The next installation of the National Portrait Gallery’s “One Life” series considers the lives of generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee as they were intertwined during the Civil War. Open July 4 through May 31, 2015, “One Life: Grant and Lee” explores the rivalry between the two generals as one of the most memorable in American military history.
The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute celebrated several births recently. During the past several weeks, 31 new residents have been born, many of which were endangered species.
Visitors to the 48th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival can learn about the diverse and rich cultures of China and Kenya. This year’s Festival will also feature a special concert to celebrate the legacy of the late Pete Seeger (1919-2014). The Festival will be held Wednesday, June 25, through Sunday, June 29, and Wednesday, July 2, through Sunday, July 6, outdoors on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
The Smithsonian Institution and the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have announced a new partnership to support collaborative research programs and science education efforts. This is the first partnership between the Smithsonian and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which was formalized during the signing of a memorandum of understanding June 12.
Smithsonian curator Antonio Curet studies the vast collections from Latin America and the Caribbean at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian to develop exhibits that tell the rich histories of these indigenous cultures. He talks about his work in this short video profile.
Antonio Curet estudia las amplias colecciones de objetos provenientes de Latinoamérica y el Caribe en el Museo Nacional del Indígena Americano del Smithsonian, para desarrollar exposiciones que cuentan la historia de estas culturas indígenas.
The cofounder and lead singer of the new wave punk band Blondie, Deborah Harry carved a path for female rockers with her good-meets-bad fusion of haughty detachment and streetwise style. This 1978 photo is part of the “American Cool” exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery through Sept. 7, 2014.
Identifying larval stages of marine fishes in the open ocean is difficult because the young fishes often bear little or no resemblance to the adults they will become. Confronted with a perplexing fish larva collected in the Florida Straits, Smithsonian scientists turned to DNA barcoding, which yielded an unexpected discovery—a match between the mysterious fish larva and adults of a new species of sea bass discovered off the coast of Curacao.
Whether you know him as Batman, the Caped Crusader or the Dark Knight, there’s something about the pointy ears and the cool gadgets that make him one of the most intriguing superheroes of all time.
Margaret Salazar-Porzio ayuda a contar la historia de los latinos en los Estados Unidos, adquiriendo objetos y desarrollando exposiciones en el Museo Nacional de Historia Americana.
Smithsonian curator Margaret Salazar-Porzio helps tell the story of Latinos in the United States. She talks about her work in this short video profile.
Populations of large wildlife are declining around the world, while zoonotic diseases (those transmitted from animals to humans) are on the rise. A team of Smithsonian scientists and colleagues have discovered a possible link between the two. They found that in East Africa, the loss of large wildlife directly correlated with a significant increase in rodents, which often carry disease-causing bacteria dangerous to humans.
This animated GIF of “Fireworks at Ike-no-Hata” by Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847–1915) shows the artist's innovative use of color to explore the possibilities of light in his woodblock prints. This print can be viewed in the exhibition “Kiyochika: Master of the Night” March 29–July 27 at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.
Chuck Ramirez’s contemporary still-life photograph, with its half-eaten breakfast tacos resting in glistening aluminum foil, cups of coffee and empty beer cans, tells a story of more than just a delicious morning meal. Through his work, Ramirez magnified the stuff of everyday life to reveal the history embedded in popular icons.
The 2014 Winter Olympics are underway and athletes from around the world are getting ready to take to the ice in speed skating, figure skating, ice dancing and hockey. Today’s skaters have the advantage of being able to practice year-round in indoor rinks, but what did 19th-century athletes do to stay competitive? They used the Volito.
The Smithsonian Associates presents a true night at the museum with a unique overnight experience for children in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Sleepovers will be held May 17, June 14, June 28, July 12, July 26, Aug. 8 and Aug. 22.
Today is Three Kings Day or the Feast of the Epiphany, a festive tradition in Spain, Puerto Rico and many Latin American countries. This carved and painted wood artwork, which depicts the three kings, is at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
El Smithsonian ha revelado la colección Smithsonian X 3D y el explorador 3-D de última generación. Con este anuncio se inauguró la Conferencia Smithsonian X 3D, un evento de dos días que se centra en el estado actual del programa 3-D de la Institución y adónde se dirige en el futuro. Se dispone de un webcast de la conferencia.
