Smithsonian
Sharks have superpowers, too #SharkWeek
- Title
- Sharks have superpowers, too #SharkWeek
- Runtime
- 1:30
- Date posted
- 2 days ago
- Description
- Move over, Spiderman. There’s a new (450 million-year-old) superhero in town. SHARKS.
National Museum of Natural History Division of Fishes collections manager Diane Pitassy shares just a few of their special abilities...and about that time she got bit by a dead shark.
Because we know you’re just as nerdy as we are, here are the names of the sharks in this video (in order or appearance): Southern African frilled shark (Chlamydoselachus africana), dwarf lanternshark (Etmopterus perryi), bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas), bluntnose sixgill shark (Hexanchus griseus), and smooth hammerhead (Sphyrna zygaena).
- Title
- #swimwear Inspiration with our National Museum of American History #history #museum #fashion
- Runtime
- 1:08
- Date posted
- 5 days ago
- Description
- Here for your summer fashion inspo.
Helen Hope Evans, a young woman from Minnesota, had this custom two-piece set made in the late 1940s. Today, it’s one of more than 175 pieces of swimwear in the collection of our National Museum of American History
A two-piece set like this would have been very popular around the middle of the 20th century and has cycled in and out of trend since. Stylish elements such as the halter neckline and tropical pattern are very evocative of the period because “swimwear IS fashion," says Laura Johnson, curator of costumes and textiles at our National Museum of American History.
Photo Credit:
"At Narragansett Pier," Stereoscopic Views. Ca. 1897-1901. In the collection of our National Museum of American History.
Toni Frissell, "Fashion Models Posing in Bathing Suits Floating in a Swimming Pool" and "Bathing Suits – Beach," 1948. In the collection of the Library of Congress.
Re...
- Title
- Hunting for River Otter Poop
- Runtime
- 2:50
- Date posted
- 10 days ago
- Description
- It’s like poop forensics! 💩🦦 Scientists at our @S@SmithsonianSERCre studying North American river otter scat at its campus in Maryland to learn more about their diets.
Turns out, their poop contains a lot of parasites. The parasites, including round worms, flat worms, and single-celled parasites, get into river otters. Some can also infect other mammals, including humans.
Because their poop can tell us important health information, river otters are critical sentinels that can keep people safe by warning us about parasites in our water and food.
0:00 Hunting for river otter scat
0:08 Heading out to the latrines
0:45 What river otter poop can tell us
1:14 We found poop!
1:37 Extracting DNA in the lab
2:22 What we can learn from this data
🔔 Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more Smithsonian science videos!
🦦 Take a deeper dive into SERC’s North Ameri...
- Title
- River Otter Poop Forensics
- Runtime
- 1:13
- Date posted
- 10 days ago
- Description
- Poop forensics?! 💩🦦 Scientists at our @SmithsonianSERC are studying North American river otter scat at its campus in Maryland to learn more about their diets.
Turns out, their poop contains a lot of parasites. The parasites, including round worms, flat worms, and single-celled parasites, get into river otters. Some can also infect other mammals, including humans.
Because their poop can tell us important health information, river otters are critical sentinels that can keep people safe by warning us about parasites in our water and food.
- Title
- The Smithsonian Castle, Illuminated
- Runtime
- 0:19
- Date posted
- 16 days ago
- Description
- For two nights only, the Smithsonian Castle will come to life with a large-scale, multisensory experience by media artist Refik Anadol.
“Smithsonian Dreams” uses a custom artificial intelligence system to transform data from millions of Smithsonian Open Access collections into an immersive display of light, sound, and visuals. In 2020, the institution launched Smithsonian Open Access, releasing millions of digital images into the public domain.
Anadol was driven by one question: “What would it would look like if the Smithsonian Castle could dream?”
The 20-minute art experience will play on the Castle’s facade from 9 to 11 p.m. on Friday, July 17 and Saturday, July 18. To complement “Smithsonian Dreams,” the Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building will remain open from 6 to11 p.m. and offer drinks, snacks, and DJ performances.
- Title
- Three Paper Repair Conservation Techniques
- Runtime
- 1:17
- Date posted
- 17 days ago
- Description
- Forget calming white noise or soothing whispering sounds. We’ll take Japanese tamping brush ASMR any day of the week.
Smithsonian Libraries and Archives paper conservator William Bennett is back to demonstrate three paper repair techniques he uses to stabilize Smithsonian archival records for future generations.
