San Antonio treasures showcased at Smithsonian
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👋 Madalyn here! While we were in D.C. for the Axios Editorial Retreat (more on that later), I had a chance to visit the National Museum of American History and was excited to find a handful of artifacts with ties to San Antonio.
Selena Quintanilla's outfit
While Selena wasn't from San Antonio, she spent much of her career and personal life here. Plus, she wore this outfit during her 1994 Tejano Music Awards performance at the Alamodome — it's one of my favorites. The exhibit highlighted her balance of identity in being Mexican American.
Flaco Jiménez's accordion
A sparkly gold Hohner accordion that the legendary San Antonio musician played in Texas in 2009 is on display in an exhibit that explores how different experiences shape the country.
Davy Crockett's hatchet
The hatchet is part of a collection of frontier life symbols that politicians used to connect with everyday voters during the expansion of white male suffrage in the 1830s.
- It was gifted to Crockett by the Young Men's Whig Association of Philadelphia in 1835, a year before he died at the Battle of the Alamo.