Jaclyn Nash/Smithsonian/TNS
Respirator pump and chest portion for an iron lung invented by C. E. H. Armbruster.
Benjamin G. Sullivan/Smithsonian/TNS
Tintype from the 1890s depicting woman who is standing outside in front of a house and shed.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
NASA astronaut and administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. wore this blue full body flight suit.
Mark Avino/Smithsonian/TNS
Gemini Paraglider Research Vehicle 1-A With Wing, hung in the Space Hanger at Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. on April 4, 2019.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
American essayist, poet and journalist Walt Whitman was photographed in Camden, NJ in 1966.
Mark Avino/Smithsonian/TNS
The Apollo Lunar Sample Return Container (ALSRC) was an aluminum box with a triple seal manufactured by the Nuclear Division of Union Carbide. It was used on Apollo lunar landing missions to preserve a lunar-like vacuum around the samples and protect them from the shock environment of the return flight to earth.
Alex Jamison/Smithsonian/TNS
This oil painting by famed American artist Charles Ethan Porter depicts a bouquet of off-white roses and greenery in a brown bowl.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
This portrait of boxer Gene Tunney from 1926 is part of the National Portrait Gallery's collection.
Dane Penland/Smithsonian/TNS
In 1961, NASA astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. became the first American to orbit the Earth in this space capsule.
Eric Long/Smithsonian/TNS
This mobile quarantine facility was one of four built by NASA for astronauts returning from the Moon. Its purpose was to prevent the unlikely spread of lunar contagions by isolating the astronauts from contact with other people.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
Hopes for a short war had already waned months before President Lincoln's new commander, General George B. McClellan, posed for this photograph with ten of his senior generals in 1862.
Alex Jamison/Smithsonian/TNS
This prototype of a digit heart rhythm monitor was developed by Dr. L. Julian Haywood.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
Gifted quilter Viola Canady, who founded a quilting guild in Washington, DC, created this masterpiece to mimic the effect of a stained glass window.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
A photograph of American tennis player Bill Tilden from 1930. (Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS)
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
This fuel cell is a cutaway version of the electric-power generating device used on the two-astronaut Gemini spacecraft during ten missions in 1965-66. A fuel cell is like a battery, in that it uses a chemical reaction to create an electrical current.
Alex Jamison/Smithsonian/TNS
A round cardboard placard covered on each side with white paper bearing red text, "STOP / RACISM / NOW." The logo of the National Organization for Women forms the "O" in "NOW."
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
Portraiture became part of the mourning process that followed Abraham Lincoln's assassination on April 14, 1865. The lithograph of the scene at Ford's Theatre re-creates the event, with John Wilkes Booth leaping to the stage after shooting Lincoln.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
This glass plate collodion negative from the famed photographer Mathew Brady Studio depicts Abner Doubleday, a Union major general in the American Civil War.
Gene Young/Smithsonian/TNS
This oil painting depicts the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912.
Alana Donocoff/Smithsonian/TNS
American jazz singer Billie Holiday had a lasting influence on jazz and pop music, pioneering a unique style of singing and performance.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
Frederic Edwin Church's oil paining from 1867 is a view of low rolling hills and low vegetation, over which a rainbow arches.
Jen Harris/Smithsonian/TNS
At center, a depiction of a parade in celebration of the passing of the 15th Amendment. Framing it are notable anti-slavery forces such as John Brown, Frederick Douglas and Abraham Lincoln.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
A device used to drop bombs precisely, this French bombsight is part of the National Air and Space Museum.
Eric Long/Smithsonian/TNS
Apollo Descent Engine at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum.
Leah L. Jones/Smithsonian/TNS
Dave Mann captured this image on September 6, 1955 of Emmett Till's funeral. (Leah L. Jones/Smithsonian/TNS)
Colleen Dugan/Smithsonian/TNS
Dressed in the fashion of a nobleman at the court of Shah Jahan, the divine sage Dhanvantari wears a white jama and a gold-bordered patka (sash) adorned with a large flower motif. This painting is attributed to 18th century Indian figure Manaku.
Mignonette Dooley Johnson/Smiths/TNS
A program for the Boston Symphony Hall that features Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
During World War I, Woodrow and Edith Wilson kept a flock of sheep on the White House grounds to save costs to cut the grass. The wool was also auctioned off to raise money for the Red Cross.
