Understanding the American Experience

Curator in the Photographic Collection at the NMAH examines three unique photographic portraits, showing how portraiture and the creation of an image between sitter and photographer, can be used to express many ideas, beyond that of simply a picture of an individual.

This is one of five themed videos from The Art of Video Games exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (http://www.americanart.si.edu/taovg). The videos feature excerpts from interviews with 20 influential figures in the gaming world—Nolan Bushnell, David Cage, Steve Cartwright, Jenova Chen, Don Daglow, Noah Falstein, Ed Fries, Ron Gilbert, Robin Hunicke, Henry Jenkins, Jennifer MacLean, RJ Mical, Mike Mika, David Perry, Jane Pinckard, Kellee Santiago, Tim Schafer, Jesse Schell, Warren Spector and Tommy Tallarico.

This is one of five themed videos from The Art of Video Games exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (http://www.americanart.si.edu/taovg). The videos feature excerpts from interviews with 20 influential figures in the gaming world—Nolan Bushnell, David Cage, Steve Cartwright, Jenova Chen, Don Daglow, Noah Falstein, Ed Fries, Ron Gilbert, Robin Hunicke, Henry Jenkins, Jennifer MacLean, RJ Mical, Mike Mika, David Perry, Jane Pinckard, Kellee Santiago, Tim Schafer, Jesse Schell, Warren Spector and Tommy Tallarico.

Warren Perry, of the National Portrait Gallery, discusses Grant's victories at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, both in northwest Tennessee. Filmed in February, 2012.

A Conversation with Andrew Young: Ambassador Andrew Young, joined by his longtime friend Jack H. Watson Jr., discusses his role in the American Civil Rights movement. Watson is chair of the National Portrait Gallery's Commission; he served as chief of staff for former President Jimmy Carter and is a fellow Atlantan. His portrait is now on view in our exhibition "The Struggle for Justice." Recorded at NPG, April 30, 2011. Image: Andrew Young by Ross R, Rossin, oil on canvas, 2009, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Jack Watson, Copyright 2009 Ross R. Rossin

Former Senior Scholar and Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs, James Gardner discusses the museum's collection efforts and object stories follwing the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

Teens in the Hirshhorn Museum's ARTLAB+ program filmed and edited this movie on the RACE: Are we do different? exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History. http://artlabplus.si.edu

In 2002, Iraqi-American jazz and classical trumpeter Amir ElSaffar put his New York career on hold to study the music of his father's ancestral past. He traveled to Iraq, throughout the Middle East, and to Europe to learn from master artists who could teach him the centuries-old tradition of the Iraqi maqam, the classical Arab system of melodic modes and compositions that is one of Iraq's great artistic legacies. He became versed in Iraqi maqam, learned to sing its modes and melodies, and studied the santur (hammered dulcimer). Now he leads Safaafir, the only ensemble in the United States performing Iraqi maqam. At the same time, he developed new techniques for the trumpet in order to produce the kinds of microtones and ornaments characteristic of Arab music. In 2006, ElSaffar applied his knowledge of Iraqi-Arabic music to jazz. His Two Rivers Suite invokes ancient Iraqi musical traditions and frames them in a modern jazz setting. The compositions are based on Iraqi maqam melodies, each of which is believed to have a unique spiritual essence, or ruhiyya, and to embody an aspect of Iraq's history and culture. Each ruhiyya can be understood as a loose melody: malleable, free, and open to interpretation and variation but, at the same time, distinct and recognizable. Singers improvise and composers write songs, creating endless possibilities but always maintaining the original feeling of the ruhiyya. The movements of Two Rivers Suite are based on various ruhiyya from the Iraqi maqam repertoire, providing a point of departure for composition and improvisation. Each section explores a different mode of interaction between Arab music and jazz, blurring the lines that typically distinguish conventional "jazz," "Arab," or "Iraqi" sensibilities. These maqam melodies often contain non-Western tunings and are set to heavy grooves, free jazz-like ensemble playing, and multi-layered sound textures. ElSaffar and his Two Rivers ensemble meld styles and cross-pollinate the languages of ancient and modern, East and West. ElSaffar's compositions are some of the first in jazz to make use of Arab modality and its non-Western tunings. Two Rivers is a journey through Iraq's glorious and tragic past and present. It expresses ElSaffar's personal struggle as an Iraqi American watching his father's homeland in turmoil and destruction. The CD of Two Rivers (Pi Recordings, 2007) was named to top-ten lists for jazz recordings by the Boston Globe and Philadelphia City Paper and was runner-up for top debut jazz release in the Village Voice.

Heirloom plants are open-pollinated plants that were grown in earlier periods of time. Americans have chosen to preserve these seeds and have passed them down from generation to generation. The medicinal and cultural uses of heirloom plants have transcended national boundaries, and have been preserved here at the Smithsonian Heirloom Garden as a way to celebrate America's colorful and diverse past. These plants have not changed since then, still smelling and looking like the plants our grandparents and their grandparents' grandparents used long ago. Listen to an audio tour of the Smithsonian Heirloom Garden and discover how some of its plants played a vital role in America’s immigrant traditions, early consumer practices, and medicinal folk traditions.

Heirloom plants are open-pollinated plants that were grown in earlier periods of time. Americans have chosen to preserve these seeds and have passed them down from generation to generation. The medicinal and cultural uses of heirloom plants have transcended national boundaries, and have been preserved here at the Smithsonian Heirloom Garden as a way to celebrate America's colorful and diverse past. These plants have not changed since then, still smelling and looking like the plants our grandparents and their grandparents' grandparents used long ago. Listen to an audio tour of the Smithsonian Heirloom Garden and discover how some of its plants played a vital role in America’s immigrant traditions, early consumer practices, and medicinal folk traditions.

In 1886, the United States sent over 500 Chiricahua Apache men, women, and children from Arizona to Florida as prisoners of war. For twenty-seven years, the War Department held these people in Florida, Pennsylvania, Alabama, and Oklahoma. When the War Department freed the Chiricahua prisoners in 1913 and 1914, it sent them either to the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico or to small farms in Oklahoma. Most POW descendants now live in those places. U.S. officials never allowed the Chiricahua people to return home. This video is currently on view as part of the Our Peoples exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC Find out more at http://nmai.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/item/104/

The story of the relationship of Native peoples and horses is one of the great sagas of human contact with the animal world. Native peoples have traditionally regarded the animals in our lives as fellow creatures with which a common destiny is shared. The glory days of the horse culture were brilliant but brief, lasting just over a century. The bond between American Indians and the Horse Nation, however, has remained strong through the generations. The rodeo continues to be an important part of the life of the Navajo people. This video is currently on view as part of the exhibition A Song for the Horse Nation at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC. Find out more at http://nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/horsenation/index.html.

Narrated by basketball legend Bill Russell and in conjunction with the archived exhibition “Sports: Breaking Records, Breaking Barriers” from the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and the National Museum of American History. Featured are those who made a difference both on and off the athletic fields, including Gertrude Ederle, Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Mia Hamm, Michael Jordan, and many more. The “Sports” online exhibition is available at http://www.americanhistory.si.edu/sports