Smithsonian Institution News & Insights

Closing Soon: 1) "Calder's Portraits: A New Language;" 2) "Vantage Point: The Contemporary Native Art Collection;" 3) "Chinamania: Whistler and the Victorian Craze for Blue-and-White;" 4) "Fragments in Time and Space"*

Summer and the city is hot. Refresh and cool down at these exhibits, closing this month

August 2, 2011

Wild Bill Hickok's present-day gravesite in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood, SD

American Wonder Wild Bill Hickok Shot and Killed From Behind on This Day in History

Wild Bill dead of a gunshot wound to the head, see one of his guns at a new exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

August 2, 2011

The award’s design derives from the station identification that MTV used when it debuted in 1981, which included astronaut images overlain with rock music.

Air and Space Museum’s “Moon Man” Celebrates MTV’s 30th Anniversary

Celebrate MTV’s 30th anniversary by looking back at the history of the iconic “Moon Man” statuette, and learn its surprising connection to the Smithsonian

August 1, 2011

The Air and Space Museum’s Ask and Expert Lecture series is at it again this Wednesday with a look into the life of Russian cosmonaut Gherman Titov

Events August 1-5: Seasons Arts of Japan, Doll Pins, Gherman Titov, Ancient Central America, Dinner and a Movie

This week visit the Smithsonian for ExplorAsia, a craft session at Anacostia, a chance to learn about Russian cosmonaut Gherman Titov and more

August 1, 2011

At the Sackler, an Underground Gallery Glows with Sunlight

New exhibit at the Sackler: “Reinventing the Wheel,” celebrates an era when Japanese potters abandoned the wheel to pursue new expressive forms of the art

July 29, 2011

The caldonian gecko, one of the zoo's many reptiles.

Weekend Events July 29-31: Guest Chef, Meet a Chelonian and Get Creative at Anacostia

July 28, 2011

En route to Rock Springs, Wyoming, Matt Quy flew by Pinnacle Rock

On the Flight Path of the Tuskegee Stearman Winging its Way to the Smithsonian

July 27, 2011

The Patent Office Building as it looked before the Civil War

The List: From Ballroom to Hospital, Five Lives of the Old Patent Office Building

Take a look back in time and learn the five lives of the old Patent Office Building

July 27, 2011

Honoring Owney, the Legendary Post Office Pup

Owney the dog, beloved mascot of the Railway Mail Service, is being honored with his own interactive postage stamp, sure to endear him to new generations

July 26, 2011

Belly Dancing After Dark at the Freer and Sackler Galleries

This Thursday evening, get your groove on at the Asian art museums annual celebration

July 26, 2011

A ward in Carver General Hospital, Washington, D.C.

Touring the Tools of Civil War Medicine

July 25, 2011

Events July 25-29: Harry Potter, Portraits Alive, Owney, the Negro Leagues and Apollo 15

July 25, 2011

Doing the Ring Shout in Georgia, ca. 1930s Members of the Gullah community express their spirituality through the “ring shout” during a service at a local “praise house.”

Anacostia Community Museum Attempts Record-Breaking Ring Shout

Traditional dance in which participants dance counterclockwise in a circle to the beat of clapping and a stick that is banged on a wooden surface

July 22, 2011

Four New Red Panda Cubs at the National Zoo

The National Zoo welcomes four new red panda cubs

July 22, 2011

Visitors participating in the "Forensic Friday" event at which a child's cast iron coffin and other skeletal remains from the Richards Family Crypt are analyzed by Dr. Doug Owsley and Kari Bruwelheide. This Friday’s guest is the FBI Explosives Unit

Weekend Events July 22-24: Forensic Science, a Summer Concert and an Afternoon of Poetry

July 21, 2011

Iron Chef-Style Showdown Sunday at the American Indian Museum

Mitsitam Cafe’s own Chef Richard Hetzler does battle against Chef Don McClellan (Cherokee) using ingredients of the Three Sisters–corn, beans and squash

July 21, 2011