Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Travel

In the early days of the Civil Rights Movements, students took a stand by sitting down.

Trending Today

New Nashville Restaurant Recreates Civil Rights Sit-In Site

The lunch counter where John Lewis and others were arrested will now be part of a soul food eatery and music venue

Chris Bertish at his finishing line in Antigua

Trending Today

Man Crosses the Atlantic On a Stand-Up Paddleboard

South African surfer Chris Bertish spent 93 days paddling 4,050 miles between Morocco and Antigua

A boy rides his bike by the recently discovered statue that may be of Pharaoh Ramses II, one of the Egypt's most famous ancient rulers.

Huge Statue of Egyptian Pharaoh Discovered in Cairo

It may be a likeness of Ramses II, ancient Egypt’s most powerful ruler

Daylight saving time, which has a history dating back to Benjamin Franklin, starts this Sunday.

During (and After) WWII, Some States Had Year-Round Daylight Saving Time

A 1963 ‘Time Magazine’ article called it “a chaos of time”

The Azure Window in better days, 2009

Trending Today

Malta’s Iconic Azure Window Crumbles Into the Sea

The limestone arch on the island of Gozo was expected to stand several more decades, but a vicious storm Wednesday took out the natural wonder

Mildred and Richard Loving, subjects of the documentary The Loving Story and the feature-film Loving. Their story will be a topic of discussion at the History Film Forum.

Trending Today

History Film Forum Hashes Out Truth and Myth in Hollywood

The four-day Forum looks into time travel, black America, Poe and other depictions of history in the media

California’s Bunny Museum Hops to a New Home

The previous location could not contain the museum’s 33,000 “artifacts”

This Berlin man will soon have access to 13 bike superhighways.

Cool Finds

Germans Invented the Autobahn. Now They’re Building a Superhighway for Bikes

A cyclist’s dream will soon be reality in Berlin

A portrait of Fanny Mendelssohn, by her husband Wilhelm Hensel.

Sonata by Fanny Mendelssohn, Mistakenly Attributed to Her Brother, Premieres Under Her Name

The Royal College of London performed the Easter Sonata in honor of International Women’s Day

The beach at Naples, Florida.

Is This the Happiest Place in America?

For the second time in a row, Gallup-Healthways ranked this Florida city first for overall well-being

Trending Today

What Killed More Than Half a Dozen of the Bahamas’ Swimming Pigs?

Drought and sand-tainted snacks might be the reason for the recent deaths

The Nights of Zayandeh-Rood

Censored Iranian Film Gets First Public Release, 27 Years After Its Debut

A mysterious plan to steal The Nights of Zayandeh-rood from government archives helped bring the film to a London theater

What did J.P. Morgan's library smell like in 1906?

Cool Finds

Nosy Researchers Are Sniffing a Vintage Library

It’s all an effort to recreate an olfactory landscape of yore

Amsterdam's Central Station will again take center stage when the city widens some of its canals.

Trending Today

Amsterdam Is Widening Some of Its Canals

Soon, the city’s iconic Central Station will look more like its old self

Cool Finds

Five-Year Photo Project Captures the Sistine Chapel in High-Res Detail

Released in a new set of books, the 1:1 photos will be used by restorers to restore and assess damage to Michaelangelo’s masterpieces

Trending Today

George W. Bush Displays Portraits of Military Veterans

The former president honors 66 members of the armed services in the show “Portraits of Courage,” which just opened at the George W. Bush Center

The replica club will be open through the end of the month.

Cool Finds

This Short-Lived 1930s Speakeasy Was a Sanctuary for Gay Londoners

And now you can visit a recreation

Over 400 men, women and children were sold on this day in 1859. It was the largest single sale of enslaved people in U.S. history but is barely talked about today.

The Horrors of the ‘Great Slave Auction’

The largest sale of enslaved people ever to take place in the U.S. tore families apart

Composite shot of Tidal Basin-area cherry blossoms in 2014.

Peak Bloom for This Year’s Cherry Blossoms May Be Earliest On Record

The National Parks Service has predicted when everyone’s favorite trees will reach peak bloom

Page 76 of 118