Today the Smithsonian announced that conservative billionaire David Koch had donated $35 million for a new Dinosaur Hall in the National Museum of Natural History. more ›

After Tuesday's spectacular Space Shuttle Discovery flight over the region, thousands traveled to the Udvar-Hazy Center yesterday to welcome the shuttle and say goodbye to the Enterprise. more ›

A Metro rider who was assaulted by another passenger last month talks about how the transit agency and its police department were slow to respond to his incident, which he also recounted in Sunday's Post. more ›

A motherf**king snake measuring 48 feet and weighing one-and-a-half tons arrives in D.C. tomorrow for an exhibit at the motherf**king Smithonian's Museum of Natural History. more ›

Big news for all you space nerds: as we noted last year, the space shuttle Discovery will join the Smithsonian's collection in April. But even better, the AP reports today that NASA got the permits to fly a 747 with the shuttle strapped on it over the U.S. Capitol, allowing anyone in the city with a good view of the sky to get quite the view of it. more ›

President Obama, Mayor Vince Gray, former first lady Laura Bush and others were on hand at a ceremony this morning to break ground on the Smithsonian's new National Museum of African American History and Culture. more ›

Dark matter, memory, dragons and butterflies - all can be found this month in the area's museums. more ›

Suckers for Lost Generation literature and the birth of modern art have Gertrude Stein flavored events to look forward to this week. more ›

The 10th version of the first ladies exhibit opens today at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, featuring 26 dresses worn by first ladies as well as mementos from the days when the country referred to a first lady as "lady presidentress" or "republican queen.” more ›

The Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Bulding on the National Mall may soon have a new use: the location for the Smithsonian American Latino Museum. more ›

We've heard people say that the quickest way for authorities around the country to legitimize the Occupy Wall Street-related protest is to evict them from their tent camps. But the Smithsonian looking to curate a collection of signs and other artifacts from the protest probably comes in a close second, doesn't it? more ›

Late gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny will lie in state in the Carnegie Library at Mt. Vernon Square on November 3 between 3 and 8 p.m. more ›

In a "breaking news" article, American Spectator editor Patrick Howley admitted to having infiltrated the Action Committee protest and being a key participant, and perhaps instigator, of the group that tried to gain entry into the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum on Saturday. more ›

Good morning, Washington. The National Air and Space Museum closed Saturday and at least one person was pepper-sprayed after hundreds of anti-war demonstrators tried to enter the museum to protest a drone exhibit. The group was carrying signs that are forbidden inside, and some individuals reportedly began shoving guards when asked to leave the signage at the door. more ›

A group that may have been affiliated with Occupy D.C. or the Stop the Machine movement was maced while trying to protest at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum this afternoon. The museum is now closed. more ›

This Saturday is Museum Day, where museums across the country open their doors à la the Smithsonian and let the public in for free. more ›

So this is how we got to spy on Boris and Natasha. For today only, until 5:30 p.m., the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum will be hosting a free, public viewing of the newly declassified HEXAGON (KH-9) satellite in the parking lot of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The now hefty, ten-foot in diameter relic of the cold war took pictures of the Soviet Union and other targets from 1971 to the early 1980s during its lifespan. more ›

Today marks the 165th birthday of the Smithsonian Institution -- so we thought we'd help celebrate with a collection of our favorite photographs from every museum, building or panda habitat the Smithsonian offers to Washington. more ›

This week we were saddened to hear that, for the sixth time, Mei Xiang did not have a Butterstick in the oven. But these cuddly pictures should tamp down some of the sturm und drang. more ›

City Paper’s Arts Desk occasionally features musings from D.C. rapper Head-Roc, who on Friday wrote fervently about what he sees as the burgeoning return of go-go music. more ›

Local videographer and DCist reader Raymond Schillinger read our post about yesterday's celebration of aeronaut Thaddeus Lowe's 1861 military balloon reconnaissance demonstration in front of the Smithsonian Castle, and sent in this video he recorded during the event, including a nice time-lapse of the balloon being inflated. more ›

Chris Richards, about as close as civilization is ever going to get to a bona fide scholar on the Parliament-Funkadelic Mothership, reports today that the Unidentified Funky Object has a new owner: the Smithsonian. more ›

A public meeting will be held tonight to discuss the long-term future of the D.C. Circulator, including a potential fare hike and the extension and creation of new routes over the next couple of years. But the D.C. Department of Transportation has instituted some more immediate changes which will go into effect tomorrow, including the termination of service along the Smithsonian-National Gallery of Art route. more ›

Former professional baseballer Pedro Martinez is having a couple of busy days in Washington. Tomorrow, Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery will unveil a portrait of the Dominican star, who won the World Series in 2004 and made eight All-Star teams. Until then, Martinez will spend his time in town running a mini-clinic with -- who else? -- Mayor Vince Gray. more ›

It's obvious that the Smithsonian Institution doesn't keep up with Reddit. Otherwise, they probably would have realized that a set of Smithsonian advertisements -- created by two students in 2009 at Atlanta's Creative Circus and bearing the Institutions' name along with some clever copy -- were burning up the Internet before one of the designers tipped them off. more ›

The oldest structure owned by the Smithsonian, the Holt House, sits on the grounds of the National Zoo - yet you've likely never visited it, nor possibly known of its existence. The house, which can be seen from Adams Mill Road, was built in 1810. The estate was one of many large country estates built on Rock Creek Park during the early years of our Federal city. The house is within the boundaries of an old land grant known as “Pretty Prospects.” Now, the Holt House is one of the few estates that remains, and it's not in great shape. more ›