Description: Late 2015, the beta version of the Smithsonian’s Learning Lab, a new digital platform providing access to digital resources across the Smithsonian alongside tools for teachers and students, launched. I was delighted to see a related social media update hinting at some of the discoveries to be had with the Learning Lab, one of which showed Saul Steinberg drawings on Smithsonian
Description: In 1982, the Smithsonian Institution paid homage to the birth of the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, born January 30, 1882, through six new exhibits.
Description: New to the interwebs: a massive archive of 150 years of photography capturing Russian life from more than 40 institutions and collections. [via Hyperallergic]Nominate your favorite .gov website for the U.S. Federal Government End of Term Web Archive! [via The Signal, Library of Congress]Why save a computer virus, indeed?! [via The Conversation]Giant pandas are no longer
Description: For the past month, I have been immersed in the complexity that is the world of digital archiving as an intern for the Smithsonian Institution Archives. As a digital preservation intern, I have discovered aspects about archiving that I would have never considered previously, such as the processes required to document accessions, recording information for accessibility and
Description: In their efforts to document the history of computing at the Smithsonian, volunteers are interviewing former staff to preserve their stories and experiences. Ching-hsien Wang was a force that helped libraries and archives make their collections accessible online and here are some early excerpts from our interview with her.
Description: [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="181" caption="Edmonia Lewis, National Portrait Gallery"][/caption] In Kodak and the Lens of Nostalgia (2000), Nancy Martha West describes how the company—marketing the first box cameras in the 1890s—aggressively targeted female consumers, hoping they’d “see photography not only as a necessary component of domestic life but as an integral
Description: The Smithsonian Institution has roughly six thousand volunteers and without them the work we do would not be possible. Here at the Smithsoinan Institution Archives, we have dedicated volunteers who help fufill our mission. One such volunteer is Zoe Martindale, who for sixteen years has carefully cataloged thousands of images and helped get them online for the public.
Description: Documenting the history, programs, and activities of the Smithsonian Latino Center through the capture of their websites and their other online sites.