Collection Spotlights

View curated sets of collection items. Many of the collection items feature stories from our experts and curators.

Image of wind-up airplane toy

Social and Cultural Aviation Collection

Image of Star Trek Starship Enterprise model

Social and Cultural Space Collection

solar eclipse July 29, 1878

Solar Eclipses

Two boys play the mandolin to serenade a girl

Songs of Love

Lunar orbiter on display

Space Science

M16/Pillars of Creation

Space Sounds: Data Sonification

Brass spherometer

Spherometers

soccer ball with red stars on a blue background

Spotlight on Soccer

A wooden case holding two wooden triangles and a wooden French curve

Squares & Triangles

robots from Star Wars movie

Star Wars: The Force is Strong with the Smithsonian

Ice Cream Stand by William H Johnson

Summer Staycation

View of mountains across a plain.

Sunrise, Sunset

owls woodcut

Superb Owls

Tree

Superlatives

A black and white striped sushi chef hat with white netting on the top

Sushi Collection

A black, metal card punch. Its base is triangular and holds a cream colored plate marked like the cards it punches

Tabulating Equipment

grid of 12 images showing tan bones floating against dark blue backgrounds

Taphonomy

Stamp Act Teapot

Tax Season

Cumulative recorder. It has metal sides, a rotating wheel of paper with a pen tip, wood door in front of the paper, and clear plastic cover

Teaching Machines and Mechanical Learning

early telephone

Telephones Through Time: Smithsonian's Historic Collection

Pair of brown maracas made from the calabash plant. "Puerto Rico" is carved into the bodies of the maracas, and their handles are wooden.

Teodoro Vidal Collection of Puerto Rican History

Thanksgiving bounty.

Thanksgiving in North America

Wooden abacus with a wooden cross piece separating eleven bamboo rods. Above the cross piece are two beads, and below it are five

The Abacus and the Numeral Frame

Flag blanket with universal access symbol as stars.

The Americans with Disabilities Act: A Landmark Law That Benefits Everyone

An assortment of vaccines, serums, vaccinators and vaccination shields.

The Antibody Initiative

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