All upcoming American History programs

Join Tim Dolan, an actor and owner of Broadway Up Close tours in New York City, as he leads a virtual stroll that takes in the theaters at the northern end of the Broadway Theatre District from 47th Street to 54th Street. Along the way, discover how the stage was transformed in the 1960s and 1970s by the introduction of rock musicals with the landmark production of Hair, Via Galactica the first million-dollar show, and a belting orphan with a dog named Sandy.

Each of the District’s neighborhoods has its own unique character, rooted in everything from the well-preserved 18th- and 19th-century architecture of Georgetown to the up-to-the-minute transformation of the Southwest Waterfront. Carolyn Muraskin, founder of DC Design Tours, explores far beyond the National Mall to find the history of the city revealed in neighborhoods that also include LeDroit Park, Dupont Circle, and Mount Pleasant.

Best known for her mesmerizing wire sculptures that blur the line between drawing and sculpture, Ruth Asawa created a body of work that is both deeply personal and universally resonant. A second-generation Japanese American, Asawa endured incarceration during World War II and emerged with a lifelong commitment to the transformative power of art and education. Art historian Jennie Hirsh traces Asawa’s journey as an artist, activist, and educator. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

The name John Hay may not be a familiar one, but his impact on American history is profound. He moved from being a confidant of Abraham Lincoln to Secretary of State under William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt to negotiator of the treaties that granted the United States exclusive rights to build the Panama Canal. Historian Ralph Nurnberger examines the remarkable life and legacy of a key architect of American power whose diplomatic vision propelled the nation onto the world stage.

Photography burst onto the scene in the mid-19th century and has since become one of the enduring forms of art. Art historian Matthew Palczynski traces the development of the earliest photo images, examines how Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Steichen helped photography become a recognized art medium, surveys some of the most notable Pulitzer Prize–winning photographs, and examines the widespread role photography has played in the last 50 years. (World Art History Certificate elective,1/2 credit)

A little over a century ago, the sound of a horse-drawn carriage driving along cobblestone streets was the soundtrack of a nation on the move. The goal of the Carriage Museum—housed in the Long Island Museum in Stony Brook, New York, a Smithsonian Affiliate—is to bring a collection of 185 horse-drawn vehicles from the past to life. Live from the museum, curators share an overview of their collection and highlight some of the most interesting and important vehicles.

Smithsonian Associates speaker Paul Glenshaw returns to the Art + History series to look at great works of art in their historical context. In examining John Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence, he presents two narratives in tandem: the story of the Declaration of Independence and the events preceding and directly after July 4, 1776, and how they ultimately intersected with the multifaceted career of Trumbull, a soldier, artist, and diplomat who was on a first-name basis with the founders of the country. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Few movements have defined a region’s identity as clearly as California Modernism. From the 1920s through the 1960s, noted contemporary architects, designers, and developers transformed Los Angeles into a showcase of modern living. Using glass, steel, and concrete, they created homes that embodied clarity, openness, and light. Art historian Jennie Hirsh explores the generation of architectural visionaries who reshaped the modern landscape of design across California and beyond. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Thomas Smallwood, born into slavery in 1801 near Washington, D.C., bought his freedom, began organizing mass escapes from slavery by the wagonload, and wrote about the escapes in newspaper dispatches. Smallwood never got the credit he deserved, says journalist Scott Shane. Shane recounts the exploits of Smallwood and his white colleague, Charles Torrey, setting them against the backdrop of the slave trade in the United States.

When Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter, Walt Whitman declared it "the volcanic upheaval of the nation”­—the inception of a war that would dramatically alter the shape and character of American culture. Scholar Randall Fuller of the University of Kansas traces the changes in his poetry from idealism to a realism that depicts a more chastened view of America as a place where enormous suffering had occurred.