Sidedoor: History & Culture | Smithsonian Institution

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Two masked robbers grab bags of money from a computer screen.

Sidedoor Podcast

Bitcoin Bank Heist

How do you solve a modern bitcoin heist? Follow along with Sidedoor to find out.

Illustration of a large crowd holding torches.

Sidedoor Podcast

The Wide Awakes

Learn how a mass movement of working-class Americans marched to end slavery.

Sidedoor Podcast

The Devil’s Composer

Explore how silent films led to some of the musical scare tactics we see in horror films today.

illustration of Womens Bank

Sidedoor Podcast

Bankers in the Boudoir

A look at how the the Equal Credit Opportunity Act improved women's lives.

Silhouette of a man using a magnifying glass to look at money.

Sidedoor Podcast

Jim the Penman

The mid-1800s was a golden age of counterfeit and one very talented con artist stood out from the rest.

Purple background with illustrated coins floating around.

Sidedoor Podcast

Face Value

Follow the money to see behind-the-scenes in the process of minting twenty new quarters featuring American women from history.

Spooky ilustration of a long-haired, dark figure behind a valentine.

Sidedoor Podcast

Til Death Do Us Part?

Listen to some of Japanese theater’s most popular tales of scorned lovers seeking vengeance from beyond the grave.

Illustration of several different animals and people climbing out of a mail bag.

Sidedoor Podcast

To Sidedoor, With Love

The Sidedoor team runs all around the Smithsonian to answer from a grab bag of listeners' questions.

Illustrated dog jumps through red and yellow fire and a cat lays on a piece of Army equipment.

Sidedoor Podcast

Tails of Bravery

Listen to tales of animals that joined their human companions on the battlefield.

Colorful background with illustration of a woman front and center.

Sidedoor Podcast

The Milkmaid Spy

Virginia Hall dreamed of being America’s first woman ambassador. Instead, she became a spy.

A man sits at a table wearing a black hat and suit and holding up a glass of champagne.

Sidedoor Podcast

Auld Lang What?

Learn what "auld lang syne” really means and how it's connected to Charlie Chaplin.

Illustration of a gray-haired woman giving a speech at a lectern to a large audience with a red and yellow background.

Sidedoor Podcast

Wrinkled Radicals

Hear about the U.S. movement against ageism started by Maggie Kuhn in the 1970s.

Spooky illustration of the Castle at night.

Sidedoor Podcast

Resurrected: Spooked at the Smithsonian

The Smithsonian is home to countless tales of unexplained phenomena and—dare we say—ghost sightings.

Illustration of a white man squatting and using a magnifying glass to look at a gun with a train in the background.

Sidedoor Podcast

CSI: Southern Pacific

Re-examine evidence from "The Last Great Train Robbery" to find out how U.S. Postal Inspectors tracked down a band of old-school outlaws.

An illustration of a group of muppets next to the Smithsonian castle.

Sidedoor Podcast

The 'Gentle Anarchy' of the Muppets

Conserving the history of Jim Henson's Muppets.

Illustration of an open book with a variety of black silhouettes.

Sidedoor Podcast

The Toxic Book of Faces

Explore the history of portraiture in America and a poisonous mystery.

Illustration of protestors standing in front of a biohazard sign.

Sidedoor Podcast

Building a Movement

A history of the environmental justice movement from the farmlands of North Carolina to a watershed moment in the nation's capital.

Illustration of side view of a mans face in front of a wooden record player and many records floating in the background.

Sidedoor Podcast

Recording the World

In 75 years, Folkways Recordings has grown into one of the world’s most eclectic, iconic, and largest repositories of recorded sound.

Illustration of a man caring for a green lawn in a variety of ways.

Sidedoor Podcast

Get Off My Lawn

Americans spend countless hours on patches of grass that don't make much sense, economically or ecologically. But why?

Sidedoor Podcast

Bill Nye the Sidedoor Guy

We sit down with Bill Nye to get schooled on science education and comedy.

Illustration showing an oversize astronaut running over North America on a curved Earth.

