In the event of a government shutdown, American History will remain OPEN through at least Saturday, October 7, by using prior year funds. Visit si.edu for updates.
“¡Ataca Yomo!”: A close-up look at Yomo Toro’s cuatro
“¡Ataca Yomo! (Attack Yomo!),” shouts singer Héctor Lavoe as the bright notes of what sounds like a guitar solo start flying by our ears in...
What is it like to seek asylum in the United States?
Why do people leave their homelands to establish lives in other countries? What factors do people consider in leaving behind their...
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....

Blog Posts in "Business History"

Button with text, “Support Sanctuary for Refugees of Central American Wars.”
The origins of the Sanctuary Movement
These three posters from the 1980s display activist organizations opposing U.S. intervention in El Salvador. (2015.0066.17, 1984.0796.108,...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
Sponges of diverse shapes and colors arranged in a line
Rea Ann Silva: The woman behind Beautyblender
While the iconic egg-shaped Beautyblender sponge is wildly popular and used by makeup professionals and everyday people from all...
Boycott Grapes button
Essential and expendable: The rise of agricultural labor and the United Farm Workers
Until the successes of the United Farm Workers (UFW) in the 1960s, agriculture was one of the last industries to hold out on unionization...
25 years later: the legacy of the El Monte sweatshop raid
During the cool pre-dawn hours of August 2, 1995, a large multiagency task force led by the California Department of Industrial Relations...
Chef Lena Richard and others filming a television segment
Chef Lena Richard: Culinary Icon and Activist
Lena Richard was an African American chef who built a culinary empire in New Orleans during the Jim Crow era. She reshaped public...
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...
Happy days are here again banner.
100 years later, do we think Prohibition was good for the nation?
January 17, 1920, was an important day in American history. Why? Because on that day the grand social experiment called Prohibition was...
A winning design: Prang’s Christmas card contests of the 1880s
Have you ever wondered how companies pick their holiday card designs? How do they know what will sell? During the 1880s, Boston...
A group of people by what appears to be a hot-air balloon.
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...
Codex costume and staff, as worn by Felicia Day in The Guild
How The Guild beat Hollywood, one webisode at a time
Codex costume and staff, as worn by Felicia Day in "The Guild." Costume designed by Sarah Trost; staff designed by Greg Aronowitz....
From hanging on by a thread, to buying a thread: the rise of the U.S. silk industry
What do the popularity of luxury quilts have to do with the difficulty of feeding bugs? More than you think.Our new exhibition Everyday...
Jimmy Carter: American homebrew hero?
The next time you raise a glass of craft beer, make sure you toast former President Jimmy Carter. No, really. You should be offering your...
Bouquets in front of a gas station.
American dream turned nightmare
World Trade Center, September 2001, by Christophe AgouThe attacks of September 11, 2001, shocked the nation. Nearly 3,000 people were...
A graphic with a red background and a white illustration of the neck of a guitar with a bird resting on it.
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...
The impact of the Transcontinental Railroad on Native Americans
The Transcontinental Railroad was completed 150 years ago, in 1869. In 1800s America, some saw the railroad as a symbol of modernity and...
The hidden tractor
The National Museum of American History has a staggering 1.8 million objects in the collections. It isn’t possible for one person to know...
American history must-reads of 2018
These are our most fascinating blog posts of 2018, according to our readers.When FBI agents showed up with a pair of sparkly, red shoesA...
White celluloid collar on black background
A white collar with a message
Men’s celluloid collar, 1900sAt first glance, this collar from the 1800s might not look like much. A closer inspection shows that this...
Grace Hopper examines a computer at work.
Grace under pressure
On December 7, 1941, two days before her 35th birthday, Grace Murray Hopper, an associate professor of mathematics at Vassar College, was...
A book of poetry
The literary Luisa Moreno
Curators at the National Museum of American History often rely on scholars in the field to illuminate new areas of collection and research...
What you may not know about the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire
Shirtwaist made by Fisk, Clark & Flagg, about 1910.Shirtwaists, tailored blouses of the 1890s and early 1900s, became especially...
"Green Egg" GPS Receiver
The crop of the 21st century
"Information is your new crop!" proclaimed John Deere's brochure, announcing the company's newly launched GreenStar Precision Farming...
The top of a green wine bottle.
