“In October 1792, the United States of America was still a new country, not even a decade old, fresh from a complete government overhaul just four years earlier. With only one federal election by that point, and one president, it was a nation long on ambition, but short on history. There were hero

An Interactive Journey through Jewish History of Eastern Europe. The first exhibition, Beba Epstein: The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Girl uses interactive storytelling to contextualize hundreds of artifacts from the YIVO archives, taking the user on a journey of discovery. It is based on the l

For elementary school students to practice thinking routines by carefully observing museum objects and artifacts. Each video has an accompanying lesson plan with activities for students to do in the class or home. Find them in the description section of each individual video. Each video is 5 minutes

"Summer Road Trip” is a new 40-page activity guide that uses the vast collections and expertise of the Smithsonian to take learners on their own summer “road trip” of discovery. Through hands-on activities, puzzles and games, students will explore topics in STEM, history, and the arts. The gui

“In March 2020, the Urban Art Mapping research team, a small group of faculty and students from the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota, was busy conducting interviews with community members of Midway, a bustling, diverse neighborhood. Located in the middle of a six-mile stretch betw

“John Langston was running through a neighborhood in ruins. Burned homes and businesses were still smoking, their windows shattered. Langston was only 12 years old, but he was determined to save his brothers’ lives. He had spent the night in a safe house, sheltering from the white mobs that had

“In 1945, Jack Fisher of Kalamazoo, Michigan, celebrated a victory, one of the first of its kind in the United States. Jack, a disabled veteran and lawyer, was elated because his hometown had just installed the nation's first curb cuts to facilitate travel in the downtown area for wheelchair users

“In March 1943, Paul Bland was drafted into the military at the age of 19. He had experience in trucking and so was trained as an ambulance driver for the Army. He was then deployed to Europe in February of the following year to fight in World War II. Private First Class Paul Bland served in the 5

““You know how you can tell the difference between a masked cop and a vigilante?” “No.” “Me neither.” This exchange between Laurie Blake, former costumed vigilante turned FBI agent, and Angela Abar, masked Tulsa police detective, lays out a conundrum at the heart of HBO’s 20

“Soil is more than just dirt; it affects all of the foods we eat. But why is this really a conversation about history and why are we talking about this at the National Museum of American History this summer? The way Americans have treated dirt throughout American history has had wide-ranging resul