Sidedoor

"I’m not superstitious, but I’m a little stitious.” As the New Year approaches, this iconic line from The Office feels more relatable than ever. From gulping grapes in Spain to donning yellow underwear in South America and practicing Scotland’s ancient “first-footing” tradition, people around the world embrace odd – and oddly meaningful - rituals to ensure good luck in the year ahead. Join us as we travel around the Smithsonian to explore how facing the unknown brings us together at New Year’s… in the most unusual ways. Guests: Jim Deutsch, senior content coordinator for America at 250 book project with the Smithsonian Institution, formerly a curator at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Tey Marianna Nunn, associate director of content and interpretation for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino Theo Gonzalvez, curator at the National Museum of American History Grace Jan, Yao Wenqing Chinese Painting Conservator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art

Sojourner Truth was a women's rights advocate known best for her famous speech "Ain't I a Woman." But Truth never actually said these words. In fact, much of the Truth we know… is fiction. Depictions from different artists and journalists have tweaked Truth's legacy to fit their messages, giving her a “kaleidoscopic reputation,” according to Nell Irvin Painter, author of Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol. So how did a speech she never gave make Sojourner Truth one of the most famous women’s suffragists of the 19th century? And what did Truth actually say? Turns out, the whole Truth is even better than fiction. Guests: Nell Irvin Painter, author of Sojourner Truth: a Life, a Symbol; Edwards Professor of American History Emerita at Princeton University Ashleigh Coren, former content strategist for the Smithsonian's Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past initiative Kim Sajet, director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and host of the Smithsonian's Portraits podcast

Edmonia Lewis was the first sculptor of African American and Native American (Mississauga) descent to achieve international fame. Her 3,000-pound masterwork, “The Death of Cleopatra,” commemorated another powerful woman who broke with convention… and then the sculpture disappeared. On this return episode of Sidedoor, we find them both. You can see "The Death of Cleopatra" at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The new exhibition, The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture features 82 artworks created between 1792 and 2023, including two by Edmonia Lewis. Guests: Marilyn Richardson, art historian and independent curator Kirsten Pai Buick, professor of art historian at the University of New Mexico and author of Child of the Fire: Mary Edmonia Lewis and the Problem of Art History's Black and Indian Subject Karen Lemmey, the Lucy S. Reign Curator of Sculpture at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Imagine this: invisible robbers break into a bank and steal massive sacks of cash, but instead of running away with it they set their haul on the front stoop of the bank in a glass case. Everyone can see the money, but only the robbers can get to it. That’s how IRS Special Agent Chris Janczewski describes the 2016 Bitfinex heist – when mystery hackers made out with over $70 million in Bitcoin. By 2020, their loot had ballooned to over $4 billion. With only digital footprints to follow, federal agents tracked the criminals through the blockchain, across the dark web, and up the service elevator of a posh Manhattan apartment building in a sleuthing story that ends at the Smithsonian. The renovated The Value of Money exhibition will be opening at the National Museum of American History in November 2024. Check it out in person or online! Guests: Ellen Feingold, curator of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History Zia Faruqui, United States Magistrate Judge at the District Court for the District of Columbia Ari Redbord, Ari Redbord is the Global Head of Policy at TRM Labs Chris Janczewski, Head of Global Investigations at TRM Labs, previously a special agent with IRS-CI Cyber Crimes Unit

They carried torches and marched at night. Their goal: defend free speech in America. What started as a small group of young men demonstrating during the 1860 election, snowballed into a mass movement of working-class Americans marching to end slavery. They called themselves the Wide Awakes. And they’re widely seen as the political force that helped elect Abraham Lincoln and spur the Civil War. So why has their story gone untold? And why is now the time to tell it? Guests: Jon Grinspan, Curator of Political History at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Author of Wide Awake: The Forgotten Force that Elected Lincoln and Spurred the Civil War Kevin Waite, Associate Professor of History at Durham University. Author of West of Slavery: The Southern Dream of a Transcontinental Empire

