Description: Vicarious research is one of the great joys of the reference desk at the Smithsonian Institution Archives. From our front-row (well, only-row) seat outside the reading room, we catch tantalizing glimpses of our patrons’ manifold research topics.The reference team fields thousands of questions per year.
Description: This summer, members of the Archives staff packed their bags and headed to the 2019 Joint Annual Meeting of the Council of State Archivists (CoSA) and Society of American Archivists (SAA). When they returned, they refected om the most useful sessions and what topics they're looking for in the future.
Description: The Smithsonian Institution Archives recommends that files be weeded on a regular basis. Weeding is the act of removing unnecessary files from the active records. The result is significant savings in storage space and faster and more efficient retrieval of information for research purposes. Extensive weeding is necessary when the records contain large numbers of reference
Description: [caption id="attachment_7461" align="aligncenter" width="369" caption="Construction of the National Museum of the American Indian, July 2003, digital photograph, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 06-012, Box 24, Folder NMAI Construction-July 2003, Folder CD_1, # U.jpg."] [/caption] At the Archives, we’ve recently begun working with some digital files of architectural
Description: This is a summary of the Smithsonian Institution Archives' 3rd Wikipedia edit-a-thon on the scientific field books in the Archives’ collections
Description: This summer, have a little fun with images from our collections that have been designated as open access. Anyone can now download, transform, share, and reuse millions of images as part of Smithsonian Open Access.
Description: Pan-Institutional Survey The Smithsonian Institution Archives, partnering with seven Smithsonian units, conducted a comprehensive survey of audiovisual collections consisting of analog film, audio, and video held across the Institution. Proposed by the Audiovisual Archivists Interest Lunch (AVAIL) group and funded by the Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF), this
Description: The Smithsonian Institution Archives needs your help in strengthening our collections through donations of your time and resources. Please check out our new online donations page.