Grape gluts and Mother Clones: Prohibition and American wine
Congress passed the National Prohibition Act in January 1919, and a year later, Americans were barred from making, transporting, selling,...
Production drawings from Steamboat Willie show Mickey Mouse pulling on a string, tumbling on a bar of soap, and a wheel
Mickey Mouse turns 90
It is hard to believe, but Mickey Mouse is celebrating his 90th birthday this year. For an old mouse, he still looks pretty spry! One of...
What does Alexander Hamilton have to do with the lace industry in Ipswich, Massachusetts?
If you were rich and powerful, from the late 1500s on into the late 1700s, you would show off your wealth by adorning your fashionable...
A white doily with blue embroidery.
Entrepreneurial embroiderers
Embroidery by the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework is beautiful . . . but that's just the beginning of the story. These...
A blue robotic arm
Adventures in collecting: Kenneth Salisbury's robot hand
A visitor to Kenneth Salisbury's Stanford University office can't miss the evidence of his life-long fascination with hands.Kenneth...
Prohibition was fantastic for American beer, or, cheers to homebrewers
Did that title grab your attention? Great.Happy National Beer Day! When you open your fridge shortly after five o'clock this evening (or...
A woman with styled hair leans out a window.
The case of Luisa Moreno
In my first week as a curator at the National Museum of American History, I made a list of women I wished were present in the museum's...
A white debutante gown with an empire waste and fabric flowers around the neckline.
Sewing for joy: Ann Lowe
"I was 17 years old at the time and the dress made me feel so grown up and beautiful," Pauline "Polly" Carver Duxbury wrote about the dress...
A grey skirt suit, with a bolero jacket and a black belt.
From seams to strikes: Exploring women at work through clothing in our collection
What was life like for women in the workforce over the past 150 years? To help answer that question, I turned to the museum’s...
A red tractor
These tractors show 150 years of farming history
2018 is the Year of the Tractor at the museum. Curator Peter Liebhold explored gems of the museum's tractor collection and what they can...
Two lightbulbs, the bulb on the left has a blue cast
Bumping into new technologies: Hey, that's not what a light bulb is supposed to look like!
People tend to be creatures of habit. That tendency often shows up when we’re faced with an odd-looking new technology that replaces...
An image of a violet fraternal collar--opulently decorated with golden embroidery and a hand painted eye
Making money and doing good: The story of an African American power couple from the 1800s
Artists have long been major players in American philanthropy. If that surprises you to learn, you might be further surprised to learn that...
A scientific device sits against a black background. A thick shield of glass obscures the details of the device. It sits on a silver pedestal.
The dueling designs for the modern x-ray tube in World War I
Twenty years before the start of World War I, a new "light" that could pass through a human body revealing its underlying structures caused...
Three books showing different dyes, as well as viles of organic matter.
Rich reds, pretty pinks, and velvety violets: Valentin dyes for Valentine's Day
Valentine is a name not just for a saint, but also for a fabric dyer! I gingerly lifted a stiff cardboard case out of its cold, gray...
Plaster Figures from America on the Move
Creating an 1890s orchard in a museum
America on the Move has been open to the public since 2003 and remains one of the museum's most popular exhibitions, particularly for...
Gold coin marked 1838 decorated with stars and the profile of Liberty's head. Liberty wears a head-band that reads "Liberty."
Striking it rich: American gold rushes of the early 19th century
This year marks the 170th anniversary of the California Gold rush! On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill...
Collage of images taken from various blog posts, from photos of gowns to a portrait of a soldier in World War 1
The 10 most-read posts of 2017
2017 was another incredible year on the museum’s blog. More than a few of our most-read posts focused on how the museum continues to grow...
Photo of Oscar the Grouch puppet (green with big eyes, scraggly fur) popping out of an aluminum garbage can
T is for Television, H is for Holiday, F is for Festival
[[{"fid":"24879","view_mode":"large","fields":{"format":"large","alignment":"","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Photo of Oscar...
An old bottle of soap
Ordinary objects or incredible inventions?
According to a recent report by Mintel, a marketing research agency, few millennials use bar soap. Don't be alarmed, though. They...
Family members gather around a Thanksgiving table and smile.
The worker's turkey
Like many homes across America, in my home Thanksgiving meant turkey. Lots of turkeys. Five or six turkeys. The day before Thanksgiving, my...

Pages