YOUR 2025 SMITHSONIAN POCKET GUIDE

Amazing Things Happen Here

From our museums in Washington, DC and New York City, to our traveling exhibitions in venues closer to home, to our website and mobile apps, you will always find something worthwhile to discover and enjoy.

This 2025 pocket guide offers a small sample of the thousands of things to see and do at the Smithsonian this year, all made possible thanks to the support of people like you.

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National Mall Map

SMITHSONIAN MUSEUMS LOCATED ON OR NEAR THE NATIONAL MALL IN WASHINGTON, DC

The David H. Koch Hall of Fossils - Deep Time
In its new pose devouring a Triceratops, the Nation's T. rex is the centerpiece of the David H. Koch Hall of Fossils—Deep Time.

The David H. Koch Hall of Fossils - Deep Time

June 8, 2019 - Permanent, National Museum of Natural History

The new David H. Koch Hall of Fossils showcases the museum's unrivaled collection of 46 million fossils re-positioned in new, dramatic, more scientifically-accurate positions, and presents the most up-to-date scientific research on how life on Earth has evolved.

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Slavery and Freedom
Freedom papers and handmade tin carrying box belonging to Joseph Trammell, 1852. Gift of Elaine E. Thompson

Slavery and Freedom

September 24, 2016 - Permanent, National Museum of African American History and Culture

As the centerpiece of the museum, this exhibition explores the complex story of slavery and freedom, a story standing at the core of our national experience.

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Many Voices, One Nation
Photo: Joel Barlow

Many Voices, One Nation
The Great Leap of Faith

Summer 2017 - Permanent, National Museum of American History

At the heart of this nation lies a great search for balance between unity and pluralism. Many Voices: One Nation presents the five-hundred-year journey of how many distinct peoples and cultures met, mingled and created the culture of the United States.

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Americans
Photo: Indian Chief motorcycle on loan from the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, Birmingham, Alabama. Photos by Matailong Du for the National Museum of the American Indian

Americans

January 18, 2018 – 2027, National Museum of the American Indian

American Indian represent less than 1 percent of the U.S. population, yet names and images of Indians are everywhere: military weapons, town names, advertising and that holiday in November. American invites visitors to take a closer look, and to ask why.

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Myrah Brown Green, In My Akwabaa Form
Myrah Brown Green, In My Akwabaa Form, 2000, cotton fabric and cotton batt, 95 × 86 in. (241.3 × 218.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Fleur S. Bresler, 2023.40.19, © 2000, Myrah Brown Green.

We Gather at the Edge: Contemporary Quilts by Black Women Artists

February 21, 2025 - June 22, 2025, Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

In 2023, the Smithsonian American Art Museum acquired thirty-five quilts from the collection of Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi. Mazloomi, who holds a doctorate in aerospace engineering, is a prolific artist, curator, and scholar. In 1981, she founded the African American Quilt Guild of Los Angeles, and then, in 1985, she founded the Women of Color Quilters Network, fulfilling the desire of isolated makers to connect and continue Black textile traditions. The selection of quilts acquired by the museum and featured in this exhibition is remarkable in its scope and groundbreaking in its representation of Black history and culture as told with needle and thread. This exhibition honors the legacy of Mazloomi and celebrates members of the Women of Color Quilters Network.

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Rawat Gokul Das of Devgarh and Tilkayat Dauji II worship Shri Nathji
Rawat Gokul Das of Devgarh and Tilkayat Dauji II worship Shri Nathji (detail), Chokha (act. 1779ca. 1826), India, Rajasthan state, Devgarh, 1823, opaque watercolor and gold on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection—funds provided by the Friends of the National Museum of Asian Art, S2018.1.76.

Delighting Krishna: Paintings of the Child-God

March 15, 2025 - August 24, 2025, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Pushtimarg religious spaces feature monumental paintings of Krishna on cotton cloth known as pichwais. For the first time since the 1970s, these fourteen pichwais from the National Museum of Asian Art’s collections are on view for the public. These paintings are literally larger than life, averaging about eight by eight feet in size. Pichwais are made to serve as backdrops for three-dimensional displays, typically paired with icons of Krishna, music, and scents. This collection of pichwais dates from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, and most were painted in Nathdwara, Rajasthan, the global epicenter of the Pushtimarg community.

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Adam Pendleton

Adam Pendleton: Love, Queen

April 4, 2025 - January 3, 2027, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Adam Pendleton: Love, Queen is landmark exhibition of new and recent paintings as well as a single-channel video work. For his first solo exhibition in Washington, D.C., Pendleton highlights his unique contributions to contemporary American painting while making use of the architecture of the museum and the history of the National Mall. Pendleton is known for his visually distinct and conceptually rigorous paintings that he begins on paper with drips, splatters, sprays, geometric shapes, words and phrases, and inky fragments reminiscent of broken letters. These visual experiments are at times carefully controlled and at others freely improvised. He photographs these initial compositions and then layers them using a screen-printing process, purposefully blurring the distinctions between the act of painting, the act of drawing and the act of photography.

