SmartNews Keeping you current Many national parks remain understaffed during the government shutdown while instances of vandalism and destruction rise (Shay Spatz/National Park Service) smithsonian.com January 2, 2019 | Updated: January 8, 2019 10:13PM Editor’s Note, January 8, 2019: The Associated Press reports that Joshua Tree National Park will be temporarily closed to visitors due to […]

When Theodore Roosevelt took office as the United States’ 26th president, he was only 42, the youngest president in the history of the nation. He was also a fanatic for the outdoors, and was actually heading back from a hike when his predecessor, President William McKinley, took a turn for the worst after an assassination […]

Museum buildings and research centers shuttered, most federal employees furloughed, while excepted Zoo staff continue care of the animals All programs and events will be postponed, relocated to non-federal locations or cancelled. All Smithsonian facilities will remain shuttered until the federal government reopens. (Smithsonian Institution) smithsonian.com December 27, 2018 | Updated: an hour ago Editor’s […]

Who needs a ball? Cities get creative on New Year’s Eve by dropping objects that reflect local products and culture The Watermelon Drop in Vincennes, Indiana (Vincennes) smithsonian.com December 31, 2014 | Updated: December 31, 2018 7:33PM Around the world, the dawn of a new calendar year is often met with bright fireworks, a little […]

Editor’s Note, December 21, 2018: After receiving much critical feedback on this story, we’ve asked the writer to expand on his thinking and to provide the fuller picture of the legacy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. The text below has been updated in multiple places and the headline has been updated as well. One […]

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas as people deck their halls with fir, pine, spruce and other popular conifers. But for some, having a lush evergreen as their holiday showpiece just isn’t enough. Across the country, people are innovating by taking their holiday decorating skills to the next level and using whatever materials […]

Reindeer have been synonymous with Christmas since Clement C. Moore published his famous poem, “A Visit from Saint Nicholas,” in 1823, but despite Dasher’s and Dancer’s annual house calls, spotting these furry mammals can be a challenge. That’s because reindeer are usually found in the far northern regions of Europe, North America and Asia, areas […]

Throughout his nearly 30-year career in government, former President George H.W. Bush, who died on Friday at the age of 94, served in a dizzying number of positions, from Texas state Republican Party chairman to the highest office of the land. In between, he served as a congressman, ambassador to the United Nations, chairman of […]

Update, 3:02 p.m. EST: The InSight spacecraft has successfully landed on Mars. After entering the atmosphere of Mars at more than five times the speed of sound, the craft’s heat shield, parachute and retrorockets brought it down for a soft touchdown on the Red Planet. The spacecraft sent an image and a signal back to […]

Update, November 19, 2018: After a year of deliberations, the National Mall and Memorial Parks and James A. Garfield National Historic Site unveiled two waysides today on the National Mall, on what would have been Garfield’s 187th birthday. The dual markers contextualize the shooting of the 20th president by Charles J. Guiteau at the Baltimore […]

Editor’s Note, November 19, 2018: With Thanksgiving approaching, we are resurfacing this October 2018 story about a holiday favorite. This Thanksgiving, some 20 million Americans will tuck into green bean casserole, a culinary classic consisting of just six ingredients: a can of Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup, milk, soy sauce, black pepper, green beans and […]

Editors Note, November 16, 2018: In honor of what would have been Alfred Wertheimer’s 89th birthday today. We are resurfacing this interview with the photographer, who died at age 84 in 2014. An exhibition of his photographs of Elvis Presley appeared at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in 2010 and we interviewed Wertheimer at the […]

Editor’s Note, November 9, 2018: With Veterans Day approaching, we are resurfacing this 2017 story about how a World War I invention led to Kotex pads. What’s in a name? For Kotex, the first-ever brand of sanitary napkins to hit the U.S., everything. The disposable sanitary napkin was a high-tech invention (inspired, incidentally, by military […]

With the release of yet-another adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, here’s a look at 10 instances of people who deserved a bit of coal in their Christmas stockings. 1. Brock Chisholm was a distinguished Canadian psychiatrist who, as the first director-general of the World Health Organization, came to be called the […]

From 1914 to 1918, the wealthy and powerful Western nations and empires that had come to dominate the globe wrecked themselves in a paroxysm of destruction unmatched in any previous era. Empires toppled, millions died and the world changed forever. In the wake of the First World War, nations sought appropriate forms of public mourning and commemoration […]