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American History Museum

The DF-24 camera, invented in 1932, is one of several that were used by cinematographer Hal Rosson to film the Wizard of Oz.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Without This Camera, the Emerald City Would Have Been the Color of Mud

That dramatic Dorothy in Oz moment was brought to you in living color by the DF-24 Beam Splitter

Richard and Mildred Loving by Grey Villet, 1965

When the Serendipitously Named Lovings Fell in Love, Their World Fell Apart

The new film captures the quiet essence of the couples’ powerful story, says Smithsonian scholar Christopher Wilson

Smithsonian Podcast

When the Standardization of Time Arrived in America

It used to be that each town kept its own time, and chaos reigned

The sequins on the shoes are so delicate that conservators clean them with a Q-tip and a little cold water.

How Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers Came to the Smithsonian

A successful Kickstarter Campaign funds efforts to bring back their sparkle and keep them ruby

After the 2016 election, several hundred students at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, walked out of the classrooms in protest.

Finding Lessons for Today’s Protests in the History of Political Activism

A whirlwind of action, both organized and organic, supported by legal defense teams brought historic change

The Robodoc married robots and computers to revolutionize the complicated task of joint replacement surgery.

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Why This Robotic Medical Device Belongs in a Museum

William Bargar and Howard “Hap” Paul revolutionized joint replacement surgery by developing a robot to do the job

The genetically modified Oncomouse has played a big role in the study and treatment of cancer.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

The First Patented Animal Is Still Leading the Way on Cancer Research

Oncomouse was a genetically engineered animal designed to help scientists learn more about tumors

Today, the Marsh Collection is treasured for its inherent cultural value as well as its connection to the debates that framed the Smithsonian.

American Culture’s Unlikely Debt to a British Scientist

A fortuitous influx of cash launched the Smithsonian Institution and its earliest art collection

The historic photo of Harry Truman holding up a newspaper with a headline that got the election wrong.

How to Save Your Election Day Newspaper

Here’s what you need to know to preserve your copy of history

Gary Hart campaign (photo by Ken Regan), 1984

The Swag and Swagger Behind American Presidential Campaigns

From a coloring book to a painted axe, election ephemera remind us of the hard-fought elections of long ago

Rick Bayless, whose innovative Chicago restaurants blazed the trail toward wider acceptance of south-of-the-border cooking, has much in common with the celebrated Julia Child.

Rick Bayless Preaches the Gospel of Modern Mexican Cuisine

The trail-blazing Chicago chef and cookbook author wins the second annual Julia Child Award and makes a donation to the Smithsonian

Ray Bolger's widow, Gwendolyn, donated the costume to the Smithsonian Institution after the comedian's death in 1987.

Smithsonian Will Stretch to Save Scarecrow’s Costume, Too

Turns out the Ruby Slippers were just the beginning of an epic journey of cultural preservation

Osgood says he can walk peacefully in total anonymity if he leaves his bow tie at home; but people always make him cakes with bow ties.

Charles Osgood’s Love Affair With the Bow Tie Began With a Dire Warning About Clip-Ons

As one of his iconic bow ties arrives at the Smithsonian, Osgood reflects on good and bad doggerel and how to tie a good knot

How the Heated, Divisive Election of 1800 Was the First Real Test of American Democracy

A banner from the Smithsonian collections lays out the stakes of Jefferson vs. Adams

Fuselage from Flight 93, Shanksville, Pennsylvania, September 11, 2001

Remembering 9/11, From a Scrawled Note to a Scrap of Fuselage

How objects both ordinary and extraordinary help us reflect on the devastation

What Does a Beer Historian Do?

The American History museum’s latest job opening made headlines. But what does the job actually entail?

Lisa Kathleen Graddy and Jon Grinspan, curators with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History

How Do Smithsonian Curators Decide What to Collect at the Political Conventions?

For Smithsonian’s Lisa Kathleen Graddy and Jon Grinspan, it’s trying to guess what people of the future will want to know about 2016

Ten-year veteran of the Smithsonian's protective services office, Sargeant Nadia Tyler is master of the wildly popular Pokémon Go.

Gotta Catch ‘Em All on the National Mall

Sergeant Nadia Tyler, a security guard at Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, is collecting Pokémon creatures daily

NOW co-founder Muriel Fox says: “There’s still a need for a women’s movement. We can’t do it as individuals, each of us working for our own interests. We get much further if we work together."

The NOW Button Takes Us Back When Women’s Equality Was a Novelty

At the half-century mark, for the National Organization for Women it is still personal—and political

By the “dawn’s early light,” Key saw the huge garrison flag, now on view at the National Museum of American History, waving above Fort McHenry and he realized that the Americans had survived the battle and stopped the enemy advance.

Commentary

Where’s the Debate on Francis Scott Key’s Slave-Holding Legacy?

During his lifetime, abolitionists ridiculed Key’s words, sneering that America was more like the “Land of the Free and Home of the Oppressed”

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