Skip to main content
Smithsonian Website
Search Google Appliance
Enter the terms you wish to search for.
Donate Button
Donate
American History Home
American History Home
Menu
O Say Can You See?
Stories from the Museum
Collections & Exhibitions
Search the Collections
Search for...
Show only items with images
Show only items with no use restrictions
Browse by Subject
Online Exhibitions
Object Groups
Archives Center
Rights and Reproductions
Topics
American Culture
Infectious Disease History
Innovation
Latino History
The Nation We Build Together
Women's History
See all topics...
Connect to History
O Say Can You See? Blog
Digital and Social Media
Monthly Newsletter
This Day in History
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Pinterest
Instagram
Teachers & Students
Resources for Educators
Fun Stuff for Kids
FAQ for Educators
FAQ for Parents
Plan a Field Trip
Plan Your Visit
General Visit Info
Info en español
Hours
Getting Here
Museum Map
FAQ for Visitors
Plan a Field Trip
Today's Hours
Closed
View in Maps
Exhibitions
On View
Upcoming
Events
Daily Calendar
Pandemic Perspectives
Viral Histories
Jazz
Chamber Music
The Museum
Director's Message
Mission & History
Strategic Plan
FAQs
Press Information
Museum Reports
Facility Rental
Our People
Staff
Departments
Staff Publications
Museum Board
Contact Information
Get Involved
Internship Program
Fellowship Program
Volunteer Program
Job Opportunities
Membership & Giving
Learn More and Donate
Join the Council
Gift Planning
When Watchmen were Klansmen
Note: While history shouldn’t require a spoiler alert, this blog does contain some minor ones regarding the HBO series Watchmen.“You know...
How picturing the Boston Massacre matters
Maybe this painting looks familiar. A long row of red-coated soldiers. A cloud of gun smoke engulfing the street. Falling bodies.Detail of...
The most radical thing about Stonewall wasn’t the uprising
The Stonewall uprising began June 28, 1969, in response to a police raid at The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York, and has since...
Blog Posts in "Music"
View All
Business History
Food History
Latino History & Culture
Medicine & Science
Philanthropy
More Categories
All Categories
Philanthropy
Reopening
Remember Abe
September 11
Star-Spangled Banner
Stories of Freedom & Justice
Religion in America
Race to the Museum
Object Project
Numismatics
On the Web
Podcasts
Public Programs
Teaching & Learning
You Asked, We Answer
Video
Textiles
Women's History
World War I
Now on View
Musings
Director's Notes
Construction
Disability History
Donor Spotlight
Film & Television
Conserving Jefferson's Bible
Clothing & Accessories
American Agriculture
America Participates
Back to Our Roots
Business History
Civil War 150
First Ladies
Food & Shopping
Latino History & Culture
Kids in Museums
LGBTQ
Medicine & Science
Music
Julia Child Recipe of the Week
Jazz Appreciation
Freedom Summer
Food History
From the Collections
Intern Perspectives
Invention & Innovation
50th Anniversary
What did 1889 sound like?
Q: What’s cylindrical, made of wax, and part of one of history’s great showdowns?A: These records in the museum collection with audio...
Remembering Woodstock
The weekend of August 15 through 18, 1969, approximately 400,000 revelers traveled from near and far to inhabit the rolling fields of Max...
EDM in the history museum: Steve Aoki gear travels the world and finds a home at the museum
Music blasts toward the audience as concertgoers dance to Steve Aoki's pounding bass rhythms and bright LED displays. The DJ throws cakes...
Musician José Feliciano shook up a baseball tradition at age 23
José Feliciano will remain forever celebrated for his perennial Christmas classic "Feliz Navidad," one of his many hit recordings that have...
4 music-inspiring objects through the eyes of our Making American Music interns
Musical inspiration abounds in the collections and exhibitions around us. As interns in the Making American Music project, we get to follow...
Reflecting on the Queen of Soul's reign in American culture
Today we're reflecting on the life of singer, songwriter, diva, civil rights activist, and cultural icon Aretha Franklin. Over 100 of...
An anti-slavery anthem reimagined for today
Turn right at the Batmobile. Take the elevator behind the John Bull locomotive. If you hit Julia Child's kitchen, you've gone too far. My...
New York City’s Sängerfest of 1894
Piano manufacturer William Steinway kept a diary from 1861 to 1896. It resides in the National Museum of American History’s Archives Center...
How do the arts promote social change?
The arts are "a space where we can give dignity to others while interrogating our own circumstances," Darren Walker, president of the...