Sidedoor Podcast

Space Marathon

A look at the women who blazed the trail allowing for competition in marathons.

Illustrated image of a man with white hair wearing a suit and opening a violin case.

Sidedoor Podcast

The Phantom Violins

Learn a tale of subterfuge, scandal, and the Smithsonian’s first donation of rare instruments.

holiday table

Sidedoor Podcast

A Very Merry Sidedoor

Sidedoor tracks down the origins of some puzzling Christmastime traditions.

illustration of Lucy Hicks Anderson wearing a purple hat and jacket

Sidedoor Podcast

Lucy Hicks Anderson

When her gender was put on trial in the 1940s, her case made her one the first documented Black transgender figures in American history.

illustration of a sonogram

Sidedoor Podcast

Reservation Math: Navigating Love in Native America

Explore the concept of blood quantum and how it continues to impact Native Americans today.

Wright flyer

Sidedoor Podcast

Wronging the Wrights

On December 17, 1903, Orville Wright made history when he flew more than 800 feet across a blustery beach in North Carolina.

illustration of the White House shown with enslaved construction workers

Sidedoor Podcast

Who Built the White House?

Historians take a years-long journey to determine who the enslaved African Americans were who built the White House.

illustration depicting statue in ruins from war on Ukraine

Sidedoor Podcast

Culture in Crisis

Learn how the Smithsonian helps protect the world's cultural treasures in times of war and natural disaster.

man holding papers looking at the Smithsonian Castle at night

Sidedoor Podcast

The Hungerford Deed

A 200-year-old legal document changes what we know about the founding of the Smithsonian.

Illustration of Beatrice Kenner

Sidedoor Podcast

The Many Inventions of Beatrice Kenner

Learn more about one of the most prolific African American inventors of the mid 20th century.

First American flag with circle of stars

Sidedoor Podcast

Broad Stripes, Bright Stars, and White Lies

Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag. At least that's what we were taught in school.

baseball card and ephemera

Sidedoor Podcast

Take Who Out to the Ball Game?

A long-forgotten lyric reveals a feminist message buried within a favorite song.

raven sculpture

Sidedoor Podcast

Raven and the Box of Daylight

Hear the origin story of the Tlingit people of the Pacific Northwest passed down since time immemorial.

Illustration of King delivering speech

Sidedoor Podcast

King's Speech

Sidedoor traces the evolution of King's dream, from a secret friendship to an experimental poem to the speech we all know today.

woman looking at AI rendering

Sidedoor Podcast

The Robot in the Mirror

Artificial intelligence is built on human intelligence. Meet a very special robot who asks us to consider: whose image will be reflected in our AI future?

beer and mug

Sidedoor Podcast

The Fugitive Brewer

Retrace the steps of an enslaved African American woman who fled to freedom in 1808 and made a life for herself brewing beer.

doll in front of Christmas tree

Sidedoor Podcast

Edison's Demon Dolls

Hear a short story that imagines what happens when two little girls receive one of Edison’s talking dolls as a holiday gift.

torch on the National Mall

Sidedoor Podcast

Light of Freedom

Artist Abigail DeVille has reimagined the Statue of Liberty’s torch to shine a light on historical contradictions of American freedom.

woman on skateboard

Sidedoor Podcast

Olympic Bonus: Shredding Skateboarding’s Glass Ceiling

When Mimi Knoop entered her first skateboarding competition, she never anticipated leaving her mark on the sport forever.

Coal miner and coal mine illustration

Sidedoor Podcast

The Battle of Blair Mountain

More than 100 years ago, a diverse group of coal miners banded together to demand better pay and safer working conditions.

woman in red dress in front of a Broadway sign

Sidedoor Podcast

The Goddess of Broadway

The first Puerto Rican performer to tread the boards on Broadway, Diosa Costello was fearless, funny, and brimming with talent.

illustration of burning Greenwood buildings

Sidedoor Podcast

Confronting the Past

Learn the story of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 that destroyed almost 40 blocks of a wealthy black neighborhood.

illustration of money and portraits

Sidedoor Podcast

On The Money

Join the Sidedoor team to learn who’s on our money, and how they got there.