The Smithsonian celebrates American Indian Heritage Month throughout November with a series of performances, lectures, exhibitions, family activities and tours at various museums. All programs are free unless otherwise indicated.
In a pioneering collaboration, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the City University of New York’s Dominican Studies Institute are reaching out to people of Dominican descent to build a collection that reflects how Dominican music and musical performances have shaped both a cultural and social identity in the United States.
The Smithsonian is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15 through Oct. 15) with a series of vibrant performances, lectures, exhibitions, family activities and tours at various museums around the Institution. All programs are free unless otherwise indicated. For a full calendar of events and information about tickets, visit www.smithsonianeducation.org/heritage.
Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, asks museums a fundamental question: “How can we prepare ourselves to reach the generation of digital natives who bring a huge appetite—and aptitude—for the digital world?” His thoughts on how the Smithsonian is tackling this issue and how others have fared in museums and libraries around the world are the subject of a new e-book, “Best of Both Worlds: Museums, Libraries, and Archives in a Digital Age,” available free online beginning Aug. 27.
“Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art” presents the rich and varied contributions of Latino artists in the United States since the mid-20th century, when the concept of a collective Latino identity began to emerge. The exhibition is drawn entirely from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s pioneering collection of Latino art. It explores how Latino artists shaped the artistic movements of their day and recalibrated key themes in American art and culture.
Ladybugs take a detour on their way to help Smithsonian gardens grow on the National Mall today. Children and adults were invited to participate as 9,000 ladybugs were released by Smithsonian horticulturists during the Living Earth Festival at the National Museum of the American Indian.
Under elevated carbon dioxide levels, wetland plants can absorb up to 32 percent more carbon than they do at current levels, according to a 19-year study published in Global Change Biology from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Md. With atmospheric CO2 passing the 400 parts-per-million milestone this year, the findings offer hope that wetlands could help soften the blow of climate change.
The Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art presents an exhibition on the handwriting of influential artists. The exhibition is open through Oct. 27 at the Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery in the Smithsonian’s Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture. “The Art of Handwriting” reveals how the simple act of writing a letter in one’s own hand can be an artistic act.
This giant Puli dog sculpture is on view at the 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, happening now on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. through July 7.
No Independence Day celebration would be complete without a picnic table filled with some traditional favorites: hamburgers, hotdogs, buns, kabobs, potato salad, ketchup and watermelon. Where did these July Fourth foods come from? Archaeologists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History explain where and how it all began.
The Smithsonian Associates will present “The Genomic Journey, Searching for Your Roots” featuring Henry Louis Gates Jr., the host of the PBS series Finding Your Roots. During the program, Gates will trace the genetic histories of Lonnie Bunch, director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, and Gwen Ifill, host of Washington Week, live on stage Thursday, Sept. 12, at 7:30 p.m. in Baird Auditorium at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Brooklyn Museum will co-host a daylong program to help New York-area residents identify and preserve items of historical and cultural significance tucked away in their attics, closets and basements. The event will feature presentations, hands-on activities and preservation tips.
The Smithsonian Latino Center will begin its 2013 Latino Museum Studies Program in Washington, D.C., July 1, marking the 17th year of this professional-development opportunity for graduate students. Each year the Latino Center selects 15 students from a nationwide pool who have demonstrated interest and leadership in the areas of Latino history, museum studies, historic preservation and arts management. Participants this year come from universities in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, New York, Ohio, Texas and Washington, D.C.
The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has announced that it will receive a $6 million donation from the Thomas W. Haas Foundation to establish an endowment for its Public Observatory Program. It is the largest donation ever given to the museum for science education programming.
The Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History announced today that it has reached a 50-year loan agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to transfer a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton to the Smithsonian for eventual display in the museum’s new dinosaur hall, scheduled to open in 2019. The skeleton is one of the most complete T. rex specimens ever discovered, with 80–85 percent of the skeleton recovered, including the skull.
The 47th annual Folklife Festival will feature a series of evening concerts. All performances are free to the public. The Festival will be held Wednesday, June 26, through Sunday, June 30, and Wednesday, July 3, through Sunday, July 7, outdoors on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History will launch “EveryBody: An Artifact History of Disability in America” to explore themes and events related to the history of people with disabilities in the U.S. and offer a new perspective on American history. This online exhibition is a first-of-its-kind image compilation that provides access to objects and stories related to the history of disability that have been collected at the museum for more than 50 years.
