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 HeritageTey Marianna Nunn, associate director of content and interpretation for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American LatinoTheo Gonzalvez, curator at the National Museum of American HistoryGrace 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 SubjectKaren 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 HistoryZia 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 LabsChris 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 WarKevin 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 

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? GuestsEllen 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! 

Sidedoor returns for its eighth season on Wednesday, June 15th!

Sidedoor returns for its seventh season on Wednesday, October 6th!

A new season of Sidedoor is just two weeks away! In the meantime, we’re sharing a special guest episode from Wonder Media Network’s podcast, “Encyclopedia Womannica.” In this episode, you’ll hear about the life of Patsy Mink, the first Asian-American woman to serve in Congress and run for U.S. President. She was also the first woman of color elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She made a brief appearance in the Sidedoor episode, “Votes for Hawaiians,” and here you’ll hear more about how she paved the way for Asian-Americans across the nation. Encyclopedia Womannica is a daily podcast that explores the trials, tragedies and triumphs of groundbreaking women from antiquity through modernity, in just five minutes a day. You can find more episodes HERE. (https://wondermedianetwork.com/encyclopedia-womannica)

The “Men of Progress” painting, from 1862, shows the first Secretary of the Smithsonian surrounded by a group of scientists and inventors credited with “altering the course of contemporary civilization.” But what may be most remarkable about this tableau is who’s not there. To mark the 175th anniversary of the Smithsonian’s founding, the National Portrait Gallery’s Portraits podcast takes us back in time – to trace how the concept of progress has evolved, and who current Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III would put in his “portrait of progress.”

This summer – for the first time ever - skateboarding will be an Olympic sport. In honor of its Olympic debut, we’re revisiting one of our favorite episodes: the story of how the best women skateboarders stood toe-to-toe with the most powerful people in the industry to demand equal pay. One of those women is none other than Mimi Knoop, who is coaching the USA women’s skateboarding team. In this bonus episode, we also talk about how skateboarding's entry onto the Olympic stage is a major achievement for the sport, but one not everybody is happy about.  

100 years ago, in the hills of West Virginia, Black, white and European immigrant coal miners banded together to demand better pay and safer working conditions and were met with machine guns. While the story made headlines in 1921, it didn't make it into the history books. In our final episode of the season, we unearth this buried history to help mark the centennial of the largest labor uprising in American history.

Every 17 years, the notorious Brood X cicadas crawl out of the earth by the billions to deafen Washington D.C. After nearly two decades underground, they spend their few short weeks in the sun singing, mating, and dying so the next generation can start anew. The cicadas' distinctive sound and strange life cycle have captivated our human ancestors for millennia, inspiring songs, art, royal attire and even some unique burial rituals. 

When Diosa Costello took the stage in the 1939 production of “Too Many Girls,” she became the first Puerto Rican performer to tread the boards on Broadway. She was fearless, funny, and brimming with talent. She never considered herself a trailblazer, but her legacy – and the gowns she left at the Smithsonian – tell a different story

LeRoy Neiman was a colorful man, both figuratively and literally. His handlebar mustache, long cigar, and sketchpad were fixtures at the sidelines of American pop culture: from boxing matches to jazz clubs and political conventions. His paintings, sketches, and prints papered the second half of the 20th century, highlighting American icons in his colorful expressionist style. He was rich, famous, and adored by many Americans… but not the art critics.

One hundred years ago this week, from May 31 and June 1, 1921, a mob targeted and destroyed nearly 40 blocks of a wealthy black neighborhood in North Tulsa, Oklahoma. No one knows how many people died, no one was ever convicted, and no one really talked about it nearly a century later. This is the story of the Tulsa Race Massacre and why it's important that you know it.At least 1,256 homes, along with churches, schools, businesses and even a hospital were deliberately burned or destroyed. Recently found documents are helping historians and researchers better understand the events that took place. And lots of this work is happening by staff at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. In fact, part of the Power of Place exhibition at the museum is dedicated to the events of the massacre.

We carry portraits around all the time: pocket-sized history lessons in the form of dollars and cents. The recent decision to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill has us thinking about who’s on our money, and how they got there. This episode of the “Portraits” podcast, from the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, takes a whirlwind tour of money of yore, featuring everything from piles of bunnies to George Washington’s nipples. This episode will have you taking a closer look at the portraits you might be sitting on right now.

In 1918, a flu pandemic killed more than 50 million people worldwide. Forty years later, it nearly happened again. This week on Sidedoor we go back to a time when the viruses were winning, and we remember one man, Dr. Maurice Hilleman, whose vaccine virtuosity helped turn the tide in the war against infectious diseases.We’ve updated this episode with a bonus interview to reflect on what we’ve learned from our current pandemic. If you want to learn more, please see vaccinesandus.org.