Sparkles under the spotlight: Designing a costume for Kristi Yamaguchi
Picture it: you're sitting with thousands of other audience members in a darkened arena. Suddenly, a spotlight illuminates a small circle...
You're invited to a Bowl of Rice Party
Wartime often catalyzes developments in philanthropy. In 2017, the museum added the Bowl of Rice party banner, from fundraising efforts to...
Alice Tetsuko Kono: Wise, well-traveled, WAC
Museum Specialist Noriko Sanefuji and Curator Katherine Ott invited students in Dr. Samuel J. Redman's Museum and Historic Site...

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A group of menstrual products in their original packaging, including tampons, sanitary napkins, a menstrual cup, and a sanitary belt.
Introducing the MUM Menstrual History Collection
Tampons. Sanitary napkins and belts. Menstrual cups, sponges, and other period products. Women and girls around the world depend on these...
A weathered white driver’s suit with prominent logos for Goodyear and other companies.
The Black American Racers fought for equity in auto racing
“The recognition of the Smithsonian collecting these artifacts gives us even more motivation to move forward and still try to get the word...
Emerson radio with an elaborate front facing decorated with characters from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, who are posed as if standing around a wooden house with a large window.
Is this 1937 radio the fairest one of all?
On December 21, 1937, Walt Disney released his first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Accompanying the movie,...
Julian “Cannonball” Adderley plays a saxophone on a stage.
The history behind Julian “Cannonball” Adderley’s saxophone
A few seconds past the five-minute mark in "So What," the opening track of Miles Davis's masterpiece album Kind of Blue, an alto sax moves...
Woodblock of four coffins. The black coffins appear side by side, and they are each decorated with a skull and crossbones. Each includes the unique individuals of a Bostonian killed during the Boston Massacre; one also includes a sickle and an hourglass.
Comparing coffins, remembering the Boston Massacre
On March 5, 1770, a group of British soldiers open fired on a group of Boston citizens, killing five. This event, the Boston Massacre, was...
A colorful square sticker with various messages, including “Be Kind” and “Stay 6 Feet Behind.”
Artistic inspiration in the face of a pandemic
As part of the museum’s initiative to document COVID-19, the Graphic Arts Collection acquired a group of artistic works that were produced...
Cards with visitor messages, which range from "Like most girls in my generation, I babysat as soon as I turned 10" to "Only babysitting. I hated it."
What does babysitting mean to girls? It's complicated.
Two different guests linger at the Talk Back table at the end of the exhibition Girlhood (It’s complicated). Each one picks up a pen to...
Jill Biden’s ensemble from the 2021 inauguration's swearing-in ceremony. The ensemble’s dress, and coat are ocean blue. The tweed dress’s neckline is decorated with Swarovski pearls and crystals.
New dresses, new traditions: Jill Biden’s inaugural ensembles go on view
Today first lady Jill Biden came to our museum to present her inaugural ensembles to the national collection and see them placed on...
A woman’s blue American Women’s Voluntary Services uniform jacket and shirt posed on a mannequin torso. The uniform includes a large shoulder bag decorated with badges and pins. 
Betty White's shoulder bag is a time capsule of World War II
On December 31, 2021, the beloved actress Betty Marion White Ludden (1922–2021) passed away at 99 years old, weeks shy of her hundredth...
Black and white photo of Riker electric automobile parked outside. 
Will electric cars help save the environment? 
General Motors EV1 electric car, 1997 (2005.0061.01)A Smithsonian magazine reader asked a seemingly simple question: Does building electric...
Close zoom on a handmade U.S. flag with 48 stars and 13 stripes attached to a short bamboo pole. Some of its details illustrate how it was created with found materials by U.S. soldiers held as POWs during World War II: bleeding colors, uneven stitching, and browned medical tape.
One flag–and the two soldiers who carried it
Unassuming at first glance, a U.S. flag that recently joined our museum's collection brings together the remarkable stories of two U.S....
A small yellow tin container decorated with the illustration of a suited man brushing his teeth with a toothbrush. Illustrated ribbons posed next to the man say "Sozodont for cleansing" and "Powder the teeth."
A brush with history
Consider the toothbrush—so small and yet so important for health and happiness—and how it came into our lives. The earliest examples were...
The Talk Back section of the exhibition Girlhood: It's complicated
Girls talk back on questions of body autonomy
“Has someone else ever made a decision that affected your body?”This is one of the questions the creators of the exhibition Girlhood (It’s...
Six cards with visitor messages that invoke girl power.
Talking back with girl power
Since “Girlhood: It's complicated” opened in 2020, hundreds of visitors have made “Girl Power” a part of their messages to the museum.What...
