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The seed of coco de mer was nicknamed “butt nut” because...well...we’ll let you guess why.

Today, conservation biologist Gary Krupnick goes behind the scenes at the U.S. National Herbarium in our @SmithsonianNMNH to highlight this endangered species.

Like the coconut, coco de mer is a palm tree. Native only to the Seychelles islands, they produce the largest and heaviest seeds in the world, weighing up to 65 pounds. Unlike coconuts which can float across the ocean, these seeds are not buoyant and cannot naturally disperse to other islands. While there are only 8,000 naturally occurring mature coco de mer trees left in the world, they can live up to 350 years.

The U.S. National Herbarium has over five million plant specimens, which include preserved plants, branches, flowers, fruit, seeds, and other plant parts. Which plant do you want to learn about next?

Survivors ready? Go! From Sue Hawk’s iconic “snakes and rats” speech to Rick Devens’ nail-biting coin flip, the newest objects at our @AmHistoryMuseum have witnessed game-changing moments in “Survivor” history.

Premiering in May 2000, the series has aired for 25 years and 50 seasons. It is considered one of the most successful reality TV series in American history and has been nominated for 73 Emmy Awards.

The objects joining the museum’s entertainment collection include a torch snuffer from the show’s first season in Borneo and the immunity necklace and torch snuffer from its 50th season in Fiji.

If you’re tuning in to tomorrow’s finale, who’s your vote to win?

📷 : Photo by Robert Voets/CBS via Getty Images

Survivors ready? Go! From Sue Hawk’s iconic “snakes and rats” speech to Rick Devens’ nail-biting coin flip, the newest objects at our @AmHistoryMuseum have witnessed game-changing moments in “Survivor” history.

Premiering in May 2000, the series has aired for 25 years and 50 seasons. It is considered one of the most successful reality TV series in American history and has been nominated for 73 Emmy Awards.

The objects joining the museum’s entertainment collection include a torch snuffer from the show’s first season in Borneo and the immunity necklace and torch snuffer from its 50th season in Fiji.

If you’re tuning in to tomorrow’s finale, who’s your vote to win?

📷 : Photo by Robert Voets/CBS via Getty Images

Survivors ready? Go! From Sue Hawk’s iconic “snakes and rats” speech to Rick Devens’ nail-biting coin flip, the newest objects at our @AmHistoryMuseum have witnessed game-changing moments in “Survivor” history.

Premiering in May 2000, the series has aired for 25 years and 50 seasons. It is considered one of the most successful reality TV series in American history and has been nominated for 73 Emmy Awards.

The objects joining the museum’s entertainment collection include a torch snuffer from the show’s first season in Borneo and the immunity necklace and torch snuffer from its 50th season in Fiji.

If you’re tuning in to tomorrow’s finale, who’s your vote to win?

📷 : Photo by Robert Voets/CBS via Getty Images

Survivors ready? Go! From Sue Hawk’s iconic “snakes and rats” speech to Rick Devens’ nail-biting coin flip, the newest objects at our @AmHistoryMuseum have witnessed game-changing moments in “Survivor” history.

Premiering in May 2000, the series has aired for 25 years and 50 seasons. It is considered one of the most successful reality TV series in American history and has been nominated for 73 Emmy Awards.

The objects joining the museum’s entertainment collection include a torch snuffer from the show’s first season in Borneo and the immunity necklace and torch snuffer from its 50th season in Fiji.

If you’re tuning in to tomorrow’s finale, who’s your vote to win?

📷 : Photo by Robert Voets/CBS via Getty Images

Have you ever recreated an old family recipe? 🍰

Special delivery! When cake artist Justin Ellen ( @EverythingJustBaked ) visited our @NationalPostalMuseum, education specialist Phoebe Sherman not only shared interesting objects that were sent through the mail but also historic recipes.

Inspired, Justin recreated a recipe found in an old post office’s account book. Featured on the cake are just a few of the museum’s collections Justin explored during his visit.

Can’t get enough of these museum-inspired cakes? Tune in this time next week to see a cake that is pane-stakingly beautiful.
#CakeArt #SmithsonianCakes #MuseumCakes #MuseumInspo #oldrecipes

Vivacious, outgoing, and strategic, Dolley Madison created the role of First Lady as we know it today. When her husband became President of the United States in 1809, she already had experience as an honorary hostess for President Thomas Jefferson.

Dolley Madison’s mark on Washington, D.C. cannot be overstated. Straddling both political and social circles, Madison’s Wednesday-night receptions at the White House were at the epicenter of Washington society. When the British attacked the White House in 1814, she famously arranged to save Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of George Washington.AT her funeral in 1849, President Zachary Taylor remarked that she was “the first lady of the land for half a century.”

