Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III has spent a lifetime thinking about how history gets told. Before becoming the head of the Smithsonian, he was a curator, someone whose job is deciding which stories, people, and objects help us make sense of ourselves. So as America approaches its 250th birthday, Lizzie wanted to know: if you had to tell the story of the United States through just a handful of things, where would you begin?

In this special episode, Secretary Bunch puts his curator hat back on to lead Lizzie through American Aspirations, a new exhibition he co-curated. Starting with the desk on which the Declaration of Independence was drafted, they get up close with some of the nation's most treasured objects: Abraham Lincoln campaign swag, Amelia Earhart's flight suit, Thomas Edison's light bulb, and even a miniature Statue of Liberty (which is still pretty big!). What can these objects reveal about a nation still striving to become its best self?

Guest: Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

The American Aspirations exhibition at the Smithsonian Castle was co-curated by Smithsonian Secretary Bunch — alongside Abeer Saha, curator at the National Museum of American History, and Harry Rubenstein, curator emeritus at the National Museum of American History.

American Aspirations received support from Jacqueline B. Mars and the Smithsonian’s Our Shared Future: 250, a Smithsonian-wide initiative commemorating the nation’s 250th. Major support for Our Shared Future: 250 has been provided by Lilly Endowment Inc. Additional contributions have been made by Target and the Gates Foundation.

To watch a video version of this podcast find us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/smithsonian

A screw. A stuffed possum. A shoe-sizing device. What could any of these objects possibly tell us about the history of the United States?

When we think of historic artifacts, we tend to picture the extraordinary: Abraham Lincoln's pocket watch, the original Kermit the Frog, Martin Luther King Jr.'s draft of the "I Have a Dream" speech. But the story of America can just as easily be found in the everyday objects that shape our lives.

In this bonus episode, Lizzie sits down with Roman Mars to talk about his new series, A History of the United States in 100 Objects. Together, they explore how ordinary things can reveal distinctly American stories.

Guests: 

Roman Mars, host and creator of 99% Invisible 

To pitch your object to Roman’s team, write to [email protected]

Everyone thought ghosts lived in the basement of Stockton, California's old Daguhoy Lodge. So, nobody went down there. But when one man refused to be spooked, he made a discovery that would bring the ghosts back to life. 

In this episode, we explore how an accidental discovery resurrected the stories of a nearly forgotten generation of Filipino immigrants who came to work in the fields. Why did these men leave behind steamer trunks that remained unopened for decades? And what could we learn from the belongings found inside?  

We'll unpack the steamer trunks and dust off a fading piece of American history as we dive into the stories of these farmworkers and their surprising sense of fashion. 

Guests: 

Sam Vong, Curator of Asian Pacific American History at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

Dillon Delvo, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Little Manila Rising in South Stockton, California

Phillip Merlo, a historian and educator who serves as the Executive Director of the San Joaquin County Historical Society & Museum

How did a car with chopped suspension and hydraulics become a symbol of pride and self-expression for an entire community? We'll cruise back in time to see how lowriders emerged from the post-WWII car craze and became a powerful symbol of Mexican American pride. It's a long road with a few speed bumps, but lowriders are now more popular than ever (especially in Japan!)

So, lean your seat back and see how chrome, paint, and a dose of defiance turned classic cars into rolling works of art that have cruised their way into the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. 

Learn more about the Smithsonian's exhibition on Lowriders — Corazón y vida — HERE 

This project received federal support from the Smithsonian Latino Initiative Pool, administered by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino.

At the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, archivists are working with Native communities to correct the historical record … one photo at a time.

In this episode, we go inside the archives, where century-old photographs once labeled “Indian man” or “woman in costume” are being reexamined and renamed so they can be reconnected to living descendants. It’s a painstaking effort that’s also challenging the romanticized imagery popularized by photographers and anthropologists of the late 1800s, early 1900s. 

Think there might be photos of your ancestors in the Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives? Check here: https://sova.si.edu/

You can read about the Smithsonian's Ethical Returns and Shared Stewardship Policy here: https://ncp.si.edu/SI-ethical-returns

To submit a shared stewardship or ethical return inquiry or request, complete this form: https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7447374/Shared-Stewardship-and-Ethical-Returns-Inquiry-Request-Submission-Form 

If you have questions about the policy, contact [email protected].

Guests: 

Emily Moazami, head archivist at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) Archive Center

Nathan Sowry, reference archivist at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) Archive Center

Rachel Menyuk, processing archivist at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) Archive Center

Special thanks to the Harmon Family:

Leonard Harmon, Pam Pierce Harmon Johnston, Mike Harmon and Matthew Harmon

A long time ago, in movie theaters not far away, Star Wars: A New Hope revolutionized American entertainment. In honor of May the 4th, we explore how a scrappy space fantasy reinvented a tale as old as time — and gave Americans hope in a time of difficulty. We'll also trace the journey of two bickering droids from a galaxy far, far away to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. 