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Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition

The Outwin 2025: American Portraiture Today

May 3, 2025 - March 1, 2026, National Portrait Gallery

The Outwin 2025: American Portraiture Today features 35 portraits (by 36 artists) from the museum’s seventh triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. The juried selection draws from more than 3,300 entries, and includes artist contributions from 14 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Taína Caragol, curator of painting, sculpture and Latine art and history for the National Portrait Gallery, is the director of the 2025 competition. She and Charlotte Ickes, curator of time-based media art and special projects for the Portrait Gallery, are co-organizing the exhibition.

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Iskandar and the talking tree (detail), folio from the Great Mongol Shahnama (Book of kings)
Iskandar and the talking tree (detail), folio from the Great Mongol Shahnama (Book of kings), Iran, probably Tabriz, Ilkhanid dynasty, ca. 1330, ink, color, and gold on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Purchase—Charles Lang Freer Endowment, F1935.23

An Epic of Kings: The Great Mongol Shahnama

September 21, 2024 - January 12, 2025, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Monumental in size and boldly illustrated, the Great Mongol Shahnama is the most celebrated of all medieval Persian manuscripts. Considered Iran’s national epic, the Shahnama (Book of kings) was completed by the poet Firdawsi in 1010. The copy known as the Great Mongol Shahnama was produced three hundred years later, likely commissioned by ruler Abu Sa'id of the Ilkhanid dynasty, a branch of the Mongol Empire. Between the manuscript’s covers, art, power, and history intertwined. An Epic of Kings offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see twenty-five folios from this now dismantled manuscript. It is also the first exhibition to present paintings from the Great Mongol Shahnama alongside contemporaneous works from China, the Mediterranean, and the Latin West. Experience this unique historical moment of cultural exchange across Eurasia—where commodities, people, and ideas circulated like never before—with Iran at its center.

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Little Richard outside of a church
Little Richard, Johnson Publishing Company Archive. Courtesy J. Paul Getty Trust and Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. G. Marshall Wilson (19051998) Little Richard praying on the steps of a church Brooklyn, New York, New York, 1957

Spirit in the Dark: Religion in Black Music, Activism, and Popular Culture

November 18, 2022 - January 27, 2025, National Museum of African American History and Culture

Spirit in the Dark examines Black religious life through a selection of photographs from the Johnson Publishing Company, publisher of Ebony, Jet, and Negro Digest. The images in the exhibition spotlight noteworthy individuals—including religious and political leaders, musicians, authors, athletes, activists, and educators—and uplift objects from the museum’s collection, many on display for the first time. Together they reflect diverse aspects of the Black religious experience and testify to the role religion has played in the struggle for human dignity and social equality.

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Caresse Crosby (detail) by Polia Chentoff
Caresse Crosby (detail) by Polia Chentoff, 1927. Oil on canvas. Special Collections Research Center, Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 19001939

April 26, 2024 - February 23, 2025, National Portrait Gallery

Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900 1939 illuminates the accomplishments of sixty unconventional women who pursued their personal and professional aspirations in Paris. As foreigners in a cosmopolitan center of culture, these “exiles” escaped the constraints that limited them at home. Many used their newfound freedom to pursue transformative experiments in a variety of fields, including art, literature, design, publishing, music, fashion, journalism, theater, and dance. An impressive number became prominent cultural arbiters, not merely participating in important modernist initiatives but orchestrating them. The progressive ventures they undertook while living abroad profoundly influenced American culture and opened new possibilities for women. Brilliant Exiles highlights the dynamic role of portraiture in articulating the new identities that American women were at liberty to develop in Paris.

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Absentee ballot request postcard, 1944
Absentee ballot request postcard, 1944

Voting by Mail: Civil War to Covid-19

August 24, 2024 - February 23, 2025, National Postal Museum

The presidential election year is the appropriate time to reflect on past examples of national voting by mail. This exhibition includes objects from the National Postal Museum collection, including a mailed tally sheet from 1864 recording the votes of soldiers from Highland County, Ohio; an absentee ballot request postcard for an Alabama soldier during World War II; a 5-cent postage stamp reminding citizens to register and vote; and a complete absentee ballot kit and instruction sheet from the last presidential election in 2020.

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Mitsitam Cafe

Mitsitam Café

National Museum of the American Indian

This cafe features Native foods found throughout the Western Hemisphere, including the Northern Woodlands, South America, the Northwest Coast, Meso America and the Great Plains.

