Collection Highlights: New Additions to the SIA Website

The Smithsonian Institution Archives continually strives to add more collection information to its website. This is a periodic post highlighting new acquisitions and individual collection items.

Two Hundred Eighty-two New or Revised Finding Aids Online, including:

• Accession 19-200 - Lonnie G. Bunch Papers, 1952-2010. Papers of the Smithsonian’s fourteenth (and current) Secretary include both personal materials and professional records from the various cultural heritage institutions where he worked as well as his teaching positions. Significant exhibitions documented from the California Afro-American Museum include "Allensworth: An Enduring Dream," "The Black Olympians: 1904-1984," and "Black Angelenos: The Afro-American in Los Angeles, 1850-1950." Notable exhibitions documented from the National Museum of American History include: "The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden," "Smithsonian's America: An Exhibition of American History and Culture," and "Communities in a Changing Nation: The Promise of 19th-Century America."
• Accession 19-078 - National Museum of American History, Office of the Director, Subject Files, 1961-1963, 1991, 1996-2015. This accession consists of records created and maintained during the tenures of directors John Gray, Brent D. Glass, Spencer R. Crew, and acting director Marc Pachter, documenting museum administration, fundraising, renovation projects, and exhibition redevelopment.
• Accession 19-067 - Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, Research Records, circa 1975-2001. This accession consists of records documenting the research activities of ornithologist Russell Greenberg (1953-2013). Greenberg began his career in 1977 at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and was founder and first director of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center at the National Zoological Park in 1991. Judith Gradwohl, STRI Research Associate, circa 1977-1991, and Director of the Office of Environmental Awareness, circa 1991-1994, who was Greenberg's field assistant and, later, his wife, also significantly contributed to these research records.

Forty-three Finding Aids with New Links to Digitized Material, including:

• Record Unit 276 - National Museum of History and Technology. Office of the Director, Records, 1944-1975 (highlights are images of the Horatio Greenough statue of George Washington as it was moved into the museum before construction was completed).
• Thirty-one new links to archived websites, including Accession 19-065, the National Museum of Natural History website crawled in 2017 with a a section documenting how the museum celebrated its centennial anniversary in 2010; and several archived SoundCloud accounts, including Accession 19-039, the National Postal Museum’s account crawled in 2017. 

Two Hundred Ninety-Seven New Documents Online – All Part of the Smithsonian’s Open Access Initiative:

• Eighty-seven digitized documents from Record Unit 1 – Smithsonian Institution Board of Regents, Minutes, 1846-1995

• Two hundred ten documents from Record Unit 158 -United States National Museum, Curators' Annual Reports, 1881-1964
• Over 2,100 open access images and documents from the Archives collections

Related Resources

• "Open Access, Put a Bird On It," by Marguerite Roby, The Bigger Picture, Smithsonian Institution Archives
• "Bunch of Boxes," by Mitch Toda, The Bigger Picture, Smithsonian Institution Archives