Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

The Sant Ocean Hall Focus Gallery: Deeper Than Light

This exhibition retraces a team of scientists' journey into this relatively undiscovered world using art, images, models, and multimedia.

February 20, 2010 – May 23, 2010

Natural History Museum

Blast from the Past

This showcase features a 11.5-meter tubular core sample that shows physical and biological effects of Earth's collision with a giant asteroid 65 million years ago, which resulted in the extinction of the dinosaurs.

June 27, 1997 – April 15, 2010

Natural History Museum

Dig It! The Secrets of Soil

This exhibition introduces the study of soil science and demonstrates the vital role soil plays in sustaining human welfare, assuring future agricultural productivity, and environmental sustainability.

July 19, 2008 – January 10, 2010

Natural History Museum

Sant Ocean Hall Focus Gallery: Going to Sea

This first rotating exhibit in The Sant Ocean Hall Focus Gallery highlights the many reasons people have gone to sea throughout history.

September 27, 2008 – January 10, 2010

Natural History Museum

Farmers, Warriors, Builders: The Hidden Life of Ants

This exhibition provides a look at life from an ant's point of view through large-format photographs of ants going about their daily business, a cast of an underground ant city, and a live ant colony.

May 30, 2009 – October 12, 2009

Natural History Museum

The Art of African Exploration

In these cases are books, periodicals, sketchbooks, and journals featuring artists's vivid illustrations of the astonishing landscapes, exotic animals, and unfamiliar peoples of 19th-century Africa.

December 9, 2008 – August 16, 2009

Natural History Museum

Smithsonian Science in the News: Investigating the "Miracle on the Hudson"

This small exhibition case explains how museum scientists worked with transportation safety experts in this modern aviation mystery.

February 23, 2009 – May 3, 2009

Natural History Museum

2008 Nature's Best Photography: Windland Smith Rice International Awards

On view are 45 winners in 19 categories from the 2008 Nature's Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Awards.

November 8, 2008 – May 3, 2009

Natural History Museum

Orchids through Darwin's Eyes: 15th Annual Orchid Show

To mark Darwin's 200th birthday, the exhibit explores the incredibly diverse world of orchids through his eyes and examines the ways in which he influenced today's naturalists, horticulturists, and scientists who study these intriguing plants.

January 24, 2009 – April 26, 2009

Natural History Museum

Coastal America Ocean Art Contest

Works by the the first place winners from each age group in the national competition of the Coastal America Ocean Art Contest are on view.

December 8, 2008 – March 29, 2009

Natural History Museum

Botanica Magnifica

On view in this research case is a single image of wild ginger (Hedychium longicornutum) from the five-volume work Botanica Magnifica, a collection that includes photographs of specimens in the Smithsonian's living plant collections taken by Jonathan Singer.

April 18, 2008 – November 4, 2008

Natural History Museum

The Lost Amazon: The Photographic Journey of Legendary Botanist Richard Evans Schultes

Black-and-white photographs of the Amazon River and adjacent regions -- including portraits of people, landscapes, and plants.

April 17, 2008 – November 2, 2008

Natural History Museum

Nature's Best Photography: Ocean Views

View a selection of images -- taken by photographers of all levels from around the world -- from a special Nature's Best Photography contest created to complement the museum's upcoming Ocean Hall.

June 11, 2008 – October 26, 2008

Natural History Museum

Science in the News: The Truth about Crystal Skulls

On view for the first time is the Smithsonian's own crystal skull.

July 10, 2008 – September 1, 2008

Natural History Museum

Cases: Special Gems Highlighted

This case displays gemstones acquired by the newly established Tiffany & Co. Foundation Endowment.

April 11, 2007 – May 14, 2008

Natural History Museum

2007 Nature's Best Photography: Windland Smith Rice International Awards

See winners in 15 categories from the 2007 Nature's Best Photography Windland Smith Rice Awards and winners in 9 categories from the National Wildlife Photography Awards.

October 30, 2007 – April 27, 2008

Natural History Museum

Mexican Cycles: Festival Images by George O. Jackson de Llano

On view are approximately 150 color photographs of the religious festivals of 30 Indigenous communities from across Mexico taken by the Mexican-American photographer George O. Jackson de Llano.

September 26, 2007 – April 20, 2008

Natural History Museum

Research Case: Extinction of the Hawaiian Honeycreeper

Habitat changes have led to the decline of Hawaiian native birds; at least 55 species have gone extinct since the arrival of humans. The Hawaiian honeycreepers exemplify this decline.

January 15, 2008 – April 17, 2008

Natural History Museum

Research Case: One Museum, Two Collections: Ethnobotany in the American Southwest and Mexico

See several cultural artifacts and botanical specimens acquired in the 19th century that helped to define the new field of ethnobotany, the study of the complex interconnections between humans and plants.

December 15, 2006 – January 29, 2008

Natural History Museum

Research Case: The Great Auk

Now extinct, the great auk (Pinguinus impennis), a flightless bird, once inhabited the shores of the North Atlantic by the millions.

August 24, 2007 – January 14, 2008

Natural History Museum

Emissaries of Peace: The 1762 Cherokee & British Delegations

This exhibition presents 18th-century Cherokee and British life from two perspectives: Cherokee society in 1762 -- as seen by British lieutenant and diarist Henry Timberlake -- and British society of the same period.

June 27, 2007 – November 25, 2007

Natural History Museum

A Tribute to Carl Linnaeus, 1707-1778

Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778) is known as the father of modern taxonomy.

November 13, 2007 – November 14, 2007

Natural History Museum

2006 Nature's Best Photography: Windland Smith Rice International Awards

View the winners in 15 categories from the 2006 Nature's Best International Windland Smith Rice Awards, and the winners in 9 categories from the National Wildlife Photography Awards.

November 10, 2006 – October 9, 2007

Natural History Museum

The Tiffany Diamond

One of the largest fancy yellow diamonds ever found, the Tiffany diamond was discovered in 1877 in the South African Kimberley Diamond Mine.

April 11, 2007 – September 23, 2007

Natural History Museum

Missouri's Stately Ground

See a cross-section of Menfro soil, which covers more than a million acres in central and eastern Missouri, to explore what soils tell us about history and biology.

February 18, 2005 – September 18, 2007

Natural History Museum