Posts tagged with: Hot Topics
Hot Topics in Archival Research
It’s been an exciting year at the Smithsonian Institution Archives. Reference and Photo Fulfillment merged to form an expanded Reference Team, streamlining the process of ordering photos and obtaining permission to publish them.
In addition, the photo collections housed at the former Smithsonian Photographic Services spaces in the National Museum of American History have been moved to a newly completed Cold Vault storage facility at the Smithsonian Institution Support Center in Landover, Maryland. This is the culmination of six years of planning, building and moving.
Researchers will have access to these images through our website. This quarter’s Hot Topics illustrations are examples of seasonal photographs currently available online.
When asked what the Smithsonian Institution Archives collects, we say we hold records about the history of the Smithsonian and its people, programs, research, and activities. While accurate, this doesn’t really give anyone a clue about what is actually in those records.
The SIA Reference Term handles an average of around 6,000 queries per year, and if you ask us what people have been researching at the Archives recently, you’ll get some pretty interesting responses. Although not comprehensive, here’s a snapshot of the diverse range of information encompassed by the history of the world’s largest museum complex!
Over the past three months, researcher projects have included:
- The Smithsonian’s SITES program
- Smithsonian Castle façade
- Handbook of the North American Indian
- Scopes Trial
- The Curies
- History of computers at the Smithsonian Institution
- The Fines Arts Commission and the National Gallery
- Data collection practices at the Smithsonian
- Egg collecting in the nineteenth century
- Weather observations
- Museum dioramas
- George Gibbs
- Smithsonian expeditions
- The Roosevelt expedition
- Marine research
- The Smithsonian’s railroad locomotive collection
- Atomic testing sites
Upcoming publications using our photos or documents include:
- Anthony Burton, The Locomotive Pioneers 1801-1851
- Xiaofei Kang & Donald Sutton, Contesting the Yellow Dragon: Ethnicity, religion and the State in the Sino-Tibetan Borderland
- Andrew Kirk and Kristian Purcell, Doom Towns: The Contested Landscapes of Atomic Testing
- Michael Glazer, Crystallography: A Very Short Introduction
- Richard H. Robbins, Mark Nathan Cohen, Darwin and the Bible: The Cultural Confrontation
- The Liberty Science Center, "Beyond Rubik's Cube" exhibit
Related Resources
Reference services at the Smithsonian Institution Archives
Hot Topics in Archival Research
When asked what the Smithsonian Institution Archives collects, we say we hold records about the history of the Smithsonian and its people, programs, research, and activities. While accurate, this doesn't really give anyone a clue about what is actually in those records.
The Smithsonian Institution Archives Reference Team handles an average of around 6,000 queries per year, and if you us what people have been researching at the Archives recently, you'll get some pretty interesting responses. Although not comprehensive, here's a snapshot of the diverse range of information encompassed by the history of the world's largest museum complex!
Over the past three months, researcher queries have included:
- Harry Ladd and the Great Barrier Reef
- History of computers at the Smithsonian
- The Handbook of North American Indians
- National Museum of Natural History construction
- Enola Gay exhibition
- The racehorse Lexington
- Galapagos Islands colonists
- Influence of Smithsonian on bird egg collecting
- The Columbian Institute
- Impact of nuclear isotopes on the coral structures
- Smithsonian Meteorological Project
- Society for Marine Mammology
- David Griffiths cactus photos
- American Encounters exhibition
- Elk migration
Permissions to upcoming publications using our photos or documents include:
- Dan Eatherly for Bushmaster: Raymond Ditmars and the Hunt for the World's Largest Viper.
- Smithsonian Journeys Quarterly - Publication of Smithsonian Journeys which organizes tours around the world used our image of archaeologist, Ephraim George Squier.
- E. Samantha Cheng used our image of Ruby Hirose in a public service announcement for Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month.
- Susan Bullers, images of women scientists for promotional material for The Buddy Study.