Amanda Barrett/Smithsonian/TNS
Part of the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, this is Charles Parsons' "On a Point."
Smithsonian Institution/TNS/TNS
A Negro American League baseball poster featuring Satchel Paige and Goose Tatum.
Eric Long/Smithsonian/TNS
With this camera, an Ansco Autoset model, astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., took the first human-captured, color still photographs of the Earth during his three-orbit mission on February 20, 1962.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS/TNS
A black-and-white photograph of a man and a woman standing in front of an automobile. The man wears a three-piece suit and wraps his arms around the woman's shoulders.
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Astronaut John Glenn Jr. carried these binoculars, manufactured by Hensoldt-Wetzlar, into space during the during the flight of Friendship 7, the first U.S. orbital flight carrying a human on February 20, 1962.
Richard Strauss/Smithsonian/TNS
This model demonstrates the invention of a mechanical crawling doll. It accompanied the patent submission of George Pemberton Clarke, who received U.S. patent No. 118,435 on 29 August 1871 for his "Natural Creeping Baby Doll." (Richard Strauss/Smithsonian/TNS)
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
A red Cadillac Eldorado, model year 1973, owned and driven by Chuck Berry.
Amanda Barrett/Smithsonian/TNS
An etching from cancelled plate on paper from 1932.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
Yellow admission ticket for boxing match between Champion Muhammad Ali and Challenger Floyd Patterson.
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In 1857, the inventor of a coal-burning stove, Jordan Mott, commissioned Christian Schussele to paint a group portrait of eighteen American scientists and inventors who "had altered the course of contemporary civilization."
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
This stereograph depicts Booker T. Washington, President of the Negro Industrial School in Tuskegee, Alabama.
Mildred Baldwin/Smithsonian/TNS
Harper's Weekly, a prominent political magazine, published this drawing of the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as President in 1861. (Mildred Baldwin/Smithsonian/TNS)
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
This life jacket was issued to John Glenn for his Friendship 7 flight in February, 1962. The life jacket is the self-inflating tube-type Navy issue life jacket made of rubberized nylon. It was strapped to his chest with the convex mirror fastened to the front.
Benjamin G. Sullivan/Smithsonian/TNS
A photographic postcard from between 1910 and 1914 featuring a black-and-white image of Harriet Tubman's great nieces, Eva and Alida Stewart.
Alex Jamison/Smithsonian/TNS
The US Treasury Department created this WWII poster depicting Robert W. Diez, an African American Tuskegee Airman, pleading for Americans to buy war bonds.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
In 1968, Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman elected to the United States Congress.This poster was used in her 1972 run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.
Eric Long/Smithsonian/TNS
In 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh made a historic transatlantic solo flight from New York to Paris in this monoplane.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
Artist James S. King created this etching of Theodore Roosevelt Jr., the 26th president of the United States, in 1915.
Mignonette Dooley Johnson/Smiths/TNS
Poster of Josephine Baker from 1951 advertising her performance at the Strand Theater.
Alex Jamison/Smithsonian/TNS/TNS
It was in this gym and the surrounding neighborhood with its vibrant mix of racial, political and cultural identities, some have argued, that Cassius Clay took his first crucial steps to becoming Muhammad Ali.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
Benjamin Franklin, in his day the most famous American in the world, was renowned for his scientific accomplishments as much as for his political and diplomatic triumphs. By the mid-1780s, when this portrait was created, Franklin was representing the new republic in France, where he was revered for his wit and scientific knowledge.
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A black and white photographic postcard of Duke Ellington and his orchestra.
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While mapping out the composition for this painting, American artist Gilbert Stuart, who had previously worked in England and Ireland, drew from European traditions of state portraiture to evoke George Washington's leadership.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
In order for John Glenn to take photographs during his February 20, 1962 mission while still wearing his bulky spacesuit, NASA engineers modified a Leica camera with this special viewfinder.
Kye Farrow/Smithsonian/TNS
A black and white photographic portrait of Sammy Davis Jr. from 1960.
