YOUR 2023 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 2023 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.

Jump to...

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.

Find out more »
Take me there »

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.

Find out more »
Take me there »



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.

Find out more »
Take me there »

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.

Find out more »
Take me there »



Still from Akomfrah’s Five Mumurations
Still from Akomfrah’s Five Mumurations.

John Akomfrah: Five Murmurations

October 14, 2023 - TBA, National Museum of African Art

Internationally renowned artist and filmmaker John Akomfrah addresses the global COVID-19 pandemic, murder of George Floyd, and worldwide protests in support of Black Lives Matter in this visual essay of our times. Drawing upon an extensive archive of images that mix iconic works of art with scenes shot and gathered in the globally fraught 18-month period between 2019 and 2021, Five Mumurations considers Akomfrah’s insights into post-colonialism, diasporic experience, and memory.

Find out more »
Take me there »

Julie Packard by Hope Gangloff
Julie Packard by Hope Gangloff. Acrylic on Canvas, 2019. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; funded by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Board of Trustees. Copyright Hope Gangloff

Forces of Nature: Voices that Shaped Environmentalism

October 20, 2023 - September 2, 2024, National Portrait Gallery

Forces of Nature: Voices that Shaped Environmentalism presents some of the key people–scientists, politicians, activists, writers, and artists–whose work has influenced attitudes toward the environment in the United States from the late 19th century until today. The exhibition traces a history of the movement from turn-of-the-20th-century conservationism to mid-20th-century environmentalism and its backlash to present-day action on environmental justice, biodiversity, and climate.

Find out more »
Take me there »

Japanese Edo Period kabuki theater

Staging the Supernatural: Ghosts and the Theater in Japanese Prints

October 28, 2023 - March 10, 2024, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Throughout Japanese cultural history, the boundary between the real world and the world of supernatural beings has been remarkably porous. Certain sites, states of mind, or periods in the lunar cycle made humans particularly vulnerable to ghostly intervention. The Edo period (1603-1868) was a crucial stage in the development and solidification of ideas about the supernatural. Many of the beliefs that gained currency at this time are still held as conventional wisdom in Japan today. Staging the Supernatural brings together a collection of vibrant, colorful woodblock prints and illustrated books depicting the specters that haunt these two theatrical traditions.

Find out more »
Take me there »

outdoor sculpture of female figure
outdoor sculpture of female figure

Simone Leigh

November 3, 2023 - March 3, 2024, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

This exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of the richly layered work of Simone Leigh (b. 1967, Chicago) who is among the most respected artists of her generation. The exhibition surveys approximately twenty years of highly disciplined production in ceramic, bronze, video, and installation and features works from Simone Leigh: Sovereignty, the artist’s Venice Biennale presentation, providing audiences the opportunity to experience this landmark installation. Over the past two decades, Leigh has created works of art that situate questions of Black femme subjectivity at the center of contemporary art discourse and explore ideas of race, beauty, and community in visual and material culture.

Find out more »
Take me there »

Grace Thorpe (Sac and Fox, 19212008) at work in General MacArthur’s headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, in December 1945.
Grace Thorpe (Sac and Fox, 19212008) at work in General MacArthur’s headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, in December 1945. Grace Thorpe collection (NMAI.AC.085), Negative Box 8, Item 19, National Museum of the American Indian

Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces

November 10, 2021 - November 30, 2023, National Museum of the American Indian

Why We Serve honors the generations of Native Americans who have served in the armed forces of the United States—often in extraordinary numbers—since the American Revolution. For some, the Indigenous commitment to the U.S. military doesn’t make sense. Why would Indians serve a country that overran their homelands, suppressed their cultures, and confined them to reservations? Native people have served for the same reasons as anyone else: to demonstrate patriotism or pursue employment, education, or adventure. Many were drafted. Yet tribal warrior traditions, treaty commitments with the United States, and responsibility for defending Native homelands have also inspired the enduring legacy of Indigenous military service.

