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There are plenty of reasons to feel hopeful about the future of these vulnerable Eastern box turtles. 🐢 “Collecting all ...
09/01/2026

There are plenty of reasons to feel hopeful about the future of these vulnerable Eastern box turtles. 🐢

“Collecting all the right the data is a slow, steady process,” said Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute researcher Mark Ketner, “but they’re turtles. They figured this out over 200 million years ago, and they know exactly what they need. Our goal is to figure that out too, but in less time.”

New York’s own Peter Parker was on Broadway. Yes, we’re serious. In 2011, “Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark” officially ope...
08/31/2026

New York’s own Peter Parker was on Broadway. Yes, we’re serious.

In 2011, “Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark” officially opened on Broadway. A rock musical with music by U2’s Bono and The Edge, is remembered by many theater aficionados as one of the more dangerous Broadway productions. Multiple cast members were seriously injured during the show’s run. It eventually closed in early 2014, citing an inability to procure injury insurance as one of the reasons.

Spider-Man is not the only superhero to experience a short-lived stint on Broadway. In 1966, Superman enjoyed center stage for 129 performances of “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman.” Both Playbills and Spider-Man costume by Eiko Ishioka are in the collection of National Museum of American History.

The hottest pattern in town: parks. 🏔️🌳 A decade after President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the National Par...
08/28/2026

The hottest pattern in town: parks. 🏔️🌳 A decade after President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the National Park Service, American manufacturers H.R. Mallinson & Co., Inc. introduced a new series of printed silks inspired by national parks in 1926.

During World War I, the company was at the forefront of the "Designed in America" campaign to assert American independence from Europe in textile design. Like other leading textile manufacturers during this period, they leaned into Americana.

Customers could choose from 12 different designs, each available in eight to 12 color combinations on three different fabrics.

Swipe to see a few of the designs and the National Park Service sites that inspired them. Which national park would you want to be wearing?



🏔:

Yellowstone National Park
Yosemite National Park
Grand Canyon National Park
Bryce Canyon National Park
Mount Rainier National Park

🧵: Designs from the "National Parks” textile series by American silk manufacturer H.R. Mallinson & Co are in the collections of our National Museum of American History (pictured above) and our Cooper Hewitt.

📷: National Park Servicee & U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

“Our earth is only one polka dot among a million stars in the cosmos. Polka dots are a way to infinity.” –Yayoi KusamaWe...
08/27/2026

“Our earth is only one polka dot among a million stars in the cosmos. Polka dots are a way to infinity.” –Yayoi Kusama

We remember Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who splashed our worlds—and Instagram feeds—with repetitive polka dot patterns and kaleidoscopic installations.

Our Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has been collecting Kusama’s artwork since 1996. The museum is home to the artist’s milestone “Infinity Mirror Room—Phalli’s Field (Floor Show)” (1965/2017), the first of Kusama’s immersive installations to transform the intense repetition of her earlier artworks into a perceptual and participatory experience.

In 2017, the museum welcomed a record-breaking number of visitors to “Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors,” the first exhibition to position the artist’s Infinity Mirror Rooms at the center of her practice. More recently, the Hirshhorn exhibited “One with Eternity,” which featured five works in the museum’s permanent collection.

“I want to bring joy and happiness through art,” Kusama told Hirshhorn director Melissa Chiu. “I have no regrets to have spent all my life making art.”

📷:

Yayoi Kusama. Lucy R. Lippard papers. Smithsonian's Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Clips from “One with Eternity,” on view at the Hirshhorn in 2022-23.

Sometimes you just need to smile at a photo of cute dogs before you can go on with your day. These pictures were taken ...
08/26/2026

Sometimes you just need to smile at a photo of cute dogs before you can go on with your day.

These pictures were taken by photographer Philip D. Gendreau. Gendreau began his photography career while traveling on merchant ships as a young man. In the 1920s, he started his own company and eventually moved to New York City where he captured the daily lives of New Yorkers for various publications, including school textbooks and Life Magazine. These images of Boston Terriers, English Setters, and a Wire-Haired Terrier are in the collection of National Museum of American History. The Boston Terriers are named Sonny Boy and Patsy!

We remember Dolly Parton, singer, musician, songwriter, actor, and businesswoman. Known as the “queen of country,” Parto...
08/25/2026

We remember Dolly Parton, singer, musician, songwriter, actor, and businesswoman. Known as the “queen of country,” Parton was a mainstay in American popular culture for six decades.

With grit, boldness, and a cup of ambition, Parton earned national fame at an early age. In 1967, she joined country singer Porter Wagoner on the television variety program “The Porter Wagoner Show.” Over the next decade, Parton released chart-topping hits, including “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You,” later covered by singer Whitney Houston in 1992.

More recently, her collaborations with musicians Beyonce, Miley Cyrus, and Sabrina Carpenter introduced her to a new generation of music fans. Parton was awarded 11 Grammys, and she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.

