Description: Though small in stature, Elvira Clain-Stefanelli was a force to be reckoned with at the Smithsonian, where she earned the role of the first executive director of the National Museum of American History’s National Numismatic Collection.
Description: In anticipation of its Fall 2016 opening, the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) did something beautiful. A film, by Stanley J. Nelson and Marcia Smith, was projected on NMAAHC's new building representing the history of African Americans in the U.S. You can check out all the images from the projection mapping on their Pinterest
Description: At the Archives we get to see hundreds and hundreds (technically ~3 million if we wanted) images and photographs. We sometimes lose focus (ahh, get it) of all the amazing people behind the lens.National Photograph Month at the Archives
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="448" caption="Portrait of Dorothy Catherine Draper, copy of the original photo by John Draper, created by Daniel Draper, 1893, National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center, Division of Information Technology and Communications."][/caption] Imagine that you are the first person to take a photograph. What would you
Description: [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="175" caption="In this photo Reverend James O. Arthur poses on a sand dune at White Sands, New Mexico. Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Catalog number: N53381."][/caption] This is the first entry in a series celebrating National Native American Heritage Month. In this series we will be highlighting photos from the
Description: [caption id="attachment_6524" align="alignright" width="220" caption="Linsey Scott, Intern, and Michael Barnes, Photographer, from the Center of Scientific Imaging and Photography stand in front of the freshly remounted world-record Black Marlin that was caught in 1953 using 130 pound test line by Alfred C. Glascock, Jr."][/caption] I had the recent opportunity to sit down
Description: Though photographs are accepted as subjective but ultimately faithful visual reproductions of reality, in many instances they don’t correspond to our experience. Pupils don’t regularly glint red, and people don’t transform into the streaked, evanescent smears we so often witness in photos. Yet we have no trouble accepting these inconsistencies, knowing that taking a picture of
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="275" caption="Miss Gloria Smith (Wedding) Deluxe Wedding Album, June 24, 1956, by Scurlock Studio (Washington, D.C.), Silver gelatin on cellulose acetate film sheet, Scurlock Studio Records, ca. 1905-1994, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Call No. 0618.278439. "][/caption] When I read Laurie Lambrecht’s recent