- Title
- Designing a Cake with our National Museum of Natural History and Jill Nguyen
- Runtime
- 2:11
- Date posted
- 17 days ago
- Description
- Cake artist Jill Nguyen from Washington D.C. met with conservation biologist Gary Krupnick and scientific illustrator Alice Tangerini in the US National Herbarium of our National Museum of Natural History. There, she explored specimens like passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) and vanilla (Vanilla planifolia) as well as detailed illustrations of the specimens to better understand their intricacies.
When Jill got home, she created a vanilla bean chiffon cake with a passion fruit curd and fig leaf olive oil Italian meringue buttercream.
Learn more about her creative process: https://www.si.edu/stories/cake-inspiration-smithsonian-baker-jill-nguyen
See more Smithsonian Inspired Cakes: https://www.si.edu/explore/art/cake-art
0:00 Introduction
0:19 Looking at Specimens
0:28 Vanilla
0:45 Fig ficus
1:00 Flavor Inspiration
1:23 Illustrations with pen, ink, and buttercrea...
- Title
- Underwear in an archive?? A look back at trolling from 1952.
- Runtime
- 1:01
- Date posted
- 19 days ago
- Description
- Calling someone's paintings “enormous panoramas of emptiness” was a sick burn in 1952.
Back in 1952, artist Clyfford Still was featured in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. In art critic Emily Genauer’s Sunday column for the New York Herald Tribune, she described Stills’s paintings as “enormous panoramas of emptiness.” His response? Reference specialist Elizabeth Botten explains thatStill sent Genauer rubber underpants to sayher rejection of abstract expressionism was... “full of it.”
Abstract expressionism, an artistic movement popularized in the mid-20th century by artists such as Still, focused on new painting techniques, gestural movements, and spontaneity, with work typically being created on large canvases.
These rubber baby underpants are just an example of the many unique and unexpected pieces of correspondence in the collections of our Archives of American Art.
- Title
- Three Visionaries Reveal the Possibilities of a Nation
- Runtime
- 3:58
- Date posted
- 20 days ago
- Description
- What does it mean to live up to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence? Sometimes, the answer can be found in an ordinary object. Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III explores the human stories behind objects connected to American visionaries revealing the ambition, courage, resilience, and determination that have shaped America for 250 years.
00:00 Reflections on the Declaration
00:26 Living up to Declaration ideas
01:00 Amelia Earhart as a pioneer in aviation
01:32 Amelia Earhart’s flight suit
02:03 Roberto Clemente’s legacy
02:38 Clemente’s humanitarian efforts
03:06 What can we learn from these visionaries?
📖Secretary Bunch discusses these figures and more on Smithsonian’s Sidedoor podcast: https://www.si.edu/sidedoor/american-aspirations-nation-pursuit
🔔 Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more Smithsonian videos!
- Title
- Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III shares about the history behind the Smithsonian Carousel
- Runtime
- 1:30
- Date posted
- 23 days ago
- Description
- The Smithsonian carousel has a surprising connection to the Civil Rights Movement.
For generations, the Smithsonian Carousel has welcomed visitors to the National Mall. But the beloved ride also carries a lesser-known history.
With a ride around this carousel, young Black children and their families desegregated the Gwynn Oak Amusement Park, just outside of Baltimore, on August 28, 1963, the same day as the March on Washington. Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III explores how a beloved carousel became part of a much larger American story.
The carousel reminds us that history is found not only in major landmarks and historic milestones, but also in ordinary places.
All images of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom are from the Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Jim and Elise Blair, © Estate of James P. Blair.
- Title
- How the Smithsonian Carousel on the National Mall Tells a Civil Rights Story
- Runtime
- 2:42
- Date posted
- 23 days ago
- Description
- 🎠 The Smithsonian carousel has a surprising connection to the Civil Rights Movement.
Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III explores the newly restored Smithsonian Carousel and the many stories it holds. While generations of visitors to the National Mall know the carousel as a place of fun, freedom, and childhood memories, its history reveals something even deeper.
The first Smithsonian carousel was brought to the National Mall by Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley in 1967 to welcome visitors before they stepped inside the museums. After years of wear and tear, the Smithsonian began looking for a worthy replacement.
The carousel that visitors ride today arrived on the National Mall in 1981. During the Civil Rights Movement, it stood at the center of efforts to desegregate Gwynn Oak Amusement Park near Baltimore, Maryland. In 1963, demonstrators fought for equal access to the park, helping secure a victory that transformed the carouse...
- Title
- Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence on this desk
- Runtime
- 1:09
- Date posted
- 29 days ago
- Description
- Today, America is celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. But did you know the document was written on this desk?
When the Second Continental Congress prepared to declare their independence from Great Britain in 1776, they assigned the task of drafting the Declaration to Thomas Jefferson, a delegate from Virginia. Jefferson would later write that rather than aiming for originality, “it was intended to be an expression of the American mind.”
