Old Archives Office, Smithsonian Institution Building

Summary

In 1894 a room on the fourth floor, East Wing of the Smithsonian Institution Building, the "Castle," was converted for use as the Smithsonian Institution Archives. It was furnished with walnut cabinets for storage of early manuscripts and correspondence as well as drawings, photographs, and plans of the Institution. Over a large worktable in the center of the room, a combination gas-electric chandelier was hung from the pressed tin ceiling. Beneath the two framed pictures to the right of the door can be seen the mouth-piece of an "oral annunciator," an early type of intercom installed throughout the East Wing in 1884.

Subject

• Smithsonian Institution Building East Wing
• Smithsonian Institution Building (Washington, D.C.)
• Smithsonian Institution Archives (SIA)

Category

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

Notes

source: Field, Stamm & Ewing. The Castle, An Illustrated History of the Smithsonian Building, p. 48. For another image of the Old Archives Office with the door open see negative 13413 in Record Unit 95, Box 31A, Folder: 19.

Contained within

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 95, Box 31A, Folder: 19

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

1897

Restrictions & Rights

No restrictions

Topic

• Museum archives
• Fourth Floor
• Intercom

Form/Genre

• Photographic print
• Interior

ID Number

13406 or MAH-13406

Physical description

Color: Black and White; Size: 10w x 8h; Type of Image: Interior; Medium: Photographic print

Full Record

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