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American History

The excavations that uncovered the British fortifications took place at the site of a proposed single-family home in St. Augustine, Florida.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Rare Reminder of Britain’s Brief Reign Over the ‘Nation’s Oldest City’

The find offers archaeological evidence of the 20-year interlude when the British ruled St. Augustine, Florida, which was founded by the Spanish in 1565

Visitors to Manzanar National Historic Site will be able to run the bases around the restored baseball field, sit on the bleachers and look out into the looming mountain range from home plate.

The Moving Story of Bringing Baseball Back to Manzanar, Where Thousands of Japanese Americans Were Incarcerated During World War II

In honor of his mother and others imprisoned at the internment camp, baseball player Dan Kwong has restored a diamond in the California desert

Flannery O'Connor with peacocks in the driveway of her family home at Andalusia Farm in 1962

Flannery O’Connor Wanted to Shake Her Readers Awake. Her Family Wanted Her to Write the Next ‘Gone With the Wind’

This year marks the writer’s 100th birthday. Through fiction anchored in her Southern background and Catholic faith, O’Connor revealed how candid confrontations with darkness lead to moments of reckoning

Washington Crossing the Delaware, Emanuel Leutze, 1851

America's 250th Anniversary

America’s 250th Anniversary

To mark the 250th anniversary of America’s founding on July 4, 1776, Smithsonian magazine is highlighting the people, places and events that shaped the United States’ fight for independence from Great Britain

A 19th-century lithograph of Patrick Henry's "give me liberty or give me death" speech

America's 250th Anniversary

Discover Patrick Henry’s Legacy, Beyond His Revolutionary ‘Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death’ Speech

Delivered 250 years ago, the famous oration marked the height of Henry’s influence. But the politician also served in key roles in Virginia’s state government after the American Revolution

A spy pigeon with a camera strapped to its breast at the CIA Museum

Learn the Secret Histories of These Fascinating CIA Artifacts, From Pigeon Cameras to Cufflink Compasses

With the launch of its new website, the CIA Museum is bringing its sprawling collection of spy artifacts out of the shadows and into the public eye

RiverRock was completed in 2025, 66 years after Frank Lloyd Wright's death.

You Can Spend a Night in the Last House Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright Before His Death in 1959

The plans for the RiverRock house in northeastern Ohio were left on Wright’s drawing board when he died. But whether the project counts as a true “Wright” is up for debate

Astronaut Ed White conducts the first U.S. spacewalk on June 3, 1965

Two Trailblazing Spacewalks in 1965 Opened the Door to Decades of Astronauts Pushing the Limits of Their Capabilities

Since those early steps, extravehicular activity has helped provide the solutions to many problems that astronauts face in space

Zion National Park in Utah was the second most visited national park in the country with 4,946,592 recreation visits in 2024.

These Were the Most—and Least—Visited National Parks in 2024

America’s national park sites saw a record number of visitors last year. Great Smoky Mountains, Zion and Grand Canyon national parks are perennial favorites among travelers

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A City Fit for a Queen: Tracing Queen Charlotte’s Passions Through Charlotte, North Carolina

Uncover the enduring impact of Queen Charlotte’s legacy on the city’s historic heritage.

Researchers used remotely operated underwater vehicles to explore the wreckage.

Historic Century-Old Shipwreck Discovered 600 Feet Beneath the Surface of Lake Superior

The 300-foot “Western Reserve” sank in August 1892, killing 27 people after both lifeboats capsized. Harry W. Stewart, the ship’s wheelsman, was the only survivor

After a trolley conductor accused Alice Stebbins Wells of using her husband's police badge to avoid paying for public transit, the Los Angeles Police Department allowed her to wear a more feminine uniform of her own design, along with a special “Policewoman’s Badge No. 1.”

Women Who Shaped History

Armed With Just a Badge, Los Angeles’ First Policewoman Protected the City’s Most Vulnerable in the Early 20th Century

Appointed in 1910, Alice Stebbins Wells patrolled dance halls, skating rinks, penny arcades and movie theaters, keeping these public spaces free of vice and immorality

A statue of Clementina Rind, a trailblazing publisher and printer who took over the Virginia Gazette after her husband's death, is featured in the Virginia Women's Monument.

America's 250th Anniversary

Newly Discovered Letters Illuminate the Life of a Female Printer Who Published Revolutionary Texts and Pushed the Colonies Toward Independence

As Virginia’s first female newspaper publisher, Clementina Rind emphasized women’s viewpoints and collaborated with prominent politicians like Thomas Jefferson

Harper Lee on the porch of her parents' home in Monroeville, Alabama, in 1961

Eight Never-Before-Seen Short Stories by ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Author Harper Lee Will Be Published This Year

After Lee’s death in 2016, typescripts of her early fiction were discovered in her New York apartment. The previously unseen drafts offer new insights into her creative development

The president of Poland, the senior United States senator from Illinois and much of the Chicago political machine gathered beneath this painting, Pulaski at Savannah, on the first Monday in March.

America's 250th Anniversary

Discover the Short Life and Long Legacy of Casimir Pulaski, a Polish Cavalry Officer Who Became an American Revolutionary Hero

On the first Monday in March, Pulaski Day festivities at Chicago’s Polish Museum of America honored the “Father of American Cavalry,” 280 years after his birth

Historian Martha S. Jones (bottom left) turned to ledgers, deeds, census records and government documents to unravel her family's story.

How a Leading Black Historian Uncovered Her Own Family’s Painful Past—and Why Her Ancestors’ Stories Give Her Hope

Martha S. Jones’ new memoir draws on genealogical research and memories shared by relatives

Herbert G. Tennyson was a 24-year-old first lieutenant in the U.S. Army when he was killed during World War II.

Remains of Bomber Pilot Identified 80 Years After His Plane Went Down During World War II

Herbert G. Tennyson was a U.S. Army pilot on a B-24 nicknamed “Heaven Can Wait,” which crashed into the ocean in early 1944

The New Jersey Morning Call said Billy Possum had “a head that is likely to give a baby [a] nightmare.”

How a Stuffed Animal Named Billy Possum Tried—and Failed—to Replace the Teddy Bear as America’s National Toy

In 1909, wealthy widow Susie W. Allgood marketed a plush marsupial inspired by President William Howard Taft. But children thought the toy looked “too much like a rat,” and it sold poorly

Audiences of all ages are flocking to Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo, California, for weekend sing-alongs, film shorts and features accompanied by the theater organ.

Eight Places to Experience a Movie Like It’s 1925

Theaters from Washington to Florida and Massachusetts to Arizona show silent films accompanied by live music played on elaborate theater organs

The photos were taken between 1966 and 1970.

Can You Identify the Mystery Photographer Who Captured Thousands of Captivating Images of 1960s San Francisco?

Discovered in an abandoned storage locker, the 2,042 processed color slides and 102 rolls of black-and-white film depict key moments in the city’s history

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