Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

Mike Van Eaton of Van Eaton Galleries, posing with Disney's early map of Disneyland

Walt Disney’s Original Map of Disneyland Is Headed to Auction

Disney created the map with the artist Herb Ryman while trying to secure funds for his theme park

Trending Today

The MP3 Format is Music History’s Latest Casualty

The Institute that licenses MP3 tech recently stopped, but the format that began the digital music era may live on indefinitely

Fanny Cornforth posted for "Lady Lilith" and other influential Pre-Raphaelite paintings.

Cool Finds

Newly Digitized Archives Reveal the Inner Lives of Artists

The Delaware Art Museum just put 500 rare documents online

Chinese Tomb Murals Paint Colorful Picture of 1000-Year-Old Fashions

Racks of vibrant clothing and tables laden with fineries are depicted on the walls of the Liao Dynasty tomb

Chocolate chips as we know and love them today.

The First “Chocolate Chip” Was a Molasses Candy

The name “chocolate chip” goes back much farther than the Toll House cookies

Aquarell 6 by Wassily Kandinsky

Download 200 Free Art Books, Courtesy of the Guggenheim

Titles devoted to Picasso, Rothko, Lichtenstein, Klimt and more are now available for your reading pleasure

Jessica Dawson regularly takes her pup Rocky along to explore New York Art galleries, as shown here at Lost Objects by Allan McCollum at the Mary Boone Gallery.

Cool Finds

An Upcoming Art Exhibition Caters to Canine Critics

Touching (and licking and sniffing) the art is allowed

J. K. Rowling in 2010

Handwritten ‘Harry Potter’ Prequel Stolen

Police and J.K. Rowling have urged fans not to buy the magical manuscript

Wanted: modern takes on a classic group of plays.

Cool Finds

Battle the Bard in Shakespeare Remix Competition

$25,000 is on the line—along with some serious bragging rights

Today, apples are one of the most valuable fruit crops in the United States, according to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center.

Apple Pie Is Not All That American

Neither apples nor the pie originally came from America, but Americans have made this dish their own

The Klencke Atlas

Cool Finds

Massive Royal Atlas Gets Digitized

The magnificent Klencke Atlas is now available online courtesy of the British Library

Sidney Bechet, one of the early jazz greats, made his name on the clarinet, not the cornet or trumpet.

Listen to This First 1920s Recording By One of the Kings of Jazz

Sidney Bechet was one of the first big jazz soloists, and brought the soprano saxophone into the jazz fold

Learn why fudge like this is sold at every tourist attraction in the country

Why Does Every Tourist Attraction Sell Fudge?

One thing that places as different as Niagara Falls, Disneyland and Ellis Island have in common? Fudge

During World War II, the Associated Press brokered a photo exchange deal with the Third Reich.

Trending Today

American Journalists Used Nazi-Provided Photos During World War II

A new report reveals more details about the Associated Press’ secret deal with the Third Reich

Ornate Tiara, Once Worn by a Grand Duchess, Stolen From German Museum

The headpiece is adorned with 367 diamonds and has been valued at $1.31 million

Irving Berlin and Ellin Mackay Berlin.

Songwriter Irving Berlin’s Interfaith Marriage Caused 1920s Gossip

The songwriter made headlines when he and writer Ellin Mackay got married against her millionaire father’s wishes

Savannah, Georgia during the Civil War. The southern landscape is often a key element of southern gothic fiction.

Why People Love Southern Gothic

From the 19th century to S-Town, it’s a compelling genre that’s as flawed as its most grotesque characters

Botanists might see fruit, but to a tariff collector, there's nothing but vegetables here.

Tomatoes Have Legally Been Vegetables Since 1893

Okay, so it’s technically a fruit. But we don’t eat it like one

Is this violin the best in all the land? A new study says no.

New Research

Study Challenges the Supremacy of Stradivarius Violins

A French researcher set out to solve a long-standing fiddle riddle: do these infamous violins project sound better than new ones?

Ukraine's Jamala (right) at the press conference after she won Eurovision 2016 with "1944."

The Eurovision Song Contest Rocks Europe This Week. Here’s How It All Got Started

It was the idea of the European Broadcasting Union, who wanted to put the relatively new technology of television through its paces

Page 196 of 286