Stories by Kaitlin Kovach:
Jan. 4, 2011
David Silverman has been buying and restoring pinball machines for more than 30 years in an effort to preserve the game’s history. Last month, he opened the National Pinball Museum at the Shops at Georgetown Park.
Dec. 13, 2010
Douglas Egerton’s new book, “Year of Meteors,” explores the heated competition between presidential candidates Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln and how politics catapulted the country into a civil war.
Dec. 8, 2010
Giving goes hand in hand with the holiday season, and several local museums are trying to make giving a little easier.
Dec. 3, 2010
Artist Lily Spandorf spent decades commemorating the Christmases of presidents, from Lyndon Baines Johnson through Bill Clinton. The Woman’s National Democratic Club will be showing off her works in a collection titled “Impressions of a White House Christmas.”
Dec. 1, 2010
“Washington Color and Light” showcases the work of the Washington Color School, a group of D.C.-based painters who worked during the 1950s and ’60s, as well as their contemporaries.
Nov. 29, 2010
With 14 Smithsonian branches and other museums scattered around the D.C. metro area, finding a nifty gift for everyone on your list should be no problem at all.
Nov. 19, 2010
The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s newest exhibit showcases the beauty of the natural world, but with an ominous twist.
“Alexis Rockman: A Fable for Tomorrow,” highlights painter Alexis Rockman’s incredible ability to paint the world around him in immense detail, while also expressing concern for the way the Earth is treated. The exhibit features 47 of Rockman’s paintings from his early career to the present and is the first major exhibit of his work.
Nov. 17, 2010
When Washington wanted to find new ways to make the District more bike-friendly, it turned to a team of Dutch bicycle infrastructure experts to evaluate and critique the state of cycling in D.C.
Nov. 12, 2010
Washington may be a city with a lot of turnover, but there’s one thing that remains constant: its love of music. From Washington native John Philip Sousa leading the U.S. Marine Band in the late 1800s to the booming jazz scene in the first half of the 20th century to Lady Gaga performing in town earlier this fall, D.C. always has something musical going on.
Nov. 5, 2010
The National Portrait Gallery's “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture” is the first major art exhibition to explore the influence of gender and sexuality.
Nov. 3, 2010
The Republican sweep of the Mountain region stopped short of the biggest prize. Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat who had been appointed to the seat, appears to have eked out a victory over Republican nominee Ken Buck.
Oct. 27, 2010
This Sunday, Halloween will bring thousands of costumed children to East Capitol Street for a trick-or-treat paradise. That's but one of many traditions.
Oct. 25, 2010
“Elvis at 21,” the National Portrait Gallery's latest exhibit, presents the world in 1956, when a new pop culture phenomenon emerged. Rock ’n’ roll was shaking things up in the United States, Elvis Presley was its rising star and Alfred Wertheimer was there to capture it all with his camera.
Oct. 25, 2010
Jeffrey Owen Jones and Peter Meyer take readers back to the beginning of the patriotic oath and show how it stirred up national pride and questions about freedom of speech in “The Pledge: A History of the Pledge of Allegiance.”
Oct. 18, 2010
Until earlier this year, the land along the northern shore of Piscataway Park in northern Prince George’s County, Md., was receding quickly. But with help from stimulus funding and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a living shoreline restoration — an advanced technique for preventing erosion while rebuilding lost habitats — will allow the foundation to continue offering its programs in the park.
Oct. 8, 2010
Larry Colton’s new book, “No Ordinary Joes: The Extraordinary True Story of Four Submariners in War and Love and Life,” tells the stories of four crew members of a U.S. submarine who were captured by Japan in World War II and sent to prison camps for three years.
Oct. 8, 2010
In a world where anyone can give photography a try with nothing but a camera phone, it’s hard to imagine a time when taking pictures was a new and unusual activity.
Oct. 8, 2010
Folks who know anything about roller derby can describe a DC Rollergirl. But what they may not know is that there’s more to these tough ladies than their nicknames and colorful outfits. The women who roller skate competitively are dedicated athletes in a sport that demands physical training and strategic knowledge.
Oct. 1, 2010
If there were a list of American personalities who are taken for granted, Katharine Graham would probably be on it. But now the longtime Washington Post publisher’s life and work are being celebrated by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in the new “One Life: Katharine Graham” exhibit.
Sept. 29, 2010
The smell of sawdust filled the air and ribbons of shaved wood flew from a lathe at the Renwick Gallery’s most recent exhibit opening.
Eliot Feldman, a member of the Montgomery County Woodturners, demonstrated wood turning, the process in which hunks of lumber slowly become elegant works of art, like the pieces presented in “A Revolution in Wood: The Bresler Collection.”
Sept. 28, 2010
The ancient Egyptians thought they were bad luck. In China, their bodies are used as ingredients in traditional medicine. In the United States, they speak with a British accent and sell insurance on TV. But the National Geographic Museum is out to show there’s much more to geckos than the way they’re portrayed in advertising.
