Our mission is to empower people to create a just and compassionate future by exploring, preserving, and sharing the complexity of our past.

Understanding women’s history is integral to understanding the American experience. Although often underrepresented in recorded histories, women helped build the United States of America of today and ...

From the impact of new technologies to the influence of social and cultural changes, FOOD: Transforming the American Table explores the transformation of food and drink in post-World War II America.

“It shall be unlawful for a negro and white person to play together or in company with each other in any game of cards or dice, dominoes or checkers.” —Birmingham, Alabama, 1930 “Marriages are void ...

Before the 1860s most of the South had only a rudimentary public school system. After the Civil War, southern states ultimately created a dual educational system based on race. These separate schools ...

A cassia flask (or cassia oil flask) is a small glass container with graduated neck, used to assay the oils in cassia bark and similar substances. Schimmel & Co., introduced the form in 1890. Spahn & ...

Destroy This Mad Brute. American World War I poster by artist Harry R. Hopps for the U.S. Army. Depicted is a crazed gorilla, representing Germany, carrying a bloody club and the limp body of a woman ...

The Brown decision declared the system of legal segregation unconstitutional. But the Court ordered only that the states end segregation with “all deliberate speed.” This vagueness about how to ...

Jazz is a kind of music in which improvisation is typically an important part. In most jazz performances, players play solos which they make up on the spot, which requires considerable skill. There is ...

1 West Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Hall of Invention and Innovation Draper Spark!Lab is where museum visitors become inventors. The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation invites ...

The Smithsonian's National Numismatic Collection (NNC) is America's collection of monetary and transactional objects. This diverse and expansive global collection contains objects that represent every ...

Open every day, except December 25, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Admission is free and no tickets are required. Our mission is to empower people to create a just and compassionate future by exploring, ...