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
African American History
Asian Pacific American History
Infectious Disease History
Latino History
LGBTQ History
Women's History
See all topics...
Connect to History
O Say Can You See? Blog
Digital and Social Media
Podcasts
Monthly Newsletter
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
Visit Info
Info en español
Hours
Museum Map
Food & Stores
FAQ for Visitors
Plan a Field Trip
Today's Hours
10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
View in Maps
Exhibitions
On View
Upcoming
Events
Calendar of Events
Jazz
Chamber Music
History Film Forum
The Museum
Mission & History
Strategic Plan
FAQs
Press Information
Museum Reports
Facility Rental
Our People
Staff
Departments
African American History Curatorial Collective
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
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...
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...
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...
Blog Posts in "Philanthropy"
View All
Business History
Food History
Latino History & Culture
Medicine & Science
Philanthropy
More Categories
All Categories
African American History
Agricultural History
Behind the Scenes
Business History
Civil War
Clothing & Accessories
Conservation
Director's Notes
Disability History
Donor Spotlight
Film & Television
First Ladies
Food History
From the Collections
Intern Perspectives
Invention & Innovation
Jazz Appreciation
Kids & Museums
Latino History & Culture
LGBTQ+ History
Medicine & Science
Music
Musings
Native American History
Numismatics
Object Project
Philanthropy
Public Programs
Religion in America
September 11
Smithsonian Gardens
Star-Spangled Banner
Stories of Freedom & Justice
Teaching & Learning
Textiles
Transportation History
Women's History
World War I
You Asked, We Answer
“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...
Fighting for country, equal rights, and veterans: Carlos Martinez’s life of service
When he reflected later in life on why, as a young man, he chose to enlist during wartime, Carlos Martinez said that avoiding service was...
Why a social activist opposed woman suffrage
The trouble began soon after well-known social reformer Emily Bissell had finished her remarks at the meeting of the National Association...
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...
Fur the war effort
“The world infrequently notes the passing of a squirrel," announced an Arizona radio station on August 10, 1949. But when it comes to the...
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...
How Evelyn Lauder took on breast cancer at the cosmetics counter
They had just arrived in a foreign country and the small girl’s mother was sent away. Ernest and Mimi Hausner fled their home in...
A Scout By Any Other Name
In May 2018, the Boy Scouts of America changed the name of its program for older children to Scouts BSA and opened membership to girls for...
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...
A behind-the-scenes look at museum fundraising
Most people don't realize that while the federal funding the Smithsonian receives supports its buildings and about 2/3 of its staff;...
Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?
Sesame Street was an innovative and radical children's television program when it premiered in 1969. In the 1960s, many parents were...
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...
Why do we have a National Lace Collection?
Safely cared for in the collections of the National Museum of American History are about 6,000 examples of hand- and machine-made lace from...
Culture in the colonial classroom: A failed attempt at assimilation
As our Philanthropy Initiative continues to explore the history of giving, we're eager to share stories of success and failure. This story...
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...
Total eclipse of the sun, partial eclipse of inequality
"It was now quick work," Maria Mitchell noted. "As the last rays of sunlight disappeared, the corona burst out all around the sun, so...
When philanthropists convinced people to save lives
Young Charles Taylor drowned in June 1818. He was six years, seven months, and 10 days old, the son of Nathan and Sally Taylor. While a...
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...
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...
Oregon's Big Pine: Standing tall when the U.S. Constitution was signed
National anniversaries can be celebrated in many ways—parades, fireworks displays, and, of course, museum exhibitions. In 1983 Congress...
Madam C. J. Walker’s philanthropy
A former laundress who became a millionaire from her hair-care company, Madam C. J. Walker (1867–1919) was a leading philanthropist of the...
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...
Past to present: History of philanthropy inspires contemporary giving
I caught up with collections manager Katharine Klein as she worked on rotating objects in the museum's Giving in America exhibit, to learn...
A story in clay: Sara Galner and the Saturday Evening Girls
I didn't drool on the objects, but exploring the ceramics storage room as an intern at the National Museum of American History was pretty...
