Museums

Acclaimed director Ava DuVernay reflected on what the Smithsonian museums mean to Americans as she received a lifetime achievement award on Thursday.

Acclaimed Hollywood director Ava DuVernay received the National Museum of American History’s prestigious Great American Medal for lifetime contributions to American ideals and ideas. The award came after President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting the Smithsonian to eliminate “divisive, or anti-American ideology.” News4’s Walter Morris reports the legendary filmmaker is pushing back.

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, which preserves Ashkenazi Jewish life, relocated to New York City in 1940.

Five years ago, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser signed a law making go-go the official music of D.C. It’s been the official sound of the District for nearly 50 years. News4’s Tommy McFly reports.

Go-Go Museum founder Ron Moten gives a look inside the museum dedicated to D.C.’s signature sound. News4’s Joseph Olmo reports.

The winter in D.C. can be frightful. While shopping at holiday markets and seeing holiday lights are delightful, there are plenty of other fun things to do in the winter that aren’t solely outside. Here are a few indoor activities in D.C. to check off your winter bucket list that are good for a solo outing or to share...

A 150-million-year-old Stegosaurus fossil, known as “Apex”, will be on display at the American Museum of Natural History starting Dec. 8.

News4’s Tommy McFly and Aimee Cho see what it takes to dance ballet like a pro in The Washington Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker.”

The National Toy Hall of Fame announced its new inductees on Tuesday, which included My Little Pony, Phase 10 and Transformers.

Just in time for spooky season, the U.S. Botanic Garden launched an exhibit about plants with more trick than treat. News4’s Tommy McFly takes us inside “Fierce Flora.”

A new exhibit lets visitors jump straight into the strangest layer of the ocean, bringing the creatures that live in the “twilight zone” to the surface of ARTECHOUSE’S walls.

The city where the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were conceived has largely been overlooked during the crime-fighting quartet’s meteoric rise. But a new museum exhibit hopes to change that.

Less than 20% of biographies in the English language on Wikipedia are about women. The National Museum of Women in the Arts are closing online information gaps relating to gender, feminism and the arts by hosting their annual Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon where volunteers edit articles. News4’s Photojournalist Jerry Lawlor reports. 

The starting price for this sliver of history had been less than $100 when Moore saw it, hidden among what Goodwill categorizes as “historical documents.”

D.C. residents flock indoors as a brutal heat wave grips the area. News4’s Derrick Ward reports.

The Smithsonian is hosting their sixth annual Solstice Saturday. Here’s a list of what museums will be open late and more to look forward to.

Mark your calendar because the seasons are changing! Here’s what you need to know about equinoxes and solstices.

On Feb. 19, 1942, following the attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the incarceration of tens of thousands of men, women and children of Japanese ancestry.

During the American Revolution, Gen. George Washington offered Nathaniel Sackett $50 a month to spy for the Continental Army, plus another $500 to set up a spy network. Washington’s letter to Sackett is on display at D.C.’s Spy Museum. News4’s Tommy McFly has more on this Presidents Day.