Description: AcknowledgementsThe web version of From Smithson to Smithsonian: The Birth of an Institution was adapted from an exhibition that appeared from July 1996 to January 1997 in the Smithsonian Libraries Exhibition Gallery in the National Museum of American History. It was one of the official projects that celebrated the 150th anniversary of the 1846 founding of the Smithsonian
Description: Because World War I was sure to go down in history, the curator of the History Division, Theodore T. Belote, began collecting artifacts documenting the war even before it was over. As the war wound down and soldiers started returning home, Belote and his superiors at the US National Museum worked with the War Department and contacts in the Army and the Navy to document the
Description: [edan-image:id=siris_sic_13754,size=400,center]When people think of a Smithsonian exhibit, they probably don’t think of one filled with documents from an archives! A piece of paper doesn’t grab your attention from across the room, as the Fénykövi elephant or Chuck Berry’s car do. But on closer inspection, handwritten scraps have fascinating stories to tell. They can be