- Australia’s Wildbear Entertainment used our image of French inventor, engineer and chemist Georges Claude in a documentary film on the history of neon.
- The Linnean Society of London used our image of Martha, the last passenger pigeon, in their newsletter, Pulse.
Most unusual lreference request
We were contacted by Wyoming State Prison for a photograph of Mary Preston Slosson that will be featured in a permanent exhibit at the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site.
Related Resources
- Reference services at the Smithsonian Institution Archives
Hot Topics in Archival Research
When asked what the Smithsonian Institution Archives collects, we say we hold records about the history of the Smithsonian and its people, programs, research, and activities. While accurate, this doesn't really give anyone a clue about what is actually in those records.
The Smithsonian Institution Archives Reference Team handles an average of around 6,000 queries per year, and if you ask us what people have been researching at the Archives recently, you'll get some pretty interesting responses. Although not comprehensive, here's a snapshot of the diverse range of information encompassed by the history of the world's largest museum complex!
Over the past three months, researcher queries have included:
- Smithsonian taxidermists
- Smokey the Bear
- Tropical botany in southeast Asia and the Pacific
- The Smithsonian Gallery of Art design competition
- The Tunguska meteorite
- Mary Henry diaries
- Alexander Von Humboldt
- The cultural history of the dingo
- Russian fur trade
- The Enola Gay exhibit
- Smithsonian Office of International Relations
- Latino scientists
- 20th century small arms
- The Davenport Tablets
- Access and interpretation in museum gardens.
Permissions to upcoming publications using our photos or documents include:
- Wouter Montfrooij, Astronomy! A conceptual introduction from the Big Bang…
- Anthony Burton, The Locomotive Pioneers, 1801-1851
- Norton & Co. for Glenda Gilmore's These United States
- Edward R. Landa, Assessment of Atmospheric Sulfate Deposition and its Historical Roots in Soil Science
- Left/Right Productions, The History Channel's Search for Lost Giants
- Michael G. Littman, Journal of the Washington Academy of Science
- The Avemco Insurance Co., for its digital newsletter On Approach
- Penguin Books, No Way, Way Road Trip!
Related Resources
- Reference services at the Smithsonian Institution Archives
Hot Topics in Archival Research
Appropriately funereal for approaching Halloween, this military cortege accompanied James Smithson's remains from the Washington Navy Yard to the Smithsonian, on January 23, 1904. James Smithson (c.1765-1829) died in Genoa, Italy, and was buried there. However, after the turn of the century, the Smithsonian was notified that the graves were to be moved to allow quarrying on the cemetery site. Smithsonian Regent Alexander Graham Bell and his wife Mabel traveled to Italy to oversee the disinterment of Smithson's remains and their transportation to the Institution that his bequest created.
This photo will be used in an Explorer at Large internet documentary.
When asked what the Smithsonian Institution Archives collects, we say we hold records about the history of the Smithsonian and its people, programs, research, and activities. While accurate, this doesn't really give anyone a clue about what is actually in those records.
The Smithsonian Institution Archives Reference Term handles an average of around 6,000 queries per year, and if you ask us what people have been researching at the Archives recently, you'll get some pretty interesting responses. Although not comprehensive, here's a snapshot of the diverse range of information encompassed by the archives of the world's largest museum complex!
Over the past three months, researcher projects have included:
- African American history at the Smithsonian
- History of Tropical biology in the 20th century Caribbean
- Philippine collections at the Smithsonian
- World’s Fairs and Expositions
- William Whewell and Pre-Darwinian systematics
- The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology
- Exploration and settlement of the American West
- History of African-American museums
- Tropical biology in the Pacific
- The Wilkes Exploring Expedition
- Smithsonian presentation of science to the public
- Botanical exploration in Lower California
Upcoming publications using our photos or documents include:
Mary Jane Rathbun, carcinologist at the United States National Museum, at left with Katherine J. Bush of Yale University, second from left, Charlotte Bush and Eloise Edwards at the Marine Biological Laboratory and United States Fish Commission Station at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, probably in the 1890s.This photo will appear in Richard Conif’s projected book on the history of the Peabody Museum of Natural History .
