May the Fourth Be With You at American History Museum

Today is an unofficial holiday for Star Wars fans everywhere.  Take the famous Star Wars greeting, "May the force be with you" and slightly modified it with today's date,  "May the 4th be with you," and voilà, a day to celebrate the George Lucas films and their legacy.

For those in search of a little Star Wars memorabilia, may we suggest the National Museum of American History, where a display of the movie costume for the character C-3PO, resides in its collection (along with the costume for the beloved, smaller droid, R2-D2).

Both costumes are from the third and final film in the Star Wars trilogy, Return of the Jedi, which was released in 1983. They were both designed from pieces of art by artist Ralph McQuarrie.

The two characters compliment each other well: C-3PO is talkative, with a charming sense of humor, and is fluent in more than 6 million languages. R2-D2, on the other hand, is more reserved, built to interact with starships and computers, but also more brave. They also, as the museum points out, made the idea of robots tangible; dreams that at the time had only existed, for many Americans, in their imaginations. Robots are more abundant now—mostly for industrial work—but none that I've seen are as lovable as this pair.

Stop by the museum to snap a picture with C-3PO today. Or, gear up for May 25: the 33rd anniversary of the first Star Wars movie.

Erica R. Hendry | | READ MORE

Erica R. Hendry is the innovations reporter/producer for Smithsonian.com