Smithsonian's History Explorer Resources Related To "Create Your Own Indoor Kite"

Blog Post: Trilled R's and the Dawn of Recorded Sound in America

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 15:21:02 GMT

In this post, students will learn about the oldest sound recordings preserved toda, found at the Museum. These experimental phonograms were made starting in 1881 by the Volta Laboratory Association, which consisted of telephone pioneer Alexander Graham Bell, scientific instrument maker Charles Sumner Tainter, and chemist Chichester A. Bell. Written by Dr. Patrick Feaster, an instructor in Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University and a Lemelson Center Fellow, this post is published on the Museum's "O Say Can You See?" blog.

Spark!Lab Homepage

Mon, 14 May 2012 12:41:09 GMT

This webiste, from the Lemelson Center’s Spark!Lab, uses fun activities to help kids and families learn about the history and process of invention. Students can play games, conduct science experiments, explore inventors’ notebooks, and even invent! Spark!Lab, the newest hands on space for families and others visiting the National Museum of American History, shows the real story behind an inventor’s work.

American Stories

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 14:31:34 GMT

This online exhibition features approximately 100 objects from the Museum's collections to tell stories from the earliest days of America's colonial history through the 2008 presidential election. Each object is used as the starting point for a larger story about American history. The exhibition includes brief labels, large images, and an area for people to nominate objects from their own stories that would fill a gap in the exhibition.

The objects in the exhibition address a variety of themes from American history, including politics, popular culture, art, military history, and home life. They help tell the stories of famous Americans (including Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, and Apollo Anton Ohno) and anonymous everyday children, men, and women.