Pennies and nickels add up to success: Maggie Lena Walker
Maggie Lena Walker was one of the most important Black businesswomen in the nation, and today too few people have heard of her.Maggie Lena...
In 1868, black suffrage was on the ballot
Every election season in the United States revolves around a set of issues—health care, foreign affairs, the economy. In 1868, at the...
How black Philadelphians fought for soldiers during World War I
Suffering from "shell shock and a general breakdown," Charles Mackall and James Randall arrived in Philadelphia in September 1918 from...

Blog

Race to the Museum: Balzer automobile, 1894
This post is the second in a series of eight profiling automobiles in the museum’s collection. At the conclusion of the series on Tuesday,...
Race to the Museum: Long steam tricycle, about 1880
This post is the first in a series of eight profiling automobiles in the museum’s collection. At the conclusion of the series on Tuesday,...
Race to the Museum: Voting opens Dec. 21
In the museum, there is a cabinet full of keys—keys that fit the 73 cars in the museum’s automobile collection. Fourteen of these cars are...
A few of our favorite things
As museum professionals, we’re often asked about our favorite artifacts in the museum. In the Thinkfinity online community, this question...
Photographing (painting) the Dolls' House
Recently, when asked about my photographs which are featured in William L. Bird, Jr’s book, America’s Doll House: The Miniature World...
American girlhood
When I was a little girl, we alternated between taking family vacations to Disneyworld and Colonial Williamsburg. And I have to say I had...
50 years of running COBOL
COBOL, a COmmon Business-Oriented Language, was proposed by a committee of programmers from business and government in 1959 and...
A victory for chard
Editor’s note: This post is the fourth in a series of monthly posts exploring the work of Smithsonian Gardens and...
Exploring historical connections in China
It is good to be back at the National Museum of American History after a ten-day visit to Shanghai, China. The main reason for my trip was...
Preserving the Maid of Cotton collection
During my internship with the Archives Center I’ve had the opportunity to work on the Maid of Cotton Collection. Running...
Thanking our legacy donors
Recently, Director Brent Glass hosted a “thank you” luncheon for a small group of the museum’s planned giving donors. The highlight was a...
Thanksgiving in a can
For early Thanksgiving meals, I bet someone went out and hunted a turkey, gathered some cranberries, and harvested some spinach and...
Welcoming our littlest visitors
Sure, toddlers love dinosaurs and things that they can climb on. But did you know they also love history? When parents want to take their...
Squirrels stealing the scene at the Smithsonian
When I thought about doing an internship at the National Museum of American History, the idea of working in the building that houses the...
New take on the old museum field trip
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on Smithsonian Magazine’s Around the Mall blog. Do you have a great idea for...
Picturing veterans
Of the more than 100 photos submitted to the museum’s Star-Spangled Banner Share Your Story Project on Flickr (which is still...
Caofeidian: China's city of the future or urban laboratory?
Last year on this blog, I wrote about the development of Dongtan, China’s planned eco-city near Shanghai. Once billed as the world’s...
Doughboy uniform in khaki and green with helmet and gas mask
Learning about sacrifice on Veterans Day
As Veterans Day approaches, I have found myself reflecting on the common practice of having grade school students interview veterans for...
You Asked, We Answer: Taking Care of Your Own Archives
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on The Smithsonian Archives’ blog, The Bigger Picture. As many of you may know, a couple...
Teaching history by telling stories
So much of what I do as a museum educator is about telling stories. For example, I write parent guides to help families read stories...
"Tapping" into innovation
On a recent trip to Wisconsin, I had the opportunity to spend a morning and afternoon in the City of Milwaukee. Now, I’m a regular visitor...
Sacred ground: Smithsonian Gardens commemorating Medal of Honor recipients
Editor’s note: This post is the third in a series of monthly posts exploring the work of Smithsonian Gardens and...
Political campaigning before Twitter and Facebook
Many of today’s political candidates harness social media to rally the electorate. But what did politicians do before the advent of...
Hallowe’en? Putting the apostrophe back
Hallowe’en is one of America’s most popular holidays, for a variety of reasons. Although it has clear antecedents in the ancient Celtic...
Remembering life on the Day of the Dead
