Our mission is to empower people to create a just and compassionate future by exploring, preserving, and sharing the complexity of our past.

This commemorative coin was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut in the 19th century. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still ...

Most drawings focused on warrior deeds and exploits—attacking, killing, or counting coup on enemies—and on warriors’ injuries and death during battle with Indian and non-Indian adversaries. Many ...

Margaret Crane, the inventor of the first home pregnancy test, worked as a graphic designer for Organon, a pharmaceutical company in West Orange, New Jersey. Crane received a patent on her design in ...

"I remember this circumstance very well because of the excitement and surprise and incredulity which he manifested at the time. He asked me over and over again what it was." (William D. Coolidge, ...

Nineteenth-century Plains Indian drawings have often been called “ledger” drawings because they were made with pencil, ink, and watercolor on pages of old ledger or account books. When young Plains ...

Jack Kilby’s demonstration of the first working integrated circuit (IC) in 1958 revolutionized the field of microelectronics. Instead of using discrete transistors, resistors, and capacitors to form a ...

This upright piano was made by John Isaac Hawkins in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1801. Hawkins patented an ingenious small upright piano with a folding keyboard, of which the Smithsonian’s is an ...

Page through William Steinway's diary using the buttons below. Click to view annotations (highlighted in red). Jump to a specific date or search for keywords using the tools to the right. Use the ...

The Constitution did not require white and African American children to attend the same schools. Social separation of blacks and whites was a regional custom; the states should be left free to ...

Physical Description: paper (overall material)ink (overall material)Measurements: overall: 28 cm x 38.5 cm; 11 1/32 in x 15 5/32 in ...

Destroy This Mad Brute. American World War I poster by artist Harry R. Hopps for the U.S. Army. Depicted is a crazed gorilla, representing Germany, carrying a bloody club and the limp body of a woman ...