Five days after the Declaration of Independence was finalized, a crowd of American soldiers and sailors tore down a statue of King George III raised by grateful New York colonists. Its precious lead became 42,088 musket balls to fire at the king’s army. Historian Richard Bell explores the tumultuous years between 1763 and 1776 and the extraordinary events that turned loyal British colonies into a united confederation willing to go to war to achieve independence.
Ever since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Smithsonian Institution has been a key player in the fight to protect Ukraine’s heritage. Corine Wegener, director of the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative; Hayden Bassett, a Smithsonian research associate and director of the Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab; and Amber Kerr, the head of conservation at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, detail how the Smithsonian is working with Ukrainian cultural institutions to monitor cultural heritage sites, provide expert advice, detect and assess damage, and provide emergency supplies and equipment.
Over the centuries, major themes in art continue to appear and reappear. Portraiture, landscapes, and scenes of everyday life are a few notable examples of areas that artists have interpreted in styles ranging from the naturalistic to the surreal. Art historian Joseph Cassar examines significant masterworks within selected genres and offers a new way to understand and appreciate their similarities, as well as the uniqueness of the artists and the cultural norms that influenced them. (World Art History Certificate core course, 1 credit)
The Buddhist world is alive with the supernatural. Ghosts and spirits, which the religion often describes as living out the consequences of past actions, wander the world imbued with the capacity for either great kindness or terrible wickedness. Art historian Robert DeCaroli reveals their contributions to Buddhism’s development and shares examples from art and literature drawn from across Asia. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Step behind the scenes and into the heart of “The West Wing,” where President Jed Bartlet's world was brought to life by an ensemble of actors like no other. Join cast members Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack as they explore the essence of what made the show a cultural phenomenon and share on-set and off-camera anecdotes that even the most devoted “West Wing” aficionados have never heard.
A mecca for aficionados of railroad technology and history, Strasburg, Pennsylvania, offers the ideal destination for a tour led by rail historian James Reaves. Featured in the leisurely day are a round-trip steam train excursion through beautiful Lancaster County on the country’s oldest continuously operating railroad and an afternoon at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, which houses more than 100 locomotives and cars.
Everything in nature is regulated, from the numbers of vital molecules in our bloodstream to the number of lions on an African savanna. Biologist and author Sean B. Carroll discusses the impact of the work of the pioneering scientists whose investigations uncovered the rules and logic of the human body—known as the Serengeti Rules—and the interconnectedness of the regulation of all of life's elements on the planet.