Lena Richard illustration.

Sidedoor Podcast

Lena Richard: America's Unknown Celebrity Chef

When Richard cooked her first chicken on television, she beat Julia Child to the screen by over a decade.

Hall and Bessels

Sidedoor Podcast

A Very Cold Case

This epic frozen whodunit, features a shipwreck, romance, and a social media darling with a dark secret.

woman with guitar

Sidedoor Podcast

Sing a Song of Protest

As an up-and-coming young blues singer in the 1950s, Barbara Dane faced a choice: fame and fortune, or her principles.

Ms. Magazine cover

Sidedoor Podcast

How Wonder Woman Got Her Groove Back

It took a feminist magazine cover to catapult Wonder Woman from comic book character to the icon.

Examples of dress.

Sidedoor Podcast

Dress Coded

Dress codes have been around a long time—from the old days of long skirts and bloomers to today’s regulation-length shorts.

illustration of guzheng and banjo playing.

Sidedoor Podcast

Appalachia Goes Beijing

Abigail Washburn and Wu Fei make a new brand of folk music that combines the tones of Appalachia with the melodies of China.

Votes for Hawaii

Sidedoor Podcast

Votes for Hawaiians

Learn how women’s suffrage came to Hawai‘i—and what was taken from Hawaiians to get there.

illustration of Apollo crew.

Sidedoor Podcast

Apollo 12's Really Close Call

Hear the often-overlooked story of Apollo 12, one full of danger, discovery, and the power of friendship.

Harriet Tubman illustration.

Sidedoor Podcast

Young Harriet

In 2017, a photograph of a young Harriet Tubman surfaced that had been lost to history for more than a century. How does it change how we see her?

collage of natural scenes.

Sidedoor Podcast

The Last Man Who Knew It All

You may not know his name, but Alexander von Humboldt inspired a key part of America’s national identity through science and art.

graphic collage of space suit related items.

Sidedoor Podcast

Outer Space & Underwear

Learn how expert seamstresses played a critical role in the first well-supported steps on the moon.

Ponzi in a suit.

Sidedoor Podcast

Ponzi's Scheme

Meet the man behind the Ponzi Scheme, and hear from a postal investigator trained to catch swindlers who use the U.S. mail for nefarious purposes.

Adam Rippon illustration.

Sidedoor Podcast

Adam Rippon's Olympic Mesh-capades

When Adam Rippon stood on the Olympic podium in 2018, he was sure about his next steps.

illustration on dynamite and Mt Rushmore.

Sidedoor Podcast

Dynamite!

Explore the less common uses of dynamite: the artistic blasting at Mount Rushmore, and how anarchists used dynamite to advance their political agenda in 1886.

illustration of two male scientists

Sidedoor Podcast

The Dinosaur War

Behind the fossilized teeth, bones, and claws displayed in the National Museum of Natural History’s Fossil Hall is the story of two men and a nasty feud.

First Ladies in the collections.

Sidedoor Podcast

The Woman in the Frame

National Portrait Gallery Director Kim Sajet discusses four First Ladies and their portraits.

Things You’d Never Tell Your Parents

Sidedoor Podcast

Things You’d Never Tell Your Parents

Meet Regie Cabico, who has been called the Lady Gaga of spoken word poetry and hear poetic cooking tips from the annals of American history.

Atari joy stick and game console.

Sidedoor Podcast

The Worst Video Game Ever?

Deep within the National Museum of American History’s vaults is a battered Atari case.

Aloha, Y'all

Sidedoor Podcast

Aloha, Y'all

Learn how the steel guitar helped Hawaiians preserve their culture and change American popular music.

Good as Gold

Sidedoor Podcast

Good as Gold

Glittering treasures, gleaming coins, and eye-catching jewelry…gold can be all of these things, but in some parts of the world it's also an enduring link to the past.

Lincoln

Sidedoor Podcast

Abraham Lincoln: Prankster-in-Chief

Behind the face on the penny lies an unlikely jokester, hear about the other side of our 16th president.

