Smithsonian Insitution

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Will and Grace Enters the Smithsonian

Items from TV show part of a larger LGBT history collection

(Newser) - Hundreds of photographs, papers, and historical objects documenting the history of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people are being added to the Smithsonian Institution's collection today, including items from the popular TV show Will and Grace. Show creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, along with NBC, are donating objects...

Smithsonian Wants Trayvon's Hoodie

For National Museum of African American History and Culture, set to open in 2015

(Newser) - It's one of the most talked about sweatshirts in America. Now, the dark gray hoodie Trayvon Martin was wearing the night he was killed may be put on display for all to see. The director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture (set to...

For First Time, We Can Hear Alexander Graham Bell

Smithsonian releases newly restored recording from 1885

(Newser) - The Smithsonian has released a nifty video that allows us to hear the voice of Alexander Graham Bell for the first time, reports the Verge . "Hear my voice, Alexander Graham Bell," the inventor says in the recording, made in 1885 at his lab in DC. The wax disc...

Budget Cuts Will Close Some Smithsonian Exhibits

Institution will start rolling gallery closures

(Newser) - Bad news for museum lovers: Budget cuts from Congress will soon reduce the number of free exhibitions on view each day at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough is telling Congress today that the museum complex must reduce its security contract for gallery attendants because of the...

Smithsonian Could Lose Funding Over Jesus Video

Warhol Foundation wants video restored

(Newser) - The Smithsonian Institution could lose some of its funding over the uproar that ensued after the National Portrait Gallery removed a controversial video. The video by David Wojnarowicz, featuring ants crawling on a crucifix, was pulled after complaints by the Catholic League and some House Republicans. The Andy Warhol Foundation,...

Smithsonian Gets OJ's 'Acquittal Suit'

But museum says it's not a done deal

(Newser) - With OJ Simpson giving his agreement from prison, a judge approved a plan today to donate the suit the former NFL star was wearing when he was acquitted of murder to the Smithsonian. The deal ends a 13-year legal battle between Simpson's former sports agent, Mike Gilbert, and Fred Goldman,...

Obamas' Art Collection: Modern, Aggressive

White House borrows 47 works of art from Washington museums

(Newser) - Barack and Michelle Obama, working with curators at the White House and DC museums, have borrowed 47 artworks for their walls, and their selections are far more modern and discerning than their predecessors', writes Blake Gopnik. The Washington Post critic is impressed by the "surprisingly sober, even dour" choices...

Lincoln's Watch Yields Hidden Message

(Newser) - A legend about a DC watchmaker who etched a secret message inside Abraham Lincoln’s pocket watch is true, the Washington Post reports. Smithsonian officials opened the watch today and found it amid the tiny gears: "Jonathan Dillon April 13, 1861. Fort Sumter was attacked by the rebels on...

Smithsonian Gallery Names New Director

Former MoCA chief takes over Hirshhorn after yearlong search

(Newser) - Richard Koshalek, former director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, will become the new head of the Hirshhorn Museum—the modern gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Koshalek expanded MoCA over 20 years, leaving in 1999 to run the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena....

'One in a Million' Conjoined Birds Found in Arkansas

Pair dies after landowner rescues them fallen from tree

(Newser) - A pair of barn swallows born joined at the hip are being sent to the Smithsonian Institute for study, the AP reports. An Arkansas landowner found them fallen out of a tree this week and kept them for a day, but they refused to eat and died. Conjoined birds are...

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