Lucy Hunter Baird’s work on her father’s biography reveals a long history of strong, independent, and intellectually curious women in the Baird family. Lucy, who was inspired by their examples and supported by the Smithsonian’s second Secretary, developed her own expertise in natural history and exhibited a lifelong commitment to science.

Bridget Shea was the manager of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Samuel P. Langley IMAX Theater and the Albert Einstein Planetarium, 1992–97, and manager of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s Samuel C. Johnson IMAX Theater, which she also helped design, 1997–2000. Shea supervised the operations of the theaters and prioritized accessibility services, such as closed captioning and audio descriptions. #Groundbreaker

Exploring news coverage of women’s work in the sciences at the Smithsonian in the early twentieth century.

Atlas launch vehicle on the west side of the Arts and Industries Building, 1960s.

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.

As a teenager, Robert Ridgway was tapped by the Smithsonian’s Assistant Secretary to be an expedition zoologist. In 1881, when the US National Museum opened its doors, he was the curator of Birds. Download and reuse some of bird illustrations today through Smithsonian Open Access.

Nancy J. Bechtol has supervised all facilities engineering and management needs across the Smithsonian as director of Smithsonian Facilities since 2012. Previously, Bechtol was the director of Smithsonian Gardens, 1995–2002, and director of the Office of Facilities Management and Reliability, 2002–2012. #Groundbreaker

In alignment with the Smithsonian's newly launched Smithsonian Open Access, the Archives has designated more than 2,000 items as open access!

Homeopathy exhibit showing its history, methods, and remedies, installed in the Hall of Health in the United States National Museum, now known as the Arts and Industries Building, in 1929.

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.