Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

At the Smithsonian

Artist Todd McGrain's sculptures of five extinct North American birds are now on display in Smithsonian gardens.

Art Meets Science

Bronze Sculptures of Five Extinct Birds Land in Smithsonian Gardens

Artist Todd McGrain memorializes species long-vanished, due to human impact on their habitats, in his “Lost Bird Project”

Felix Baumgartner's full-pressure suit and helmet were designed to provide protection from extreme temperatures and served as the sky diver's only protection until he reached the lower atmosphere.

Felix Baumgartner’s Spacesuit From His Death-Defying Stratospheric Jump Joins the Smithsonian Collections

The pressurized suit, parachute and the balloon gondola that allowed Baumgartner to break records goes on view at the Air and Space Museum

Duke Ellington and band members playing baseball in front of their segregated motel ("Astor Motel") while touring in Florida.

Rare Footage of Duke Ellington Highlights When Jazz and Baseball Were in Perfect Harmony

The Smithsonian’s curator of American music explains how the history of two great American innovations—Jazz and baseball—are intertwined

The Seldom Scene's album, "Long Time. . . Seldom Scene," the band's first recording since 2007, features a mix of classic fan favorites, a litany of guest stars and one brand-new song.

Seldom Scene, Often Heard: A Bluegrass Band Returns to its Roots With a New Album

The current members of the legendary Washington, D.C.-based bluegrass band celebrate four decades of making music

New to the collections: John Coltrane's 1965 Mark VI tenor saxophone

A Sax Supreme: John Coltrane’s Legendary Instrument Joins the Collections of the American History Museum

Ravi Coltrane, son of jazz musicians John and Alice Coltrane, donates one of his father’s three saxophones

John Coltrane (left) “took it further than any [other] tenor saxophone player,” says photographer Chuck Stewart.

New Photos of John Coltrane Rediscovered 50 Years After They Were Shot

During the recording of A Love Supreme in 1964, Chuck Stewart caught the jazz legend in his element

Zoo Keepers Are Hand-Rearing A Tiny Sloth Bear Cub

After her mother consumed two other cubs, staff took the unprecedented step of raising her themselves

From the National Air and Space Museum / Udvar-Hazy Center.

The Story of NASA’s Jet-Propulsion Backpack

Thirty years ago, astronauts set out on the first untethered space odyssey

Is the Giant Squid Near Extinction and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

This 1943 large letter postcard is now a collector's item.

Smithsonian Secretary Clough on His Hometown

Post retirement, he will be spending more time in Douglas, Georgia

An illustration of the large, feathered Anzu wyliei depicts several striking anatomical features—its long tail, feathered arms, toothless beak and a tall crest on the top of its skull.

Scientists Discover a Large and Feathered Dinosaur that Once Roamed North America

The ‘Anzu wyliei’ species looks like a cross between a chicken and a lizard

Redpath lectures lasted well into the 20th-century (above, 1913), but when James Redpath started them in the late 1860s, he sought out speakers who could electrify an audience.

Before SXSW and Ted, A Manic Visionary Revolutionized the American Lecture Circuit

Meet James Redpath, the man who coached national celebrities on how to bring a crowd to its feet

An artist's rendering of the Big Bang.

New Research

A New Cosmic Discovery Could Be The Closest We’ve Come to the Beginning of Time

Scientists detect the signature of gravitational waves generated in the first moments of the Big Bang

Artwork Culled From the Collections Proves That No One Will Ever Be As Fashionable As the French

This collection of early 20th-century fashion plates reveal how women used their wardrobe for empowerment

Chigusa, a tea jar, festooned with a traditional cover and ornamental cords.

Steeped in Admiration: Tracing a Ceramic Tea Jar’s Journey From Factory to Fame

“Chigusa and the Art of Tea” at the Sackler Gallery explores how a humble vessel became a revered object among Japanese tea men.

Still from Santiago Sierra and Jorge Galindo’s "Los Encargados [Those in Charge]," 2012.

Upending Those in Charge

How two artists staged a motorcade in Madrid, touting portraits of upside down politicians to question those in power—in Spain and across the globe.

Dr. David J. Skorton, president of Cornell University, is named as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

David J. Skorton is Named the Smithsonian’s 13th Secretary

The president of Cornell University is chosen to head up the Smithsonian’s 19 museums, 9 research organizations and the Zoo

Karita Mattila as Tosca ready to jump to her death in Puccini's perennial favorite that opened the 2009-2010 Met HD Season

Can Museums and Other Institutions Keep up With Digital Culture?

Get with it, or get left behind in the digital dust

Shera nurses her four lion cubs at the Zoo.

National Zoo Celebrates Second African Lion Cub Birth in Three Months

On Sunday, 9-year-old lion Shera became the mother of four new additions to the pride

Demaking, says Ed Fries, is "like haiku" for programmers, an exercise in "enforcing constraints on yourself as a tool for creativity."

Demaking Halo, Remaking Art: ‘Halo 2600’ Developer Discusses the Promise of Video Games

Ed Fries talks with Smithsonian magazine about programming the Atari 2600 and shaping the future of interactive media.

Page 153 of 276