Smithsonian Snapshot CameraSmithsonian Snapshot

A peek into our collections, one object at a time
T. rex
Smithsonian Snapshot

Adding Insult to Extinction

A triceratops had a very bad day.
Duke Kahanamoku
Smithsonian Snapshot

Hang Ten With Surfing Legend Duke Kahanamoku

Surf's up! A dive into the legacy of the "Big Kahuna," considered the father of modern surfing.
manatees playing
Smithsonian Snapshot

Mermaid or Manatee?

The resemblance is uncanny....It may seem absurd now, but centuries ago manatees were mistaken for mermaids.
black hole
Smithsonian Snapshot

First-Ever Image of a Black Hole

Captured by the Event Horizon Telescope, this image reveals the supermassive black hole at the center of Messier 87.
Last Empress, Cixi
Smithsonian Snapshot

Cixi, the Last Empress Dowager of China

From concubine to empress: Cixi effectively ruled China for nearly 50 years.
Vera Rubin
Smithsonian Snapshot

Vera Rubin: Lifelong Astronomer

Rubin is best known for finding evidence of dark matter.
Peineta (comb)
Smithsonian Snapshot

Intricate Beauty

Peinetas, such as the 19th-century peineta pictured here, came to symbolize a woman’s individuality and entrance into society.
chandelier
Smithsonian Snapshot

Illuminating Culture

Pepón Osorio created “El Chandelier” for a performance that explored the life of a Puerto Rican woman living in New York.
bird on branch
Smithsonian Snapshot

Bond, James Bond: Ornithologist

The Smithsonian collections contain bird specimens that the real James Bond collected in the Caribbean.
iron egg pan
Smithsonian Snapshot

A Patently Better Egg

Building a better frying pan—a complete one-pan breakfast.
Eye chart with dog
Smithsonian Snapshot

“Eye”-vy League Bulldog

Graphic designer Paul Rand plays with the iconography of eye charts to create a clever advertisement for Yale University.
shark held in hand
Smithsonian Snapshot

Hey, Little Fella!

The dwarf lantern shark (Etmopterus perryi) is the smallest shark, and it can fit in a human hand.
mantis shrimp drawing
National Museum of Natural History

Behold the Mantis Shrimp

The ocean is home to some of the most incredible creatures on Earth: Learn why the mantis shrimp is one of them.
dinosaur stamp
National Postal Museum

“When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth”

This stamp was released by the U.S. Postal Service in 2000 as part of a souvenir sheet “Celebrate The Century: 1990s.”
James Joyce
Smithsonian Snapshot

Remembering James Joyce on Bloomsday

James Joyce’s novel Ulysses follows the exploits of Dubliner Leopold Bloom during the course of a single day, June 16, 1904.
guaridan figures
Freer Gallery of Art

Guardians of More Than a Galaxy

These two large, wooden guardian figures once kept watch over the Buddha and his followers outside Ebaradera temple in Sakai, Japan.
watermelon seeds
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

It’s Watermelon Season!

This poster (detail), depicting a zoomed-in view of a watermelon, was designed by Stephen Frykholm for the Herman Miller Furniture Company.
red white and blue shield with white star
National Museum of American History

“Get This Man a Shield!”

Equipped with a shield composed primarily of vibranium from the African nation Wakanda, Captain America fought the forces of evil.
fire extinguisher
Smithsonian American Art Museum

Do Ho Suh’s Sheer Fabric Sculptures

Korean artist Do Ho Suh captures the objects of everyday life as dream-like sculptures.
Jackie Robinson
National Portrait Gallery

A Baseball First

This 1947 photograph by Harry Warnecke pictures Robinson at Ebbets Field during his first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Ginger in a yellow dress with violin
Smithsonian Snapshot

Ginger Smock Is the Trailblazing Jazz Violinist You Might Not Have Heard Of

Jazz violinist Emma “Ginger” Smock was born in Chicago in 1920, and she soon displayed precocious musical talent.
Dolores Huerta by Barbara Carrasco. Silkscreen 1999. National Portrait Gallery,
Smithsonian Snapshot

Dolores Huerta: A Latina Civil Rights Icon

A life spent advocating for workers and women’s rights.
pin without extinction is liberty
Smithsonian Snapshot

Alice Paul and Suffragists Were First to Picket the White House

In January 1917, Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party (NWP) became the first people to ever picket the White House.
red cardigan
National Museum of American History

Hi, Neighbor!

“There’s no person in the world like you, and I like you just the way you are.”—Fred Rogers

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