Abolitionist and Reformer Lucretia Mott
January 3, 2018, would have been Lucretia Coffin Mott’s 225th birthday. When it came to birthdays, Mott had a particular way of celebrating...
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...
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...
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...
Everyday philanthropists
A bucket from the Ice Bucket Challenge. A collection box from the 19th century. A toolbelt from a volunteer...
Showing support for the Great War with knitting needles
Today, I spend spare time between classes working at my college's library or hanging out with friends. Had I been an American college...
Who tells Eliza's story? Philanthropy and "Hamilton: An American Musical"
Lin-Manuel Miranda's award-winning Broadway hit Hamilton: An American Musical turned international attention to the story of founding...
Preserving family treasures after a hurricane—and leaving the spiders alone in the basement
Beside piles of rubble, The Donut Palace was open for business. The image of the little donut shop, defiantly open in the face of the...
A seven-year struggle to build New York's subway
William Steinway's diary resides in the National Museum of American History's Archives Center as part of the Steinway and Sons...
Contributing to a conversation: Reflections on David Rockefeller's Giving Pledge letter
In March, David Rockefeller died at the extraordinary age of 101. He was one of the first signers of the Giving Pledge, a commitment by...
Piano maker William Steinway saw the future in suburbia in the 1880s, so he built a factory and then an entire village
Piano manufacturer William Steinway described his vision of suburban America to Congress in 1883, but in his own life the future had...
Containers reveal Americans thinking outside the box about philanthropy
I don't like to dodge questions, but that's what I did when someone asked me which object is my favorite in the museum's new exhibition on...
Making a place for Eastern Bluebirds—and philanthropy
If you had asked me to guess the first object I would add to the museum's new philanthropy collection, I never would have said a Virginia...
Meet Amanda Moniz, our new curator of philanthropy
"Congratulations! Say, what does a curator do anyway?" "Philanthropy? So, you're in development?" Over the past few months I've heard those...
Woman-led philanthropy: From organizing bake sales to advocating for woman suffrage
Have you ever been to a bake sale? Or perhaps a craft fair or auction for charity? What about a raffle for charity with a beautiful quilt...
Mothers in World War I
When people think of World War I, they often think of soldiers fighting in trenches. But soldiers weren't the only ones doing the work of...
Participating in America means constantly striving for a more perfect union
America Participates is the museum's 2016 theme: But what does "participation" actually look like? We interviewed David Allison, director...
Americans who joined the World War before their country did
April 6, 2016, marks the 99th anniversary of the U.S. entry into World War I. Although the country would not be drawn into combat until...
Elizabeth Keckly: Businesswoman and philanthropist
This month, we've been exploring how American women made their place in the marketplace by participating in business and consumption....
The bonds of benevolence and focused charitable organizations
How do you come to truly know someone? How do you know if they are who they claim to be?These questions were at the heart of a major shift...
Meet Jenny Lind, one of America's first female celebrities
Long before Hollywood actresses such as Marilyn Monroe and Katharine Hepburn became iconic stars, popular female opera singers of the early...
A society for everything: Remaking America's charitable landscape during the Second Great Awakening
For many, "the Second Great Awakening" is one of those historical terms from a dusty textbook that sounds vaguely familiar, but the details...
Donor traces his family's roots, supports museum research
After opening the new innovation floor of the west wing this summer, the museum is looking forward to the second floor, which will open in...
Picturing women's participation during the Great War
I came back from my eighth grade trip to Washington, D.C., with a Rosie the Riveter poster from the museum store here (not...
Pages
1
2
next ›
last »
Tweets by @amhistorymuseum
Search Google Appliance
Enter the terms you wish to search for.
Home
Visit
General Info
Info en español
Hours
Getting Here
Museum Map
Food & Stores
Kids
Exhibitions
Events
Collections
Educator Resources
Blog
About the Museum
About Our People
Get Involved
Giving
Press
Smithsonian Website