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@smithsonian

We're not a museum. We're 21 of them! (Plus a zoo & 9 research centers.) Find visiting info at | Legal:

Washington, DC
Joined March 2008
Born August 10

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  1. Pinned Tweet
    Jul 29

    Planning a visit as we gradually reopen Smithsonian locations? Find visiting info at . Starting Friday, July 30, all visitors ages 2 and older are required to wear a mask while visiting our museums and indoor spaces, regardless of vaccination status.

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  2. The Pouriers spent hours researching, interviewing and collaborating with the eight influential women to create the design. Each individual portrait panel took about two weeks to complete. Learn more:

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  3. Lakota artists Kevin and Valerie Pourier created “Winyan Wánakikśin” (Women Defenders of Others), a belt honoring the strength of Native American women. The women depicted advocate for a wide range of causes.

    Belt with engraved portraits of eight Native American women.
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  4. No raking required for this more than 250-year-old wooded walk at Pitney Farm in Mendham, New Jersey. Kathleen T. Pitney captured the scene in 1997, and the image is now in our ' Archives of American Gardens.

    A wooded path with yellow leaves on the trees and ground
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  5. Retweeted

    We’re wishing very happy to our friends in and communities around the world this week! We hope the coming months bring health, prosperity, and the knowledge and light we all need. Thanks to all who joined our programs with this week!

    A clay oil lamp with a lit flame in a decorative plate filled with flower petals
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  6. Nov 4

    The work women do to support community wellness and health often goes unrecognized. Discover five stories illustrating how women of color have worked to protect and strengthen themselves and their communities.

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  7. Nov 3

    Our 's new display is 7 feet of sparkles. 🤩 The Berns Quartz is a gigantic cluster of thousands of crystals weighing 8,000 pounds. It's one of the largest examples of quartz specimens on display in any museum in the U.S.

    Large group of tan crystal specimens on display in front of a landscape.
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  8. Nov 2

    The main objects on a ofrenda symbolize life’s elements: water, wind, fire and earth. Papel picado, representing wind, are tissue paper banners with cut-out designs of animated skeleton figures. This design comes from our 's collection.

    Yellow paper with design cut out of two skeletons dancing. There are flowers and plants around them.
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  9. Nov 1

    Maria Hupfield (Anishinaabe, Wasauksing First Nation) made this jingle dress entirely of notebook paper. The names of Indigenous writers are inscribed on each jingle. Hupfield's 2002 piece is on view at our .

    Dress with long sleeves and many bell shapes in rows on the skirt. It is made of lined paper.
    Close-up view of rows of jingles made from notebook paper. Each has a name written on it.
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  10. Oct 29

    This vampire squid looks happy it's almost Halloween. From our , this 1889 scientific illustration shows the creature’s black skin, “cape” of webbing, and eyes that look red under certain light.

    Drawing of a squid dark skin and large eyes
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  11. Oct 28

    Don’t lose your head over these earrings from our ’s collection. They are from a group of costume jewelry the museum acquired in Paris during the bicentennial of the French Revolution in 1989.

    Pair of gold earrings in the shape of guillotines
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  12. Oct 27

    Think it’s a clock with a sheet over it? You’ve been tricked. Wendell Castle carved “Ghost Clock” (1985) from a single block of laminated mahogany. This piece stands hauntingly silent in our ’s .

    Sculpture shaped like a grandfather clock under a pale sheet
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  13. Oct 26

    This photo shows Smithson's coffin in the Castle Regents' Room, where it sat for a YEAR before entombment in the crypt in 1905.

    Coffin draped in a striped flag in a large room with a fireplace
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  14. Oct 26

    What could be spookier than our founding donor’s bones in our Castle lobby? The Smithsonian Crypt is the final resting place for James Smithson, a British scientist who never visited this country...while he was alive.

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  15. Oct 26

    No snorkel required, dive into an augmented reality coral reef, discover the threats they face, and learn how we can protect them. Our corals come to life in this collaboration among .

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  16. Oct 25

    Feeling ~fancy~ with this spooky handstamp in our . Known as a fancy cancel, it would have been used in the 1800s to cancel postage and make sure stamps were only used once. Designs ranged from circles and dates to handmade miniature works of art.

    Lead handstamp carved in the shape of a skull and crossbones
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  17. Oct 25

    Located in the Whirlpool Galaxy, the possible planet spotted by , operated by , would be much farther away than any of the thousands of others scientists have found in our galaxy.

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  18. Oct 22

    Inspired by her battle with depression, Shange’s work explored healing. It also reflects the poet’s fierce commitment to empowering women of color by honoring their struggles and celebrating their strengths. Learn more:

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  19. Oct 22

    In the early 1970s, poet and playwright Ntozake Shange began developing a "chore-poem" titled, “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf.” This photograph is in our .

    A photograph of Ntozake Shange with her hands behind her back, looking straight at the viewer. She is balancing a book on her head.
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  20. Oct 21

    No sandworms here. We hope. George Elbert Burr's drawing of an American Southwest desert landscape is in the collection of our .

    Pencil drawing of a desert landscape with sandy foreground with medium-sized dunes/hills in middle distance and mountain tops in distance. Voluminous clouds in the sky, plus some rain or wind.
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  21. Oct 20

    Founded in 1974, the Salsa Soul Sisters is the first known Black lesbian organization in the U.S. Based in New York, the group empowered LGBTQ+ women of color experiencing sexism, racism and discrimination. This photo is in our .

    Marchers in the New York City Gay Pride Parade holding a white banner with the words, “Salsa Sisters 3rd World Women” printed in black. Behind them, two women hold a red banner with lavender lettering reading, “Third World Gay Women Salsa Soul.”
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