In this video, @SmithsonianNPG’s senior curator of photographs Ann Shumard explains why this 1846 daguerreotype isone of a kind!

🖼️: 1846 Daguerreotype of Dolley Madison taken by John Plumbe Jr, a prominent entrepreneur turned photographer. In the collection of our @SmithsonianNPG.

Other featured images:
1️⃣ “Mrs. James Madison” copy after Gilbert Stuart, print, 1855. In the collection of our @SmithsonianNPG.
2️⃣ “James Madison” by Thomas Sully, derived from Gilbert Stuart, 1809. In the collection of @SmithsonianNPG.
3️⃣ Daguerreotype of Frederick Douglass, c.1847. In the collection of our @SmithsonianNPG.
4️⃣ Daguerreotype of Jenny Lind by Thomas Faris, 1851. In the collection of our @SmithsonianNPG.
5️⃣ “Young Man Looking at a Daguerreotype,” 1855. In the collection of our @AmericanArt.

“And I said: ‘Mom, I am a rich man.’” Singer and actress Cher has been a fixture in American pop culture for six decades. She turns 80 this Wednesday.

Born Cheryl Sarkisian, Cher skyrocketed to fame in 1965 at age 19 with the pop single “I Got You Babe,” which she recorded alongside her then-partner Sonny Bono. After the duo separated, Cher went on to have a successful solo career. She topped charts with "Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves" (1971), “If I Could Turn Back Time” (1989) and “Believe” (1998), the latter for which she won a Grammy.

Beginning in the 1980s, Cher also earned accolades for her presence on the big screen. She was nominated for an Oscar for her supporting role in “Silkwood” (1983) and took home the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in “Moonstruck” (1987).

This portrait of Cher by photographer Francesco Scavullo is in the collections of our @SmithsonianNPG.

📸: “Cher” by Francesco Scavullo, 1974 (printed 2004). National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of The Motion Picture Group, Inc., Philadelphia, PA USA. © Francesco Scavullo.

During World War II, 150,000 American women served with the newly formed Women's Army Corps. Though initially barred from enlisting, hundreds of Japanese American women answered the call. Alice Tetsuko Kono was one of them.

Born in Hawai'i to Japanese immigrant parents, Kono trained as a Military Intelligence Service linguist. The curriculum included reading, writing, and conversation as well as lessons in Japanese army terms, military codes, and tactics. Even after the Japanese surrendered in November 1945, Kono completed her enlistment period, continuing to translate captured documents sent from the Pacific.

Reflecting on why she joined the Army, Kono explained, “There was nobody in our family that was in the service, so I thought somebody should be loyal to the country."

Kono’s uniform, “dog tags,” and personal photographs from her time in the Army are in the collections of our @AmHistoryMuseum.

#SmithsonianAANHPI

During World War II, 150,000 American women served with the newly formed Women's Army Corps. Though initially barred from enlisting, hundreds of Japanese American women answered the call. Alice Tetsuko Kono was one of them.

Born in Hawai'i to Japanese immigrant parents, Kono trained as a Military Intelligence Service linguist. The curriculum included reading, writing, and conversation as well as lessons in Japanese army terms, military codes, and tactics. Even after the Japanese surrendered in November 1945, Kono completed her enlistment period, continuing to translate captured documents sent from the Pacific.

Reflecting on why she joined the Army, Kono explained, “There was nobody in our family that was in the service, so I thought somebody should be loyal to the country."

Kono’s uniform, “dog tags,” and personal photographs from her time in the Army are in the collections of our @AmHistoryMuseum.

#SmithsonianAANHPI

During World War II, 150,000 American women served with the newly formed Women's Army Corps. Though initially barred from enlisting, hundreds of Japanese American women answered the call. Alice Tetsuko Kono was one of them.

Born in Hawai'i to Japanese immigrant parents, Kono trained as a Military Intelligence Service linguist. The curriculum included reading, writing, and conversation as well as lessons in Japanese army terms, military codes, and tactics. Even after the Japanese surrendered in November 1945, Kono completed her enlistment period, continuing to translate captured documents sent from the Pacific.

Reflecting on why she joined the Army, Kono explained, “There was nobody in our family that was in the service, so I thought somebody should be loyal to the country."

Kono’s uniform, “dog tags,” and personal photographs from her time in the Army are in the collections of our @AmHistoryMuseum.

#SmithsonianAANHPI

We remember Jason Collins, who played 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association and opened doors for other professional athletes when he publicly came out as gay in 2013.

