Cumulina was created in 1997 by researchers at the University of Hawai’i and taxidermied by a local high school teacher.
Smithsonian National Museum of American History
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Buttons, Badges, and Delegate Hats: How Election Memorabilia Reflect the Democratic Process
In anticipation of an unusual election night and beyond, curators Lisa Kathleen Graddy, Claire Jerry and Jon Grinspan discuss their new (slower) practice of collecting political ephemera.
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The Art Handler Who Saved the Emancipation Proclamation From Drowning in Mountain Dew
Calder Brannock was told he was just transporting an empty vitrine from the National Archives in DC north toward New York. That wasn’t the full truth.
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Smithsonian to Open Its First-Ever Gallery Devoted to Latinx Experiences, Receives $10M Donation
“Latino history is American history, and we have a responsibility to reflect the stories and experiences of Latinas and Latinos in the U.S. today,” said the Smithsonian Latino Center’s director.
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A Love Note to Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers from ‘The Wizard of Oz’
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History owns a pair of Dorothy’s shoes that have gradually lost their luster and begun to deteriorate.
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Airships and Reanimated Corpses from the Pages of Early Science Fiction
WASHINGTON, DC — Science fiction rose to prominence in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when authors like H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, and Mary Shelley imagined the extraordinary possibilities of advances in technology and exploration.
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Listen to the Resurrected Voice of Alexander Graham Bell
WASHINGTON, DC — Out of patent litigation paranoia, inventor Alexander Graham Bell donated copies of his devices and sound recordings directly to the Smithsonian.
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For #MuseumWeek, Institutions Share Their Secrets Online
What are museums hiding in their pasts and inside their collection storage vaults? Some of those secrets (or just lesser-known facts) are being shared by institutions around the world this Museum Week through the hashtag #secretsmw.
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Smithsonian Acquires Video Game So Atrocious It Was Buried in the Desert
One of the most disastrous video games in history is now part of the Smithsonian Institution.
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“The Star-Spangled Banner” as You’ve Never Heard It Before
It’s been 200 years since Francis Scott Key’s poem about a shredded star-spangled flag surviving an 1814 British siege at Fort Henry was set to music. To commemorate the anniversary, the Morgan Library & Museum has put on view one of the few surviving copies of the first edition.
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Black-Hooded Protesters Stage Anti-Guantanamo Action at National Museum of American History
On January 11, marking the 12th anniversary of the opening of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, activists from the group Witness Against Torture commandeered the lobby of the National Museum of American History.