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Sweet Home Cafe

Sweet Home Café

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sweet Home Café showcases the rich culture and history of the African American people with traditional, authentic offerings as well as present-day food traditions. * Access to the museum is limited and entry pass may be required

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Castle Cafe

Castle Café

Smithsonian Castle

An assortment of fresh baked goods, gelato and fresh fruit makes the Castle Café the perfect place for a quick snack. The café also offers a seasonal selection of sandwiches, salads, and soups.

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Dolcezza

Dolcezza at the Hirshhorn

Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden

Located in the courtyard of the museum, Dolcezza offers locally sourced and handcrafted gelato, specialty espresso drinks, and gourmet pastries in a stunning contemporary setting designed by world-renowned artist Hiroshi Sugimoto.

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X-ray of Fish

X-ray Vision: Fish Inside Out

Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Atlanta, Georgia

January 11, 2025 - January 1, 2027

The Smithsonian’s National Collection of Fishes is the largest and most diverse collection of its kind, with an estimated four million individual fish specimens representing more than 70 percent of the world’s fish species. Encompassing males, females, juveniles, larvae, and even eggs, these specimens serve as a historical record of fish biodiversity and a working reference library for scientists around the world. The exhibition includes the digital files for 40 dramatic digital prints, which are paired with illustrated labels that explore the scientific, environmental, and photographic relevance of each specimen. Interpretive panels describe how the study of fish skeletons, fin spines, and teeth helps scientists differentiate one species from another and examine fish anatomy and evolutionary development. Other panels document the process of scientific digital image preparation and explore the critical role of such collection data in understanding the long-term effects of climate and planetary change on diverse species.

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Crossroads: Change in Rural America
Downtown Lanesboro, Minnesota - photo by Heather Shelton

Crossroads: Change in Rural America

Gunnison Arts Center, Gunnison, Colorado

January 8, 2025 - February 15, 2025

In 1900, about 40% of Americans lived in rural areas, By 2010, less than 18% of the U.S. population lived in rural areas. In just over a century, massive economic and social changes moved millions of Americans into urban areas. Yet, only 10% of the U.S. landmass is considered urban. Crossroads: Change in Rural America offers small towns a chance to look at their own paths to highlight the changes that affected their fortunes over the past century. The exhibition will prompt discussions about what happened when America’s rural population became a minority of the country’s population and the ripple effects that occurred.

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boreal forest
©Tom Walker All Rights Reserved

Knowing Nature: Stories of the Boreal Forest

Oregon Museum of Science & Industry, Portland, Oregon

January 25, 2025 - July 6, 2025

The boreal forest holds stories written over thousands of years, stories of 500 billion trees, billions of migratory birds, millions of lakes and miles of rivers. The boreal forest stores more carbon that most tropical forests and plays a significant role in stabilizing our climate. The boreal forest is also home to hundreds of Sovereign Indigenous Nations and communities. Their ways of knowing nature offer a vision for a sustainable future. This timely exhibition integrates the themes of climate change, Indigenous perspectives and the relationship between people and nature. It takes audiences on a learning journey that starts with curiosity, builds empathy and leads to action. Knowing Nature offers stories of resilience, strength and hope in a changing world.

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Bernard Harris in space (courtesy NASA)
Bernard Harris in space (courtesy NASA)

Black Wings: American Dreams Of Flight Build It Yourself

Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center & State Museum, Kansas City, Missouri

February 1, 2025 - May 3, 2025

In December 1903, the Wright Brothers signaled the arrival of the new Air Age when they flew an airplane for twelve seconds at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. This moment signaled the beginning of America’s new fascination with flight. And while many African Americans shared the widespread enthusiasm for flight, this beginning coincided with an old tradition—racial discrimination. Blacks were soon denied access to formal training as pilots and mechanics. Despite these racial barriers, a powerful group of African American air enthusiasts emerged to challenge these obstacles and create their own legacy in the world of aviation. Black Wings: American Dreams of Flight chronicles this group.

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Smithsonian Online Exhibits

Online Exhibits

Can't make it to the museums in person? Explore Smithsonian exhibits online!

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Smithsonian Blogs

Smithsonian Blogs

Staff, interns, volunteers and others share insights and stories that provide a closer look at the Smithsonian's collections, research and more in Smithsonian blogs.

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Smithsonian Learning Lab

Learning Lab

Discover more than a million resources, create personal collections and educational experiences, and share your work.

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Smithsonian Science Education Center

Smithsonian Science Education Center

Students of all ages can learn science from the Smithsonian Science Education Center's videos, games, blog posts, ebooks and more.

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All of the amazing things in this pocket guide, along with everything else the Smithsonian has to offer, is possible thanks to generous supporters like you.