Gladys Bentley

Sidedoor Podcast

Singing the Gender-Bending Blues

Gladys Bentley, a blues singing trailblazer, was unapologetically herself.

Muybridge motion horses

Sidedoor Podcast

Inventor, Photographer ... Murderer

Meet Muybridge, a photographer from the 1800s whose work paved the way for the invention of motion pictures.

banquet table

Sidedoor Podcast

That Brunch in the Forest

How much of what you think you know about Thanksgiving may be more fiction than fact?

grandma's house

Sidedoor Podcast

Slavery, Freedom, & Grandma’s House

What if you found out that your grandmother's house was going on display at a museum?

Anacostia graphic

Sidedoor Podcast

A Right to the City

Learn more about gentrification through a conversation with Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum.

skull

The Mystery Bones of Witch Hill

Grab your Scooby Snacks and join Sidedoor as we journey to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute to hear about unusual bones found on a dig.

hope diamond package

Sidedoor Podcast

The Curse of the Hope Diamond

We track the lore of this notorious gem through the centuries.

illustration of rabbit on an alligator

Sidedoor Podcast

Cherokee Story Slam

Explore the power stories hold to keep people connected to their culture across time and geographic distance.

discovering the world's oldest winery

Sidedoor Podcast

Discovering the World's Oldest Winery

Crawl with Sidedoor into into a deep, dark cave in search of long-lost wine.

Sidedoor: ep. 19 | america’s first food spy

Sidedoor Podcast

America’s First Food Spy

Meet the food spies—globe-trotting scientists and explorers of the 19th-century who sought exotic crops to enhance America’s diet and help grow the economy.

Sidedoor Podcast

Enslaved and Muslim in Early America

In the late 1700s Muslim Americans made up about five percent of the country's population. Where did they go, and why didn’t we all learn about them in school?

the many lives of owney the dog

Sidedoor Podcast

The Many Lives of Owney the Dog

One hundred and twenty years ago, Owney was a global celebrity famous for simply riding trains with the U.S. mail.

Sidedoor Podcast

This One’s for Dilla

In this Sidedoor episode, we’re telling the story of J Dilla’s life and legacy through those that knew him best.

Tony holding a covered dinner plate

Sidedoor Podcast

Live! Cookin' Up Stories

A live episode that explores how food can be a powerful storytelling tool and can transform a dining experience into a cultural, historical, or educational adventure.

crime scene illustration

Sidedoor Podcast

Murder Is Her Hobby

Learn how France Glessner Lee’s "Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death" blend art and science.

Episode 8

Sidedoor Podcast

Grandma Turned Me into a Ghost

Writer Anelise Chen discusses the ways in which our families shape our personal and cultural identities, for better or worse.

Episode 7

Sidedoor Podcast

The Man Who Defied Gravity

Lear about Paul Cinquevalli, one of the most famous and thrilling entertainers in the world in the late 1800s.

episode 5

Sidedoor Podcast

Live! Unintended Consequences

Learn tales of small things that snowballed and had outsized impacts on history, art, and culture.

soldier with a camera

Sidedoor Podcast

The Art of War

In this episode of Sidedoor, listen to stories of artists whose work has helped reveal the human side of war.

episode 1

Sidedoor Podcast

Red, White, and Brew

Meet the Smithsonian's brewing historian and a new wave of brewers who are working to craft some flavorful history of their own.

episode 1

Sidedoor Podcast

Shake It Up

A grab bag of stories from the Smithsonian Sidedoor team.

stylized thumb print.

Sidedoor Podcast

You Do You

A grab bag of stories from the Smithsonian Sidedoor team.

illustration post office sign and train.

Sidedoor Podcast

Gaming the System

A grab bag of stories from the Smithsonian Sidedoor team.

orchid illustration

Sidedoor Podcast

Masters of Disguise

A grab bag of stories from the Smithsonian Sidedoor team.

Stylized orangutan illustration.

Sidedoor Podcast

Special Delivery

The payoff is all in the delivery: missile mail, orangutan pregnancy, and landing a joke.

Sidedoor

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