Photograph courtesy of Flickr user badosa.

Update (02/07): The Smithsonian plans to make an official announcement regarding the item later today.

Bob Dylan’s leather jacket will be making a permanent home* in the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, according to a source familiar with the transaction. The jacket is significant because he wore it the night of what Wikipedia calls the “Electric Dylan controversy.” It was the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, and Dylan shocked the folk music community by switching from acoustic to electric on three numbers, including “Maggie May” "Maggie's Farm" and “Like a Rolling Stone.” The performance reportedly received boos as well as applause from the audience.

At the time, Dylan was the king of American folk music, and the popular performers of the genre (Peter, Paul, and Mary; Joan Baez; Judy Collins) were steadfastly acoustic. Folk music topped the charts in the early ’60s, and bridged the gap between the rock tidal waves brought by Elvis Presley in the ’50s and the Beatles in 1963. The Beatles revolution eventually prompted other folk stars to go electric. Dylan, though, caused a stir, because he was Dylan.

Another reason the gift is significant, according to the source, is that “Bob Dylan didn’t save anything” from the early years. Apparently he’s not a pack rat.

Among the Smithsonian’s most beloved and talked-about collections is the museum’s assortment of entertainment artifacts. They include Irving Berlin’s upright piano, Minne Pearl’s hat, a yellow guitar that belonged to Prince, a signpost from the hit TV series M*A*S*H, Archie Bunker’s chair from All In The Family, the “puffy shirt” from a memorable episode of Seinfeld, and Carrie Bradshaw’s laptop from Sex and the City. These pieces of American pop culture are a reason the Smithsonian is often called “America’s attic.”

Our source did not know when the jacket will be presented, nor whether Dylan himself will make the presentation.

*Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the status of Dylan's jacket. It will be loaned to the Smithsonian, rather than given as a gift to the permanent collection.

Washington was named the number one museum destination in the world. We have to admit, the National Air and Space Museum is pretty neat. Photo by Flickr user pvsbond.

The travel site Cheap Flights released a listing of the world's best museum destinations. At the very top of the list is Washington, Reuters reports. The reason for the ranking is our plethora of museums:"If you're interested in history, architecture, art, religion, aerospace, or even wax, Washington D.C. has a museum—or 12—that will pique your interest. The 19 Smithsonian museums, including the National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of American History and the National Air and Space Museum, may appear to eclipse other institutions in the mid-Atlantic city, but other niche museums do just fine holding their own."

Washington managed to beat out Cairo, Barcelona, New York, Vatican City, Paris, Toronto, Berlin, London, and Vienna, in that order. Take that, Louvre. Hopefully this list will help cut down on the number of times tourists ask, "How do I get to the Smithsonian?"

The five cheetah cubs, born in May, received their first clean bill of health from a zoo veterinarian. Photos by Lisa Ware, courtesy Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

If you read The Washingtonian regularly, you know we’re all over the cute baby animals beat. The most recent craze in the Smithsonian’s animal family is a litter of five adorable cheetah cubs, born this May at the National Zoo’s Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia. We told you when they were born, made sure you saw the first pictures of them, and interviewed one of the biologists that has been working with them, Adrienne Crosier.

The Smithsonian now tells us that the cubs underwent their first veterinarian exam on July 12 and have gotten a clean bill of health. The six-week-old cubs weighed at in between four and five pounds each. A zoo associate veterinarian, Dr. Margarita Woc-Colburn, said she didn’t detect any abnormalities in the cubs and gave them their first vaccinations against respiratory and gastrointestinal viruses, which commonly affect cheetahs. You can get more cheetah cub updates at the National Zoo’s Web site.

Image courtesy National Building Museum

The National Building Museum announced this morning that it will begin charging admission for the first time since the museum opened its doors in 1985. The fees ($8 for adults, $5 for seniors, students, and kids) will go into effect July 27, and apply only to exhibits, and not the massive, iconic great hall that the museum is perhaps best known for. 

Museum executive director Chase W. Rynd cited the effects of the recession as the main reason for the change. In an excerpt of an internal memo released to reporters, Rynd called the recession "particularly devastating for the culture and arts community, as well as the building and design industry." 

"Around the world and in our backyards, the landscape for nonprofit organizations has shifted dramatically," Rynd wrote. "Those who wait too long to realize this truth or dismiss it entirely are likely to become casualties of the era. Under no circumstances will we allow this to be the fate of the National Building Museum."

The museum will waive the entrance fee for active duty military personnel members and their families between Labor Day and Memorial Day. And families content with only visiting the interactive Building Zone feature of the museum, which is designed for children ages 2 to 6, can pay just $3 per person.

Despite its name, the NBM is actually a private organization, and is one of the few such museums in Washington that doesn't charge. And $8 is still less than the Corcoran ($10), Phillips Collection ($12), and Newseum ($21.95). Still, with this city's plethora of free museums and exhibits, we can imagine some NBM devotees will be disappointed by this news. 

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The pitter patter of little paws may soon be coming again to the National Zoo. Staffers there believe that both female lions, sisters Shera and Nababiep, are expecting. Four-year-old Luke, the zoo’s only male lion, is the father.

Confirming a lion pregnancy is uncertain business because lions can have pseudo-pregnancies. “There’s always room for error,” says Craig Saffoe, acting senior curator of great cats. “That’s why you’ll hear us get gun shy and say ‘She’s probably pregnant.’ ”

But the false alarms usually last only about 48 days, and the zoo’s endocrinologists have seen high levels of pregnancy hormones in Shera for 98 days and in Naba for 77 days. Gestation for lions lasts about 110 days, which means Shera would be due at the end of the month and Nababiep in mid-September.

What: National Museum of American History Grand Reopening Gala.

Where: National Museum of American History.

When: November 18, 7:30 to 11.

Ticket price: Free but by invitation only.

Who: In the Smithsonian realm, the gala was full of important people: G. Wayne Clough, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; Brent D. Glass, director of the museum; and John Rogers, chair of the museum’s board, were all in attendance. Invitations were extended to high-profile guests, friends of the Smithsonian, and other staffers.