Skip to main content

Smithsonian Snapshot

A peek into our collections, one object at a time

Smithsonian Snapshot

Cixi, the Last Empress Dowager of China
From concubine to empress: Cixi effectively ruled China for nearly 50 years.
Smithsonian Snapshot

Vera Rubin: Lifelong Astronomer
Rubin is best known for finding evidence of dark matter.
Smithsonian Snapshot

Intricate Beauty
Peinetas, such as the 19th-century peineta pictured here, came to symbolize a woman’s individuality and entrance into society.
Smithsonian Snapshot

Illuminating Culture
Pepón Osorio created “El Chandelier” for a performance that explored the life of a Puerto Rican woman living in New York.
Smithsonian Snapshot

Bond, James Bond: Ornithologist
The Smithsonian collections contain bird specimens that the real James Bond collected in the Caribbean.
Smithsonian Snapshot

A Patently Better Egg
Building a better frying pan—a complete one-pan breakfast.
Smithsonian Snapshot

“Eye”-vy League Bulldog
Graphic designer Paul Rand plays with the iconography of eye charts to create a clever advertisement for Yale University.
Smithsonian Snapshot

Hey, Little Fella!
The dwarf lantern shark (Etmopterus perryi) is the smallest shark, and it can fit in a human hand.
National Museum of Natural History

Behold the Mantis Shrimp
The ocean is home to some of the most incredible creatures on Earth: Learn why the mantis shrimp is one of them.
National Postal Museum

“When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth”
This stamp was released by the U.S. Postal Service in 2000 as part of a souvenir sheet “Celebrate The Century: 1990s.”
Smithsonian Snapshot

Remembering James Joyce on Bloomsday
James Joyce’s novel Ulysses follows the exploits of Dubliner Leopold Bloom during the course of a single day, June 16, 1904.
Freer Gallery of Art

Guardians of More Than a Galaxy
These two large, wooden guardian figures once kept watch over the Buddha and his followers outside Ebaradera temple in Sakai, Japan.
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

It’s Watermelon Season!
This poster (detail), depicting a zoomed-in view of a watermelon, was designed by Stephen Frykholm for the Herman Miller Furniture Company.
National Museum of American History

“Get This Man a Shield!”
Equipped with a shield composed primarily of vibranium from the African nation Wakanda, Captain America fought the forces of evil.
Smithsonian American Art Museum

Do Ho Suh’s Sheer Fabric Sculptures
Korean artist Do Ho Suh captures the objects of everyday life as dream-like sculptures.
National Portrait Gallery

A Baseball First
This 1947 photograph by Harry Warnecke pictures Robinson at Ebbets Field during his first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Smithsonian Snapshot

Ginger Smock Is the Trailblazing Jazz Violinist You Might Not Have Heard Of
Jazz violinist Emma “Ginger” Smock was born in Chicago in 1920, and she soon displayed precocious musical talent.
Smithsonian Snapshot

Dolores Huerta: A Latina Civil Rights Icon
A life spent advocating for workers and women’s rights.
Smithsonian Snapshot

Alice Paul and Suffragists Were First to Picket the White House
In January 1917, Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party (NWP) became the first people to ever picket the White House.
National Museum of American History

Hi, Neighbor!
“There’s no person in the world like you, and I like you just the way you are.”—Fred Rogers
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Alma Thomas Became a Nationally Recognized Painter after 38 Years Teaching Public School
In her 80s, she was the first African American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
National Air and Space Museum

Chauncey Spencer, Aviator
Chauncey Spencer after a successful parachute jump at a Chicago air show. Spencer became one of Chicago’s most well-known barnstorming pilots.
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Perfect for Valentine’s Day: Cupids and Jewelry
The bracelet is believed to have been made by the eminent French jeweler, Honoré-Séverin Bourdoncle.
Smithsonian Snapshot

Bessie Coleman, First African American Woman Licensed Pilot
Coleman received the first pilot’s license issued to an African American woman from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale.

Pages

Back to Top