Outside of music, Dolly was a prolific philanthropist. Established in 1988, “The Dollywood Foundation,” included programs that expanded childhood literacy through the “Imagination Library” program, decreased dropout rates, and provided scholarships for continuing education.

These pictures of Dolly Parton are in our National Museum of American History

🎶: This photo of Dolly Parton is the back cover of the “Heartbreaker” album songbook. The book features photos of the singer alongside the music and lyrics from “Heartbreaker,” her 20th solo studio album released in 1978 that included hits like “Heartbreaker,” “I Really Got the Feeling,” and “Baby I’m Burnin.” Credit: Columbia Pictures Publications, 1979.

📷: Henry Horenstein captured this shot in 1972. On that day, Parton told him, “People don’t come out to see me looking like everybody else.”

☕: This film poster of the 1980 movie “9 to 5” features Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton and Dabney Coleman. The film’s theme song of the same name, written by Parton, won two Grammy Awards and a People’s Choice Award.

08/25/2026

From romantic keepsakes for secret lovers to morbid mementos of deceased loved ones, hair jewelry, like this locket from our Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum , was very popular in the 1800s.

While hair jewelry could be made at home, they were also designed and hand crafted by jewelers, as explained by curator Emily Orr. This locket contains finely braided human hair with four gold toned bands surrounding a silhouette by artist John Miers. The brooch, also in our Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, was also made by weaving hair together. This design was featured in Charles T. Menge’s 1873 design catalogue published in New York.

📖: “Charles T. Menge’s price list of ornamental hair jewelry and device work,” 1873. In the collection of our Smithsonian Libraries Archives.

Jackie Kennedy after catching a wave: icon. Us regular humans after catching a wave: eating sand. 🌊 Photographer Jacques...
08/24/2026

Jackie Kennedy after catching a wave: icon. Us regular humans after catching a wave: eating sand. 🌊

Photographer Jacques Lowe, a German immigrant and Holocaust survivor, was only 28 years old when he began photographing future President John F. Kennedy and his family. He captured Kennedy on the campaign trail and later served as personal photographer to the first family when they entered the White House.

Lowe captured this photograph of Jackie Kennedy at the beach in August 1960, just three months before her husband won the presidential race against Richard Nixon.

Lowe’s photographs, like this one, illuminated the warmth and humanity of the Kennedys that solidified their image as a young, modern American family. In one of Lowe’s earliest photos of the family, baby Caroline shoves her mother’s pearl necklace in her mouth. In another, we see the couple sipping coffee in a small-town diner. And just before the Kennedys posed for a formal 1959 holiday card, toddler Caroline plants a kiss on her father’s cheek.

Stored in a vault in the World Trade Center, more than 40,000 of Lowe’s photo negatives were destroyed during the September 11 attacks. Our National Portrait Gallery USA is home to numerous images of the Kennedys by Lowe, printed two years earlier.

📷: Bathing Suit with Fins by Jacques Lowe, 1960. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. © Estate of Jacques Lowe Photo by Jacques Lowe / F. Harvey Collection.

He's the "Godfather of Go-Go.” Multi-talented musician Chuck Brown fused rhythm and blues, Latin Jazz, and funk music in...
08/21/2026

He's the "Godfather of Go-Go.”

Multi-talented musician Chuck Brown fused rhythm and blues, Latin Jazz, and funk music into D.C.'s official music genre, "Go-Go."
If you don't think you're familiar with Go-Go music, think again. Elements of Brown's song "Bustin' Loose," for example, was sampled in 2002's "Hot in Herre" by Nelly.

Dwan Reece, curator at our Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, remarked in our Smithsonian Magazine that Chuck Brown’s performances were electric. “There was an energy, and it was infectious. There was no line between the performer and the audience.”

Chuck Brown and his bands, including Soul Searchers, performed at our Anacostia Community Museum multiple times in his career. Tomorrow, August 22, on what would be his 90th birthday, celebrate Go-Go music with our Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum’s “Go-Go Fitness” event.

https://anacostia.si.edu/events?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D205901099
…
📸: "Chuck Brown performing with Chuck Brown Band on the Funk Fest Tour at Hampton Coliseum," November 2011, DC Public Library, The People's Archive, Chip Py Go-Go Collection.
🎸: Chuck Brown's Gibson Guitar, in the collection of Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum.

Editing a picture is not as modern as you may think. Artist W.H. Martin was famous for his early 20th century photomonta...
08/20/2026

Editing a picture is not as modern as you may think.

Artist W.H. Martin was famous for his early 20th century photomontages where he combined different photographs to create "out-of-scale" exaggerated scenes. He would then rephotograph these collages to create comedic postcards. They served as a relief from the harsh realities of midwestern agricultural life while also satirizing the idealized pictures that had lured people to the region a generation earlier.

This image features a county fair where the ears of corn are so large, each need its own wagon!

🌽 W. H. Martin, "Our County Fair contest on Iowa corn," 1908, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery.

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