Mignonette Dooley Johnson/Smiths/TNS
A photographic postcard of a troop of 25th Infantry regiment soldiers during WWI. (Mignonette Dooley Johnson/Smithsonian/TNS)
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
This is one of only thirty-two copies of the original dark-red stamp impressions, created by Parliament during "The Stamp Act" in 1765.
Mildred Baldwin/Smithsonian/TNS
"The Soldier in Our Civil War" is a wood engraving on paper from 1863.
Mark Avino/Smithsonian/TNS
The McDonnell FH-1 Phantom was the first U.S. jet aircraft to take off from and land on an aircraft carrier, and subsequently it became the first U.S. jet fighter in operational service with both the Navy and Marine Corps.
Amanda Barrett/Smithsonian/TNS
This painting shows the Founding Fathers signing the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
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Born into slavery as Araminta Ross, Harriet Tubman rebelled against servitude from her earliest years. After escaping to Philadelphia in 1849, she became an active "conductor" on the Underground Railroad, guiding escaping enslaved people to freedom.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
This French engine powered the Santos-Dumont Airship No. 9 in 1903. It performed two tasks: propulsion and the operation of a belt driven blower to pressurize the airship's envelope. Although designed for the Clement Autocyclette motorcycle, it was easily converted to aeronautical use because of its light weight and adequate power.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
A striking painting of Frederick Douglass, who emerged as a powerful and persuasive spokesman for the cause of abolition in the years following his escape from bondage in 1838, hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.
Eric Long/Smithsonian/TNS
The Apollo 11 Command Module, "Columbia," was the living quarters for the three-person crew during most of the first manned lunar landing mission in July 1969.
Matt Flynn/Smithsonian/TNS
Part of the American Textile History Museum Collection is a woven picture of a seated Betsy Ross sewing the first American flag was made for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition or as it was commonly known, the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904. (Matt Flynn/Smithsonian/TNS)
Gene Young/Smithsonian/TNS
An ambitious painter and an enthusiastic amateur scientist, Frederic Edwin Church painted the famed Ecuadorian volcano, Cotopaxi, in 1855.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
Part of the National Portrait Gallery, this piece by Danish-born artist John C. Johansen portrayed the treaty-signing ceremonies at Versailles in 1919.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
This gelatin silver print depicts students working in a science lab at the Manual Training and Industrial School for Colored Youth in Bordentown, New Jersey.
Alex Jamison/Smithsonian/TNS
The 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers — Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Billy Cox, Bobby Morgan, George Shuba, Wayne Belardi, Don Thompson, Rube Walker, Bill Antonello, Carl Erskine, Preacher Roe, Billy Loes, Clem Labine, Ben Wade, Joe Black, Jim Hughes and manager Chuck Dressen — signed this white leather baseball.
Susana Raab/Smithsonian/TNS
Part of the Anacostia Community Museum, this is the patent model for the vacuum evaporator.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
This black and white photograph taken by Frances Johnston shows the 25th anniversary of the founding of Tuskegee University, a private, historically black university in Alabama. Lewis Adams and Booker T. Washington founded the university in 1881, as part of an effort to expand higher education for black people in former Confederate states.
Gene Young/Smithsonian/TNS
This painting depicts the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, which was designed by architect Henry Bacon to honor Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the US.
Dane A. Penland/Smithsonian/TNS
Discovery was the third Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle to fly in space. It entered service in 1984 and retired from spaceflight as the oldest and most accomplished orbiter, the champion of the shuttle fleet.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
Thomas Edison made his early reputation as an inventor by designing an improved stock ticker for the Gold & Stock Telegraph Company. The company submitted this ticker to the U.S. Patent Office during the process leading to the issue of patent number 140,488 in 1873.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
On October 14, 1947, the Bell X-1 became the first airplane to fly faster than the speed of sound. Piloted by U.S. Air Force Capt. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager, the X-1 reached a speed of 1,127 kilometers (700 miles) per hour, Mach 1.06, at an altitude of 13,000 meters (43,000 feet). Yeager named the airplane "Glamorous Glennis" in tribute to his wife. (Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS)
Eric Long/Smithsonian/TNS
The Sopwith Camel is among the most significant and famous of all WWI aircraft. Camels downed 1,294 enemy aircraft, more than any other Allied fighter in WWI.