At seven feet tall, Collins played center for six NBA teams throughout his career. After the 2012–13 season, he made headlines when he came out in a feature article for Sports Illustrated magazine. Collins became the first openly gay athlete to play in any of the four major North American pro sports leagues when he signed with the Brooklyn Nets in 2014.

In that Sports Illustrated article, Collins reflected on why it was important to him to
come out publicly.

“I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn't the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, "I'm different." If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I'm raising my hand.”

Collins’ jersey, signed by the 2013-14 Nets team, is in the collections of our @NMAAHC.

📸: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Jason Collins

We remember Jason Collins, who played 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association and opened doors for other professional athletes when he publicly came out as gay in 2013.

At seven feet tall, Collins played center for six NBA teams throughout his career. After the 2012–13 season, he made headlines when he came out in a feature article for Sports Illustrated magazine. Collins became the first openly gay athlete to play in any of the four major North American pro sports leagues when he signed with the Brooklyn Nets in 2014.

In that Sports Illustrated article, Collins reflected on why it was important to him to
come out publicly.

“I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn't the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, "I'm different." If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I'm raising my hand.”

Collins’ jersey, signed by the 2013-14 Nets team, is in the collections of our @NMAAHC.

📸: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Jason Collins

Cake artist Jill Nguyen (@CapitolJillBaking) made sure to stop and smell the flours during her recent visit to our @SmithsonianNMNH. 🌸🍰

To get inspiration for her next cake, she met with conservation biologist Gary Krupnick and scientific illustrator Alice Tangerini in the US National Herbarium of our @SmithsonianNMNH. There, she explored specimens like passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) and vanilla (Vanilla planifolia) as well as detailed illustrations of the specimens to better understand their intricacies.

When Jill got home, she created a vanilla bean chiffon cake with a passion fruit curd and fig leaf olive oil Italian meringue buttercream.

Want to see more museum-inspired cakes? Come back this time next week for a creation that we know will get your stamp of approval! #CakeArt #SmithsonianCakes #MuseumCakes #MuseumInspo #baking

All that glitters is ✨corn.✨ At least in “Capilla de Maíz (Maize Chapel)” by Justin Favela.

Favela is a multimedia artist of Guatemalan and Mexican heritage based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He uses traditional crafts, like cartonería (piñata making), in his large-scale installations.

Reflecting on his body of work, Favela explains that his art focuses on “Americana and nostalgia.” In this work, commissioned for our @AmericanArt’s Renwick Gallery, Favela honors the importance of yellow corn (maize) in North American culture and history.

“Capilla de Maíz (Maize Chapel)” embodies both the grandeur of a corn field as well as the lavish ornamentation of 18th-century Mexican Catholic Churches mixed with the glitz of the Las Vegas Strip. Favela was inspired by walking through a cornfield enveloped by tall corn stalks that frame the sky and experiencing the same childlike wonder of staring up at the grand arched ceiling of a church. From art to agriculture, corn is a staple for many Americans. How is corn represented in your life?

🌽: “Capilla de Maíz (Maize Chapel)” is organized by the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

All that glitters is ✨corn.✨ At least in “Capilla de Maíz (Maize Chapel)” by Justin Favela.

Favela is a multimedia artist of Guatemalan and Mexican heritage based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He uses traditional crafts, like cartonería (piñata making), in his large-scale installations.

Reflecting on his body of work, Favela explains that his art focuses on “Americana and nostalgia.” In this work, commissioned for our @AmericanArt’s Renwick Gallery, Favela honors the importance of yellow corn (maize) in North American culture and history.

“Capilla de Maíz (Maize Chapel)” embodies both the grandeur of a corn field as well as the lavish ornamentation of 18th-century Mexican Catholic Churches mixed with the glitz of the Las Vegas Strip. Favela was inspired by walking through a cornfield enveloped by tall corn stalks that frame the sky and experiencing the same childlike wonder of staring up at the grand arched ceiling of a church. From art to agriculture, corn is a staple for many Americans. How is corn represented in your life?

🌽: “Capilla de Maíz (Maize Chapel)” is organized by the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

All that glitters is ✨corn.✨ At least in “Capilla de Maíz (Maize Chapel)” by Justin Favela.

Favela is a multimedia artist of Guatemalan and Mexican heritage based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He uses traditional crafts, like cartonería (piñata making), in his large-scale installations.

Reflecting on his body of work, Favela explains that his art focuses on “Americana and nostalgia.” In this work, commissioned for our @AmericanArt’s Renwick Gallery, Favela honors the importance of yellow corn (maize) in North American culture and history.

