Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Pop Culture

This still from The Bikeriders is a recreation of Danny Lyon's photo Crossing the Ohio River.

Based on a True Story

The Real Story Behind ‘The Bikeriders’ and the Danny Lyon Photography Book That Inspired It

A new film dramatizes the story of a motorcycle club chronicled by Lyon in the 1960s, offering a tribute to the outlaw spirit

Ursula K. Le Guin in 2005.

You Could Write in Ursula K. Le Guin’s Former Portland Home Studio

The Le Guin family has donated the science fiction novelist’s former house to be used for a new writers residency

The rocket-firing Boba Fett action figure was supposed to be a giveaway. But executives at American toy company Kenner later realized the missile was a choking hazard.

This Boba Fett Figure Is Now the Most Valuable Vintage Toy in the World

Created in 1979, the rare missile-firing figurine has become a “mythic icon” among collectors

Edmond O'Brien and Jan Sterling during the filming of a 1956 adaptation of George Orwell's 1984

History of Now

What Does George Orwell’s ‘1984’ Mean in 2024?

Now 75 years old, the dystopian novel still rings alarm bells about totalitarian rule

Gilbert Stuart painted the famous Lansdowne portrait of George Washington. 

Before Andy Warhol Set His Eyes on Marilyn and Prince, There Was Gilbert Stuart and George Washington

Two court cases over 200 years apart reflect what happens when commercial and artistic interests meet

Disney+ released a new documentary about Jim Henson's life and career called Jim Henson Idea Man.

What Made Jim Henson, the Visionary Behind the Muppets, One of the Nation’s Most Beloved Cultural Figures

Museum collections and a new documentary on Jim Henson’s life and career reveal how his creativity cemented his legacy

This early Bob Dylan painting could fetch $100,000 at auction this month.

Bob Dylan Traded This Painting in Exchange for an Astrology Reading

The musician created the artwork in the 1960s while recovering from a motorcycle accident in Woodstock, New York

"I Dream of Jeannie" stars Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman

How a Bottle Served as a Living Room—and a Prison—for a 2,000-Year-Old Genie

The vessel from 1960s sitcom “I Dream of Jeannie,” now on display at the National Museum of American History, could not contain the exuberance of the beloved character

Left, Rita Moreno, the Puerto Rican actress who played Anita in the 1961 film West Side Story. Right, the Italian opera singer Giulia Grisi in the 1830s.

An Absolutely Fabulous Celebration of History’s Greatest Divas

This heady, exquisitely delightful new book reveals the power behind the sequins

Wig Shoes, Chunxiao Qu, 2017

These Artworks Explore the Cultural Significance of Hair

A new exhibition at the Heide Museum of Modern Art in Australia examines what hair says about identity, gender, social status and more

The 1991 movie Thelma and Louise was filmed all over Utah, including at Fossil Point near Moab.

Five Movies You Didn’t Know Were Filmed in Utah

State officials are staging a year-long exhibition to celebrate 100 years of filmmaking in the state

The original illustration for the cover of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone will go to auction in June.

Spellbinding Cover Art for ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ Could Break Auction Record

The original watercolor illustration of a young wizard boarding the Hogwarts Express was artist Thomas Taylor’s first professional commission

Guests will get to stay inside the Musée d'Orsay's clock room on the night of July 26.

The Paris Olympics

Spend the Night in the Musée d’Orsay’s Clock Room on the Evening of the Olympics Opening Ceremony

Airbnb will allow two travelers to book a one-night stay in the storied Paris museum, where they will watch the ceremony from a balcony overlooking the Seine

The Enterprise model had been missing for decades when it reappeared in an eBay listing last fall.

Original ‘Star Trek’ Enterprise Model Resurfaces Decades After It Went Missing

The model used in the original series’ opening credits is now back with Eugene Roddenberry Jr., the son of the show’s creator

Clara Bow in a still from The Pill Pounder, which premiered 101 years ago

Cool Finds

Lost Silent Film Featuring Clara Bow Discovered in a $20 Box of Old Reels

Bow, who also serves as inspiration for a new Taylor Swift song, was one of Hollywood’s first starlets

In Scrabble Together, players work as a team to solve challenges.

Scrabble Introduces a Less Competitive Version of the Classic Word Game

Scrabble Together, now available in Europe, is the first major update to the game in more than 75 years

Readers were first introduced to Superman in June 1938.

The First Issue of Superman Just Became the Most Valuable Comic Book in the World

An original copy of 1938’s “Action Comics No. 1” sold for a record-breaking $6 million at auction

Researchers found that lyrics in each of five popular music genres were becoming more repetitive and charged with negative emotions.

Song Lyrics Have Become Angrier, Simpler and More Repetitive, Scientists Find

An analysis of more than 12,000 rap, pop, country, rock and R&B songs from the past 50 years shows more emotional and straightforward lyrics

Since Titanic premiered in 1997, skeptics have been insisting that Jack and Rose could have both survived on their makeshift raft. 

Floating Board From ‘Titanic’ Sells for Over $700,000

The infamous prop has long been the source of heated debate: Did Jack really have to die?

The Jefferson Memorial and the Tidal Basin, as seen through blooming cherry blossom branches.

158 Cherry Blossom Trees Will Be Cut Down in D.C. in Effort to Withstand Sea-Level Rise

The National Park Service’s restoration project will reconstruct a protective seawall and plant 274 new cherry blossoms when work is complete

Page 8 of 26