- Ipswich School's Old Ipswichian magazine
- Trowelblazers, a blog on women in archaeology
- Lawrence Livermore National Library in a workshop honoring Dr. Stirling Colgate
- David J. Meltzer for his book, The Great Paleolithic War
- Arthur A. Spector, for “Discovery of Essential Fatty Acids” in the Journal of Lipid Research
- The Springfield, Missouri Conservation Nature Center
Most unusual reference inquiry:
Fox Television was given permission to use Archives images as set dressing for its popular television series Bones. Among them was this photo of T. Dale Stewart, physical anthropologist, Department of Anthropology, United States National Museum. The photograph was most likely taken in October 1950 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Stewart often examined skeletons for the FBI and pioneered the field of forensic anthropology.
Hot Topics in Archival Research
Will our photos help researchers authenticate the Kensington Runestone, or prove once and for all that it is a fake? The investigation is ongoing.
When asked what the Smithsonian Institution Archives collects, we say we hold records about the history of the Smithsonian and its people, programs, research, and activities. While accurate, this doesn’t really give anyone a clue about what is actually in those records.
The Smithsonian Institution Archives Reference Term handles an average of around 6,000 queries per year, and if you ask us what people have been researching at the Archives recently, you’ll get some pretty interesting responses. Although not comprehensive, here’s a snapshot of the diverse range of information encompassed by the history of the world’s largest museum complex!
Over the past three months, researcher projects have included:
- History of the American Society of Herpetologists and Ichthyologists
- History of the Waterbird Society
- Plant Geography
- History of botany
- George Washington University's Methods in Museum Anthropology class made its annual visit to use the microfilm of the Smithsonian's accession files
- Postmodern historicism on exhibit
- Early 20th century museum pedagogy
- Smithsonian educational initiatives
- The Kensington runestone
In addition, the movie, The Galapagos Affair, brought renewed interest in our records of 1930s Galapagos colonists and explorations.
Upcoming publications using our photos or documents include:
The Department of State used numerous Smithsonian Institution Archives images in their American Spaces Program, including the Richard M. Nixon Inaugural Ball, January 20, 1969 at the National Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History)
- Mary Bird, “Experience Civil War Photography”, Government Executive magazine
- Julian Zelizer, A Great Society: the Fight for Liberalsim 1963-1968
- Robert Kett, Ornithologists in Olman: Ecological Knowledge and the Field Museum
Most Unusual reference Inquiry:
Question: We recently came across an article published in the Evening Star January 19, 1863. A similar article appeared in the paper the day before. We were curious if there were any records about this in the Archives, and if any more information was available about this case. The article reads:
It should be known that Mrs. Wren, by hand magnetism, has caused eight living reptiles to be expelled from a boy named Williams, living on 23rd street, between G and H, where the boy may be seen. He had been treated by the faculty without success for four months previous. At the request of Prof. Henry the reptiles have been presented to the Smithsonian Institute by Mrs. Wren. Her residence is No. 445 K street, between 6th and 7th streets.
Answer: A search of 1863 Smithsonian records didn’t turn up any reference to Mrs. Wren’s eight expelled reptiles. I fear that she was indulging a practice similar to the the sleight of hand tricks common to Brazilian psychic surgeons and other disreputable fortune tellers. . For what it’s worth, 19th century flim-flam artists loved to give their “discoveries” credence by stating that someone from the Smithsonian had shown interest.
Related Collections
- American Society of Herpetologists and Ichthyologists records at the Smithsonian Institution Archives
- Waterbird Society records at the Smithsonian Institution Archives
- Record Unit 285 - National Museum of History and Technology, Office of the Director, Photographs, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives
- 1 of 2
- next ›
Produced by the Smithsonian Institution Archives. For copyright questions, please see the Terms of Use.