The desk continued to be Jefferson's companion throughout his life. As National Museum of American History curator Lisa Kathleen Graddy points out, Jefferson made sure the legacy of his desk was known through a note when he gifted the desk to his granddaughter.
It is currently on display in the Smithsonian Castle's “American Aspirations” exhibition, on view until July 26. Can't make it to Washington, D.C.? Explore the desk online with our Smithsonian 3D Prog...
- Title
- Removing Crusty, Old Tape with a Smithsonian Conservator
- Runtime
- 1:08
- Date posted
- 1 month ago
- Description
- Next time you think about fixing a page rip with a little tape, please. DON’T. ❌
Smithsonian Libraries and Archives conservator William Bennett stabilizes archival records for future generations of researchers. Here, he’s removing crusty, old tape from a field book that belonged to ornithologist Edgar Alexander Mearns, who accompanied former United States President Theodore Roosevelt on his Smithsonian-sponsored expedition to various parts of Africa in 1909-1910.
- Title
- We're making your next flight a little safer!
- Runtime
- 1:23
- Date posted
- 1 month ago
- Description
- Next time you have a smooth flight, silently thank an ornithologist. 🐦❤️
It might not be the most glamorous job, but the scientists at our National Museum of Natural History who are working to identify bird snarge (short for snot and garbage) are saving lives. From using DNA analysis to physically matching up feathers and specimens from the lab's unparalleled library, they solve 14,000 cases every year to make the skies safer for birds and people.
- Title
- Preventing Air Disasters by Studying Bird Ick
- Runtime
- 3:42
- Date posted
- 1 month ago
- Description
- It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s just hopefully not those two things together!
It might not be the most glamorous job, but the scientists at our National Museum of Natural History who are working to identify bird snarge (short for snot and garbage) are saving lives by preventing bird strikes and air disasters. From using DNA analysis to physically matching up feathers and specimens from the lab's unparalleled library, they solve 14,000 cases every year to make the skies safer for birds and people.
00:00 A lesson on snarge
00:22 Why we study bird strikes
00:49 A dive into our forensic-like techniques
01:17 Flying through a new case
02:15 We have a match!
02:48 Double checking our work through DNA analysis
03:15 Why this work is important for birds and people
🔔 Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more Smithsonian science videos!
🐦Revisit some of the bird strike ...
- Title
- Special Sidedoor podcast episode with Lonnie G. Bunch III
- Runtime
- 1:13
- Date posted
- 1 month ago
- Description
- In a special episode of our Sidedoor podcast, host, Lizzie Peabody sits down with Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III to talk about a shortlist of Smithsonian objects that tell the story of the United States.
Starting with the desk on which the Declaration of Independence was drafted, they get up close with some of the nation’s most treasured objects: Abraham Lincoln campaign swag, Amelia Earhart’s flight suit, Thomas Edison’s light bulb, and even a miniature Statue of Liberty.
Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/djUU1XfLU_Q?si=gJuCkQQdPGCdNnR2
- Title
- Which Smithsonian Objects Tell the Story of the United States with Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III
- Runtime
- 46:43
- Date posted
- 1 month ago
- Description
- Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III has spent a lifetime thinking about how history gets told. Before becoming the head of the Smithsonian, he was a curator, someone whose job is deciding which stories, people, and objects help us make sense of ourselves. So as America approaches its 250th birthday, Smithsonian's Sidedoor podcast host, Lizzie Peabody, wanted to know: if you had to tell the story of the United States through just a handful of things, where would you begin?
In this special episode, Secretary Bunch puts his curator hat back on to lead Lizzie through "American Aspirations," a new exhibition he co-curated.
Starting with the desk on which the Declaration of Independence was drafted, they get up close with some of the nation's most treasured objects: Abraham Lincoln campaign swag, Amelia Earhart's flight suit, Thomas Edison's light bulb, and even a miniature Statue of Liberty (which is still pretty big!). What can these objects reveal about a...
- Title
- Sears portraits for Pride! 🫶🌈
- Runtime
- 0:54
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- 🫶🌈 “Marriage Matters” by Cheri Gaulke and Sue Maberry is in the collection of our Smithsonian Libraries and Archives.
- Title
- It’s a bad day to be a hot dog! 🌭 Behind-the-scenes at our National Museum of American History
- Runtime
- 1:04
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- It's a bad day to be a hot dog. 🌭
Curator Hal Wallace takes us back in time with this commercial-grade, 20th-century hot dog cooker. Created by the Sani-Way Sales Company, this machine cooks hot dogs by
zapping them with a 110-volt current of electricity.
