National Museum of American History

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Museum Happenings This July: Exhibits, Music and More at the National Museum of American History

The calendar of exhibitions and events happening at the museum in July 2025.

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Mark Your Calendar: Black History Month, Exhibits, Jazz and More at the National Museum of American History

This February at the museum, we're celebrating a new season of the podcast, commemorating Black History Month, and listening to some jazz. Check out the calendar to find out what's going on this month!

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A Brief History of Presidential Inaugural Speeches

From George Washington to Today, a Look at the Precedent for the Inaugural Address

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How a Newspaper Revolution Sparked Protesters and Influencers: Disinformation and the Civil War

How the most divided period in the history of U.S. democracy – the mid-1800s – coincided with a sudden boom in new communications technologies, confrontational political influencers, widespread disinformation, and nasty fights over free speech. This media landscape helped bring about the Civil War.

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To American Revolutionaries, Patriotism Meant Fair Dealing With One Another

When modern Americans call themselves patriots, they are evoking a sentiment that is 250 years old.

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Smithsonian Artifacts Reveal the Historical Significance of Presidential Debates

Bobbleheads, Magic 8 Balls, chairs and other artifacts in the Smithsonian reveal the historical significance of presidential debates.

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The 2024 Political Conventions Find a Home in the Smithsonian Collections

The cheering, clapping and speechifying are over. Historians from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History have returned after their trips to the 2024 political party conventions to collect materials – from balloons to banners to blinking wristbands – at each of them.

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Smithsonian Curator's Encounters at the Democratic National Convention

At the 2024 Democratic National Convention alongside politicians and delegates from across the country are political history curators from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, who are collecting what museum curators call “ephemera” – items that people wear, carry, hand out, display or otherwise use during the convention.

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What Smithsonian Curators Will Be Doing at the Democratic National Convention

Three political history curators from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History are heading to the 2024 Democratic National Convention soon to collect stuff – or as the professionals call it, ephemera: everything from balloons to tickets to articles of clothing

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Highlights of What the Smithsonian Is Archiving From the Republican Convention

"MAGA BLACK" hats, clear swag bags, the first Trump/Vance signs: Here's a look at what the Smithsonian curators are collecting

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How Smithsonian Curators Visit Political Conventions to Explain the Present to the Future

When scholars from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History attend one of these gatherings, as they do each election, they save everything from hats to buttons to umbrellas to soap

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Family Letters Offer Glimpse Into Civil War Thanksgiving

This family letter from the Civil War provides a glimpse into what the holiday was like for Union soldiers

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How This WWII Flag Fulfilled a General's Dying Wish

Private José Quintero struggled to create this flag in secret while held as a prisoner of war during World War II

Three cards where visitors left handwritten messages invoking girl power. One card reads: “you think we're not good enough but we're just to [sic] good for you, girl power.”

What Does 'Girl Power' Really Mean?

We asked our visitors to talk back about what it means to be a girl

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Soldiers in Fur Coats and 'Doggles'

Celebrate National Dog Day with military dog Fausto's visit to the museum

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Reflecting on the Ten Year Anniversary of DACA

Three undocumented organizers share their reflections from inside the movement

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Before Memorial Day, Learn the Language of Flowers

It may not seem like it, but floral symbolism and military history are deeply connected

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Where Black and Indigenous History Come Together

Minnesota doesn’t typically come to mind when you think about slavery and the Civil War.

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Collecting In the Wake of January 6

On January 7, Smithsonian curator Frank Blazich spent hours surveying the National Mall collecting abandoned objects. But that was only the first part of the story.

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