Norman Granz: Revolutionizing jazz for social justice
A civil rights protest often invokes the vivid images of sit-ins, boycotts, and marches, but the fight for racial equality took many...
5 objects that James Smithson might be surprised to find in the institution he founded – until he learned their philanthropy stories
James Smithson might be surprised to learn about some of the objects in the collections at the institution he established. The Englishman...
A-tisket, a-tasket, a hit song in her basket: Ella's rise to fame
"They're swingin' everything else—why not nursery rhymes?" stated Ella Fitzgerald while dancing around the room showcasing some new dance...
Pure Cotton with a Berry on Top: The Legacies of Chuck Berry and James Cotton
Only a few days after the passing of James Cotton, one of the country's greatest blues harmonica players, we lost one of our greatest...
At our "Draper Spark!Lab" the sound of homemade banjos beckons
Around age eight I decided I wanted to play the violin. Fortunately, my parents had the access and money to buy a new instrument for me....
Ella at the gala: Ella Fitzgerald's performance at the Kennedy Inaugural Gala
Within the Ella Fitzgerald Papers collection, a hidden gem reveals a surprising connection between Fitzgerald and President John F. Kennedy...
Itching to see the jumping flea: The great 1915 ukulele craze
In recent years, the ukulele, or jumping (lele) flea (‘uku) in Hawaiian, has received a renewed appeal. I've heard the instrument make...
Ecstatic frenzy over Wagner's "Ring Cycle" premieres
Are you a Wagner fan? If so, you were likely excited by the Washington National Opera's presentation of The Ring of the Nibelungen, a cycle...
The New Woman meets the old witch
How would you describe a witch? Black pointy hats probably spring to mind, as well as a range of distinguishing ugly features like crooked...
Conga drums and collaboration: A peek inside our Afro-Cuban Jazz concerts
On October 16 and 17, the museum's own big-band-in-residence, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra (SJMO) will kick off their 25th...
Turning the dial to 1928's Independence Day radio programming
Independence Day is often celebrated with picnics, parades, fireworks, and music. While I can't help with the first three, music is...
What made Nashville into Music City?
The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation's Places of Invention explores what happens when the right mix of...
Go-go, the funky, percussive music invented in Washington, D.C.
Experience live go-go music on Thursday, June 11, 2015, as part of our America Now! Music Festival.In the early 1970s, musical pioneer...
5 intriguing electric guitars from our collections
Happy 100th Birthday, Les Paul!June 9, 2015, is an important day for the guitar and music world: It is the centennial of the birth of...
5 things you probably didn't know about the ‘ukulele
The ‘ukulele, or ukulele, as it's spelled in American English ("uke" for short), is one of the first things that many people associate with...
Discovering the cool: Creating a visual identity for Jazz Appreciation Month
April is Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM), with a variety of events and programs throughout the museum and country designed to...
O say can you sing a different patriotic song?
On March 3, 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed a congressional act that made Francis Scott Key's "The Star-Spangled Banner" the...
On our holiday playlist: Duke Ellington's "Nutcracker" and a special suite for the Queen
Smithsonian Jazz Intern Jake Huss shares the stories behind the selections heard at the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra's holiday...
The beat goes on: New acquisitions once stomped out the soundtrack of Los Angeles
As the Museum gears up to open new exhibitions in 2015, 2016, and 2017, our curators have combed the country, looking for the richest...
Hashtag jazz: Tweeting jazz history day-by-day
You can learn a note or two of jazz history every day, just by reading @CelebrateJAM's tweets. Adam Whitehurst, the intern behind the...
Talking and playing Hawaiian slack key guitar with Dennis Kamakahi
What do cows have to do with slack key guitar music? Sarah Coffee from our education outreach team explains.For this month's episode of the...
Fiddling the Civil War
On certain days this winter, you could hear fiddle music coming from the Civil War section of our Price of Freedom exhibition. It...
Hair band history: Teasing hair and playing rock 'n' roll
Rocking leather jackets, teased hair, and loud music, Nova Rex traveled across America in the 1980s and early 1990s, living the rock 'n...
Feb. 11 1964, the Beatles' first concert in the United States
Eric Jentsch in our Division of Culture and the Arts shares the story of the first Beatles concert in America, which took place right here...
The Apollo Theater: "It's in the Cards"
For a good part of the twentieth century, Harlem’s Apollo Theater was one of the most prestigious, important, and well-known venues for...
Tweets by @amhistorymuseum
Search Google Appliance
Enter the terms you wish to search for.
Home
Exhibitions
Events
Collections
Educator Resources
Blog
Connect
About the Museum
About Our People
Get Involved
Giving
Press
Smithsonian Website