The hot dog cooker is one of the 250 objects on view in our @SmithsonianAmHistory’s exhibition “In Pursuit of Life, Liberty & Happiness.”
📸: The Gorgeous Illumination, Luna Park, Coney Island, N.Y. City, ca. 1900-1910. Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection. In the collection of our National Museum of American History’s Archives Center.
- Title
- There's a secret door in the Smithsonian Castle
- Runtime
- 0:59
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- Completed in 1855, the Castle was the Smithsonian’s first building. This summer, we’re temporarily pausing renovations to welcome visitors back for the first time since 2023.
Through July 26, 2026, plan your visit to explore “American Aspirations,” a new special exhibition co-curated by Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III. From the desk on which Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence to a flight suit worn by Amelia Earhart, the exhibition invites us to explore the founding ideals of 1776 and how each generation has reached towards new understandings of freedom, opportunity, and a shared future. s.si.edu/4ftrTOl
- Title
- Poop 💩 and why we study it at the National Museum of Natural History
- Runtime
- 0:58
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- You can learn a lot from poop.
At our @nationalmuseumofnaturalhistory , paleontologist Kay Behrensmeyer studies how poop can expose food chains of the past. Not only about the animal that made the poop, but the remains of animals found inside the poop as well. According to her, learning more about Coprolite (fossil poop) connects different animals to an ancient community, where you can discover how different animals relate to each other and how those relationships might change over time.
Here, Kay takes us behind the scenes to look at the biggest Coprolite in our collection.
- Title
- Working to Protect Bees (and Other Pollinators) through Digitization
- Runtime
- 1:26
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- One in every three bites of food you eat depends on pollinators! 🪲
Our Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and Smithsonian Digitization Program Office are digitizing 325,000 insect pollinator specimens with a custom conveyor system. Large swaths of the museum’s bees, flies, butterflies, and beetles will be even more accessible to researchers around the world.
With these collections available online, researchers will be able to identify new species, understand population changes over time, and make informed conservation decisions that can help protect these important species for future generations.
- Title
- Rare Perfume Bottles that Feature Tintypes
- Runtime
- 1:02
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- Tired: sending your crush a rose on Hinge. Wired: sending your crush a bottle of perfume with your face on it.
Dr. Tamir Williams, Curatorial Fellow for African American Photography at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, breaks down the tintype, a form of photography that became popular and widely accessible in the 1860s and ‘70s.
This story focuses on Smithsonian American Art Museum’s early photography collection with objects acquired from the L. J. West Collection, the Dr. Robert L. Drapkin Collection, Mitchell and Nancy Steir, and Charles Isaacs.
- Title
- Inside How We're Digitizing 325,000 Insects
- Runtime
- 2:58
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- One in every three bites of food you eat depends on pollinators! 🪲
Heard the buzz? Our Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and Smithsonian Digitization Program Office are digitizing 325,000 insect pollinator specimens with a custom conveyor system. Large swaths of the museum’s bees, flies, butterflies, and beetles will be even more accessible to researchers around the world.
00:00 Why we’re digitizing 325,000 pollinator insects
00:31 Preparing the insects for digitization
01:01 Operating the custom conveyor belt system
01:52 How we’re making this data accessible to you
02:24 Why digitizing pollinators will better our shared future
With these collections available online, researchers will be able to identify new species, understand population changes over time, and make informed conservation decisions that can help protect these important species for future generations.
- Title
- Decorate an American Art Museum Inspired Cake with Jill Nguyen #cakeart #baking #cake
- Runtime
- 1:34
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- What would you create after visiting an art museum?
When cake artist Jill Nguyen a tour of our @americanartmuseum, these textured stained-glass windows, titled “Peacocks and Peonies I and II” by John La Farge inspired her next culinary creation. Using candied fruits, Jill recreated the colorful glass LaFarge created with his “broken jewel technique.”
Program specialist Jess McFadden explained that the technique adds depth and texture to an otherwise flat surface. It’s most notable in the peacock’s tails, where small pieces of glass are layered to emulate feathers.
Learn More: Si.edu/cake
#CakeArt #SmithsonianCakes #MuseumCakes #MuseumInspo
🦚: John La Farge, “Peacocks and Peonies I and II,” 1882, stained glass window, frame: 112 x 51 1/4 x 6 1/2 in. (284.5 x 130.3 x 16.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Henry A. La Farge, 1936.12.2
- Title
- Make a Cake with Justin Ellen and our National Postal Museum #cakeart #baking #cakedecorating
- Runtime
- 1:49
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- Have you ever recreated an old family recipe?
