Today, we’re starting a new weekly feature that highlights images from the Archives’ historic Smithsonian Photographic Services collection. The rich content available in it, which includes images made by Smithsonian staff photographers, demonstrates the incredible diversity of collections and activities across our museums and research centers and also documents a variety of events that have taken place in Washington, DC over the years. These images not only span the entire history of the Institution, but represent the changing culture of the Smithsonian over time. In the photographs we’ll present, you’ll see people, places, events, exhibits, and a baby animal or two along the way for good measure.

Normally, when we feature images from our collections, they link back to complete, cataloged records. But in this new feature, we’ll be  taking a slightly different approach  and publishing interesting images  on the blog before we work up more robust catalog entries for them. This will allow us to give you a sneak peek at  what we’re working on as we digitize it, and before images  go through our comprehensive cataloging process.

Enjoy!