In the 1880s, a conservator at the Smithsonian set out for Montana to capture an American bison before the dwindling species vanished forever. He returned with six taxidermied bison that he displayed in the museum.

The bison diorama wowed visitors so much that it helped kickstart a movement to save the species. But then, just like that, the stuffed bison vanished!

Where did they go?

With the nation's 250th birthday fast approaching, the director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History set out to find the missing bison. It's a journey that led west —where it all began— and ended on the steps of the museum.

Guests:

Kirk Johnson, Director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History

Siobhan Starrs, Senior Project Manager and Exhibition Developer at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History

Jonny BearCub Stiffarm, Volunteer with the Fort Peck Tribal Bison program in Montana. Member of the Assiniboine Nation and a former Buffalo Program administrator at the World Wildlife Fund

Jim Wood, Assistant Director for Communications at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History

This episode received support from Smithsonian's Our Shared Future: 250, a Smithsonian-wide initiative commemorating the nation's 250th. Major support for Smithsonian’s Our Shared Future: 250 has been provided by Lilly Endowment Inc. Additional generous contributions have been made by Target, Caterpillar Foundation, and the Gates Foundation.

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III has spent a lifetime thinking about how history gets told. Before becoming the head of the Smithsonian, he was a curator, someone whose job is deciding which stories, people, and objects help us make sense of ourselves. So as America approaches its 250th birthday, Lizzie wanted to know: if you had to tell the story of the United States through just a handful of things, where would you begin?

In this special episode, Secretary Bunch puts his curator hat back on to lead Lizzie through American Aspirations, a new exhibition he co-curated. Starting with the desk on which the Declaration of Independence was drafted, they get up close with some of the nation's most treasured objects: Abraham Lincoln campaign swag, Amelia Earhart's flight suit, Thomas Edison's light bulb, and even a miniature Statue of Liberty (which is still pretty big!). What can these objects reveal about a nation still striving to become its best self?

Guest: Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

The American Aspirations exhibition at the Smithsonian Castle was co-curated by Smithsonian Secretary Bunch — alongside Abeer Saha, curator at the National Museum of American History, and Harry Rubenstein, curator emeritus at the National Museum of American History.

American Aspirations received support from Jacqueline B. Mars and the Smithsonian’s Our Shared Future: 250, a Smithsonian-wide initiative commemorating the nation’s 250th. Major support for Our Shared Future: 250 has been provided by Lilly Endowment Inc. Additional contributions have been made by Target and the Gates Foundation.

To watch a video version of this podcast find us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/smithsonian

A screw. A stuffed possum. A shoe-sizing device. What could any of these objects possibly tell us about the history of the United States?

When we think of historic artifacts, we tend to picture the extraordinary: Abraham Lincoln's pocket watch, the original Kermit the Frog, Martin Luther King Jr.'s draft of the "I Have a Dream" speech. But the story of America can just as easily be found in the everyday objects that shape our lives.

In this bonus episode, Lizzie sits down with Roman Mars to talk about his new series, A History of the United States in 100 Objects. Together, they explore how ordinary things can reveal distinctly American stories.

Guests:

Roman Mars, host and creator of 99% Invisible

To pitch your object to Roman’s team, write to 100objects@99pi.org