Special delivery! When cake artist Justin Ellen visited our @smithsoniansnationalpostal7233 education specialist Phoebe Sherman not only shared interesting objects that were sent through the mail but also historic recipes.
Inspired, Justin recreated a recipe found in an old post office's account book. Featured on the cake are just a few of the museum's collections Justin explored during his visit.
Can't get enough of these museum-inspired cakes? Tune in this time next week to see a cake that is pane-stakingly beautiful.
#CakeArt #SmithsonianCakes #MuseumCakes #MuseumInspo
- Title
- See Dolley Madison Behind the Scenes at the National Portrait Gallery #unboxing #museumcollections
- Runtime
- 1:10
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- Vivacious, outgoing, and strategic, Dolley Madison created the role of First Lady as we know it today. When her husband became President of the United States in 1809, she already had experience as an honorary hostess for President Thomas Jefferson.
Dolley Madison’s mark on Washington, D.C. cannot be overstated. Straddling both political and social circles, Madison's Wednesday-night receptions at the White House were at the epicenter of Washington society. When the British attacked the White House in 1814, she famously arranged to save Gilbert Stuart's portrait of George Washington.AT her funeral in 1849, President Zachary Taylor remarked that she was “the first lady of the land for half a century.”
In this video, the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's senior curator of photographs, Ann Shumard, explains why this 1846 daguerreotype is one of a kind!
🖼️: 1846 Daguerreotype of Dolley Madison taken by John Plumbe Jr, a prominen...
- Title
- Flour Power! Jill Nguyen gets inspired at our National Museum of Natural History #baking #cakeart
- Runtime
- 1:37
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- Cake artist Jill Nguyen made sure to stop and smell the flours during her recent visit to our National Museum of Natural History. 🌸🍰
To get inspiration for her next cake, she met with conservation biologist Gary Krupnick and scientific illustrator Alice Tangerini in the US National Herbarium of our @nationalmuseumofnaturalhistory. There, she explored specimens like passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) and vanilla (Vanilla planifolia) as well as detailed illustrations of the specimens to better understand their intricacies.
When Jill got home, she created a vanilla bean chiffon cake with a passion fruit curd and fig leaf olive oil Italian meringue buttercream.
Want to see more museum-inspired cakes? Come back this time next week for a creation that we know will get your stamp of approval! #CakeArt #SmithsonianCakes #MuseumCakes #MuseumInspo
- Title
- This book is 3.5 ft tall!
- Runtime
- 0:34
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- “Mother Monument” is both a sculpture and a book! Through this obelisk-shaped artist’s book, painter Holly Trostle Brigham memorializes the women who have shaped her own art history.
What’s an artist’s book, you might ask? It’s a work of art, like a painting or a sculpture, that takes the form or function of a book as inspiration. This one is in the collections of our Smithsonian Libraries and Archives' Smithsonian American Art and Portrait Gallery Library.
- Title
- Watch this 300-year-old violin come to life!
- Runtime
- 1:01
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- PSA: don’t sleep on chamber music.🎶
From storage to the stage, the Smithsonian’s Chamber Music Society brings classical music from the last 400 years to life by making Smithsonian's National Museum of American History’s historic collections sing.
Here, artistic director Kenneth Slowik shows off the “Ole Bull” violin, crafted by Italian master craftsman Antonio Stradivari in 1687, part of the Smithsonian’s decorated “Strad” Quartet. Only 11 decorated instruments from Stradivari’s hand survive anywhere in the world!
Can’t make it to one of the Smithsonian’s Chamber Music Society’s live performances? Enjoy a few of their recordings online: https://s.si.edu/42XjP0K
- Title
- Visit Mars with Justin Ellen at our National Air and Space Museum #space #baking #cakedecorating
- Runtime
- 1:25
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- This cake is out of this world!
Inspired by a tour of our @airandspace museum with curator Matt Shindell, cake artist Justin Ellen turned the “red planet” into a red cake!
In the “Kenneth C. Griffin Exploring the Planets Gallery,” Justin met three generations of Mars rovers. Matt said that the Mars rovers act like robot geologists, surveying territory humans can’t visit in person. Back on Earth, teams of geologists tell rovers what rocks to analyze.
Justin reflected that while designing tools for use in space and baking are very different, they both require patience, creativity, and precision.
“This cake became my way of honoring that process and translating the beauty and mystery of our solar system into something tangible.” Want to see more museum-inspired cakes?
Tune in this time next week for a creation that's got some *hint* *hint* flour power. #CakeArt #SmithsonianCakes #MuseumCakes #MuseumInspo
...
