Podcasts

Our newest podcast is Collected, a project of the museum’s African American History Curatorial Collective. Centering stories curated by the Collective’s members, this podcast offers compelling and accessible journeys through topics in African American history that are particularly relevant today. The topic for the first season of Collected, launching February 2022, is Black Feminism.

Listen, learn more, and subscribe.

Lost at the SmithsonianIn 2019, the museum hosted the ten-episode series Lost at the Smithsonian. Comedian and pop culture fanatic Aasif Mandvi gets up close and personal with the most iconic artifacts at the National Museum of American History.

Learn more.

Formerly, the museum produced two podcast series:

  • “History Explorer” took listeners along on our staff’s intellectual adventures as they conduct exciting research and collect objects—both the iconic and seemingly mundane—to tell compelling stories about American history. Accompanying each episode is a teacher guide and images. Visit the Smithsonian's History Explorer website for more free educational materials.
  • “Prototype Online: Inventive Voices” was produced by the museum's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation and features interviews and lectures of renowned inventors and innovators. 

Individual episodes for these two series are presented on this page below.