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05/29/2026

Today, we settle for chatting over dating apps. Back in the 19th century, Americans were sending their crushes custom perfume bottles with their own faces on it.

Dr. Tamir Williams, Curatorial Fellow for African American Photography at our Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery, 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.

05/28/2026

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.

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.

Save the date! Curator of Flies Dr. Torsten Dikow will be sharing a behind-the-scenes look at the Pinned Insect Digitization Conveyor at the National Museum of Natural History on July 14. https://s.si.edu/4nPkn2l

05/27/2026

What would you create after visiting an art museum?

When cake artist Jill Nguyen () took a tour of our  museum, 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. 

 

🦚: 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

Astronaut Sally Ride became the first American woman in space in 1983 when she launched aboard Space Shuttle Challenger....
05/26/2026

Astronaut Sally Ride became the first American woman in space in 1983 when she launched aboard Space Shuttle Challenger. She flew her second mission one year later. This flight jacket, in the collection of our National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, features patches for both of those missions.

Before she was an astronaut, Ride was a student who pursued many interests, earning a Bachelor of Arts in English, as well as a Bachelor of Science and PhD in physics. She was also an avid stamp collector. Not only is one of her stamp albums in the collection of our Smithsonian National Postal Museum, in 2018 she became the subject of her very own stamp.

She was also honored with her own U.S. quarter in 2022 as part of the American Women Quarters™ Program, a partnership between our Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum and United States Mint.

Sally Ride would have been 75 today. She continues to inspire many women to become astronauts.

📷: NASA Photos of Ride for STS-7. Sally K. Ride Papers, Acc. 2014-0025, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

💌: ©USPS; all rights reserved.

🪙: In the collection of our National Museum of American History.

Doris “Dorie” Miller was working as a mess attendant on the battleship USS West Virginia, anchored in Pearl Harbor, Hawa...
05/25/2026

Doris “Dorie” Miller was working as a mess attendant on the battleship USS West Virginia, anchored in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. He was making laundry rounds that morning when Japanese aircrafts attacked the base.

Miller quickly jumped into action. He carried wounded sailors on deck to safer locations before taking control of an unattended anti-aircraft gun, which he loaded and fired at enemy planes.

For his bravery, Miller was awarded one of the Navy’s highest honors, the Navy Cross, in 1942.

He died in 1943, nearly two years after his heroic actions at Pearl Harbor, when a Japanese torpedo hit the USS Liscome Bay.

In June 1973, Miller’s bravery was recognized again when the Navy commissioned a Knox-class frigate the USS Miller, and, in 2010, he became one of four “distinguished sailors” to adorn a 44-cent commemorative stamp. In 2020, the U.S. Navy officially named a future aircraft carrier the USS Doris Miller.



📷:

The photograph of Miller with the Navy Cross is in the collections of the US National Archives.

The poster is in the collection of our National Portrait Gallery USA.

The commemorative stamp is in the collection of our Smithsonian National Postal Museum (Copyright United States Postal Service. All rights reserved).

05/22/2026

NBC News correspondent Ryan Nobles gets an exclusive first look inside the Smithsonian Castle as the ground floor reopens to the public for the first time in three years. Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch also offers a sneak peek at the upcoming American Aspirations exhibit honoring America’s 250th anniversary. "What I want is people to be able to think about how history is as much about today and tomorrow as it is yesterday, and that the 250th is an opportunity to remember, to reflect and to come together as a nation," says Bunch.

“Where are you really from?” That's a question Japanese American artist Roger Shimomura has been asked all his life, des...
05/21/2026

“Where are you really from?” That's a question Japanese American artist Roger Shimomura has been asked all his life, despite being born and raised in Seattle, Washington.

He and his family were among the more than 120,000 Japanese American people, most of them United States citizens, uprooted and forced into concentration camps during World War II.

Through his artwork, Shimomura grapples with the challenges of being “different” in America. He creates paintings and performances that blend a mix of Japanese imagery and American pop culture. Often, his playful pop-style paintings feature exaggerated cultural stereotypes.

In “Super Buddahead,” Shimomura adds his own head to the body of Superman, a character who was frequently depicted in combat against stereotypes of German and Japanese soldiers during World War II.



📷:

“Super Buddahead” by Roger Shimomura, 2012. National Portrait Gallery USA, Smithsonian Institution; acquired through Federal support from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. © 2012, Roger Shimomura

Roger Shimomura, 1989. Roger Shimomura papers, circa 1939-2025. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian's Archives of American Art

05/20/2026

Have you ever recreated an old family recipe? 🍰

Special delivery! When cake artist Justin Ellen ( ) visited our , 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.

Survivors ready? Go! From Sue Hawk’s iconic “snakes and rats” speech to Rick Devens’ nail-biting coin flip, the newest o...
05/19/2026

Survivors ready? Go! From Sue Hawk’s iconic “snakes and rats” speech to Rick Devens’ nail-biting coin flip, the newest objects at our National Museum of American History have witnessed game-changing moments in “Survivor” history.

Premiering in May 2000, the series has aired for 25 years and 50 seasons. It is considered one of the most successful reality TV series in American history and has been nominated for 73 Emmy Awards.

The objects joining the museum’s entertainment collection include a torch snuffer from the show’s first season in Borneo and the immunity necklace and torch snuffer from its 50th season in Fiji.

If you’re tuning in to tomorrow’s finale, who’s your vote to win?

📷 : Photo by Robert Voets/CBS via Getty Images

05/19/2026

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, ’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 prominent entrepreneur turned photographer. In the collection of our .

Other featured images:
1️⃣ “Mrs. James Madison” copy after Gilbert Stuart, print, 1855. In the collection of our .
2️⃣ “James Madison” by Thomas Sully, derived from Gilbert Stuart, 1809. In the collection of .
3️⃣ Daguerreotype of Frederick Douglass, c.1847. In the collection of our .
4️⃣ Daguerreotype of Jenny Lind by Thomas Faris, 1851. In the collection of our .
5️⃣ “Young Man Looking at a Daguerreotype,” 1855. In the collection of our .

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