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The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was the first predominantly Black union to receive a charter with the American F...
09/07/2026

The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was the first predominantly Black union to receive a charter with the American Federation of Labor.

When the union was founded in 1925, the Pullman Company was one of the largest employers of Black workers, many of whom were porters or maids. From carrying luggage to making beds, sleeping car porters were responsible for the train company’s reputation as a luxury travel service.

While earning a job as a Pullman porter was sometimes considered an entryway into the middle class for Black Americans, both porters and maids faced discrimination in the workplace. Reliant on tips to supplement their low wages, many porters worked up to 400 hours a month in physically demanding roles. More than ten years after their initial founding, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters successfully negotiated a contract with the Pullman Company to raise wages and establish fair hours.

📷:

Union members in 1941 in front of a YMCA in Washington, DC from the Scurlock Studio Collection at our National Museum of American History.

09/04/2026

This book is covered in 190 amethyst gemstones, and isn’t it grape? 🍇

Its inside is a first edition of writer John Addington Symond’s 1884 English translation of 13th-century medieval drinking songs. On the outside: an elaborate binding from famous London firm Sangorski & Sutcliffe.

Originally commissioned by John Harrison Stonehouse, director of Sotheran’s of London, the world’s oldest antiquarian bookseller, this volume is encased in green Moroccan leather and features an all-over design of grapevines set against a gold stippled background.

This rare book was previously owned by a Mr. Edwin C. May as a gift to his wife, Gertude, in 1925, and it currently lives at our library, part of .

En el corazón del National Mall. ❤️ Established in 2020, the National Museum of the American Latino has honored the sto...
09/03/2026

En el corazón del National Mall. ❤️

Established in 2020, the National Museum of the American Latino has honored the stories of Latinos in the United States through exhibitions, public programs, digital resources, and beyond.

Earlier this week, the Smithsonian Board of Regents announced its permanent home: the former Arts and Industries Building, in between the Hirshhorn and Smithsonian Castle!

“We could not be more excited to build on the rich legacy of this historic building and transform it into a next generation museum that celebrates the history, culture, and contributions of Latinos in the United States,” shared museum founding director Jorge Zamanillo.

Excited to learn more about the museum?

✨ Explore https://latino.si.edu/

✨ Follow National Museum of the American Latino

✨ Visit the “¡Puro Ritmo!” exhibition



—
Establecido en 2020, el Museo Nacional del Latino Estadounidense ha honrado las historias de los latinos estadounidenses a través de exposiciones, programas públicos, recursos digitales y más.

A principios de esta semana, la Junta de Regentes de la Smithsonian anunció su sede permanente: ¡el antiguo edificio de Artes e Industrias, entre el Hirshhorn y el Castillo de la Smithsonian!

“No podríamos estar más entusiasmados de construir sobre el valioso legado de este edificio histórico y transformarlo en un museo de próxima generación que celebre la historia, la cultura y las contribuciones de los latinos en Estados Unidos”, compartió Jorge Zamanillo, director fundador del museo.

¿Te gustaría saber más sobre el museo?

✨ Explora https://latino.si.edu/es/

✨ Sigue National Museum of the American Latino

✨ Visita la exposición "¡Puro Ritmo!"

You’ll likely see this photograph across your feeds today. Reproduced on posters and t-shirts, the image of Gloria Stein...
09/03/2026

You’ll likely see this photograph across your feeds today. Reproduced on posters and t-shirts, the image of Gloria Steinem, left, and child welfare advocate Dorothy Pitman Hughes became an iconic symbol of the women’s liberation movement in the 1970s.

The two became fast friends and collaborators when Steinem, then a journalist for New York magazine, sat down to interview Pitman Hughes for a profile about the latter’s community daycare in New York City. By the time this photograph was captured by Dan Wynn in 1971, Steinem and Pitman Hughes were speaking together to crowds, both large and small, about women’s equality. That same year, they co-founded the Women’s Action Alliance, which, among its accomplishments, worked to establish women’s shelters across the United States. Along with a group of likeminded women, Pitman Hughes and Steinem created the concept for Ms. magazine to address topics often ignored by other publications. The first full issue, edited by Steinem, was published in 1972.

At a time when Black women felt largely excluded from mainstream women’s rights movements, their collaboration symbolized inclusiveness across racial and economic boundaries. In Wynn’s photograph, Steinem and Pitman Hughes appear to share a large skirt to demonstrate that solidarity.

Photographer Daniel Bagan re-created the iconic photograph of Steinem and Pitman Hughes in 2017.

Both images are in the collection of our National Portrait Gallery USA. The first full issue of Ms. is in the collections of our National Museum of American History.

