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At the Smithsonian / From the Collections

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New Video of Mei Xiang’s Squawking Baby Panda

The National Zoo’s newest addition is already keeping mom up at night

Smithsonian Buddha. (Digital image courtesy of the Smithsonian. Text by Vick Gan.)

This Life-Size Sculpture Gives You a Map to the Buddhist Cosmos

Get an up-close look at the Smithsonian’s stunning Buddha

The Zoo reports that the “cub’s heart rate is steady and its belly was full.” Veterinarians report that they “could hear breath sounds from both lungs.”

New Baby: Giant Panda Gives Birth at the National Zoo!

The first cub is healthy and doing well. Mei Xiang gave birth to a second, stillborn cub on Saturday

Eugene Allen, inspiration behind The Butler, poses for a portrait by Roland Freeman.

Hear From the Real Butler of the White House, Eugene Allen

Smithsonian Folkways interviewed the man who inspired the new film starring Forest Whitaker

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Sumatran Tiger Cubs Born at the National Zoo

The Great Cats team at the zoo is celebrating a conservation victory with the birth of two Sumatran tiger cubs

Classic Banjo, out August 6, features tracks by the best American banjo players over the past 60 years.

Finger-pickin’ Good: American Banjo Classics

Co-producer and banjo extraordinaire Greg C. Adams talks about Classic Banjo, a collection of American tunes that show off modern banjo’s diverse roots

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The Evolution of the Spacesuit

The traveling exhibition “Suited for Space” depicts spacesuits through the ages

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Breaking Ground

The “Legacy of Slavery” Comes to the Smithsonian with Angola Prison Guard Tower Donation

Donations from the notorious Louisiana prison highlight a controversial history of incarceration

The Lone Ranger mask from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Is the New Tonto Any Better Than the Old Tonto?

A new film revives The Lone Ranger, but has it eliminated the TV series’ racist undertones

This burned postcard was salvaged from the wreckage of the Hindenburg in 1937.

Celebrating 20 Years of the National Postal Museum

A new gallery opening in September highlights some of the most famous stamps in American history

Three signature NASM space food examples from Neil Armstrong's meal allotments on the Apollo 11 mission.

Unpack a Meal of Astronaut Space Food

Space-age spaghetti and meatballs, along with other tastes of home, gave Apollo astronaut crews a boost

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Slave Cabin Set to Become Centerpiece of New Smithsonian Museum

A slave cabin from a South Carolina plantation is being shipped to the new National Museum of African American History and Culture

This wax-and-cardboard disc from 1885 contains a recording of Bell’s voice.

We Had No Idea What Alexander Graham Bell Sounded Like. Until Now

Smithsonian researchers used optical technology to play back the unplayable records

In late 1938, the revolutionary DC-3 plane departed Newark Airport for Glendale, California.

How the DC-3 Revolutionized Air Travel

Before the legendary aircraft took flight, it took 25 hours to fly from New York to Los Angeles

How Two Women Ended the Deadly Feather Trade

Birds like the snowy egret were on the brink of extinction, all because of their sought-after plumage

The Inkwell used by Lincoln, the Proclamation draft and Lincoln's pen.

How the Emancipation Proclamation Came to Be Signed

The pen, inkwell and one copy of the document that freed the slaves are photographed together for the first time

Move over Hope Diamond! The Dom Pedro obelisk, a Beryl variety aquamarine, is in the house.

World’s Largest Cut Aquamarine Gives the Hope Diamond a Run for its Money

A dazzlingly blue obelisk comes to the Natural History Museum after a long journey from the mines of Brazil to the stone cutting capital of Europe

The Tucker on display at the National Museum of American History.

The Tucker Was the 1940s Car of the Future

Visionary inventor
 Preston Tucker risked everything when he saw his 1948 automobile as a vehicle for change

The first page of Theodore Roosevelt's speech that was damaged when a bullet tore through it.

The Speech That Saved Teddy Roosevelt’s Life

Campaigning for president, Roosevelt was spared almost certain death when 50 pieces of paper slowed an assailant’s bullet headed for his chest

Dr. Lewis Fielding’s File Cabinet.

The World’s Most Famous Filing Cabinet

After Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers, the notorious Plumbers broke into his psychiatrist’s office, looking for a way to discredit him

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