Description: On the evening of October 1, 1847, while using a small telescope on the roof of the family home, Maria Mitchell (1818-1889) spotted a comet where one had not been before. Word of this achievement spread quickly through the scientific community. The American Journal of Science declared her “the first American entitled to the honor of the original discovery of a comet.” Some
Description: After successfully completing his 1925 European business trip, 29-year-old Watson Davis headed home on the S.S. Republic, boarding at Cherbourg, France, on October 2. The science journalist had covered the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and discussed with Sir Richard Gregory (Editor of the journal Nature) the plausibility of
Description: On what better day than Election Day to follow up on that tidbit I dropped a couple weeks ago regarding a consultation about then-candidate Barack Obama’s dry-erase boards, a recent acquisition by the National Museum of African American History and Culture? These artifacts, along with archival material and other realia (in archives terms: a man-made three-dimensional object)
Description: While teleworking for the last year, the Archives has been busy capturing web content that documents the Smithsonian’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Description: The Walt Disney designed--and General Electric sponsored--look at America’s figurative and literal electric future, Progressland, wowed visitors at the 1964 World’s Fair--and elements of it exist today in both Disneyland and Disney World theme parks.
Description: Watch how we make invisible Beatles’ autographs visible with Reflectance Transform Imaging, a technique for forensic document examination.
Description: For Preservation Week, our team answered our burning, often ignorant questions about their biggest challenges, what they consider when treating objects, and beyond.