Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Family

The exterior of the reconstructed chapel in Historic St. Mary's City, Maryland

Groundbreaking DNA Analysis Identifies 1.3 Million Living Relatives of Colonial Maryland’s Earliest Settlers

Experts compared DNA from 49 skeletons buried in a cemetery in St. Mary’s City to genetic data shared by 11.5 million 23andMe users. They also identified what may be the remains of the colony’s second governor

A 1936 photo of the Timleck family, one of four winners of the Great Stork Derby

An Eccentric Tycoon Left a Fortune to the Winner of a Baby-Making Contest. The Great Stork Derby Divided Canadians During the Great Depression

In his will, Charles Vance Millar offered roughly 500,000 Canadian dollars to the mother who “has since my death given birth in Toronto to the greatest number of children”

The cockapoo, a mix between the cocker spaniel and poodle, had the most behavioral problems of all analyzed crossbreeds compared to its purebred progenitor breeds.

Contrary to Popular Belief, Some Doodle Crossbred Dogs May Have More Behavioral Problems Than Their Purebred Parents

Pet owners often pick “designer dogs” because they think they’ll be easier to train and friendlier with kids than purebreeds. A new study suggests that’s not always the case

Young boys happily play with kites in a grassy field.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

Take Flight in the New Year With These 15 Photographs of Beautiful Kites

See 15 images of colorful kites from around the world

None

Dig In to the Traditions Behind Two Holiday Dishes That Make the Season Even More Delicious

Two culinary traditions from two island nations reveal what glues communities and families together across time

El Capitan is an iconic 3,000-foot-tall cliff that soars above the valley floor in Yosemite National Park.

Another 8-Year-Old Boy Ascends El Capitan, Following in His Brother’s Footsteps

On October 24, Sylvan Evermore and his father reached the top of the 3,000-foot-tall vertical granite cliff using a method known as “jugging”

Babies on plane seats during Operation Babylift in April 1975

This Adoptee Discovered a Trove of Documents in a Nun’s Basement. The Rare Vietnam War Records May Rewrite the Story of Operation Babylift

The April 1975 effort matched more than 2,800 infants and children evacuated from Vietnam with adoptive families. Today, the adoptees are searching for clues to their past—and reflecting on the complicated legacy of their evacuation

Quintuplets Yvonne, Annette, Cécile, Émilie and Marie Dionne spent most of their childhoods in an Ontario compound known as Quintland.

The Dionne Quintuplets Captivated the World During the Great Depression. But Their Fame Came at a Cost

Nearly three million visitors flocked to Canada to see the five identical sisters—the first quintuplets to survive infancy. The siblings later said the publicity destroyed their childhoods

Fewer Americans are reading for pleasure.

Reading for Pleasure Has Declined by a ‘Deeply Concerning’ 40 Percent Over the Past Two Decades

Between 2003 and 2023, the proportion of Americans who read for fun on a given day has been steadily falling, a new study suggests

Researchers often observed a family of bats roosting together in tight "cuddle balls."

These Big, Meat-Eating Bats Also Have a Cuddly Side. Rare Videos Reveal ‘Hugging,’ Playing and Sharing Food

Scientists observed a family of four spectral bats in their roost in a tree in Costa Rica, capturing an inside look at their social behavior

Karin Wulf's new book, Lineage: Genealogy and the Power of Connection in Early America, explores the many ways in which people of the past reflected on their family histories.

Why 18th-Century Americans Were Just as Obsessed With Their Genealogy as We Are Today

People living in British America and later the nascent United States recorded their family histories in needlework samplers, notebooks and newspapers

The family handed the scarab over to the Israel Antiquities Authority, which plans to display it in an upcoming exhibition.

Cool Finds

Toddler Discovers 3,800-Year-Old Egyptian Amulet While Hiking With Her Family in Israel

The 3-year-old picked up an ancient Canaanite scarab that dates back to the Middle Bronze Age

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

Researchers analyzed DNA from a rare Iron Age burial site in southwest England.

New Research

Scientists Discover Celtic Society Where Men Left Home to Join Their Bride’s Community

DNA extracted from 57 individuals buried in a 2,000-year-old cemetery provides evidence of a “matrilocal” community in Iron Age Britain, a new study suggests

The weeklong exhibition showcases items submitted by members of the public.

The Museum of Bad Gifts Is a Celebration of Outlandish Objects, From Ceramic Clowns to Cat Nail Clippings

Presented like pieces of fine art, the peculiar presents are mounted on the walls of a gallery in Toronto. Many of them will ultimately be sold at auction

An engraved mirror and beaded jewelry discovered at the ancient family tomb near Luxor

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover Ancient Egyptian Family Tomb Full of Necklaces, Bracelets and Rings

The 3,800-year-old site near the city of Luxor holds the remains of 11 individuals, who may have been members of the same family. Researchers think the tomb was used for several generations

The Winslow House is located in River Forest, Illinois, about 11 miles west of downtown Chicago.

Frank Lloyd Wright Designed His First Prairie-Style House When He Was 26. Now, It’s for Sale

The young architect created the Winslow house for a couple living in a suburb of Chicago in 1893. The project would help launch his independent career

Two sides of a single ceramic lion's head and a female figurine from Dolni Vestonice

Did Prehistoric Children Make Figurines Out of Clay?

Fingerprints and scratch marks found in artifacts in the Czech Republic suggest youngsters of the Upper Paleolithic used the soil like Play-Doh, according to a pending new study

Some of the newspaper articles describe the buying and selling of enslaved people, while others offer rewards for the return of runaways.

Ancestry Releases Records of 183,000 Enslaved Individuals in America

The genealogy company has digitized and published 38,000 newspaper articles from between 1788 and 1867—before Black Americans were counted as citizens in the U.S. census

Alvin Gauthier drove more than 300 miles to personally deliver lost letters from a World War II veteran.

Mail Carrier Drives for Five Hours to Hand Deliver Lost World War II-Era Letters

When Alvin Gauthier found several letters written by a veteran in the 1940s, he went on a mission to return them

Page 1 of 8