- Title
- Express Yourself! Unboxing Fred Ho's Boots at the National Museum of American History
- Runtime
- 1:05
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- Baritone saxophone player and composer Fred Ho expressed himself through music AND fashion.
@AmHistoryMuseum curator Theo Gonzalves took us behind the scenes to learn more about the legacy of Fred Ho, who blended his Chinese American culture with his musical influences in both his compositions and his clothes!
"My boots were inspired by my trip to Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom in Cambodia and the Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt,” Ho reflected. “Those have been standing at least for millennia. Still vibrant forever. So I feel like anything that we create should be that."
Fred Ho’s boots will be one of the 250 objects on view in our National Museum of American History’s exhibition “In Pursuit of Life, Liberty & Happiness,” opening May 14 as part of the museum’s United States 250th anniversary celebrations.
📷:
Fred Ho by Jack Mitchell, 1995. In the collection of our National Portrait Gallery. © 1995 Jack M...
- Title
- Meet Doug, a Smithsonian Volunteer!
- Runtime
- 1:17
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- Meet Doug, a volunteer at the Smithsonian Castle, National Postal Museum, and the National Museum of American History!
This Volunteer Appreciation Month, we spent the morning with Doug at the visitor cart in front of the Smithsonian Castle (currently under renovation) where he shared some favorite memories and his creative answer to the most frequently asked question.
A sincere thank you to our over 3,500 volunteers who work onsite at our facilities—including a newly trained group of volunteers who will join Doug to help visitors on the National Mall—and another 8,500 who participate in projects online.
Interested in becoming a Smithsonian Volunteer? Learn more on our website: https://www.si.edu/volunteer
#volunteerappreciation #Smithsonian #SmithsonianStories
- Title
- Butt Nut, behind the scenes at the National Museum of Natural History
- Runtime
- 0:57
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- The seed of coco de mer was nicknamed “butt nut” because...well...we’ll let you guess why.
Today, conservation biologist Gary Krupnick goes behind the scenes at the U.S. National Herbarium in our Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History to highlight this endangered species.
Like the coconut, coco de mer is a palm tree. Native only to the Seychelles islands, they produce the largest and heaviest seeds in the world, weighing up to 65 pounds. Unlike coconuts which can float across the ocean, these seeds are not buoyant and cannot naturally disperse to other islands. While there are only 8,000 naturally occurring mature coco de mer trees left in the world, they can live up to 350 years.
The U.S. National Herbarium has over five million plant specimens, which include preserved plants, branches, flowers, fruit, seeds, and other plant parts. Which plant do you want to learn about next?
- Title
- Meet the Elephant Calf at the Smithsonian's National Zoo!
- Runtime
- 1:04
- Date posted
- 4 months ago
- Description
- 🐘 In case you haven’t herd, elephant calf Linh Mai [LIN-my] makes her public debut at our Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute next Wednesday, April 22, in celebration of Earth Day!
Robbie Clark, elephant manager and acting curator of Elephant Trails, shared an update about this fun, smart, and sassy girl.
Can’t make it in person? Spend the day with the zoo’s Asian elephants through our elephant web cams. Tune in here next Wednesday! nationalzoo.si.edu/webcams
#EarthDay
- Title
- Did Betsy Ross sew the very first American flag?
- Runtime
- 1:01
- Date posted
- 4 months ago
- Description
- The American flag is 250 years old. But where does Betsy Ross fit into the story?
This week on our Sidedoor Podcast, we revisit the story of Betsy Ross and the American flag in our episode, “Broad Stripes, Bright Stars, and White Lies.”
Available now, wherever you listen to podcasts.
https://www.si.edu/sidedoor
🎥:
Betsy Ross tableau vivant performed by actresses Mary Brian and Esther Ralston (seated, as Betsy Ross), on page 58 of the June 27, 1925, Exhibitors Herald. In the collection of The Museum of Modern Art Library.
Ernest C. Peixotto, “Philadelphia, Independence Hall, Chestnut Street,” drawing, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Dr. Fortunato Porotto, 1963.6.1
William Nowland Van Powell, “Columbus Commanded By Abraham Whipple, Bringing In British Brig Lord Lifford,” painting, Naval History and Heritage Command, 1974.
Betsy Ross making the first flag, 177...
- Title
- Meet the Gallery's Choreographer-in-Residence
- Runtime
- 0:48
- Date posted
- 4 months ago
- Description
- What exactly does a museum’s choreographer-in-residence do? At the SmithsonianNational Portrait Gallery, Diana Movius creates new performances inspired by the museum’s collection and exhibitions.
