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Becky Hale

Often identified only by lengthy inventory numbers—referenced on the Smithsonian’s website—the works in the American Art Museum’s Luce Center sometimes get “promoted” to the main exhibition floors for exhibits focusing on specific artists or periods.

Housed in the ornate former library of the United States Patent Office, the Luce Center of the American Art Museum provides hours of browsing for adventurous art lovers.

The tiniest, most humble insects—what Smithsonian collections manager Floyd Shockley calls “the small brown and black things”—exhibit the greatest levels of diversity.

Beetles—ranging from miniscule to the size of a human hand—make up the largest single group in the Smithsonian’s entomology collection.

Babe Ruth’s autograph tops the signatures on an early 1930s baseball, followed by Hall of Fame first baseman Bill Terry of the New York Giants, Yankee shortstop Eddie “Doc” Farrell, and longtime Cleveland pitcher George Uhle, who The Babe once credited as the toughest hurler he ever faced.

Row upon row of “extra” artwork lines the dimly lit Luce Center of the American Art Museum. The paintings and sculptures in this section are part of the museum’s “visible storage” made available to the public.

Just one percent of the Smithsonian’s vast collection, spread over 20 museums and galleries, is on display at one time, leaving millions of unseen treasures, like this classic movie prop, hidden in high-security storage facilities.

Helena Sigman today.

In honour of the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima, the flag made famous by Rosenthal’s photograph will be on display at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Virginia until March 30, 2020.

Aldrin, photographed at National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C., believes that within two decades America will lead international crews to land on Mars.