:focal(633x333:634x334)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/ff/17/ff170708-ff6f-452a-93c0-51c131083c1f/elenanor_and_amelia.jpg)
Special Report
Women Who Shaped History
The Smithsonian's American Women’s History Initiative is a comprehensive undertaking that documents, researches, collects, displays and shares the rich and compelling story of women in the United States. In celebration of the AWHI, Smithsonian magazine has collected representative examples of its coverage of diverse women throughout American history.
:focal(1500x1000:1501x1001)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/cb/f5/cbf53a8f-ab25-4f04-9809-58da970031e4/2026-07_jane_gc-4-web.jpg)
Stanford University’s Founding Matriarch Was a Travel-Loving Philanthropist Who Met a Tragic End. A New Exhibition Explores Her Life, Grief and Death by Poison
Jane Stanford’s legacy is the focus of a new showcase at the California university. The display features artifacts that have never previously been exhibited
:focal(600x314:601x315)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/d5/97/d5974844-5690-4183-b8c5-d98a7333cd42/read_portrait_long.jpg)
Art Sleuths Discovered a Lost and ‘Enormously Important’ Portrait of an Elite Indian Woman by This Pioneering Scottish Painter
Katherine Read was one of the most fashionable portrait creators in London before she moved to India. She found success portraying women and children
:focal(1024x683:1025x684)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/cd/70/cd70b233-1f78-4b9b-9391-7a23e37002ba/737746587_122179935488606032_3282583173228159657_n.jpeg)
New Women’s Pro Baseball League Teams Are Named for These Pioneering American Women, Giving Female Players Another League of Their Own
The Firebells, Heights, Queens and Hunters—of San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and Boston—were inspired by an honorary firefighter, a civil rights activist, a first basewoman and a physician
:focal(420x280:421x281)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/c0/94/c094d9cf-b2c9-4b5d-9298-7501cd515867/sei_305407141.webp)
Did These Ancient Egyptian Princesses Wield Weapons and Train in Martial Arts, Just Like the Men of Their Time?
A new analysis of their bones suggests they were buried alongside arrows, maces and daggers because they had repeatedly used those weapons in life
:focal(750x500:751x501)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/fc/c0/fcc0e743-e913-49c0-836c-ac48d96ab4da/frances-kellor.png)
During World War I, This Woman Asked Americans to Welcome Immigrants—and Urged New Arrivals to Assimilate
Progressive reformer Frances Kellor spearheaded efforts to celebrate Americanization Day, arguing that immigrants should fully embrace U.S. culture to better adapt to life in their new home
:focal(750x500:751x501)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/4e/ad/4ead1376-6269-4845-9c1f-27619c0b2b8f/wuthering-heights.jpg)
The First Edition of Emily Brontë’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ Contained Incorrect Page Numbers, Missing Punctuation and Three Misspellings of the Word ‘Heights’
The haunting story set against the Yorkshire moors would become one of the most renowned novels of the 19th century. Now, a rare first-edition copy is heading to auction
At the Smithsonian
A new analysis of their bones suggests they were buried alongside arrows, maces and daggers because they had repeatedly used those weapons in life
:focal(1024x692:1025x693)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/bc/a0/bca09505-ffb1-4af5-ba73-da6e5001cf2f/meg-clearing-out-empty-coffin-scaled.webp)
A new exhibition in Colchester, England, site of the first capital of Roman Britain, explores the “Lexden Lady” and her collection of treasures
:focal(1279x853:1280x854)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/3a/70/3a703ffc-d058-4edc-8ffe-00b555cd457b/senior-curator-glynn-davis-with-the-block-in-chariots-treasure-and-power-at-the-yorkshire-museu.jpeg)
Visitors to the Yorkshire Museum can see artifacts from the Melsonby Hoard, dating to the first century C.E., that rewrite the story of wealth and power in Britain around the time of the Roman invasion
:focal(760x900:761x901)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/db/13/db13d94f-5149-43b9-b248-5f3523c169cb/fdsafsdf.jpg)
How Sandra Day O’Connor Brought Compromise to the Supreme Court
The first woman justice to serve on the nation’s highest court died on Friday at age 93
They Shaped Culture
:focal(4128x2752:4129x2753)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/ba/4e/ba4e90ed-49e5-42ff-84f8-59e10c3f86d1/3cgp84x.jpg)
The Japanese artist, who died on August 14 at 97, sought solace from hallucinations in her art, developing a visual language of polka dots, pumpkins and mirrors that entranced the world
:focal(1908x1308:1909x1309)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/9f/d2/9fd2d744-dd68-4510-bab9-328fb68bd73d/gettyimages-91137702.jpg)
After growing up in poverty, she became famous for her legendary songs, big heart and larger-than-life style. But the iconic musician insisted that “the songs lead to everything else”
:focal(965x717:966x718)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/b9/6b/b96bad73-e2aa-4e5c-b61c-dd86e41d0c4b/box-set-flat.jpg)
The 118-track collection is the most complete set ever compiled of recordings by American blues icon Ma Rainey
Katherine Read was one of the most fashionable portrait creators in London before she moved to India. She found success portraying women and children
Women in STEM
:focal(2016x1517:2017x1518)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/b8/d1/b8d12c54-9627-4dd3-9f80-e3d180ce525d/arya_satheesh___creator_of_eco_purge___the_earth_prize_2026_regional_winner_for_europe_5_149b99.jpeg)
Eighteen-year-old Arya Satheesh created her award-winning Eco Purge to help address the global problem of plastic pollution
:focal(2736x1824:2737x1825)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/26/47/26473c59-4662-411e-8ec8-ee32b9db206d/clitoris.jpg)
Cultural taboos around female sexuality have hindered research on the organ. But a new study provides pivotal insights that can inform important surgeries and health care
:focal(600x314:601x315)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/58/a0/58a052ed-9fb1-4c5b-b064-e3b95c479f1a/ns37_crewtowerportrait.webp)
This Aerospace Engineer Just Became the First Wheelchair User to Travel to Space
A brief commercial flight with space tourism company Blue Origin made Michaela “Michi” Benthaus’ childhood dream come true
:focal(2576x1705:2577x1706)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/23/37/23376d23-bf0f-4db5-b1ef-e3a9a2053cd7/gettyimages-1150980274.jpg)
How Far American Women Astronauts Have Soared Since Sally Ride Took Her Historic Spaceflight
In 1978, Ride and five other women became the first group of female astronauts in the U.S. A new book by a longtime curator of spaceflight artifacts explores the nearly five-decade history of women in the space program
Future of Women's History
:focal(895x605:896x606)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/16/1d/161d64cf-85a6-409b-b69f-f5c06be0ee20/592323049_1679038773414645_3852865209754894103_n.jpeg)
Found in a Polish forest, the town of Stolzenberg appears to have been built around the turn of the 14th century. Surveys revealed evidence of a town square, a main street and a moat
:focal(2687x1792:2688x1793)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/53/29/5329fd73-df63-4483-93e7-76a5613be4d3/gettyimages-2193176136.jpg)
María Corina Machado, Venezuela’s ‘Iron Lady,’ Wins Nobel Peace Prize
Machado, who leads the Vente Venezuela opposition party against President Nicolás Maduro, was lauded for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela”
:focal(479x442:480x443)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/c3/b2/c3b240c9-210b-4ee5-9d85-682f3ae1ac60/cropped_chandi.jpg)
‘Polar Preet’ Sets Out to Become the First Woman to Cross Antarctica Solo and Unsupported
After setting a record as the first woman of color to reach the South Pole unsupported last year, Preet Chandi is now tackling a 1,100-mile challenge