Thirty years of grueling work on the North American Indian Project cost the artist his marriage and his health. It also yielded an American legacy that is an artistic masterpiece.
Celebrity Caricature: Selections from the Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Voyages of discovery can be of many kinds: a physical journey to an unknown place, a mental exploration of new or familiar territory, or a wholly new episode of creative thought.
Wonder-rooms and curiosity cabinets appeared in the 1500s, as wealthy Europeans displayed objects and specimens collected during trading voyages and exploring expeditions.
Once an amazing diversity of birds–some in breathtaking abundance–inhabited the vast forests and plains of North America. But starting around 1600, species began to disappear, as h
Commemorating the sixth observed transit of Venus in 2004, this exhibition examines this rare phenomenon through astronomical texts written in the last four centuries.
Vibrant Visions: Pochoir Prints in the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Library
Explore six centuries of rare books, manuscripts, art, and artifacts from the Smithsonian Libraries and learn how Smithsonian staff use these resources in their everyday work.
In 1858 the world suddenly became smaller when an underwater telegraph cable joined two nations divided by the sea. From that first link, a vast web spread across the globe.
From Horses to Horsepower: Studebaker Helped Move a Nation
Featruing books from the Warren M. Robbins Library of African Art and the National Museum of African Art, this online exhibition complements the exhibition at the museum.
The Libraries' first online exhibition with works by over two dozen artists who re-interpret scientific ideas, methods, and discoveries through an imaginative use of the book form.
Explore Africa with early European visitors through the fascinating drawings, book illustrations and other objects from the Russell E. Train Africana Collection.
Ramelli's Machines: Original drawings of 16th century machines
Original drawings and superb engravings from Ramelli's book of ingenious inventions that had a great influence on the development of mechanical engineering.
Drawing from Life: Caricatures and Cartoons from the American Art / Portrait Gallery Collection
After its establishment in 1913, the parcel post had a dramatic effect on the U.S. economy. A staggering variety of goods was mailed by parcel post - even children!
How do the bones and fossils of the largest mammals on the planet make their way from discovery by Smithsonian scientists to the museum collections to sharing with the world?
The Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio
The extraordinary, highly praised, and visually captivating work of amateur scholarship that was created through the efforts of the family and friends of a young woman from Ohio.
Czech Book Covers of the 1920's and 1930's in the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Library
"Comfort for her family is provided even at the expense of many an exhausted nerve, and an aching heart." Maybe what she needed was a comprehensive domestic guidebook?
Travel with us to the fantastic worlds of fiction inspired by 19th-century discovery and invention. Opens July 1, 2015 at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.
Doodles, Drafts & Designs: Industrial Drawings from the Smithsonian
Trace how ideas evolve into reality through inventors' sketchbooks, engineers' mechanical drawings, and architects' renderings from the 1830s to the 1990s.