Leah Binkovitz

Leah Binkovitz

 

Leah Binkovitz is a Stone & Holt Weeks Fellow at Washington Post and NPR. Previously, she was a contributing writer and editorial intern for the At the Smithsonian section of Smithsonian magazine.

The longtime "Jeopardy" host died of pancreatic cancer on November 8.

Alex Trebek on Why 'Jeopardy' Represents the American Dream

The game show host, who died Sunday at age 80, donated items to the Smithsonian in 2013

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Sneak Peek: Artist Rina Banerjee Creates “A world Lost…” at the Sackler

Debuting later this week, the new installation at the gallery incorporates everything from shells to ostrich eggs

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The “Legacy of Slavery” Comes to the Smithsonian with Angola Prison Guard Tower Donation

Donations from the notorious Louisiana prison highlight a controversial history of incarceration

Celebrate Nikola Tesla’s Birthday with an Excerpt from a New Biography of the Inventor

Scholar W. Bernard Carlson explores Tesla's experiments with automatons and radio controlled boats in this excerpt from his new book

Flying high at one of the Folklife Festival’s many stages.

Dancing, Catwalking and Crafting: Photos From Folklife

The first weekend was full of colors and cultures from around the globe

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Tesla at the Smithsonian: The Story Behind His Genius

A new biography looks to document how the scientist thought of so many inventions, some of which are housed at the American History Museum

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Photos of MLK at Work: The Civil Rights Leader Before and After His “I Have a Dream” Speech

The National Portrait Gallery looks at the work of Martin Luther King beyond his most famous hour

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UPDATE: Red Panda Found After It Escaped from Its Enclosure

Rusty, a red panda, was first discovered missing from his enclosure early Monday morning, but was found in the afternoon

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Smithsonian Creates America’s Family Photo Album, Featuring You

Help create the ultimate album with your own memories and photographs from visiting the museums

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Behind the Scenes, Birds of a Feather, Studied Together

From early studies from Audobon to gifts from Ethiopian kings, the specimens in this collection each have a story

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Sloth Cub Hank Says Hello at the National Zoo

At six months, the Zoo's first sloth cub in seven years made his public debut

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The Beautifully Strange Photography of Roger Ballen

A retrospective exhibit includes 55 works and the artist's video collaboration with South Africa's hip-hop-rave duo Die Antwoord

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The Surprisingly Colorful Salamanders of Appalachia

The region's cool forests and plentiful rivers make it home to more salamander species than any other part of the world

The Meade brothers worked above a bank in this Williamsburg building in Brooklyn before moving into Manhattan. Half-plate daguerreotype by Meade Brothers Studio, circa 1853.

How One New York City Studio and the Brothers Behind It Helped Popularize the Daguerreotype

Two brothers and their sister built an early photography empire alongside Mathew Brady but watched in crumble in tragedy

Wendy Red Star, enit, 2010. Lithograph on paper with archival pigment ink photograph.

Contemporary Art from Oregon’s Umatilla Indian Reservation

A compact exhibit highlights the work of seven contemporary Native American artists at New York's Gustav Heye Center

This statue of King Kamehameha in Honolulu is paired with another that resides in the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall.

Happy King Kamehameha Day!

Celebrated in Hawaii and in D.C., June 11 honors the unification of the Hawaiian islands

Camille Reed at her salon in Silver Spring, Maryland

A Natural Hair Movement Takes Root

From her salon in Maryland, Camille Reed sees more black women embracing natural hair

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One Million Bones To Transform the Mall Into a Symbolic Mass Grave

Meant to call attention to ongoing genocide and atrocity, the artistic protest will include a bone-laying ceremony, workshops and advocacy on Capitol Hill

When designing a Denny’s on the hip, young Freemont Street in Las Vegas, Wines decided to include a chapel, which has been a big hit with the mayor and the community. Denny’s Flagship Diner, Neonopolis, Las Vegas, NV, 2012. Architecture: SITE (James Wines, Matthew Gindlesberger, Sara Stracey, Denise MC Lee). Fabrication: A. Zahner.

Architect James Wines Talks Putting a Chapel in a Denny’s and Making Art from Garbage

The outsider architect-artist has finally wooed the establishment, winning the Copper-Hewitt's Lifetime Achievement Award, but he's still mixing things up

The Smithsonian Folklife Archives. (Text by Leah Binkovitz. Photo by Brendan McCabe.)

Behind the Smithsonian: The Folklife Archives

You never know what you will find amidst the 50,000 recordings in the Smithsonian’s folk music collection

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