Rosary with metal crucifix and black beads. Circular and rectangular medals are positioned regularly along the chain
Beads of faith: Exploring the diversity of American rosaries in the museum’s collection
Rosaries or prayer beads are an essential part of American material religion, the study of the objects, icons, images, and spaces of...
A top-down view of the Magnavox controller showing off its faux-wood paneling, three dials, and instruction text: English, Horizontal, Reset, and Vertical. A thick beige cable is wrapped around the controller's base.
The Magnavox Odyssey predicted the future of video games
In September 1972, the Magnavox Odyssey appeared in American Magnavox stores, making it the first video game console that could be played...
Screenshot from the Match the Money game’s closing video showing a human figure riding through the air atop a large goose while a Resplendent Quetzal bird flies in the background.
Making Match the Money
Earlier this year, the museum opened its very first money gallery for children, Really BIG Money. In addition to amazing objects (many...
A pocket sundial. The sundial is covered with both functional and decorative engravings as well as gold accents, including a golden gnomon with a support in the shape of a bird. Its compass is a six pointed star.
How did a French pocket sundial end up buried in a field in Indiana?
Sometimes, the records of unassuming objects preserve curious stories. Over the past year, while trying to find out more about a small...
Ita Aber
How a Jewish female textile artist folded her identities into a challah cover
Food plays a critical role in many Jewish religious festivities, such as challah bread at weekly Shabbat services or holidays. Whether...
Graduation cap, gown, rainbow-colored stole, and costume wings in the pattern of Monarch butterfly wings. The top of the cap is decorated with flowers and has a message, "I am one of those people Mexico sent."
Making history happen: Reflecting on DACA and its impact
In 2011, one year after the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act failed to pass through the Senate, members of...
An illustrated oversize coin head decorated with Romain coins
2 experts, 165 coins, 1 really big head
While installing a new exhibition called Really BIG Money, we—collections manager Jennifer and mount maker Laura—faced a number of...
Detail from the cover of the magazine, ONE: The Homosexual Viewpoint, with a black-and-white illustration of the Biblical Magi
Servant of God: How a 1960s magazine addressed gay men’s spiritual needs
The cover of the December 1960 issue of “ONE: The Homosexual Viewpoint,” titled “Homosexual, Servant of God,” picturing three kings on...
Large stone shaped like a donut, with a hollow center. One side has cracked and broken away from the rest of the stone.
What can really BIG money teach us about our world?
Long feathers that shimmer in the light. A formidably heavy stone ring. An iron blade taller than most children. A hoard of ancient coins...
Poster showing a woman worker in a jumpsuit and bandana rolling up her right sleeve. Above her head is a speech bubble with the text, "We Can Do It!"
Rosie, Wendy, and Government Girls: The women behind the war
Poster, “Soldiers without guns.” Courtesy of Library of Congress (2002719121)In 1943, faced with labor shortages during World War II, U.S....
Page from copybook showing illustration of a child seated in various positions as a desk, as well as diagrams showing how to hold a writing instrument in a right hand
Don’t write off cursive yet
Words are an essential means of communication, yet how we put them down in writing has been continuously shaped over time by technologies,...
Sepia-toned photo of young African American man in U.S. Marine Corps uniform
Calvin and Clarence Curtis: Montford Point Marines
Like many young men during World War II, Calvin Curtis and his fraternal twin brother, Clarence, were drafted in 1943. They were juniors in...
Eight insignia patches decorated with symbols, including elk, moons, swords, and stars.
Of service and thanks: Collecting after January 6
Like many around the world, I spent the afternoon of January 6, 2021, watching the news and absorbing the chaotic events unfolding at the U...
U.S. map. One large arrow beginning in Jamestown, Virginia cuts through the U.S. South, labeled “God’s Curse Slavery.” Another arrow, starting in Plymouth, Massachusetts, cuts through the U.S. North, labeled “God’s Blessing Liberty.”
Does Thanksgiving have room for both thankfulness and mourning?
Is there room in Americans’ Thanksgiving celebrations for both thankfulness and mourning?That challenging question arose as my colleagues...
Gordo comic strip. Uncle Mio (wearing a suit and carrying a box of chocolates bouquet of flowers) talks to his nephew, who explains the qualities of different types of flowers. Behind the two figures appear precise, scientific diagrams of flowers.
Gus Arriola and Gordo, agents of Mexican culture
On February 3, 2008, San Francisco Chronicle writer Wyatt Buchanan reflected on the life of Gustavo "Gus" Arriola, creator of the comic...
Martha Raye in conversation with members of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. Raye and the soldiers sit outside on benches.
“Maggie of the Boondocks”: Martha Raye and a lifetime of service to the U.S. Armed Forces
Around 1966, Dr. Carl Bartecchi was serving as an army flight surgeon in the Mekong Delta in South Vietnam. When units in his area engaged...
