These activities help young learners build skills in literacy, creativity, and communication while using everyday materials and exploring interesting topics. A series of five, each activity uses objects from across the Smithsonian as a jumping-off point for learning through play as well as tips for

"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

“Celebrating the 300th anniversary of its founding this year, New Orleans is a city whose culture and cuisine have captivated the American imagination for generations. Given the way authors and travel writers have described the city as a place steeped in French and Spanish traditions, it is not al

The Quakers published this booklet titled "El Obrero y sus Derechos" in 1981. The 23-page Spanish language booklet uses cartoons to inform and instruct workers on their rights and where to go for help. It covers a wide variety of occupations (apparel, agriculture, construction, car washing, etc.) Th

During the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 the best medical minds in the country were focused on the problem of discovering the cause of the flu and how to prevent it — and they failed. Sherman’s Vaccine was developed in response to the pandemic. Essentially it was a “stew” of numerous bacteria

This exhibition is about Clotilde Arias, a Peruvian immigrant who came to New York City in 1923 at age twenty-two to study music. Decades later she translated the national anthem into the official Spanish version at the request of the U.S. government. Arias died in 1959 in Manhattan at age fifty-eig

Pin-back buttons serve many purposes. They are efficient advertising vehicles, handy for fund-raising in support of a cause, concise statements of a person’s beliefs, a form of educational outreach, and convenient ice-breakers for conversation. NMAH has several hundred pin-back buttons related

This historical investigation is aligned with the C3 Framework and is from C3teachers.org. This inquiry is focused on the compelling question “Was American expansion abroad justified?” In other wo

This Coca-Cola bottle from 2002 contains brown liquid inside that it sealed with a metal cap. The greenish glass is marked with a painted Coca-Cola logo around the middle, repeated twice. On one side, a barcode is placed next to the image of a Coca-Cola bottle with condensation over it, and under

  Our Founding Fragments video series gets up close and personal with historical treasures in the collection of the National Museum of American History. This is our fifth episode in the series, and in it our host Tory joins curator Dr. Margaret S