Imagine Jaws without the sneaking tuba. Or Psycho without the shrieking violins. Music can help a horror film strike fear in the heart of theatergoers. And you can trace some of these musical scare tactics back to the era of SILENT films — when organists made up film scores on-the-spot. To celebrate the spooky season this year, we're slashing apart a 1917 silent horror film with composer Andrew Earle Simpson to find out how music can be the beating heart of suspense. Grab your popcorn and get snuggly under the blanket. But be sure to check the closet for a pianist before turning out the lights. Want to see this movie for yourself? Don’t miss our live screening of The Devil’s Assistant at the National Museum of American History! Join Lizzie, Andrew, and Ryan on Wednesday, October 30th at 7:30pm to see this movie the way it was made to be watched – with live musical accompaniment. We’ll have objects from the Smithsonian collections and audience Q&A. Reserve your FREE tickets here. Guests: Andrew Earle Simpson, composer and professor of music at the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music, Drama, and Art at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Ryan Lintelman, curator of entertainment at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

In the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Frodo becomes invisible when he puts the Ring on his finger. Well, at banks in the 1970s, this is basically what happened when a woman put a wedding ring on her finger. Her credit cards would no longer work, and the banks wouldn't count her income as part of the household income. This led to a fight for women's financial independence that gave rise to the landmark Equal Credit Opportunity Act (or ECOA) and the creation of the first women's banks. In honor of the 50th anniversary of ECOA becoming law, we’re looking back at a time when women had to have their husband or father cosign on a credit application. What did it take to pass this landmark legislation? And how did it improve women's lives in America? Guests: Rachel Seidman, curator at the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum; curatorial consultant to the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum Emily Card, PhD, author of Staying Solvent: A Comprehensive Guide to Equal Credit for Women Elizabeth Babcock, director of the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum Jeanne Hubbard, former CEO of The Adams National Bank

During the mid-1800s, one third of all paper money in America was thought to be fake. It was the golden age of counterfeiting, and one exceptionally talented con artist stood out from all the rest. His fakes were nearly perfect…but for a trademark tell. Known to law enforcement only as “Jim the Penman,” this celebrity criminal led many Americans to wonder: can great art truly be criminal? Guests Ellen Feingold, curator of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History

Sidedoor returns for its eleventh season on Wednesday, September 18th!

Within just a few years, artificial intelligence systems that sometimes seem to display almost human characteristics have gone from science fiction to apps on your phone. But there’s another AI-influenced frontier that is developing rapidly and remains untamed: robotics. Can the technologies that have helped computers get smarter now bring similar improvements to the robots that will work alongside us? In this episode of The Joy of Why podcast, Daniela Rus, a pioneering roboticist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, talks to host Steven Strogatz about the surprising inspirations from biology that may help robots rise to new levels. Subscribe to The Joy of Why from Quanta Magazine wherever you listen to podcasts!

There aren’t many portrait artists who get recognized on the street, but it happens to Devon Rodriguez all the time. After quietly honing his skill for a decade, Devon started posting videos of his live drawings of New York City subway commuters to social media. The videos took off, earning him some 50 million followers and placing portraiture in front of a huge new audience. In this episode of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery’s podcast, Portraits, Director Kim Sajet speaks with Devon about the mentors who had his back, and this new model for showing art— not in museums, but on screens. See the portraits we discussed: Kim Sajet, by Devon Rodriguez John Ahearn, by Devon Rodriguez “The Rodriguez Twins,” by John Ahearn María Elena Estrada, by Devon Rodriguez Devon Rodriguez draws Kim Sajet, Instagram