A woman delivers a presentation in front of a large group of seated people. The stage is filled with various electrical appliances, as well as a large banner with the text, "Electricity, your helper, convenient, safe, economical," as well as as a smaller poster titled "Electric Cooking ABCs."
Refrigerators and women’s empowerment: The “peaceful revolution” of rural electrification
Louisan Mamer, known as the First Lady of the REA, spearheaded the expansion of women’s roles in business and leadership through her work...
Conservator sews linen thread along the spine of the Caramelo Deportivo album
Unveiling the Caramelo Deportivo through conservation
In preparation for an exhibition, all objects undergo a thorough assessment of their condition. Conservators determine whether the objects...
Cover of the Caramelo Deportivo baseball card album decorated with illustrations of player and related baseball ephemera
Caramelo Deportivo: A card collection that blurred baseball's color line
Caramelo Deportivo baseball card album after treatment by conservation technician Verónica Mercado Oliveras. The album contains cards of...
Two images. On the left, a small metal badge, decorated with an engraved star and other small line flourishes. The main engraving reads "Niagra, F. C., No. 8, 1861, W. P. P." On the right, an ornamental silver trumpet.
Two objects bring the history of African American firefighting to light
It’s late winter of 2006 and an ornate silver speaking trumpet is on offer at a prestigious New York City auction house. The engraved...
Dozens of women seated behind rows of desks in a large office space
Just like “planning a dinner”? The feminization of computer programming
In 1967, the magazine Cosmopolitan featured an article about the growing number of job opportunities for women in computer programming. In...
Four images. Leather pants and jeans, orange and white Cuban rumba dress, a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball jersey with the player number 21, and a margarita machine decorated with faux-wood paneling.
Ten objects that will help you understand Latinx history
The National Museum of American History has over 2 million items in its collections, spanning every topic you could think of. And from...
Wagon panels with faded artwork advertising a traveling production of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, leaning against a wall outside a building
Conserving pieces of the history of Uncle Tom's Cabin
During my time at the museum’s object conservation lab, I discovered that a set of painted panels in the museum’s collection had quite a...
Los Boricuas jersey, with initials SS, the team name, and the the team's cartoon mascot, a stylized coqui frog in a baseball uniform and helmet, standing at bat
Suit up! Honoring Latino heritage on the field
Custom uniforms display cultural pride and signal Latino presence and excellence in baseball, America’s pastime. The colorful jerseys and...
Anna Dickinson, seated
Meet Anna Dickinson: Trailblazing orator and political firebrand
On a Saturday evening in January 1864, abolitionist Anna Dickinson stood inside the Hall of Representatives looking out into the U.S. House...
Cartoon illustration of the Smithsonian Castle on the National Mall buried underneath stacks of crates and barrels marked with the initials, "TR."
Clifford Berryman and the Teddy Roosevelt African Expedition
“The East African Express is Arriving” pen and ink drawing by Clifford Kennedy Berryman, dated August 25, 1909 (GA.12195)This pen and ink...
Glass tube with label for helium inside a wooden box, adjacent to the box's removed lid
Historic helium sample surfaces at Smithsonian
This glass tube, part of the museum’s collection, once contained a sample of helium. Its paper label reads, “HELIUM / SIR W. RAMSAY, K.C.B...
Cher Ami
He? She? Or just plain Cher Ami? Solving a century-old pigeon mystery
This summer marks the centennial of a bird—possibly the most famous pigeon in history—going on display at the Smithsonian. A representative...
Group of people led by Dr. Marie Curie and President Harding walking down steps at the White House
Radium and the Gift from the Women of America
One hundred years ago Marie Curie stood among the rose bushes, the press, and a crowd of White House guests, holding a golden key. The key...
Case showing changes in girls' uniforms in exhibition, Girlhood: It's complicated
Why Girlhood?
"Girlhood (It’s complicated)" opened to the public on October 9, 2020.Three years ago our museum convened a diverse group of scholars and...
Detail of ten dollar note showing illustration of an interiror iron foundry with figures working
Rebecca Lukens: A woman of iron
A sudden tragedy thrust Rebecca Lukens into the family business and into history, making her the nation’s first woman industrialist and the...
Photo of the Capitol Building from the National Mall, with a person in a military uniform walking in the foreground
The cold morning of the day after
On January 6, my wife and I watched the live news broadcasts in disbelief at the scenes unfolding on television, as a violent mob stormed...
Jessica Govea
How one girl helped build a Latinx civil rights movement
As a little girl, Jessica Govea had become accustomed to rising early and making her way to the fields with her family. During the cotton...
Isabella Aiukli Cornell’s prom dress
Isabella Aiukli Cornell makes prom political
For many high school students in the United States, prom is considered one of the most highly anticipated events of the school year....

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