Marion Stirling Pugh began her career with the Smithsonian in 1931 as a secretary for her future husband, Matthew Stirling, Chief of the Bureau of Ethnology. For the next 40 years, the couple studied Olmec culture and the connection to greater Mesoamerica and South America. Pugh served as the president of the Society of Women Geographers from 1960 to 1963 and from 1969 to 1972. #Groundbreaker

Behind the seemingly objective certitude of a date lies an argument about what counts.

Frank Hamilton Cushing, ethnologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology, demonstrates horse riding technique of a Dakota warrior.

Link Love: a weekly post with links to interesting videos and stories about archival issues, technology and culture, and Washington D.C. and American history.

Let’s learn about the history of Smithsonian Gardens’ annual orchid exhibit with a little help from former director Barbara Faust through her 2011 oral history interview.

Jeanne Benas was an Assistant Registrar at the National Museum of Air and Space, 1982–85, and an Assistant Registrar and Registrar at the National Museum of American History, 1985–2015. She is a founding member of the Association of Registrars and Collections Specialists. #Groundbreaker

Whether you have a little downtime or you wish you remembered what downtime was like, the Archives is here for you with a few distance learning activities and preservation tips.

A keeper feeds Asian elephants Hitam and Kechil in the octagonal elephant barn at the National Zoological Park, 1918.

Link Love: a weekly post with links to interesting videos and stories about archival issues, technology and culture, and Washington D.C. and American history.

See new collection highlights posted to the Smithsonian Institution Archives website.