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At the Smithsonian

Edgar Degas' Study in the Nude of Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (Nude Little Dancer), c. 1878-1881 is the subject of a new show at the Kennedy Center starring Tiler Peck.

The True Story of the Little Ballerina Who Influenced Degas’ “Little Dancer”

The artist’s famous sculpture is both on view and the subject of a new theatrical performance

Ten-year-old Noah Cordle visited the National Museum of Natural History on November 3 to donate a Clovis point he found in New Jersey. He and his parents (right) met with the museum's Dennis Stanford (left).

This Fifth Grader Found a 14,000-Year-Old Clovis Point, Likely Unearthed From Hurricane Sandy

Noah Cordle was boogie boarding in New Jersey when he came upon an ancient hunting tool

Wide Awake Republican political club from 1860, comprised of young men who dressed in uniforms and marched at night by torchlight for Lincoln.

Whigs Swigged Cider and Other Voter Indicators of the Past

Throughout most of American history, what someone wore indicated their political affiliations as loudly as a Prius or a Hummer might today

The installation, "A Room of Her Own: An Altar for My Mother," is on view through January 2015.

Halloween

An Awe-Inspiring Altar Remembers One Latino Artist’s Guiding Spirit

At the American History Museum, an installation reimagines the life story of a Latina artist and writer

The Innovative Spirit - OLD

The Smithsonian Celebrates American Invention at This Weekend’s Innovation Festival

How do you bring an idea to life? The inventors of new technologies will share their stories at a two-day event at the National Air and Space Museum

Bubbles from the divers' breathing aparatus collect on the belly of the ship.

Bermuda

What’s So Important About the Bottom of a Cargo Ship? A Smithsonian Dive Team Explains

Smithsonian photographer Laurie Penland details the exhausting, but rewarding, work of scraping invasive species off the hull of a boat

Illustration found in Die Totentänze (Stammler,1922)

Halloween

This Halloween, Spend a Ghoulish Night (or Day) at the Smithsonian

Whether actual or virtual, D.C. or NYC, there’s plenty of scary stuff to go around at the Institution

The trope of the beautiful witch was popular between 1905 and 1915.

Halloween

Women of the Early 1900s Rallied Behind Beautiful, Wartless Witches

Women looking to work, vote and marry whomever they wanted turned the Halloween icon into a powerful symbol

Nicole MacCorkle, a giant panda keeper at Smithsonian's National Zoo, says the animals have taught her about parenting.

What Giant Pandas Taught Me About Parenting

When animal keeper Nicole MacCorkle became a parent, she looked to Bao Bao’s mother for inspiration

Located on the Rhode River of the Chesapeake bay, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center's new laboratory building emits 37 percent less CO2 and cuts energy costs by 42 percent.

A New Environmental Science Lab Now Walks the Walk, Cutting Its Overall Emissions by 37 Percent

With geothermal heating, on-site water reclamation and a host of other energy saving technologies, the Smithsonian’s first LEED-Platinum building opens

Geese lift off a lake in front of a sun pillar at Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge near Mound City, Missouri.

American South

The Best Places in America to See Fall Bird Migrations

All across the country, birds are making the trek south for the winter—here are some of the best places to witness their journey

Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta, photographed here in Paris in 1993, died on October 20, 2014.

Oscar de la Renta, Star of the Smithsonian’s Costume Collection

The late de la Renta designed haute couture and ready-to-wear. A decade ago, he donated items to the Smithsonian

California-based artist emiko oye has been making jewelry out of LEGO products since 2006. Her work will be featured at the Smithsonian Craft2Wear show.

Lego Jewelry Transforms the Childhood Toy to High Fashion Art

Artist emiko oye turns colorful children’s blocks into items that are ready to wear, not play

America's answer to Lawrence of Arabia, Wendell Phillips explored the east and uncovered ancient treasures. An exhibition at the Sackler Gallery looks at his life and work.

Unearthing America’s Lawrence of Arabia, Wendell Phillips

Phillips uncovered millennia-old treasures beneath Arabian sand, got rich from oil and died relatively unknown

James Castle, Untitled, n.d., found paper, soot.

A World Of His Own: The Art of James Castle

Born profoundly deaf, the self-taught artist’s body of work depicts his unique relationship to the world around him

Estes has been painting scenes of cities and nature for half a century.

Richard Estes’ Incredibly Realistic Paintings Require a Double Take

Like stage sets, there seem to be a million stories embedded in the works of Richard Estes, icon of photorealism

Why Is Colonel Pronounced With an R? And More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

It took scientists 150 years to finally complete the fossil of Basilosaurus, an early whale. But even then, no one could agree on a name: it was first called Basilosaurus, or "king lizard," then later Hydrarchos, or "giant sea serpent." Its bones were seen as having been part of a long-extinct flightless giant bird. Today the complete fossil that we know to be the intermediary between older land mammals and modern limbless whales is hanging in the Ocean Hall in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

A History of Life In 10 Fossils

From their new book A History of Life in 100 Fossils, Paul Taylor and Aaron O’Dea share the story of 10 incredible fossils

Joan Baez by Russell Hoban, 1962

When It Comes To the Baby Boomers, It Is Still All About “Me”

Millennials have got nothing over the Me Generation, says cultural historian Amy Henderson after touring two new shows on Boomers and the ‘60s

John Kress takes the stage at the Smithsonian symposium "Living in the Anthropocene".

Anthropocene

From Pandemics to Pandas, Get the Scoop on Hot Topics Discussed at the Smithsonian’s Anthropocene Event

At the National Museum of Natural History, leading minds met to discuss the impact of climate change on, well, everything

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