Photo: Photograph of Mae Reeves and a group of women standing on stairs, Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift from Mae Reeves and her children, Donna Limerick and William Mincey, Jr.
African American women have been wearing fancy hats for generations to church. In 1940, Mae Reeves started Mae’s Millinery Shop in 1940 in Philadelphia, PA with a $500 bank loan. The shop stayed open until 1997 and helped dress some of the most famous African American women in the country, including iconic singers Marian Anderson, Ella Fitzgerald and Lena Horne.
Reeves was known for making all of her customers feel welcomed and special, whether they were domestic workers, professional women, or socialites from Philadelphia’s affluent suburban Main Line. Customer’s at Mae’s would sit at her dressing table or on her settee, telling stories and sharing their troubles.
Photo: Pink mushroom hat with flowers from Mae’s Millinery Shop, Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
In our Power of Place exhibition, we recreated a portion of Reeves’ shop to showcase this African American tradition. Our shop includes its original red-neon sign, sewing machine, antique store furniture and hats.
View artifacts from Mae’s Millinery Shop in our collection: s.si.edu/2oVlbFj
We love this 👒 history (and the word
millinery) from our @nmaahc.
Designed by Lillian Gary Taylor, the Liberty Queen’s Ware
set features a center shield with the American stars and stripes, surrounded by
the flags of the 11 Allied countries.
Women of all social classes were involved in World War I in
a variety of roles—military and civilian, paid and volunteer. Women like
Lillian Gary Taylor often used their wealth and connections to raise money for
the war effort. She sold more than 9,000 pieces, a few of which are now in our National Museum of American History.
Cute cheetah alert! We have a new “pile of cubs” (our favorite kind), as our cheetah biologist put it.
Two large litters were born over the course of a week at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute: 3-year-old Happy gave birth on March 23 and 7-year-old Miti gave birth March 28.
Each cub plays a significant role in improving the health of the population of cheetahs in human care and represents hope for the species overall. Our scientists and keepers will continue to monitor the health and behavior of both moms and cubs by closed-circuit camera, and the cubs will have their first veterinary exam when they are about six weeks old.
Cherry blossoms have always made beautiful backdrops for
photos. 🌸 More than a century ago, three young women dressed in
kimonos pose with parasols under a blooming cherry tree.
This photo (from sometime between 1860 and 1900) is in our @freersackler’s collection. It was included in an album produced by the studio
of Tamamura Kozaburo (1880s–1900s), a successful commercial photography studio
in Japan.
Throwback Thursday to a few weeks ago when “Wind Sculpture VII” was dazzling outside our National Museum of African Art.
Like a ship’s sail, the fiberglass sculpture by Yinka Shonibare MBE appears to blow in the wind. It evokes the sails of ships that crossed the Atlantic and other oceans, connecting nations through the exchange of ideas, products and people—complex histories of not only the slave trade and colonization but also the dynamic contributions of Africans and African heritage worldwide.
At 20 feet tall and nearly 900 pounds, “Wind Sculpture VII” is part of a series of seven individually designed sculptures, and the first artwork permanently installed in front of the museum.
“I never plan my color more than five stripes ahead and
often change my mind before I reach the third stripe.” – Gene Davis, 1971
Start the weekend with some jazzy stripes from Gene Davis.
Davis is primarily known for his bold stripe works, which range from minuscule
micro-paintings to mammoth outdoor street pieces.
This one, “Raspberry Icicle” (1967), stretches almost 10
feet tall and more than 18 feet wide.
Davis often compared himself to a jazz musician who plays by
ear, describing his approach to painting as “playing by eye.”
See 15 classic stripe paintings from the 1960s,
some of which haven’t been seen publicly in decades due to their huge size,
through April 2 in “Gene Davis: Hot Beat” at our @americanartmuseum.
This poster claims “it’s summer somewhere in the world.” But there’s 91 days until summer here…not that we’re counting.
The poster, in our @amhistorymuseum’s collection, was designed by John Van Hamersveld for the 1964’s “The Endless Summer.” The movie followed two young surfers as they went around the globe in search of the perfect wave, and helped give rise to the popularity of surf culture that continues to this day.
Van Hamersveld was the art director for “Surfer” magazine and a friend of R. Paul Allen, the assistant cinematographer on the movie. He was only paid $150 for the iconic design, and Allen hired silk-screener Eric Askew to produce the poster in a garage in Costa Mesa, Calif.
A story “Mad Men” overlooked: Caroline R. Jones, who
spearheaded advertising that changed how Americans thought about some of the
world’s most popular brands.
Jones built a trailblazing career as an advertising
executive, starting as a copywriter in the early 1960s and eventually founding
multiple firms. Her clients included American Express, the National Urban
League and Kentucky Fried Chicken (her agency developed the slogan “We Do
Chicken Right!”).
Throughout her career, Jones struggled against the
assumption that her ads should only address African American consumers. Many
times her targeted ad campaigns were so successful that companies used them for
national work—but, in one case, replaced African American figures with white
models.
Jones
died in 2001, but her story lives on through items of hers at our National Museum of American History. More about her life on their blog.
Yes, whales have earwax and yes, we have 1,000 samples of it in our collection.
Like the rings of a tree, these waxy time capsules give scientists a timeline of data about a whale’s life and environment—opening up a whole new canal of ocean study.
This piece of whale earwax is among hundreds
of rarely seen specimens and artifacts in #ObjectsofWonder, a new exhibition at our National Museum of Natural History. It explores the breadth, scope and splendor of the world’s
most extensive natural history research collection and its surprising role in scientific
discovery. The exhibition is open through 2019.
