John Larson’s original polygraph, a gift to the Smithsonian from the Berkeley Police Department, where Larson was the first rookie cop with a PhD. Cade Martin In order to catch…
Look closely at Libba Cotten’s 1950 Martin guitar, part of the Sounding American Music exhibition at the National Museum of American History, and you may be able to see the…
Jesse Rhodes; Updated by Eli Wizevich The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education and research complex, and since its founding in 1846, it’s been a revered part of…
Meilan Solly Senior Associate Digital Editor, History For the past six months, the giant panda habitat at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) has sat empty, a…
“What made Willie so appealing,” says author James S. Hirsch “was how he played the game: the grace and the tenacity and the sheer entertainment value that he brought to…
From inside of the Hirshhorn, the museum’s circular design creates an oculus effect. Richard Barnes Immediately after the 1969 groundbreaking for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.,…
A Spectra Physics Model A supermarket scanner—one of the first ten ever produced. A laser within the unit projects a beam onto a mirror that redirects it through the glass…
Isis Davis-Marks; Updated by Kayla Randall On August 19, 2020, then-Senator Kamala Harris wore a necklace of pearls as she accepted the Democratic vice presidential nomination. When the suit-clad former…
Gregory Wakeman Freelance Writer Lagueria Davis has been working on her documentary, Black Barbie, since 2011. The idea came that year, when the filmmaker left Oklahoma—where she’d been studying—for Los…
Pioneering designer Clara Driscoll conceived this indelible lamp around the turn of the 20th century—with help from her fellow “Tiffany girls.” Chelsea Kyle; prop stylist: Rebecca Bartoshesky Few if any…