My first job after college was teaching elementary students at a bilingual school in Mexico City. While the majority of our students were...
In black and white photo, a young girl looks at doll house with guidance of an older woman
The miniature world of Faith Bradford
Meet the Dolls. This miniature family consists of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Doll, their 10 children, two visiting grandparents, five servants, and...
Meet Marty Bienstock, Spark!Lab docent
You may have seen Lemelson Center docents in action in the lab; now learn how they came to be Smithsonian volunteers. Allow...
An Undercover Invention: Baseball Covers and Stitching
Editor's Note: This post was originally published on the Smithsonian Collections Blog as part of a 31-day Blogathon in October for...
You asked, we answer: What happened to the Pentagon flag from September 11, 2001?
Some of the most frequently asked questions we receive at the museum have to do with objects that were once on display but are no longer on...
Physicists at play: The 2010 Nobel Prize winners
“Physics is phun!” my high-school physics teacher loved to write, and certainly these Nobel Prize winners would agree. Dr. Andre Geim...
Backstage at the museum
Loyal readers of our blog are surely familiar with the museum's theater programs, especially Join the Student Sit-Ins. This...
The National Mall then and now
Last week on the museum’s Facebook page, we featured a photograph of the National Mall taken from the Washington Monument in 1965. We...
From the Victory Garden: If you like it hot
Editor’s note: This post is the second in a series of monthly posts exploring the work of Smithsonian Gardens and...
Memories of a wartime poster model
Editor's Note: This post was originally published on the Smithsonian Collections Blog as part of a 31-day Blogathon in October for...
Star-Spangled Banner flag on a platform, nearly horizontal. Dark room. The flag is battered but vivid. On the wall, the first stanza of national anthem in white.
You asked, we answer: Is the Star-Spangled Banner a poem or a song?
"Then in that hour of deliverance and joyful triumph, my heart spoke…" —Francis Scott KeyMany visitors have noticed that in our ...
Mariela Melero and Brent D. Glass stand near artifacts, including a yellow shirt for a doll that Mariela is holding, which were donated to the National Museum of American History by the Melero family
A tiny yellow doll's shirt: telling the story of immigration through objects
As chronicled in several of our past posts, the National Museum of American History regularly holds naturalization ceremonies in...
Exploring continuity and change through the history of the bicycle
Editor’s Note: We encourage teachers to integrate the museum’s online resources into their classroom teaching. Today’s post is written by...
Chulitos, a recipe made with the vegetable yucca
Don’t say “yuk” to yucca
Much of what we do at the museum is for the visitors: exhibits, programs, lectures, and performances. We want our guests to enjoy...
Making "Music for The World of Tomorrow"
Editor’s note: This post, written by Ryan Holladay, member of the D.C. music collective Bluebrain, is second in a series about...
Reminder: Tell us what you think about the blog
From time to time, we ask our blog readers about your preferences and interests so that we can serve you better. If you haven't already...
A personal British invasion
Back home in Britain, we have a lot of history. I’ve visited the Tower of London, Edinburgh Castle, and Westminster Abbey, and I’ve grown...
Pu pu platters versus birthday cakes
In my previous posts I’ve mentioned how growing up in a Chinese restaurant was a fantastic experience. Let me tell you about one...
Why commemorate the centennial of the Mexican Revolution?
In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, the National Museum of American History will hold a symposium and cultural festival, ...
"So whatever will happen": Music celebrates Haitian cultural identity
In the French Creole language, the song “Alayon bon peyi se Ayiti,” by Haitian composer Moise Abraham, can be translated “So whatever will...
Stories of the Mexican Revolution
Curators use objects to tell a story about an event, a period of history, a person, a group of people, or a movement. Because we have a...
Independent inventors, hidden in plain sight
At lunch a few days ago, I was sitting next to a retired engineer from the U.S. Department of Energy. When I told him about our work at the...
Haiti's voices of hope
I’ve now made half a dozen visits to Haiti over the past months, putting into place a Smithsonian effort to help Haitians save their...
Remembering September 11, 2001
Photo of World Trade Center towers against a clear morning sky on September 11, 2001. Gift of John Labriola. What I remember about the...

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