Her latest inspiration: “The Outwin 2025: American Portraiture Today” exhibition, the seventh edition of the museum’s national portrait competition.
💃: Moveius Contemporary Ballet
🎶: Score by Max Richter
🎨:
“On a planting moon, I release what broke me” by Mar Figueroa, 2023. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of the artist.
“Marissa, Pedacito de Sol (Marissa, A Bit of Sunshine)” by Aliza Nisenbaum, 2023. Oil on linen. Collection of Aishti Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon.
“Callie” by Sarah Smith, 2022.Oil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist.
“Erin and Anyah with Hydrangeas” by LaToya Hobbs, 2023. Acrylic and collage on carved wood panel. Courtesy of the artist.
...
- Title
- How do you keep your orchid alive? #orchid
- Runtime
- 1:47
- Date posted
- 4 months ago
- Description
- You ask. We answer. How can you keep your orchid alive?
With thousands of unique orchids, the Smithsonian Gardens Orchid Collection is home to one of the most varied orchid collections in the world. Justin gives some helpful tips and tricks about caring for your Phalaenopsis at home.
Explore a selection on display in “More Than a Flower: The Connective Power of Orchids,” the 30th joint annual orchid exhibition collaboration between Smithsonian Gardens and the U.S. Botanic Garden. The exhibition is on view at our Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture through April 26.
- Title
- Mistletoe Science 🌿🍒
- Runtime
- 1:21
- Date posted
- 4 months ago
- Description
- Meet you underneath the aerial hemi-parasitic shrub. 😉
Mostly found in tropical climates, there are more than 1,700 species of mistletoe around the world. Mistletoe are sometimes considered pests, since they steal nutrients and water from their host trees. Still, mistletoe provides an important food source and a nesting place for a variety of bird species.
Around the winter holidays, you’re most likely seeing two species—the European mistletoe (Viscum album) and the American mistletoe (Phoradendron serotinum).
- Title
- Objects from the "Miracle on Ice" with the National Museum of American History
- Runtime
- 1:21
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- There was no rivalry more heated than between the United States and the USSR at the 1980 Winter Olympics.🏒🔥
The United States’ “Miracle on Ice” win is just one of the historic sports moments featured in our National Museum of American History’s “Entertainment Nation.” The exhibition explores how entertainment has provided a forum for important national conversations about who we are and who we want to be.
#WinterOlympics
📷:
Photo by Steve Fenn /Disney General Entertainment Content, Getty Images
Photo by Disney General Entertainment Content, Getty Images
Photo by Disney General Entertainment Content, Getty Images
- Title
- Positively Purr-fect: Meet the Cheetah Cubs #Shorts
- Runtime
- 0:57
- Date posted
- 7 months ago
- Description
- We have some positively purr-fect news—the National Zoo's conservation facility in Front Royal, Virginia, welcomed four cheetah cubs in mid-Oct. Get to know them by tuning in to the Cheetah Cub Cam! 🐆
Keepers say the litter is doing well and first-time mom Amabala is doing a great job caring for her babies. The births mark the 20th litter of cheetahs born at the conservation facility since 2010, a huge milestone for this vulnerable species. And to make it even more special, Amabala herself was one of the first cubs to be shown on the Cheetah Cub Cam in 2020!
Watch Amabala and her four cubs as they spend their days growing, playing, and, of course, cuddling.
nationalzoo.si.edu/webcams/cheetah-cub-cam #Shorts
- Title
- You BETTER listen to Brian and Christina talk about birds at the National Museum of Natural History
- Runtime
- 0:58
- Date posted
- 8 months ago
- Description
- Our Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History staff wants to show you some bird specimens and you’d BETTER say they’re cool.
Our Division of Birds is home to one of the largest bird collections in the world with more than 600,000 specimens. Every year, hundreds of researchers visit this bird library to study the evolution, identification, and ecology of birds.
These collections even save lives! Government agencies use the library to identify the remains of birds in aircraft strikes to better understand their patterns and prevent future catastrophes.
P.S. Yes, Brian and Christina really are married. We ❤️ a Smithsonian love story. #Shorts
- Title
- Learn about Beverly Buchanan with the Archives of American Art
- Runtime
- 0:50
- Date posted
- 8 months ago
- Description
- Drawing on experiences from her childhood in rural South Carolina, Beverly Buchanan (1940-2015) created sculptures, paintings, and drawings depicting a common type of housing in her community—shacks. Where some may have seen only poverty in the modest, self-built homes that characterized some Black communities in the South, Buchanan found creativity, beauty, and inspiration. “I consider my shacks portraits,” she reflected. “It’s the spirit that comes through the forms.”
