Wendy Williams's Smithsonian Stash: Talk-Show Host Donates Some of Her Bling

TV Watch

By Tim Nudd

02/07/2014 at 11:30 AM EST

Wendy Williams with Smithsonian curator Dwight Blocker Bowers

Courtesy The Wendy Williams Show

The glittery pink microphone. The light-up "diva fan" with the signature catchphrase "How you doin'?" The purple Tadashi dress and Christian Louboutin heels from the show's first promo shoot.

Wendy Williams has some museum-grade bling. And now, the Smithsonian wants in on it.

The talk-show host, 49, gladly handed over some of her cherished possessions Friday during a special episode of The Wendy Williams Show – as a rep from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History arrived to cart some away for its pop-culture collection.

"I'm so proud to host this messy little talk show," Williams tells New York's Daily News . "And I'm thrilled to bits that one of America's most revered institutions – that I went to as a child! – deems me worthy enough to preserve this little bit of history for everyone to share."

She adds: "This is such an amazing honor. I'm not sure anything in my life has ever compared to it."

Williams's item will have some revered company at the Smithsonian, whose pop-culture collection also includes Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz and Archie Bunker's easy chair.