@smithsonian

This year we’re celebrating 50 years of our #RenwickGallery! It was the first place built as an art museum in the country, and now it's home to @americanart’s collection of contemporary craft and decorative art. The building was originally designed to house the art collection of William Wilson Corcoran, who believed that showing American works would “encourage American genius” and demonstrate that U.S. art could rival that of Europe. In 1859, it was designed by James Renwick Jr., the architect behind the Smithsonian Castle in Washington and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Renwick was inspired by the Louvre’s newest addition and modeled the gallery in a style that was then the height of French fashion. The building became increasingly dilapidated after Corcoran's collection was relocated to a larger space. While Congress proposed that it be razed, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy successfully led a campaign in 1962 to save the Renwick. She wrote, “It may look like a Victorian horror, but it is really quite a lovely and precious example of the period of architecture which is fast disappearing.” The building then became part of the Smithsonian, and on Jan. 28, 1972, it opened as the Renwick Gallery, named in honor of its architect. 📸: Renwick Gallery in the 1930s (from @smithsonianarchives) and today

This bear went to space.🚀 Magellan T. Bear flew as the "education specialist" aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in February 1995, becoming the first official teddy bear in space. The bear's journey was part of a project to boost students' interest in geography, science and social studies. Now it's in our @airandspacemuseum's collection.

The hottest party accessory for Victorian women? Bouquet holders. Along with fans, parasols, gloves and dance cards, they were must-haves for well-dressed women who often carried flowers at dinner parties, concerts and balls. Many bouquet holders featured a ring attached to a delicate chain, which allowed the wearer to dangle a bouquet from her finger while dancing. Like many objects made during this era, they had ornate details and lush patterns inspired by nature. The finest ones were made out of gold and silver, and inset with semiprecious jewels. These are some of the many bouquet holders now in our @smithsoniangardens’ collection.

We're big fans of this artwork by Tawaraya Sōtatsu from early 17th century Japan. "Screen with Scattered Fans," in our @natasianart's collection, stretches about 5 feet high by 12 feet long. The 42 fans across it were painted on paper sheets and then pasted on the screen—and never intended for actual use. The subjects of the fan paintings are essentially selections from earlier, probably one-of-a-kind paintings. They depict military epics, literary tales, and nature scenes with plants, flowers and animals.

Spending the afternoon daydreaming about this scene from our @archivesamerart. This is a landscape study from around 1940 by Erle Loran, who spent most of his life painting and teaching in California. Watercolor was Loran's preferred medium because it worked well for his often-remote outdoor painting location.

We all do deep-sea research in a yellow submarine.🎶 @smithsonianpanama scientists recently took 11 dives in a yellow vessel to an unexplored undersea mountain range off the coast of Panama. Some of what they saw: a possible new coral species, very rare prickly sharks, and 60 hammerheads. 🎥: Underwater scenes of a submarine, science equipment, and animals, including sharks

Gazing at the summer sky? For generations, hunter-gatherers of sub-Saharan Africa (known as the Khoisan) have passed down a myth about a girl dancing around an evening fire who threw the glowing embers up into the night. They stayed in an iridescent band, creating the Milky Way.💫 South African artist Gavin Jantjes depicted the myth in this untitled painting from his series “Zulu” (meaning “sky” or “heavens”) in our @smithsonian_africanart. To evoke movement, Jantjes drew upon the figurative style of southern Africa’s ancient rock paintings.

Take a deep breath and watch this corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum) bloom. The plant's putrid smell—often compared to the stench of rotting flesh—is most potent during peak bloom at night into the early morning. On loan from the @usbotanicgarden, the flower is in @smithsoniangardens' Enid A Haupt Garden on the north terrace of @smithsonian_africanart. 🎥: Time-lapse of a burgundy corpse flower blooming from day to night

Today is our birthday! The Smithsonian was officially created on Aug. 10, 1846. In 1829, English scientist James Smithson left his fortune to the United States to found an institution for the “increase and diffusion of knowledge.” Why? It’s a mystery. Smithson, an Oxford graduate who first identified the mineral now named smithsonite, never visited the U.S. while he was alive. His bequest sparked widespread debate over what such a national institution might be. Once established, the Smithsonian became part of the process of developing a U.S. national identity. Today we are the world's largest museum, education, and research complex. This photo of the Smithsonian's 150th birthday party in 1996 comes from @smithsonianarchives.

In our tomato sandwich era. 🍅🍅🍅 This color lithograph is from an 1892 seed catalog by J.M. Thorburn & Company, which is in the @smithsoniangardens collection. Until the 1870s, seed catalogs were mostly printed lists of the varieties available with their prices. By the 1880s, companies were producing elaborate booklets with colorful, detailed illustrations of plants. Many were selling books and supplies too, as well as sharing gardening advice. These catalogs were often so successful that many merchants didn’t have to hire agents or traveling salespeople.

What’s more fitting for #InternationalCatDay than a painting with two sets of whiskers? “Man with the Cat (Henry Sturgis Drinker)” is an oil painting by Cecilia Beaux, a fiercely independent woman who carved out a career for herself as a portraitist at a time when few women could. Beaux portrayed her brother-in-law, a railroad executive who later became president of Lehigh University. (We don’t know the cat’s name.) This 1898 piece is now in our @americanart.

The story of how these owls lived in the Smithsonian Castle in the 1970s (it's a hoot): Our Secretary at the time, S. Dillon Ripley, was an ornithologist and thought barn owls could hunt the rats attracted to the new garbage cans on the National Mall. He named them Increase and Diffusion—a nod to the Smithsonian’s mission of “the increase and diffusion of knowledge”—and they lived in the building's west tower. The pair hatched three owlets in the spring of 1977. One of those new owlets fell out of the tower but was brought safely inside by a staff member, and is seen here refusing to take a message. After raising their family, the owls departed and never returned. These photos are from @smithsonianarchives. #InternationalOwlAwarenessDay

Inspired by hand-built clay coil pots of Kenya and Nigeria, the sensuous forms of Magdalene Odundo's vases are subtly patterned with a firing technique developed in San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico. This one is on display in "Duro Olowu Selects" at our @CooperHewitt. The exhibition explores how patterns express ideas, preserve heritage, and grab our attention. Nigerian-British designer Duro Olowu said, "Patterns are somewhat of a hidden dialogue, a means of understanding how cultural shifts occur across time and place. They open a window to how knowledge and aesthetics are shared across the globe. When we look at pattern, we don't just see stripes, polka dots, or other geometrical layering, we see each other."

We marvel at the awesome might of Spider-Man, introduced to comic book readers 60 years ago this month. This is one of our @nationalpostalmuseum’s 41-cent Marvel Super Heroes commemorative stamps, issued in 2007. ©USPS. All rights reserved. 🕷#SpiderManDay

As Lieutenant Uhura, Nichelle Nichols served on the bridge of the starship Enterprise, managing intergalactic communications on dramatic space voyages. In her authoritative "Star Trek" role, she made history for African American women in TV and film at a critical moment during the Civil Rights Movement. Nichols also volunteered to recruit women and people of color for NASA, work of which she was enormously proud. Her "Star Trek" uniform is in the collection of our @NMAAHC. Nichols died today at age 89. #BecauseOfHerStory