The 47th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival will feature a variety of fun and interactive family activities, including crafts and food demonstrations, as well as music and dance performances. The Festival will be held Wednesday, June 26, through Sunday, June 30, and Wednesday, July 3, through Sunday, July 7, outdoors on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
The daring and adventurous sloth bear cub, Hank, made his public debut at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo this week. He is the first sloth bear born at the Zoo in seven years.
Emmett Duffy, currently the Gluckman Professor of Marine Science at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, has been appointed director of the Smithsonian’s Tennenbaum Marine Observatories Network, effective Sept. 16. Duffy will be the first to lead this new initiative at the Smithsonian, which is a major long-term project to study changing coastal marine biodiversity and coastal ecosystems around the globe.
What common appliance was invented after an experiment with radar in 1945? The microwave oven. The first models were huge—about 6 feet in height and weighing more than 750 pounds. After World War II, when wartime technologies were adapted for domestic purposes, the ovens became smaller and more suitable for homes.
The National Museum of the American Indian, Gustav Heye Center in New York presents “Making Marks: Prints from Crow’s Shadow,” an exhibition now on view through Jan. 5, 2014. The exhibition showcases 18 works by seven contemporary Native American artists.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, in partnership with the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health, recently opened “Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code”—a multimedia exhibition that explores how the genomic revolution is influencing people’s lives and the extraordinary impact it is having on science, medicine and nature.
A fiery explosion on the surface of the Moon, visible to the naked eye, recently surprised NASA astronomers monitoring the moon for meteorite strikes. In this Q&A a geophysicist at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum answers a few questions about the explosion and the geologic processes that shape the moon’s surface.
It was one of those happy accidents. When X-raying spacesuits at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in 2008, photographer Mark Avino and conservator Ron Cunningham noted how artistic the gear appeared in scans. They were the first to practice using X-rays on historical space objects for further study. Fast forward to 2011 when the images were paired with their respective spacesuits for a traveling exhibit now on tour.
Visitors to the 47th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival can learn about the country of Hungary, endangered languages and the history of aesthetics of African Americans. The Festival will be held Wednesday, June 26, through Sunday, June 30, and Wednesday, July 3, through Sunday, July 7, outdoors on the National Mall between Seventh and 14th streets. Admission is free. Festival hours are from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day, with such special evening events as concerts and dance parties beginning at 6 p.m. The Festival is co-sponsored by the National Park Service.
Planning your summer vacation? The National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va., is offering special activities, all free of charge. For the first time, the museum will present outdoor band concerts and family events as well as special deals on theater tickets and simulator rides.
Over half of the world’s languages are endangered. The Breath of Life Archival Institute for Indigenous Languages is working with Native Americans to revitalize their languages before they are gone forever. During a two-week program, participants will connect with libraries, archives and museums to support language learning and teaching. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History will host Breath of Life workshops June 9–21.
This summer, visitors to the 47th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival will experience the vitality and living traditions that define and sustain Hungary’s unique culture. “Hungarian Heritage: Roots to Revival” will feature more than 100 participants from this 1,000-year-old country. Artists, dancers, craftspeople and cooks will share and celebrate the customs and traditions from every part of the country.
The 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival showcases its five-year community research project on African American identity with the program “The Will to Adorn: African American Diversity, Style, and Identity.” This multicity collaboration examines the history and culture of the aesthetics of African Americans.
The United Nation’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization estimates that of the more than 7,000 languages in the world, nearly half of them are in danger of becoming extinct by the end of this century. The Smithsonian’s Folklife Festival program “One World, Many Voices: Endangered Languages and Cultural Heritage” will focus attention on this urgent issue of global language loss by bringing together communities from around the world that are fighting to save their native tongues and cultural traditions.
For decades, ecologists have assumed the worst invasive species—such as brown tree snakes and kudzu—have an “away-field advantage.” They succeed because they do better in their new territories than they do at home. A new study led by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center reveals that this fundamental assumption is not nearly as common as people might think.
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