Lea Christiano/Smithsonian/TNS
English artist Walter Paris painted this landscape scene of Monument Park, CO in 1874.
Eric F. Long/Smithsonian/TNS
The Screamin' Demon flew with the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division and the 82nd Airborne Division. Its last combat flight in Iraq took place in 2005. It flew 124 missions totaling nearly 500 flight hours.
Lea Christiano/Smithsonian/TNS/TNS
An etching by Rodney Thomson.
Mark Avino/Smithsonian/TNS
Le Rhone Model C 9 Cylinder Rotary Engine, Cutaway at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum.
Eric Long/Smithsonian/TNS
Vanguard Rocket at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
Artist Maurice Prendergast created this watercolor painting of the beach at Saint-Malo, a historic French port in Brittany, in 1907.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
Mathew B. Brady, an influential New York based photographer who photographed many US presidents, took this snapshot of an unidentified woman in roller skates.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
This silk embroidered map, created in 1824, shows the world as two tangent hemispheres.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
This first aid kit was part of the equipment assigned to John Glenn for his historic Friendship 7 mission in February, 1962.
Gene Young/Smithsonian/TNS
John Henry Twachtman settled in Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1889 and painted many images of his farm property. This springtime scene shows his wife, Martha, and their children.
Gene Young/Smithsonian/TNS
"Evening Tones" by German artist Oscar Bluemner, abstracts a landscape along the Hudson River into a vibrant range of colors.
Smithsonian American Art Museum/TNS
This piece by Mathew B. Brady is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
In this cartoon, Thomas Nast depicts President Grant as a chief of police who is helping the figure of Liberty escape from the ruins of Wall Street referencing the economic downturn of 1873.(Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS)
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
Stereoscope viewing device with a metal looking piece and a wooded mount and frame.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
This pinback button was worn during the 1968 presidential primary campaign for then-Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
Mildred Baldwin/Smithsonian/TNS
This piece by Albert Potter produced between 1933 and 1936 is part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. (Mildred Baldwin/Smithsonian/TNS)
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
An Epiphone guitar and a TKL Products Corp. case owned by James Brown. The six-string acoustic guitar is Epiphone model EJ-200NA and has a maple body and a spruce top and neck.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
American artist Willard Leroy Metcalf painted "Sunset at Grez" in 1885.
Mark Avino/Smithsonian/TNS
The Imperial German Air Force used this oxygen vaporizer.
Smithsonian American Art Museum/TNS
This photographic print with added color was taken in 1932. (Smithsonian American Art Museum/TNS)
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
This safe stored stamps and other valuables at the small temporary postal station in Little America, Antarctica.
Franko Khoury/Smithsonian/TNS
Triptych painting on wood depicting, on the central panel, Madonna with a crown in a red dress with a blue cloak, flanked by two angels with varicolored wings. Each of the side panels has 3 rows of 2 disciples with differentiated hair. The back of the closed panel shows hand knife marks and gesso.
Eric Long/Smithsonian/TNS
One-half left front cutaway view model of Douglas DC-7, showing the forward baggage area and center passenger area. Model has United Airline markings and "W. D. Williams" marked under the pilots window.
Eric Long/Smithsonian/TNS
North American Rockwell Final Design Space Shuttle Model at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum.
Eric F. Long/Smithsonian/TNS
Hisso engines were very successful and featured innovative cast-aluminum cylinder construction with internal water passages. Increased demand for World War I, in particular, required licensing of Hisso aircraft engine manufacturing in France, England and the U.S. The Wright-Martin Aircraft Corporation, later the Wright Aeronautical Corporation, acquired the American rights and claimed improvements during further development.
Courtesy Smithsonian/TNS
Rural Free Delivery (RFD) carrier Harold Crabtree of Central Square, New York, used this 1921 Ford Model-T. The front wheels were interchangeable with skis and the rear tires accommodated tank-like treads, allowing the vehicle to move more easily over snow and ice.
Respirator pump and chest portion for an iron lung invented by C. E. H. Armbruster.
ExpandThrough Smithsonian Open Access images and data from across the Smithsonian’s 19 museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives and the National Zoo were made available for public use. Here are some of the most interesting photos from the collection.