Smithsonian Voices

From the Smithsonian Museums

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Check Out These Wondrous Objects on Display Before They Return to the Museum’s Collection

From whale earwax to a shimmering ammonite shell, the “Objects of Wonder” exhibition spotlights some of the museum’s most intriguing specimens

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The ‘Ultimate Honor’: Why a Colorful Mineral Honors the Smithsonian‘s Namesake

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1.1 Billion Objects and Counting: Inside the Effort to Tally Natural History Specimens Around the Globe

A blue bird with white and grey spots lies against a white background.

Celebrate the Holiday Season with the Museum’s Stunning Collection of Blue Specimens

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The Story Behind the Smithsonian’s Newest Gem: the Exquisite Lion of Merelani

Silver tweezers hold a small diamond against a white background.

Five Functions of Diamonds Beyond Rings

Turquoise and diamond encrusted diadem on a black background that lightens to gray in the center.

How Turquoise Replaced Emeralds in This Royal Diadem

Dom Pedro aquamarine was cut from a 100-pound crystal that was mined in the late 1980s. It weighs around 4.6 pounds, making it one of the largest aquamarine gemstones in the world. (Donald E. Hurlbert, Smithsonian)

How the World’s Largest Aquamarine Gem Came to Be

The Hope Diamond came to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in 1958. Since then, museum scientists have uncovered a lot about the diamond’s intriguing past. (Dane A. Penland, Smithsonian)

Get to Know the Hope Diamond’s Keeper

Artist and Jeweler Sidney Mobell donated his gold-plated Monopoly set to the National Museum of Natural History in 2002. (Smithsonian Institution)

Check Out the Monopoly Board You Wish You Had as a Kid

Latest

Scientists at the National Museum of Natural History Discover Two Squirrel Species Long Obscured by Mistaken Identities

The Murder Mystery Linking a Bird Specimen at the National Museum of Natural History to the Mysterious Death of an Arctic Explorer

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