Find out more »
Take me there »

The Story of Dorothy Stanfield: Based on a Great Insurance Swindle, and a Woman!
Oscar Micheaux, The Story of Dorothy Stanfield: Based on a Great Insurance Swindle, and a Woman! New York, 1946, Gift of Pearl Bowser

Highlights of the NMAAHC Library Collection

September 12, 2022 - December 31, 2023, National Museum of African American History and Culture

Eleven objects—books, videos, and more—significant to the African American story are featured in this exhibition of highlights from the National Museum of African American History and Culture Library, part of the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives. They span over a hundred years and a variety of formats—from an 1886 biography of Harriet Tubman to a 2009 artists’ book celebrating the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

Find out more »
Take me there »

Shelley Niro (Six Nations Reserve, Bay of Quinte Mohawk, Turtle Clan, b. 1954), The Rebel, 1987. Hand-tinted gelatin silver print. Collection of the artist.
Shelley Niro (Six Nations Reserve, Bay of Quinte Mohawk, Turtle Clan, b. 1954), The Rebel, 1987. Hand-tinted gelatin silver print. Collection of the artist.

Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch

May 27, 2023 - January 1, 2024, National Museum of the American Indian George Gustav Heye Center

Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch celebrates more than a half century of Shelley Niro’s paintings, photographs, mixed-media works, and films. Accessible, humorous, and peppered with references to popular culture, Niro's art delves into the timeless cultural knowledge and generational histories of her Six Nations Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) community to provide purpose and healing.

Find out more »
Take me there »

A Window Suddenly Opens: Contemporary Photography in China

A Window Suddenly Opens: Contemporary Photography in China

November 4, 2022 - January 7, 2024, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

A Window Suddenly Opens: Contemporary Photography in China is the Hirshhorn’s first survey of photography by leading multigenerational Chinese artists made between the 1990s and 2000s. The exhibition showcases 186 artworks made between 1993 and 2022 of which 141 are a landmark promised gift to the Hirshhorn from pioneering collector of Chinese art Larry Warsh. The exhibition’s title is drawn from a 1997 publication, a near manifesto, by Rong Rong and Liu Zheng that celebrated the possibilities in shifting the practice of photography away from realism toward a conceptual art practice.

Find out more »
Take me there »

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.

Find out more »
Take me there »

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

Find out more »
Take me there »

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.

Find out more »
Take me there »

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.

Find out more »
Take me there »

Billie Holiday at Sugar Hill: Photographs by Jerry Dantzic
Photographs by Jerry Dantzic. ©Jerry Dantzic Archives. All Rights Reserved.

Billie Holiday at Sugar Hill: Photographs by Jerry Dantzic

Woody Guthrie Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma

October 10, 2023 - January 14, 2024

This exhibition is a vivid, intimate, compelling photographic portrait of Billie Holiday, the consummate jazz and blues singer and one of 20thcentury music’s most iconic figures, in April 1957 at a significant moment in her life and just two years before her death at the age of 44. Beautifully captured through the lens of photographer Jerry Dantzic, the 375 running foot exhibition provides a rare glimpse into Billie Holiday’s public and private life through 65 pigment prints with labels, curated panels, ephemera, projected video, and vinyl excerpts from the work of renowned writer and author, Zadie Smith.

Find out more »
See tour schedule »

Girlhood exhibit graphic

Girlhood (It's complicated)

Cincinnati Museum Center, Cincinnati, Ohio

October 12, 2023 - January 14, 2024

Girlhood (It’s complicated) features rarely seen objects and new acquisitions from the National Museum of American History. The exhibition unpacks the diversity of girls’ experiences at the intersections of gender, race, and class. Visitor testing during exhibition development has demonstrated the power of this content to engage audiences and stimulate inter-generational discussions. Girlhood provides many opportunities for venues to customize the installation by showcasing their own objects and local stories.

Find out more »
See tour schedule »

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

Crossroads: Change in Rural America

Lincoln County Public Library, Brookhaven, Mississippi

October 14, 2023 - November 26, 2023

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.

Find out more »
See tour schedule »

Life in One Cubic Foot
Image courtesy David Liittschwager

Life in One Cubic Foot

Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

October 14, 2023 - January 7, 2024

Life in One Cubic Foot reveals the amazing variety of life found by people using "biocubes"—one-cubic-foot frames for surveying the animals and plants living in an ecosystem. Featuring stunning photographs by David Liittschwager, the exhibition includes biocube-related objects and tools, animal models, hands-on interactives, and videos. Host venues will also receive digital files to produce multiple wall quotes and background imagery and a graphic design template that can be used to display local biocube results. What can you discover in just one cubic foot? As it turns out, a whole lot!

Find out more »
See tour schedule »

Smithsonian Online Exhibits

Online Exhibits

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

Find out more »

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.

Find out more »



Smithsonian Learning Lab

Learning Lab

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

Find out more »

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.

Find out more »



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.