“Capilla de Maíz (Maize Chapel)” embodies both the grandeur of a corn field as well as the lavish ornamentation of 18th-century Mexican Catholic Churches mixed with the glitz of the Las Vegas Strip. Favela was inspired by walking through a cornfield enveloped by tall corn stalks that frame the sky and experiencing the same childlike wonder of staring up at the grand arched ceiling of a church. From art to agriculture, corn is a staple for many Americans. How is corn represented in your life?

🌽: “Capilla de Maíz (Maize Chapel)” is organized by the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

🚀 One of India’s “Rocket Women,” Nandini Harinath helped her country reach Mars. She wore this saree to work the day the Indian Space Research Organization’s spacecraft successfully left Earth’s orbit and began its 300-day journey to Mars.

As a rocket scientist and the Mars Orbiter Mission’s deputy operations director, Harinath was integral to mission planning and operations. Far exceeding its mission of six to 10 months, the spacecraft spent eight years in orbit, documenting Mars’ surface and atmosphere.

The team’s success made India the first Asian country and the fourth country in the world to reach Mars. The sarees worn by the mission’s women leaders came to symbolize their national identity and India’s success in space.

Harinath’s saree is on view in our @AirAndSpaceMuseum’s “Futures in Space” gallery, which invites visitors to consider some of today’s biggest questions. Who decides who goes to space? Why do we go? And what will we do when we get there?

🚀 One of India’s “Rocket Women,” Nandini Harinath helped her country reach Mars. She wore this saree to work the day the Indian Space Research Organization’s spacecraft successfully left Earth’s orbit and began its 300-day journey to Mars.

As a rocket scientist and the Mars Orbiter Mission’s deputy operations director, Harinath was integral to mission planning and operations. Far exceeding its mission of six to 10 months, the spacecraft spent eight years in orbit, documenting Mars’ surface and atmosphere.

The team’s success made India the first Asian country and the fourth country in the world to reach Mars. The sarees worn by the mission’s women leaders came to symbolize their national identity and India’s success in space.

Harinath’s saree is on view in our @AirAndSpaceMuseum’s “Futures in Space” gallery, which invites visitors to consider some of today’s biggest questions. Who decides who goes to space? Why do we go? And what will we do when we get there?

“Portrait of the Artist as Mom, Nightmare Sequence” is a handmade teapot.

Ceramicist and arts educator Jean Nunez Donegan created this artwork for a self-portrait exhibition. At the time, her oldest was nine years old and her triplets were eight. She told a Louisiana newspaper, “Laundry was a constant in my life, and that, along with other demands, sometimes seemed overwhelming.”

Can’t quite make out the teapot shape? A rolled rug near the top of the laundry pile is the spout, and a pair of blue jeans forms the handle.

We see you, moms and mother figures. May your laundry baskets be empty and your hearts full.

🫖 : Jean Nunez Donegan, “Portrait of the Artist as Mom, Nightmare Sequence,” 1995, hand-built and low-fired whiteware with velvet underglazes, 12 7⁄8 x 9 1⁄8 x 6 1⁄4 in. (32.8 x 23.2 x 15.8 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum @AmericanArt

“Portrait of the Artist as Mom, Nightmare Sequence” is a handmade teapot.

Ceramicist and arts educator Jean Nunez Donegan created this artwork for a self-portrait exhibition. At the time, her oldest was nine years old and her triplets were eight. She told a Louisiana newspaper, “Laundry was a constant in my life, and that, along with other demands, sometimes seemed overwhelming.”

Can’t quite make out the teapot shape? A rolled rug near the top of the laundry pile is the spout, and a pair of blue jeans forms the handle.

We see you, moms and mother figures. May your laundry baskets be empty and your hearts full.

🫖 : Jean Nunez Donegan, “Portrait of the Artist as Mom, Nightmare Sequence,” 1995, hand-built and low-fired whiteware with velvet underglazes, 12 7⁄8 x 9 1⁄8 x 6 1⁄4 in. (32.8 x 23.2 x 15.8 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum @AmericanArt

Poet and musician Joy Harjo, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, became the first Native American United States Poet Laureate in 2019. Today is her 75th birthday!

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Harjo studied drawing before finding her passion for poetry during her time at the University of New Mexico. “I met Native poets who were writing about our lives,” she explained. “That shifted it for me.” Since then, Harjo has published 11 books of poetry, three children’s books, and two memoirs.

