Author Archives: deidredeanne

From 2022 through 2025, the American Women Quarters Program celebrates the accomplishments and contributions made by women of the United States with new quarters released by the U.S. Mint in partnership with our museum. Quarters 2025 Honorees learn more about Ida B. Wells Ida B. Wells Investigative journalist, suffragist, and civil rights activist LEARN MORE aboutContinue reading “American Women Quarters™ Program”

The Smithsonian’s mineral and gem collection at the National Museum of Natural History consists of approximately 350,000 mineral specimens and 10,000 gems, making it one of the largest of its kind in the world. Along with the specimens highlighted here, the world-famous Hope Diamond and hundreds of other spectacular items from the collection can be seen in the Smithsonian GeoGallery.

During his lifetime, Crockett—who went by David, not Davy—shaped his own myth. In the 20th century, his legacy got a boost from none other than Walt Disney When David Crockett died at the Battle of the Alamo in 1836, he was already as much of a myth as a man. Known to Americans far and wide asContinue reading “How Davy Crockett, the Rugged Frontiersman Killed at the Alamo, Became an Unlikely American Hero”