Description: This is the latest post in our "Hot Topix" series. In each quarterly edition we show you what the reference team has been up to, and bring you some of the more notable inuqires we have received.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
Description: Although planning began in 1919, the National Portrait Gallery was not created until 1962, and it opened to the public in the historic Patent Office Building in 1968. Known for its iconic collections of portraits of a broad spectrum of Americans, the gallery is also noted for its Hall of Presidents. History of the National Portrait GalleryAdditional Historic Images of the