Performing with her saxophone and flutes, Harjo has also had a celebrated career in music. Last month, she released her latest album “Insomnia and Seven Steps to Grace” with our @SmithsonianFolkways. Showcasing her bold and direct voice, the record moves fluidly through jazz, poetry, rock, and Native musical traditions. Swipe to hear a clip of the song “Stomp All Night” and see the album’s cover art, which features Harjo’s first original painting in years.

Recently, our @SmithsonianNPG acquired a life-size portrait of Harjo, pictured above, by artist Joel Daniel Phillips as part of the museum’s 2025 Portrait of a Nation Awards. See this work on paper currently on view at the museum.

Doomscrolling this Saturday morning? We’ll leave you with the opening lines from Harjo’s 2015 poem “For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet.”

“Put down that bag of potato chips, that white bread, that bottle of pop.
Turn off that cellphone, computer, and remote control.
Open the door, then close it behind you.
Take a breath offered by friendly winds. They travel the earth gathering essences of plants to clean.
Give it back with gratitude.”

Learn more about Harjo’s journey as an artist with our @SmithsonianNMAI’s American Indian Magazine (link in bio).

📷: “Joy Harjo” by Joel Daniel Phillips, 2022. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution © Joel Daniel Phillips

🎶: @SmithsonianFolkways album design by Caroline Gut

Poet and musician Joy Harjo, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, became the first Native American United States Poet Laureate in 2019. Today is her 75th birthday!

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Harjo studied drawing before finding her passion for poetry during her time at the University of New Mexico. “I met Native poets who were writing about our lives,” she explained. “That shifted it for me.” Since then, Harjo has published 11 books of poetry, three children’s books, and two memoirs.

Performing with her saxophone and flutes, Harjo has also had a celebrated career in music. Last month, she released her latest album “Insomnia and Seven Steps to Grace” with our @SmithsonianFolkways. Showcasing her bold and direct voice, the record moves fluidly through jazz, poetry, rock, and Native musical traditions. Swipe to hear a clip of the song “Stomp All Night” and see the album’s cover art, which features Harjo’s first original painting in years.

Recently, our @SmithsonianNPG acquired a life-size portrait of Harjo, pictured above, by artist Joel Daniel Phillips as part of the museum’s 2025 Portrait of a Nation Awards. See this work on paper currently on view at the museum.

Doomscrolling this Saturday morning? We’ll leave you with the opening lines from Harjo’s 2015 poem “For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet.”

“Put down that bag of potato chips, that white bread, that bottle of pop.
Turn off that cellphone, computer, and remote control.
Open the door, then close it behind you.
Take a breath offered by friendly winds. They travel the earth gathering essences of plants to clean.
Give it back with gratitude.”

Learn more about Harjo’s journey as an artist with our @SmithsonianNMAI’s American Indian Magazine (link in bio).

📷: “Joy Harjo” by Joel Daniel Phillips, 2022. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution © Joel Daniel Phillips

🎶: @SmithsonianFolkways album design by Caroline Gut

Poet and musician Joy Harjo, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, became the first Native American United States Poet Laureate in 2019. Today is her 75th birthday!

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Harjo studied drawing before finding her passion for poetry during her time at the University of New Mexico. “I met Native poets who were writing about our lives,” she explained. “That shifted it for me.” Since then, Harjo has published 11 books of poetry, three children’s books, and two memoirs.

Performing with her saxophone and flutes, Harjo has also had a celebrated career in music. Last month, she released her latest album “Insomnia and Seven Steps to Grace” with our @SmithsonianFolkways. Showcasing her bold and direct voice, the record moves fluidly through jazz, poetry, rock, and Native musical traditions. Swipe to hear a clip of the song “Stomp All Night” and see the album’s cover art, which features Harjo’s first original painting in years.

Recently, our @SmithsonianNPG acquired a life-size portrait of Harjo, pictured above, by artist Joel Daniel Phillips as part of the museum’s 2025 Portrait of a Nation Awards. See this work on paper currently on view at the museum.

Doomscrolling this Saturday morning? We’ll leave you with the opening lines from Harjo’s 2015 poem “For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet.”

“Put down that bag of potato chips, that white bread, that bottle of pop.
Turn off that cellphone, computer, and remote control.
Open the door, then close it behind you.
Take a breath offered by friendly winds. They travel the earth gathering essences of plants to clean.
Give it back with gratitude.”

Learn more about Harjo’s journey as an artist with our @SmithsonianNMAI’s American Indian Magazine (link in bio).

📷: “Joy Harjo” by Joel Daniel Phillips, 2022. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution © Joel Daniel Phillips

🎶: @SmithsonianFolkways album design by Caroline Gut