Description: In August 1996, the Smithsonian marked its 150th anniversary with a huge birthday celebration on the National Mall. For its sesquicentennial, a term which this author constantly forgets no matter how many times she looks it up, the Institution threw itself a two-day birthday party, sprinkled with special exhibit tents, concerts, nineteen birthday cakes, a special website, and
Description: The postcards in this gallery are from observatories associated with the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory established in 1890 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of the Smithsonian’s research centers. Together with the Harvard College Observatory, it forms the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.The Mt. Wilson Observatory opened in the early
Description: In 1982, the Smithsonian Institution paid homage to the birth of the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, born January 30, 1882, through six new exhibits.
Description: On June 11, 1927, 25-year-old Charles Lindbergh, and his plane Spirit of St. Louis, arrived back in the United States, and Washington, D.C. threw a party.