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At the Smithsonian

Clarence Barnes and Craig Wade with the banner in the Wade family home.

How Two 1950s Kids Playing on the Railroad Tracks Found a National Treasure

Curators at the National Museum of American History talked to the brothers who found a relic of the 1800 Adams and Jefferson election

A place of mourning was probably not what Congress had in mind when they established the National Portrait Gallery in 1962, but perhaps they would not be surprised that this is partly what they got.

How One Museum Helps the Nation Mourn

When prominent Americans like Kobe Bryant die, mourners flock to the National Portrait Gallery in search of solace

Bees from the nest structures: A) Head, side, top and bottom views of bees found inside the cells, B) drawing of Eufriesea surinamensis and photograph of the head of a modern bee taken by David Roubik

Panama

150-Year-Old Mummified Bee Nests Found in Panama City Cathedral

The nests, covered in gold leaf and paint, act as a time capsule for the surrounding environment circa 1870

Actor Kirk Douglas, seen here around 1950, died Wednesday, February 5, at the age of 103.

Kirk Douglas, Towering Icon of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Dies at 103

A mainstay of 1950s and ‘60s cinema, Douglas was one of Classic Hollywood’s last surviving stars

Spectacular offerings include (clockwise from top left): John Singer Sargent; art in response to the Age of Humans; Preston Singletary; Yayoi Kusama; and the mighty influence of Alexander von Humboldt.

Twenty Smithsonian Shows to See in 2020

Women inventors, baseball stamps and a new Kusama Infinity Room are among the offerings

Herbert Bayer, (above in a 1928 card by the designer) became one of the most influential graphic designers of his time.

The Pioneering Work of Graphic Artist Herbert Bayer

The Bauhaus-trained artist revolutionized the field of graphic design, but he tarnished his legacy by working with the Nazis

The women featured in Brave. Black. First. include, among others, Nina Simone, Zora Neale Hurston, Ann Lowe and Condoleezza Rice.

New Book Draws Inspiration From Life Stories of African American Women

In “Brave. Black. First.,” meet more than 50 African American women who changed the world

Restaurateur Danny Meyer will talk about bringing Manhattan style to D.C. dining at the Smithsonian on February 20.

A Conversation with Restaurateur Danny Meyer and 18 Other Smithsonian Associates Events in February

Hear Restaurateur Danny Meyer Speak and 18 Other Smithsonian Associates Events in February

The lasting legacy of the Greensboro Four (above from left: David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Jibreel Khazan and Joseph McNeil) was how the courageous moment grew to a revolutionary movement.

Traveling Along the U.S. Civil Rights Trail

Lessons Worth Learning From the Moment Four Students Sat Down to Take a Stand

One of the great monuments to the Greensboro Sit-In is at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History

John Baldessari, "Six Colorful Inside Jobs," 1977, 16mm film on video, color, silent; 32:53 minutes

How the Video Works of John Baldessari Defined Contemporary Art

Smithsonian curator Saisha Grayson examines the legacy of one of the greats of American Art

Great Nature, Storm on Mount Lyell from Johnson Peak by Chiura Obata, 1939

How Japanese Artist Chiura Obata Came to Be an American Great

With landscapes infused with an emotion borne of a life of struggle, this master receives his due in this traveling retrospective now at the Smithsonian

Honor feather once owned by Artemas Ehnamani (Dakota,1825–1902). Nebraska.

The National Museum of the American Indian Just Tripled Its Archive of Online Artifacts

In a major step toward making collections more widely available, more than 122,000 ethnographic records and contemporary art collections can be viewed

Following the news of the death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant, this 2007 portrait by Rick Chapman is now on view at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.

Trending Today

Smithsonian Historians Reflect on Kobe Bryant’s Legacy as His Portrait Goes on View

A 2007 photograph of the N.B.A. All-Star offers visitors a chance to pay their respects

Sailors reading, writing and relaxing at the Red Cross Rest Room in New Orleans. Around 400,000 African Americans served in World War I.

How World War I Planted the Seeds of the Civil Rights Movement

The Great War was a “transformative moment” for African Americans, who fought for the U.S. even as they were denied access to Democracy

The Smithsonian's Jack Mitchell Photography of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Collection (Above: Detail of Judith Jamison in "Revelations," 1967) is now digitized for public viewing.

Trove of Stunning Dance Photography Now Online

An alliance between dance impresario Alvin Ailey and photographer Jack Mitchell yielded more than 10,000 images

Two of Antonio Gentile's original Mr. Peanut sketches from 1916.

History of Now

Mr. Peanut Was the Creation of an Italian-American Schoolboy

One of the most iconic food brands was born in the imagination of a teenager, Antonio Gentile. Curator Kathleen Franz introduces the story

Portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama painted by Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald, respectively

Trending Today

The National Portrait Gallery’s Obama Portraits Will Embark on a Five-City Tour

Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald’s paintings of Barack and Michelle Obama are set to visit Chicago, Brooklyn, L.A., Atlanta and Houston

Coyotes are about to enter South America, a move that could soon make the species, native to North America, one of the most widespread carnivores in the western hemisphere.

Coyotes Poised to Infiltrate South America

The crab-eating fox and the coyote may soon swap territories, initiating the first American cross-continental exchange in more than three million years

The 1906 Kunstdommere (Art Judges) (detail) by Michael Ancher, group portrait captured a handful of Danish cultural luminaries of Scandanavia’s Modern Breakthrough movement of the 1870s and 1880s.

Rare Chance in 2020 to See This Classic Danish Masterwork

At the Portrait Gallery, a new show gets at the visual heart of competitive camaraderie roiling within artist colonies

To 17th-century scholars, it made perfect sense that fossils on mountain sides and deep in the ground had been left there in the wake of the biblical flood (above The Subsiding of the Waters of the Deluge by Thomas Cole, 1829).

Why This 18th-Century Naturalist Believed He’d Discovered an Eyewitness to the Biblical Flood

Smithsonian paleontologist Hans Sues recounts a colossal tale of mistaken identity

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