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American History

President Theodore Roosevelt commissioned the double eagle in 1905. He later pronounced the gold piece to be “the best coin that has been struck for 2,000 years.”

Golden Grail

Few U.S. coins are rarer than the never circulated 1933 double eagle, melted down after the nation dropped the gold standard

Fort Matanzas, about fifty feet long on each side, was constructed of coquina, a local stone formed from clam shells and quarried from a nearby island.

America’s First True “Pilgrims”

An excerpt from Kenneth C. Davis’s new book explains they arrived half a century before the Mayflower reached Plymouth Rock

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Goodbye, Columbus

A new survey upends the conventional wisdom about who counts in American history

View of the National Mall

Washington, D.C.

A Brief History of Pierre L’Enfant and Washington, D.C.

How one Frenchman’s vision became our capital city

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Celluloid Cynicism

The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s film noir series commenced last Wednesday with Billy Wilder’ s pitch-perfect 1950 Hollywood satire, Sunset Boulevard

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Stephen Colbert Declared A National Treasure

An attempt to buy a gift launched Dean Thomas, left, and his brother Jim (at the Gettysburg Battlefield) on the trail of purloined letters.

The Civil War

To Catch a Thief

How a Civil War buff’s chance discovery led to a sting, a raid and a victory against traffickers in stolen historical documents

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The Unmaking of the President

Lyndon Johnson believed that his withdrawal from the 1968 presidential campaign would free him to solidify his legacy

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“Those Aren’t Rumors”

Two decades ago an anonymous telephone call sank Gary Hart’s presidential campaign—and rewrote the rules of political reporting

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Rose Marie’s Black Bow Now in the Smithsonian

Nine legendary actresses donate artifacts from their work on the stage and screen

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The Horns Got Hot at the Pyramids

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Remembering Greensboro

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Celebrating Resistance

The curator of a portrait exhibition discusses how African Americans used photography to resist stereotypes

Explorer 1 satellite

Explorer I Satellite

In 1958, Explorer 1 launched America’s response to the USSR’s Sputnik

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Alabama - History and Heritage

Hillotype of a print depicting a man fallen from a horse, color pigments applied

Genius or Fraud?

The movement to create a memorial to Lincoln began shortly after his assassination. The Lincoln Monument Association was established by Congress in 1867, but the site for the memorial was not selected until 1901.

Washington, D.C. - History and Heritage

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Calculating History

Remember the TI calculator models

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Outlaw Hunters

The Pinkerton Detective Agency chased down some of America’s most notorious criminals

"I think the most surprising thing was how Hemingway is still so alive [in Cuba]," says Valerie Hemingway.

Barefoot Hemingway

Valerie Hemingway, author of “Hemingway’s Cuba, Cuba’s Hemingway,” talks about pirated novels and Papa’s living legend

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