Music & Film

Whether decorated with a photo of a bustling subway stop or a striking Andy Warhol painting, album cover designs can constitute masterpieces in their own right.

The Stories Behind Six Iconic Album Cover Shots Taken in America—and Where to Recreate Them

These picture-perfect album covers have turned unassuming street corners, empty beach stretches and looming buildings into musical monuments

Few things personify cool like a shades-wearing instrumentalist masterfully commanding the saxophone.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

These 15 Groovy Photos Capture the Joy of Music

Musical instruments have existed for eons, and humans continue to create and enjoy them

Look closely at Libba Cotten’s 1950 Martin guitar, part of the Sounding American Music exhibition at the National Museum of American History, and you may be able to see the unique grooves formed by her fingers on the body of the instrument as she played it upside down.

How This Self-Taught Guitarist Became a Music Legend

For decades, Libba Cotten was one of the most distinctive folk musicians in America

Left, Rita Moreno, the Puerto Rican actress who played Anita in the 1961 film West Side Story. Right, the Italian opera singer Giulia Grisi in the 1830s.

An Absolutely Fabulous Celebration of History’s Greatest Divas

This heady, exquisitely delightful new book reveals the power behind the sequins

Two X-wing CAVs flew over the opening ceremony of an attraction at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Walt Disney World Resort in December 2019. 

How Engineers Created a Flying 'Star Wars' X-Wing

The starfighter-outfitted drone was the first remotely piloted aircraft of its kind and size approved by the Federal Aviation Administration for public demonstration

Fans hold a photo of Selena during the ceremony honoring her with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2017.

How Museums Are Preserving and Celebrating Selena's Legacy

The singer’s presence can still be felt at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History

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Before Beyonce and Taylor Swift Ran the World, There Was Joan Baez

Today’s artists—especially women—are sometimes criticized for speaking out, but for Baez, art and activism were indivisible

Coltrane rehearses backstage before a show in London in November 1961. 

Tracing a Lost Ancestry

How John Coltrane's 'My Favorite Things' Changed American Music

Looking back at the moment when one of our greatest jazzmen raised the stakes for everyone who came after

Works entering the public domain this year include Steamboat Willie, J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan, A. A. Milne's The House at Pooh Corner and Virginia Woolf's Orlando.

Mickey Mouse and Many Other Beloved Creations, Including Peter Pan and 'Mack the Knife,' Are Now in the Public Domain

Almost a century after the cartoon mouse made his first appearance, he finally belongs to everyone—sort of

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The Books We Loved

Smithsonian editors choose their favorite (mostly) nonfiction of (mostly) 2023

Left, a 1932 self-portrait by Lee Miller. Right, a 1943 portrait of Miller by American photojournalist David Scherman.

Women Who Shaped History

How Lee Miller, a Magazine Model and Muse, Became a Daring World War II Photographer

The bold journalist, who made a splash on both sides of the lens, is the subject of a new biopic starring Kate Winslet

Hoyma, which means “home” in Syðrugøta’s local dialect of Faroese, has featured 20 concerts by ten different artists who set up in the living rooms of ten different family homes in Syðrugøta.  

Northern Europe and the British Isles

Hoyma Is Bringing Music Home in the Faroe Islands

For one fall night, it is tradition for a handful of houses in Sydrugota, on the island of Eysturoy, to open their doors and host intimate concerts

Fred McDowell, 1965, Como, Mississippi

Meet the Man Who Recorded the Music of America's Front Porches and Backyard Parties

Chris Strachwitz, founder of Arhoolie Records, crisscrossed the United States photographing and recording musicians where they played

John Akomfrah at his London studio, 2016

Artist John Akomfrah Is Having a Moment

The works of the recently knighted filmmaker address contemporary issues in two different Smithsonian museums

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How the Osage Changed Martin Scorsese’s Mind

“Killers of the Flower Moon” sets a new standard in its nuanced portrait of Osage life. Decades of prior films about Native Americans didn't even try

Sphere lights up during its grand opening on September 29, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

The Sphere Is Here. Are We Ready for More High-Tech Architecture?

The new Las Vegas performance venue challenges musicians and visual artists to produce content for its demanding format

Joan Baez at the Alabama State Capitol in 1965, from Joan Baez I Am a Noise, a Magnolia Pictures release.

Folk Icon Joan Baez Sings a Song of Herself

After decades in the limelight, the American musician who spent a career exposing the world’s problems explores her own past

Host Bob Barker announces the showcase showdown at the taping of the 35th season premiere of "The Price Is Right" in 2006.

What Made Bob Barker the Perfect Host for 'The Price Is Right'

The television personality, who died last week at 99, was part of a match that made game show history

Primary image: Sleeping Quarters, by Czech Jewish prisoner Bedřich Fritta, depicts gruesome conditions. After the SS discovered Fritta’s work, they detained him and sent him to Auschwitz, where he died. Background (detail): A musical score by Viktor Ullmann, which was created at Terezin.

Amid the Horrors of the Holocaust, Jewish Musicians Composed Songs of Survival

At the Terezin concentration camp, some of Europe's top artists found solace in creating new work. Today one musician is determined to give them an encore

In its second installment, “AeroEspacial” tells the story of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, which housed the world’s largest radio telescope for over 50 years.

An In-Depth Look at Latino History Among the Stars and Skies

This summer, a podcast series from the National Air and Space Museum discusses Operation Pedro Pan, Latino Futurism and “Star Wars”

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