Next up in our summer playlist, we bring you an episode of The Kitchen Sisters Present, a podcast featuring sound-rich stories ‘from the b-side of history.’ This one is a musical treat! The Kitchen Sisters delve into the story of the founding of the Hiphop Archive and Research Institute at Harvard by Dr. Marcyliena Morgan, Professor of African and African American Studies and Professor Henry Louis Gates to “facilitate and encourage the pursuit of knowledge, art, culture, scholarship and responsible leadership through Hiphop.” You’ll hear from Professor Morgan, Professor Gates, Nas, Nas Fellow Patrick Douthit aka 9th Wonder, The Hiphop Fellows working at the Archive, an array of Harvard archivists, and students studying at the Archive as well as the records, music and voices being preserved there. Then they take a look at the Cornell University Hip Hop Collection, founded in 2007, through a sampling of stories from Assistant Curator Jeff Ortiz, Johan Kugelberg author of “Born in the Bronx,” and hip hop pioneers Grandmaster Caz, Pebblee Poo, Roxanne Shante and more. This episode is part of The Kitchen Sisters’ series THE KEEPERS—stories of activist archivists, rogue librarians, curators, collectors and historians—keepers of the culture and the cultures and collections they keep. We end this guest-feature with a short interview with the Smithsonian’s Dwandalyn R. Reece, Curator of Music and Performing Arts at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. She and Lizzie talk about the process behind the creation of The Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap. Special Thanks: At The Hiphop Archive at Harvard: Dr. Marcyliena Morgan, Executive Director and Professor of African and African American Studies + Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research + 9th Wonder (Patrick Douthit) + Harold Shawn + Harry Allen + Professor Tommie Shelby + Michael Davis + Brionna Atkins + Justin Porter + Robert Rush. At the Loeb Music Library: Josh Cantor + Sarah Adams. At the Hip Hop Collection, Cornell University Library: Ben Ortiz. At NPR: Rodney Carmichael. At large: Jeff Chang + Pedro Coen + Nas The Keepers is produced by The Kitchen Sisters, Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva, with Nathan Dalton and Brandi Howell. The Keepers Sonic Signature music is by Moondog. For more of The Kitchen Sisters Present, visit kitchensisters.org.

In the twentieth century, the jetpack became synonymous with the idea of a ‘futuristic society.’ Appearing in cartoons and magazines, it felt like a matter of time before people could ride a jetpack to work. But jetpacks never became a mainstream technology, leaving many to wonder…why? In this episode of 99 Percent Invisible, producer Chris Berube travels to the Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum to find out for himself. This episode was produced by Chris Berube. He spoke with Bill Suitor, Don Erwin, and the Smithsonian’s Colleen Anderson. David Taylor reported on the rocket belt for The Washington Post in 2022, and Steve Lehto wrote about the belt, and other jetpack technology, in his book The Great American Jetpack. Transcript available here: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/rocket-man/transcript/

It’s been called ‘the most noble and absurd undertaking ever attempted by any state.’ During the height of the Great Depression, the U.S government hired out-of-work writers and laid-off reporters and sent them out to record the stories of all kinds of Americans. Called the Federal Writers’ Project, historians have called the program a giant “listening project.” While on our summer break, we’re sharing the first episode of a new podcast series called The People’s Recorder. Host Chris Haley sets the stage, laying out 1930s America, the New Deal, and the cultural forces that both supported and opposed the Writers’ Project. The project of holding up to America raises questions: What history gets told? And who gets to tell it? You can listen to rest of the series by searching for The People’s Recorder wherever you get your podcasts. Find out more at peoplesrecorder.info Guests: Scott Borchert, author David Bradley, novelist Dr. Douglas Brinkley, historian Dr. Tameka Hobbs, historian David Kipen, author Dena Epstein, daughter of Hilda Polacheck Studs Terkel, oral historian Links and Resources: American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project Born to Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project Author Scott Borchert on the Federal Writers' Project and the WPA guidebooks Article on Library on Congress symposium on The Millions Further Reading Soul of a People by David A. Taylor Republic of Detours by Scott Borchert California in the 1930s by David Kipen First Person America by Ann Banks Henry Alsberg by Susan DeMasi Long Past Slavery by Catherine A. Stewart Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston Hard Times by Studs Terkel

For thousands of years, fluffy white dogs could be found across the Pacific Northwest. Their exceptionally soft, crimpy hair was shorn like sheep’s wool, spun into yarn, and woven into blankets and robes by indigenous women who carefully tended them in communities across Coast Salish territory. But a hundred years ago, the woolly dog quietly vanished. Why? Today, the only known pelt of this extinct breed is in the collections of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, and it might hold some answers. Through collaborate research combining Western science with Indigenous knowledge, we delve into this animal’s genome to learn the real story of the woolly dog’s disappearance. Guests: Audrey Lin, evolutionary molecular biologist, research associate at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and postdoctoral scholar at the American Museum of Natural History Logan Kistler, curator of archaeobotany and archaeogenomics in the anthropology department of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa, master spinner who studies traditional Salish textiles as a research associate at Vancouver Island University and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History Steven Point / Xwĕ lī qwĕl tĕl, grand chief of the Stó:lō Tribal Council, chancellor of the University of British Columbia, former lieutenant-governor of British Columbia, retired judge, and member of the Skowkale First Nation Debra Sparrow / θəliχʷəlʷət, weaver, artist and knowledge-keeper from Musqueam. Foundational Salish weaving revivalist who, with her sisters, she has worked for decades to rejuvenate and teach traditional Salish weaving. Violet Elliot / Snu’Meethia, weaver and teacher from Snuneymuxw First Nations living in Cowichan First Nations. She has been weaving for over 28 years. Melissa (Missy) Hawkins, curator of mammals at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History

