Photos

Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.

Washington, D.C.

Real Places Behind Famously Frightening Stories

Discover old haunts that inspired thrills and chills in fiction and film

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Photographer Robert Morrison’s Montana

The artist’s eye for the off-kilter and unusual offers a distinctive portrait of the West at the turn of the 20th century

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Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Toucans, Orchids, Monkeys and more

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A Collection of Baseball Firsts

Who hit the first grand slam? Who was the first pinch hitter? Presenting the nine players of Smithsonian’s "They Did It First" All-Star Team

Giant kangaroo

Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Hungry snakes, giant kangaroos, bat noses, and more

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Sheep, Chicks and Geese Scurry at the County Fair

As photographer Dan Nelken has catalogued, the county fair is the place for family farms to showcase their prized livestock

The tradition of Smithsonian museums loaning art to the White House began in the 1940s.

Decorating the White House with Smithsonian Art

Continuing a Washington tradition, the Obamas selected artwork from the Smithsonian collections to hang in their historic home

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Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Dog faces, the history of laughter, snakes, and bird warning calls

Jack LaLanne (1914 - 2011)

Bodybuilders Through the Ages

Over the past 150 years, bodybuilders have gone from circus sideshows to celebrities, imparting fitness lessons along the way

Galileo Galilei invented the geometric and military compass. It was his first commercial scientific instrument.

Galileo's Instruments of Discovery

With these various instruments, Galileo Galilei was able to look into space and change our view of the universe.

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Burgess Shale's Weird Wonders

The fossils found in the Burgess Shale include the 500-million-year-old ancestors of most modern animals

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Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Whale of a comeback, dancing cockatoos, sticky bees, and waltzing pond scum

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Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Flight of the hummingbird, termite cloning and the rise of the octopus

The Hubble Space Telescope’s Finest Photos

Now that the telescope has received its final upgrades, we look back on Hubble's most memorable images from space

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Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Dinosaur gangs, psychedelic fish and long-distance elephant calls

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Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Wolves, hibernating animals, spitting cobras and more

In a span of ten years, more than 1,000 species were discovered in Southeast Asia's Greater Mekong region.

Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Mosquitoes, New Zealand flightless birds, pink lizards and more

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Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Honeyeater birds, sea slugs, tree frogs, and more

The Galapagos is no place for a mammal. But it's a great place to be a reptile. Land animals had to make the trip here via rafts of vegetation that broke loose from the mainland, which isn't so bad if you have scaly skin, are cold-blooded and can go for a long time without fresh water. A few rodents managed to colonize the islands, and there are some native bats, but reptiles rule. One of the weirdest reptiles is the marine iguana, the world's only seagoing lizard. It basks on lava rocks to warm up in the morning, then swims around in the surf eating seaweed. They get to be four feet long or more and look for all the world like Godzilla. Like other Galapagos creatures, they aren't particularly bothered by humans gawking at them.

A Naturalist's Pilgrimage to the Galapagos

Smithsonian's Laura Helmuth vacationed in the Galapagos Islands and returned with even more respect for Charles Darwin

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Inauguration History

Behind Inaugural Speeches, Meaningful Words

What words do presidents focus on most in their inaugural addresses? Explore speeches, from Washington to Obama

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