📷:

“Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes” (detail) by Dan Wynn, 1971. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. © Dan Wynn Archive⁣

“Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes” (detail) by Dan Bagan, 2013 (printed 2017). National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. © 2014 Daniel Joseph Bagan.⁣

“Ms. Vol 1, No. 1,” published July 1, 1972. National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.

What are you wearing this back-to-school season? From sneakers to uniforms, check out these museum objects for your firs...
09/02/2026

What are you wearing this back-to-school season?

From sneakers to uniforms, check out these museum objects for your first day of school inspiration.

👟: “Chuck Taylor All Star” sneakers worn by Cab Calloway, mid 20th century, Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.
👖: Painted cream jeans with cutouts, 1989, Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.
👗: Catholic school uniform, ca. 1962, National Museum of American History.

There are plenty of reasons to feel hopeful about the future of these vulnerable Eastern box turtles. 🐢 “Collecting all ...
09/01/2026

There are plenty of reasons to feel hopeful about the future of these vulnerable Eastern box turtles. 🐢

“Collecting all the right the data is a slow, steady process,” said Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute researcher Mark Ketner, “but they’re turtles. They figured this out over 200 million years ago, and they know exactly what they need. Our goal is to figure that out too, but in less time.”

New York’s own Peter Parker was on Broadway. Yes, we’re serious. In 2011, “Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark” officially ope...
08/31/2026

New York’s own Peter Parker was on Broadway. Yes, we’re serious.

In 2011, “Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark” officially opened on Broadway. A rock musical with music by U2’s Bono and The Edge, is remembered by many theater aficionados as one of the more dangerous Broadway productions. Multiple cast members were seriously injured during the show’s run. It eventually closed in early 2014, citing an inability to procure injury insurance as one of the reasons.

Spider-Man is not the only superhero to experience a short-lived stint on Broadway. In 1966, Superman enjoyed center stage for 129 performances of “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman.” Both Playbills and Spider-Man costume by Eiko Ishioka are in the collection of National Museum of American History.

The hottest pattern in town: parks. 🏔️🌳 A decade after President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the National Par...
08/28/2026

The hottest pattern in town: parks. 🏔️🌳 A decade after President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the National Park Service, American manufacturers H.R. Mallinson & Co., Inc. introduced a new series of printed silks inspired by national parks in 1926.

During World War I, the company was at the forefront of the "Designed in America" campaign to assert American independence from Europe in textile design. Like other leading textile manufacturers during this period, they leaned into Americana.

Customers could choose from 12 different designs, each available in eight to 12 color combinations on three different fabrics.

Swipe to see a few of the designs and the National Park Service sites that inspired them. Which national park would you want to be wearing?



🏔:

Yellowstone National Park
Yosemite National Park
Grand Canyon National Park
Bryce Canyon National Park
Mount Rainier National Park

🧵: Designs from the "National Parks” textile series by American silk manufacturer H.R. Mallinson & Co are in the collections of our National Museum of American History (pictured above) and our Cooper Hewitt.

📷: National Park Servicee & U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

“Our earth is only one polka dot among a million stars in the cosmos. Polka dots are a way to infinity.” –Yayoi KusamaWe...
08/27/2026

“Our earth is only one polka dot among a million stars in the cosmos. Polka dots are a way to infinity.” –Yayoi Kusama

We remember Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who splashed our worlds—and Instagram feeds—with repetitive polka dot patterns and kaleidoscopic installations.

Our Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has been collecting Kusama’s artwork since 1996. The museum is home to the artist’s milestone “Infinity Mirror Room—Phalli’s Field (Floor Show)” (1965/2017), the first of Kusama’s immersive installations to transform the intense repetition of her earlier artworks into a perceptual and participatory experience.

In 2017, the museum welcomed a record-breaking number of visitors to “Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors,” the first exhibition to position the artist’s Infinity Mirror Rooms at the center of her practice. More recently, the Hirshhorn exhibited “One with Eternity,” which featured five works in the museum’s permanent collection.

“I want to bring joy and happiness through art,” Kusama told Hirshhorn director Melissa Chiu. “I have no regrets to have spent all my life making art.”

📷:

Yayoi Kusama. Lucy R. Lippard papers. Smithsonian's Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Clips from “One with Eternity,” on view at the Hirshhorn in 2022-23.

Sometimes you just need to smile at a photo of cute dogs before you can go on with your day. These pictures were taken ...
08/26/2026

Sometimes you just need to smile at a photo of cute dogs before you can go on with your day.

These pictures were taken by photographer Philip D. Gendreau. Gendreau began his photography career while traveling on merchant ships as a young man. In the 1920s, he started his own company and eventually moved to New York City where he captured the daily lives of New Yorkers for various publications, including school textbooks and Life Magazine. These images of Boston Terriers, English Setters, and a Wire-Haired Terrier are in the collection of National Museum of American History. The Boston Terriers are named Sonny Boy and Patsy!

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