Hitch a ride on the Chandra X-ray Observatory as it scours deep space for some of the most enigmatic and misunderstood objects in the universe: black holes. What are they good for? Absolutely something. This is the second episode of a two-part journey celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's operation of the space telescope. Join us this summer for a cosmic journey full of events and virtual resources from around the Smithsonian that will transport you from our closest star, the sun, to the far reaches of the universe. Find the full schedule on our website or follow along on social media @Smithsonian. Guests: Kim Arcand, Visualization Scientist and Emerging Tech Lead for NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Daryl Haggard, professor of physics at McGill University in the Trottier Space Institute Priyamvada Natarajan, astrophysicist and professor at Yale University

Black holes could unlock the mysteries of creation and live at the heart of nearly every galaxy. But these invisible balls of extremely dense matter have never been fully understood, especially when they were only a theory. We travel through a cosmic wormhole back to the 1930s to learn how the first astrophysicist to successfully theorize a black hole, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, was ridiculed and rejected by his scientific community. This is the first episode of a two-part journey celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's operation of the space telescope. Join us this summer for a cosmic journey full of events and virtual resources from around the Smithsonian that will transport you from our closest star, the sun, to the far reaches of the universe. Find the full schedule on our website, si.edu/cosmicjourney. Or follow along on social media @Smithsonian. Guests: Kim Arcand, Visualization Scientist and Emerging Tech Lead for NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Priyamvada Natarajan, astrophysicist and professor at Yale University Arthur I. Miller, author of "Empire Of The Stars: Obsession, Friendship, and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes"

The cicadas are back for some fun in the sun, and this time, they’re louder than ever! For the first time since 1803, Broods XIII and XIX will be emerging at the same time, covering the American South and Midwest with trillions of cicadas. As Smithsonian entomologist Floyd Shockley readies his nets for the biggest bug invasion in centuries, we look back at the emergence of Brood X in 2021, and explore how cicadas have captivated our human ancestors for millennia. Guests: Floyd Shockley, entomologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History Gao Hong, professional pipa player, composer, and educator Jim Deutsch, curator at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Jan Stuart, Melvin R. Seiden Curator of Chinese Art at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art

"God in a cup." "Perfection." "The world's best coffee." Panamanian geisha coffee has been called many things, but never Smithsonian Bird Friendly certified. That might soon change, however, as researchers from Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute’s Migratory Bird Center find new ways to grow coffee in harmony with migratory songbirds. Join us for this fully caffeinated romp through Panama’s coffee farms as we learn all about the birds and the beans. Guests: Ruth Bennett, research ecologist at the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute’s Migratory Bird Center Katherine Araúz Ponce, fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and PhD student at The University of Georgia Maria Ruiz, owner of Ruiz Coffee Distributors Ratibor & Aliss Hartmann, owners of Finca Hartmann, specialty coffee and ecotourism Price Peterson, owner of Hacienda La Esmeralda

If you’ve bought a plane ticket recently, you’ve probably had the option to pay a few extra dollars to offset your carbon emissions. That money might go toward planting some trees… but how many trees? Researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute are trying to answer this very question by hand-measuring trees, weighing wood, and climbing to the top of the canopy. We tag along to see how carbon is measured, and why so much ends up in tropical forests. Guests: Joshua Tewksbury, director of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama Helene Muller-Landau, senior scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute researching tropical forests and ecosystems, leader of ForestGEO Global Carbon Program David Mitre, research manager for ForestGEO at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Sergio dos Santos, project manager for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s Hydro-Meteorological and Oceanographic Monitoring Program in Panama Luisa Fernanda Gómez Correa, intern at the Forest Carbon Lab at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Eline De Loore, graduate student at Ghent University conducting research at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute