Secretary S. Dillon Ripley stands at the "1876: A Centennial Exhibition" at the Arts and Industries Builiding" from The Smithsonian Institution with S. Dillion Ripley.

Coming Soon: Smithsonian 175th Film Fest

Grab your popcorn! To mark the Smithsonian’s 175th anniversary this year, the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives will host monthly virtual programs featuring films from the collections of the Smithsonian Institution Archives. Register today.
August 5, 2021, by Emily Niekrasz and Kira Sobers

To celebrate the Smithsonian Institution’s 175th anniversary in 2021, the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives will host monthly programs featuring films from the collections of the Smithsonian Institution Archives. The series will be hosted virtually between August 2021 and August 2022. 

What makes this series so special? In addition to the film screenings, archivists, conservators, and subject experts will also provide some context to the videos, share a little about their work, and answer questions from the audience during the one-hour programs. These screenings will also be the first instance that the films have ever been made available online to the public.

There will be a little something for everyone featured in the series. Watch giant panda baby doctor appointments. Tune in to listen to groundbreaking ornithologist Roxie Laybourne discuss her method for identifying birds by their feathers. Hear how Smithsonian conservators preserve outdoor sculptures. 

The Libraries and Archives will be kicking off the series on Friday, August 27 at 12 pm EDT. Chief Archivist Tammy Peters will screen The Smithsonian Institution with S. Dillon Ripley, along with two short promotional videos. In the primary film, Secretary Ripley, an ornithologist who led the Smithsonian through a period of tremendous growth between 1964 and 1984, invites audiences on a tour of the Institution, attempting to answer the question: “What is the Smithsonian?” During the program, Peters will discuss our work at the Archives, the breadth of films in our collections, and the legacy of S. Dillon Ripley.

Though the program will be screened on YouTube, we encourage you to register for the webinar here. The full programs will also be simulcast on YouTube, and the recordings will be saved to the Smithsonian Institution Archives YouTube channel for future viewing.

Related Resources

 

Leave a Comment

Produced by the Smithsonian Institution Archives. For copyright questions, please see the Terms of Use.