Smithsonian

What Smithsonian is

Smithsonian is the public website at si.edu for the Smithsonian Institution. It helps visitors plan museum trips, explore stories and exhibitions, search digital collections, use learning resources, follow research, and find Smithsonian units across art, history, culture, science, nature, and technology. The institution also publishes separate official mobile listings through the App Store and Google Play.

Institution behind the site

The Smithsonian was established in 1846 after James Smithson left funds to the United States for an institution dedicated to the increase and diffusion of knowledge. The modern website reflects that broad mission: it is not just a museum homepage, but a gateway into museums, archives, libraries, research centers, education projects, conservation work, and public programs.

Museum and visit planning

For in-person visitors, si.edu organizes practical information around museums, the National Zoo, exhibitions, events, accessibility, hours, maps, and trip planning. The homepage also routes people into interest areas such as art and design, history and culture, science and nature, and technology and innovation.

Collections Search Center

The Collections Search Center is one of the site's most important digital tools. It brings together catalog records from Smithsonian museums, archives, libraries, and research units, including object records, images, video, audio, podcasts, blog posts, and electronic journals. It is useful for students, researchers, writers, educators, artists, and anyone trying to identify an object or follow a collection trail.

Open Access

Smithsonian Open Access makes millions of eligible collection images, 3D files, metadata, and research data available for reuse under Creative Commons Zero. That does not mean every Smithsonian object is unrestricted, but it gives the public a large pool of material that can be downloaded, remixed, cited, and used in education, design, publishing, and research.

Learning Lab and education

The Smithsonian Learning Lab is built for discovery, creation, and sharing. Educators and learners can search digitized materials, organize them into collections, add notes and questions, and adapt resources for classrooms or independent learning. Its value is strongest when users treat primary sources as evidence to examine, not just pictures to decorate a lesson.

Research and public knowledge

Smithsonian research spans fields such as biodiversity, conservation, astronomy, anthropology, art history, American history, marine science, and cultural heritage. The website turns some of that work into public-facing stories, dashboards, videos, collection highlights, and data portals, while more specialized research may still live on unit websites or repositories.

Why it matters

Smithsonian matters online because it moves a national museum and research system beyond the walls of Washington, D.C., and New York. A visitor can plan a trip, a teacher can build a source set, a developer can reuse public-domain metadata, and a researcher can trace collection records from one browser-based starting point. The site also shows the challenge of digital cultural heritage: access improves when records are searchable, contextualized, and honest about rights, gaps, and limits.

WHOIS domain data

Data pulled: June 1, 2026 · View current WHOIS record

Domain

si.edu

IP address

160.111.244.22

Registrant

Smithsonian Institution, Herndon, VA, USA

Administrative contact

Brian Alpert, Smithsonian Institution, +1.2026333955, alpertb@si.edu

Technical contact

Joseph Johnston, Smithsonian Institution, +1.2026332715, johnstonj@si.edu

Nameservers

A1-88.AKAM.NET; A24-67.AKAM.NET; A26-66.AKAM.NET; A28-65.AKAM.NET; A11-67.AKAM.NET; A9-64.AKAM.NET

Domain record activated

June 19, 1992

Domain record last updated

January 13, 2026

Domain expires

July 31, 2027