Guests: 

Ryan Lintelman, curator of entertainment at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History

Eric Jentsch, curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History

Dawn Wallace, objects conservator at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History

As we approach the nation's 250th birthday, we are looking back at some of the most important moments in American history. One of those moments is when Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag. But, as we discovered, there’s actually no proof that Ross sewed the first flag. In fact, we don't even know what the first American flag even looked like! 

In this episode of Sidedoor, we unravel this vexillological tall tale to find out how this myth got started, and who Betsy Ross really was.

Sidedoor also recently teamed up with the popular 99% Invisible podcast to explore the lesser-known history of the American flag. The episode, “Flag Days: Unfolding a Moment,” is available to listen to now. 

Guests: 

Jennifer Locke Jones, political and military history curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History 

Marc Leepson, journalist, historian and author of the book Flag: An American Biography

Marla R. Miller, historian and author of Betsy Ross and the Making of America

When a Smithsonian archaeology intern opened a dusty box of bones in a Panamanian warehouse, she didn't expect to find a mystery, let alone a potential crime scene. But Nina Hirai’s discovery of a tapir skull riddled with what appeared to be bullet holes sparked an investigation that would lead her several miles up the Panama Canal and nearly forty years into the past. Join us as we unspool the strange, unresolved story of a tapir named Alice, and ask what it means to live with uncertainty when the past refuses to explain itself.

Guests:

Nina Hirai, former archeology intern at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute 

Nicole Smith-Guzmán, archeology curator at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute 

Ashley Sharpe, research archeologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute 

Aureliano Valencia (“Yeyo”), archeological research technician at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute 

Phyllis (Lissy) Coley, professor emerita in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Utah and research associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute  

Monica Brenes Lynan, former veterinarian at Parque Municipal Summit in Panama 

Andres Ramos, lider de guardabosques del Monumento Natural Barro Colorado / head park ranger at Barro Colorado Island  

What does it look like for something to be made in America? 

Through the photography of Christopher Payne, we journey across the past, present and future of American manufacturing to answer this question. From centuries-old textile mills to modern assembly lines, Payne’s photographs offer a rare, behind-the-scenes view of how everyday objects—from pencils to airplanes to marshmallow Peeps—are made. 

With the help of Smithsonian curator, Susan Brown, and author, Rachel Slade, we also explore the history behind these factories, and how the story of American manufacturing is the story of our nation itself. 

Guests: 

Christopher Payne, Industrial photographer

Susan Brown, associate curator, and acting head of textiles at Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum; curator of the exhibition Made in America

Rachel Slade, author of the book Making it in America: The Almost Impossible Quest to Manufacture in the U.S.A. (and How it Got That Way) 

Something dark and invisible makes up as much as 90 to 95 percent of the universe—and it took a little girl staring out a bedroom window at the night sky to bring it to light. 

As a child, Vera Rubin built her own telescope. As an adult, she uncovered a problem no telescope could solve: stars at the edges of galaxies were moving just as fast as those near the center. The math contradicted everything astronomers expected to see...unless the universe was filled with unseen matter.

This is the story of how Vera Rubin pushed through the gender barriers of the 1950s and turned a fringe idea into one of astronomy’s biggest open questions. What is dark matter? How did Rubin help prove it was real? And what does it mean that most of the universe is made of something we can’t see?

Guests: 

Ashley Yeager, Associate News Editor at Science News and Author of Bright Galaxies Dark Matter and Beyond: The Life of Astronomer Vera Rubin

Ramona Rubin, Granddaughter of Vera Rubin 

Deidre Hunter, Astronomer at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona 

Amruta Jaodand, Astrophysicist at the Chandra X-Ray Center in the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

A string of unsolved murders in San Francisco's Chinatown in the 1970s led police to the door of a young Korean immigrant named Chol Soo Lee — who was quickly arrested and sentenced to life in prison. But when investigative journalist K.W. Lee started digging into the case, he discovered a world of twisted law and order that went far deeper than one man. The articles K.W. wrote about what he uncovered in Chinatown shocked Asian Americans across Northern California to stand up and demand justice for Chol Soo Lee — and themselves. 

Corrections:

In this episode we state that Chol Soo Lee had a mustache in the photo that appeared in the mug book. Correction: He did have a mustache at the time of the killing, but he did not have a mustache in that photo.

We state that K.W. Lee learned of Chol Soo Lee stabbing a fellow inmate from a TV news segment. Correction: He learned about it in a news briefing. 

We state that K.W. Lee was at the premiere of the documentary “Free Chol Soo Lee.” Correction: He attended the premiere virtually in January of 2022. He physically attended a screening in August of 2022 when the film was released in theaters.

Guests: 

Sojin Kim, curator at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Ranko Yamada, friend of K.W. Lee and Chol Soo Lee 
Julie Ha, journalist, writer and co-director of the documentary film "Free Chol Soo Lee"