A researcher was walking through a city market when he came upon a piece of dinosaur tail, encased in amber and preserved for millions of years in all its feathery glory.
Our curator of dinosaurs says it could help settle a debate over how feathers evolved in the first place.
Today we remember the life and legacy of John Glenn. He’s pictured here at our National Air and Space Museum, in front of the Mercury capsule in which he became the first American to orbit the Earth.
To celebrate Gene Davis’ signature stripe paintings, one of our buildings has a bold new look.
The (temporary) vinyl stripes are made from a high-res image of the artist’s “Hot Beat”—one of the large, bright pieces from the 1960s on view now at our @americanartmuseum. Walk up the stairs and you can see the brushstrokes.
Feel the rhythm of “Gene Davis: Hot Beat” through April 2.
Sit. Stay.
We’re feeling the love in this Christina Malman drawing, “Woman and a Dog,” from our @cooperhewitt. Malman was best known as a cartoonist for The New Yorker, and this piece was published in a 1935 issue, just as she was starting her career.
Guest curator Ellen DeGeneres chose it for display in the latest “Selects” series, in which prominent influencers, designers and artists are invited to interpret the museum’s collection. “Ellen DeGeneres Selects” is on view through May 21, 2017.
“No-shave November” doesn’t have anything on us. We have the world’s longest beard, coming in at more than 17 feet long, at our National Museum of Natural History.
The beard belonged to Hans Langseth, who started growing it when he was 19. He wished for his locks to live on after him—so the beard was cut off after Langseth died but before he was buried. His son eventually donated the matted specimen to us.
Museum anthropologists hold up the beard upon its arrival, in 1967, in this Smithsonian Institution Archives photo.
Earlier this week, we hosted #Smithsgiving and our guests got pretty creative. Some of the more…unique contributions to our Twitter table were:
See what everyone brought in the link above.
Thanksgiving is around the corner so it’s time to break out those casserole dishes. Does this look familiar?
This 1965 CorningWare dish, with its signature blue cornflower design, is in our @amhistorymuseum’s collection. It was given to the museum by Anne L. Bernat, who got a set as a wedding present in 1967 and used them up until her donation in 2011.
The CorningWare material was originally designed for military applications, but its ability to withstand sudden changes in temperature made it ideal for the kitchen.
Today is Sesame Street’s birthday. We might not have everything in the whole wide world, but Grover is welcome anytime.
This book, from an exhibition marking the 10th anniversary of the show at our National Museum of American History, is now in Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Sidedoor connects the big ideas, from dinosaurs to dining, telling stories about science, art, history, humanity and where they unexpectedly overlap.
Step into a new entryway to the Smithsonian.
Subscribe in iTunes or Google Play, and get a special look at the first episodes and extra content at on our website.
(#1: It’s not the same as Halloween.)
Someone seems excited for Halloween.
This page (minus the dancing) is from a science volume in our @smithsonianlibraries.
This gnarly thing is a new deep-sea worm found in our National Museum of Natural History’s collection.
The previously undescribed tiny creatures (officially named Sphaerephesia amphorata) are covered in bristles, wrinkles and wart-like bumps.
Experts don’t know why they’re covered in all that, or much else about the family of segmented worms that the new species belongs to, but they can live in some of the murkiest depths ever sampled by humans. It’s also not unusual for a species to be “discovered” in a large collection where specimens aren’t given permanent names until they’re carefully examined.
They’re 500 years apart, but this Ming Dynasty dish and Mark Rothko painting might have more in common than you’d think.
Yes, they’re both red, but the dish and Rothko (on loan from the National Gallery of Art) are also both by artists at the peak of their abilities, who created a depth and texture in their work either through paint or glaze. Both artists are concerned about shape—note the dish’s white rim that makes the red color pop.
The artists almost certainly didn’t know the other existed, but these pieces now share a room at our @freersackler. See them together through Feb. 2017.
They might be the most iconic shoes ever. But they need your help.
Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers have called our National Museum of American History home for decades and have been seen by millions. Today, at nearly 80 years old, the slippers are showing their age.
YOU can help to provide immediate conservation care and a new, state-of-the-art display case. Join us on our journey to #KeepThemRuby and back our @kickstarter campaign: www.si.edu/kickstarter
Someone looks fly for fall: this Smithsonian staff member from the 1880s.
Fashion inspiration courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Archives