Beverly Buchanan's papers, which include correspondence, exhibition records, photographs, and other materials related to her life and work, are available to researchers at our Archives of American Art.
#Shorts
- Title
- Snooze through your alarm with Athena, the two-towed sloth at the Smithsonian's National Zoo
- Runtime
- 0:15
- Date posted
- 8 months ago
- Description
- Hit the snooze button this week. Athena, the two-toed sloth, gives you full permission. 💤 Even though she may sleep about 15 hours a day at our Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, Athena isn't being lazy. She’s just conserving energy! Sloths have leafy, low-calorie diets, so they need to be frugal with their energy use. Their metabolisms are slow, and they tend not to wander far from their small home ranges.
🎥 : Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
- Title
- Fish in the Archives??
- Runtime
- 0:50
- Date posted
- 8 months ago
- Description
- Let us know if you want to see the snake head and the fingernails in our Smithsonian's Archives of American Art next. 🐟#Shorts
- Title
- Glee at the National Museum of American History
- Runtime
- 0:12
- Date posted
- 8 months ago
- Description
- The television show “Glee“ (2009-2015), centered around the glee club of a fictional Ohio high school as students and teachers navigated an exaggerated version of life in the early 2010s. Fans of the show, self-proclaimed “Gleeks,” continue to discuss its impact on the genre of musical theater and teen fiction.
Actor and Tony Award winner Jenna Ushkowitz, who played Tina Cohen-Chang, wore this dress, currently on display at our National Museum of American History, in the 2011 episode “Original Song.” In that episode, Tina and the other glee club members perform the original song “Loser Like Me” and *spoiler alert* win Regionals.
Video Description: Close up of a light blue dress with a bejeweled neckline and black belt in a museum exhibit. Camera pans to a museum plaque. Text on screen: Are the Smithsonian Social Media Mangers Gleeks? Yes. #Shorts
- Title
- Is it cake? No, it's a book! With Smithsonian Libraries and Archives
- Runtime
- 1:15
- Date posted
- 8 months ago
- Description
- Is it cake? No. Is it art or a book? Yes. 📚 We’re celebrating #NationalLibraryWeek with a few unconventional books from our Smithsonian Libraries and Archives (SLA)'s Smithsonian American Art and Portrait Gallery Library. Head librarian Anne dives into:
🥚: “Beginning” by Jessica R. Elsaesser and Alaska L. McFadden
🦪: “The Mollusk” by Amy Richard
🧵: “The wife is a wife because of her hands.” by Robbin Ami Silverberg
- Title
- Act II: “Wicked” objects from the National Museum of American History #Shorts
- Runtime
- 0:45
- Date posted
- 8 months ago
- Description
- You will be “changed for good” after learning about Elphaba’s Act II dress. 🩷💚
Join Ryan Lintelman, entertainment curator at our National Museum of American History, as he highlights costume designer Susan Hilferty’s vision for the 2003 Broadway production of “Wicked.” Though not currently on display, these and other objects from your favorite musicals are available for you to explore on our website.
Which song from “Wicked” is your favorite? #Shorts
americanhistory.si.edu.
- Title
- Meet the ragged sea hare (Bursatella leachii)
- Runtime
- 0:34
- Date posted
- 8 months ago
- Description
- Inspired by feeling sluggish in this heat wave, meet the ragged sea hare (Bursatella leachii). This large species of sea slug gets its name from its branched papillae, or finger-like outgrowths, which give them a sort of shaggy, ragged appearance. Here, you're seeing the sea hares use their mouths to scrape up some tasty algae.
Ragged sea hares are common in the Indian River Lagoon in Florida, near our Smithsonian Marine Station and Ecosystems Exhibit, where these little guys live in our seagrass exhibit and in our touch tank. Part of our Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the marine station studies the biodiversity, life histories, and ecology of marine organisms.
#Oceans #SeaSlug #Shorts
- Title
- Learn more about Superman with the National Museum of American History
- Runtime
- 1:06
- Date posted
- 9 months ago
- Description
- It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Eric, a curator at our National Museum of American History here to tell you all about Superman!
Inspired by classical mythology and the era's popular science fiction and adventure writing, Superman, created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, first saved the day with Action Comics in 1938. Since then, Superman has starred in radio shows, a Broadway musical, over a dozen films and counting, television shows, and comic books. In the 1970s and ‘80s, actor Christopher Reeve portrayed Superman and his alter ego Clark Kent in a series of four films, including “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace” (1987).
Superman may have been the first superhero, but his character inspired an entire genre. Who is your favorite superhero? #Shorts
