*This post was written by Pam Henson, Smithsonian Historian, and Courtney Esposito, Program Assistant, both of the Archives' History Division.

The Smithsonian Institution Archives has just launched our new website with a new look and navigation, as well as expanded pages on the history of the Smithsonian. If you’re interested in the history of the Smithsonian, what can you find? The History of the Smithsonian section has an array of resources and exhibits to answer your questions, from when individual Smithsonian  museums were founded, to the laws that govern the Smithsonian, to images of the Smithsonian during the Civil War.

To explore the history of the Smithsonian on the new site, simply click on the “Smithsonian History” link at the top of the new homepage. From there you can investigate what happened on your birthday or a specific date in the past by visiting our “This Day in Smithsonian History” page. Here you can learn about interesting events that occurred at the Smithsonian on every day of the year, from 1846 to the present, from expeditions to exhibits, and from acquisition of objects to natural disasters.

Under our Resources tab, we have sections on General Smithsonian History,  which includes an introduction to the legal documents—from public laws to deeds of gift, to court cases—that govern the Smithsonian. Get to know our enigmatic founding donor James Smithson, and read a blog post about what kind of student he was. Learn about the twelve Smithsonian Secretaries who served as our CEOs, as well as the Board of Regents who oversee the Smithsonian. You can also follow the development of our nineteen Museums, and our varied Research Centers.

For each of the museums and research centers, you can view a page with historical background information, images, a chronology of its history, an annotated bibliography, a search of all our archival records for the museum or center, as well as links to a variety of web resources. You can even check out the “Did You Know?” section on each page to learn some little known facts about that museum, and impress visitors from out of town with your insider knowledge. Soon we will add audio and video excerpts of oral history interviews that document the lives of the people who have made the Institution what it is.

We still have a variety of exhibits on Smithsonian history in an older format that will be migrated later this year. And we will be greatly expanding our pages for students and teachers in the Smithsonian Stories section, and our page on Joseph Henry, the first Smithsonian Secretary. Our Historic Pictures image gallery has already been expanded and transferred over so be sure to check out the wonderful images it has to share.

Additionally, the hundreds of historic images on all these pages will take you back to a time when the Smithsonian consisted of a single building set next to a swamp, cut off from downtown by a fetid canal. They illustrate interesting people and times during the Institution’s history: beer drinking young explorers who lived in the Smithsonian’s Castle towers and serenaded Secretary Henry’s daughters; the first animals that came to the National Zoo; watchmen who guarded the National Museum in its first years; to Smithsonian scientists raising a family on Barro Colorado Island in Panama in the 1960s. We’ve even begun geo-tagging these images so you can create your own Google map mash-ups. We’re especially interested in any additional identification you can provide us about these images.

It’s been a lot of work to expand and reorganize our web materials, but very exciting to see our history pages in a fresh new format that is easy to navigate. We hope you’ll take time to explore Smithsonian History on the web and check back periodically for the new content we’ll be adding. Just email us as SIHistory@si.edu with new information or questions on the history of the Smithsonian. We hope you enjoy traveling back in time with us!

The Archives’ revamped website offers several new and enhanced features intended to improve service to our researchers, and to make information more readily accessible to those searching our collections.

One of the big changes on the site is our new and robust Collections Search. Among its features are several browse options to find materials in our holdings. These browse tools are created to help researchers learn about our Archives, and also to focus searches on the history of the Smithsonian. Say, for example, you want see all the records and information we have cataloged documenting the history of the Smithsonian American Art Museum—you can search on Smithsonian Museums & Research Centers, and select the museum you’re interested in under “Filter Your Results.” This will return not only collections and selected digitized images, but also chronological historic entries on major events in the museum’s history.

From there you can further focus your search to just collection guides (box and folder inventories of collection contents) by selecting “Show only collection guides,” or just images by selecting “Show only digital media.” There are numerous ways you can continue to refine your searches from these browse lists. We invite you to explore these topics and give us your feedback for improving these options.

One feature that we’ve wanted for some time is a Reference Inquiry Form. This form allows researchers to enter and submit their questions to the Archives online. There is a drop-down list of topics on the form so that your inquiry can be directed to the appropriate staff, and a place to enter your detailed request. While you are searching, if you find a collection you want to explore on-site in our Reading Room, or if you need help finding something specific, click “Submit a reference request about this item” from any of our Collections Guides. The form will pop up with the collection number already populated for you. Requests submitted by this form will go directly to email accounts that are monitored on a daily basis. Our staff is, as always, committed to getting back you as soon as they can. Please note that we’re still answering emails through our normal reference account (osiaref@si.edu) and still answering your telephone calls. We hope the form, though, will be a quick and usefully way for you to contact us with any of your questions.

Learn more about our reference services online including information about our frequently used collections, frequently asked questions, and much more!