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An 1802 engraving, The Cow Pock—or—the Wonderful Effects of the New Inoculation plays on the fears of a crowd of vaccinees.

History Shows Americans Have Always Been Wary of Vaccines

Even so, many diseases have been tamed. Will Covid-19 be next?

Robert S. Duncanson, Landscape with Rainbow, 1859, oil on canvas

Smithsonian Voices

A Curator Decodes the Powerful Messaging in This Landscape Painting

Curator Eleanor Harvey shares the story of Robert Duncanson and his artwork

George Peter Alexander Healy, Abraham Lincoln, 1887. Oil on canvas. Dimensions: 188 × 137cm (74 × 53 15/16"). National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; transfer from the National Gallery of Art; gift of the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, 1942. This portrait is on view at the National Portrait Gallery, South Gallery 240.

Smithsonian Voices

A Scholar Takes a Deep Dive Into a Painted Homage to Abraham Lincoln

U.S. artist George Peter Alexander Healy’s presidential portraiture, conceived years after the sitter passed away

Hank Aaron (center) poses with his teammates in this 1956 photograph by Osvaldo Salas.

Smithsonian Scholars Reflect on Baseball Legend Hank Aaron’s Legacy

The former home run king died in his sleep on Friday at age 86

The F4F Wildcat, a carrier-based aircraft, saw service from the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor in 1941 to the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri nearly four years later.

How the Rugged F4F Wildcat Held the Line During World War II

Designed by Grumman Iron Works, the tough little fighter kept America in the fight during those early dark days in the Pacific Theater

Robert S. Duncanson's Landscape With Rainbow (1859) “carries with it an unmistakable ray of hope,” per the Los Angeles Times. “Rainbows typically appear after a storm has passed, not before.”

Inauguration History

Smithsonian Curator Reflects on Joe Biden’s ‘Poignant’ Inaugural Painting

Eleanor Harvey posits that the 1859 landscape’s message of hope resonated with First Lady Jill Biden, who helped select the artwork

When abstract concepts, such as fairness, race and differences, are explored with picture books, spoken about during play or introduced in activities like art-making, they are accessible to children and better understood.

Smithsonian Voices

Proactive Tips for Speaking With Children About Violence, Racism and Tragic Events

What do we tell children now? It’s time to ask ourselves what we are going to say and do before the next time this happens

Learning about a major news event as it transpires can be stressful for families to navigate and process together.

Smithsonian Voices

Smithsonian Educators Offer Tips for Talking to Children After a Traumatic Event

As details about traumatic events unfold in the news, it is important for families to navigate these conversations with young children with care.

Smithsonian gemologist Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig) meets her colleague, Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) in Wonder Woman 1984, which was filmed at three Smithsonian museums.

How ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Was Filmed at the Smithsonian

The blockbuster saw the superhero working as a museum anthropologist. But how accurate was its depiction of the Institution at the time?

Based on newly discovered and declassified files, the film MLK/FBI by the acclaimed Emmy Award winning director Sam Pollard, tells the story of the FBI’s surveillance and harassment of King.

Commentary

A New Film Details the FBI’s Relentless Pursuit of Martin Luther King Jr.

Smithsonian scholar says the time is ripe to examine the man’s complexities for a more accurate and more inspirational history

The film fictionalizes the night that Cassius Clay (seated, wearing a bow tie) became the world's heavyweight boxing champion. Three of his friends—Malcolm X (holding a camera at far left), Jim Brown (standing with his hand on Clay's shoulder) and Sam Cooke (raising a glass to the right of Clay)—joined the young athlete for a post-fight celebration.

Based on a True Story

The True History Behind ‘One Night in Miami’

Regina King’s directorial debut dramatizes a 1964 meeting between Cassius Clay, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown

The Volta’s electric eel, Electrophorus voltai, emits the strongest shocks of any animal on Earth. Although these eels were thought to be loners, the species was recently seen hunting in a group.

Smithsonian Voices

Shocking Study Finds Electric Eels Hunt Together

The study challenges what researchers know about eels’ supposed loner behavior

Three of Yosl Cutler’s surviving puppets: two Jewish characters and one Russian. These were constructed circa 1933.

Smithsonian Voices

The Life and Death of a Yiddish Puppet Theater

Puppets weren’t a common form of entertainment in Jewish culture

“A key tenet of ... constitutional democracy is the peaceful transfer of power following U.S. presidential elections, dating back to the republic’s first presidential election,” said Anthea Hartig, director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, in a statement. “This week, that core belief was shaken.”

History of Now

How the Smithsonian and Other Museums Are Responding to the U.S. Capitol Riot

Leading institutions have started collecting artifacts and working to contextualize last week’s violent attack

A meteorite in the process of being recovered by volunteers in the Antarctic Search for Meteorites program. The shiny fusion crust on this meteorite suggests it may be an achondrite.

Smithsonian Voices

What Antarctic Meteorites Tell Us About Earth’s Origins

Each year, Smithsonian scientists collect hundreds of meteorites from Antarctica that reveal details about the origins of Earth and our solar system

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From His Tattered Chair, TV’s Archie Bunker Caricatured America’s Divides

The 1971 show aired the fraught political differences that were “All in the Family”

Every mark in Robert McCurdy’s portraits, above: Untitled (The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso), is meticulously rendered from the baby hairs that frame his subjects’ temples to the crow’s feet that border their eyes.

Why Robert McCurdy’s Photo-Realist Portraits Stop Viewers in Their Tracks

The key to these singular portraits of influential leaders of our time rests in the gaze and the exacting details of the clothing

This is the first time that dwarfism has been documented in captive or wild giraffes.

Scientists Report First Instances of Dwarf Giraffes

Two individuals spotted in the wild seem to have classic long necks but unusually short, stubby legs

After composing and transcribing music for my wedding day, Red Baraat was born. Dave Sharma leads the baraat (wedding procession) on dhol, as I walk with my mother, family, and friends. August 27, 2005.

Smithsonian Voices

Musician Sunny Jain Reflects on Jainism, Jazz and the Punjabi Dhol Drum

While the originations of the dhol are not known with complete certainty, what is known is that it is a sound that has migrated

From left: “Left Side Right Side” (still) by Joan Jonas, 1972. Alice Walker by Bernard Gotfryd. Louis Armstrong (detail) by Philippe Halsman.

Smithsonian Voices

Warm Up Your Winter With the National Portrait Gallery’s Online Events

Visitors and families can enjoy all the museum has to offer from the comfort of their own homes

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