Abstract An overview is provided of recent work at Argonne that covers three aspects of nanomagnetism. The first is in the area of spin transport, where all-metallic lateral spin valves are explored. The second is in the area of spin dynamics, where a variety of magnetic vortex geometries are summarized. And the third is in the area of self-assembly, where capsid templates derived from viruses are used to contain the growth of magnetic nanoparticles. In each case issues are highlighted associated with the relation between magnetism and structure.