Description: In the early years of the National Museum of Natural History’s Insect Zoo, staff members, volunteers and their family ventured out to local field, streams and even monuments to collect specimens.
Description: A look at the relationship between Smithsonian Secretary Samuel P. Langley and the Wright Brothers during the sometimes contentious race to achieve flight.
Description: In the course of my internship at the Smithsonian Archives’ Digital Services Division I’ve worked with myriad digital records, converting both new material and past accessions into formats that can be more easily preserved. But the most exciting part of my time here came when I was given my very own accession, the Devra G. Kleiman Papers, to work on. My task was to copy all of
Description: Watch how we make invisible Beatles’ autographs visible with Reflectance Transform Imaging, a technique for forensic document examination.
Description: On the 190th anniversary of the death of Smithsonian founding donor James Smithson, we’re taking a look back at his posthumous journey, led by Alexander Graham Bell, to his final resting place in Washington, D.C.
Description: The life of Betty J. Meggers, an Anthropologist, who speciailized in pottery identification, conducted extensive field work in Amazon Rainforest region of South America, and was associated with the Smithsonian for more than five decades.
Description: Excited to research at the Archives, but don’t know where to start? Below are a few tips about details you should include in your inquiry that will help us help you.
Description: A few days ago, I went to an IMAX 3D showing of Avatar to see for myself if the movie is a “game-changer,” as many have suggested. And, it is, but in a way no one seems to be focusing on—the way it acknowledges and exploits photography’s power to shape both everyday and alternate realities. What struck me, as soon as the movie started, was how sophisticated the film’s
Description: As an administrative officer to two Assistant Secretaries and as executive assistant to Secretary Ripley, Dorothy Rosenberg was the backbone behind the Smithsonian’s top offices between 1959 and 1980.
Description: This post is written in honor of Preservation Week, April 24–30, 2011. In celebration of this week, preservation specialists around the world will bring attention to the preservation work going on in their institutions, and inspire action to preserve collections in libraries, archives, museums, and communities. [caption id="attachment_12654" align="aligncenter" width="432"
Description: Revamping our online postcard exhibit poses the challenge of dating unused postcards. Here’s how I have hunted down clues to solve the mystery!