mick Jagger-approved album includes Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan’s first recordings released in the West

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Listen to Classic Holiday Music From Around the World

Go around the world this holiday with Smithsonian Folkways—no reindeer or sleigh required

Music Great Carlos Santana signs a condolence book for Nelson Mandela on Dec. 6 at the National Museum of African Art.

Join Carlos Santana, Thousands of Others in Remembering Nelson Mandela at African Art

Visitors to Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art can sign a condolence book in honor of Mandela

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Smithsonian Holiday Festival: Movies, Music, Shopping and More

From the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

There’s a 1,200-year-old Phone in the Smithsonian Collections

One of the earliest examples of ingenuity in the Western Hemisphere is composed of gourds and twine

This menorah made by Manfred Anson (1922-2012), an immigrant to the United States celebrates American and Jewish traditions.

This One-of-a-Kind Menorah Represents the True Spirit of Thanksgivukkah

A Hanukkah tradition melds with an icon of Americana

This train car, used for much of the early 20th-century as a segregated passenger car through the southern United States, will be installed Sunday on the National Mall—the first artifact for the future National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Installing an Artifact in a Museum That Hasn’t Even Been Built Yet

This weekend, two objects are being installed in the National Museum of African American History and Culture—more than a year before it’s set to open

A microscope used in the development of Humulin, the first commercial product created via genetic modification. It was recently donated to the American History Museum.

A History of Biotechnology in Seven Objects

Newly donated items at the American History Museum tell the story of the birth of genetic engineering

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The Spirit of St. Louis’ Amazing Journey

A daring flight shrank the world and created the first global celebrity

NPR’s Andy Carvin has donated the iPhone he used during the Arab Spring to the American History Museum.

The Phone That Helped Andy Carvin Report the Arab Spring is Now in the Smithsonian

The NPR reporter talks about how he was able to factcheck tweets amid the rush of information in 2011

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You Can, You Will, You MUST See This Poster at American History (as soon as it reopens)

The museum presents one of the war’s most popular billboard designs in a new installation

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The Civil War

How the Flag Came to be Called Old Glory

New research may settle a family feud over the origins of an American icon

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Bearing Witness to the Aftermath of the Birmingham Church Bombing

On September 15, 1963, four were killed in the Ku Klux Klan bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama

Shoes worn by Maria Cecilia Benavente on September 11, 2001

Remembering 9/11: Maria Cecilia Benavente’s Sandals

Maria Cecilia Benavente escaped Tower Two barefoot; in shock, she held onto her sandals

Planet of the apps: The Cooper-Hewitt will release the code behind Planetary, enabling everyone to adapt the software.

How Does a Museum Acquire an iPad App for its Collections?

The Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum is making its first foray into design that you can’t actually see

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