Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="344" caption="Photograph of the west court, looking toward the south pavilion and rotunda, and showing the projection of one of the stair towers of the U.S. National Museum Building, now known as the National Museum of Natural History, c. 1913, by Unidentified photographer, Black and white photographic print, Smithsonian Institution
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="Administrative offices of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Ancon Building, Panama City, This tropical laboratory, called the Canal Zone Biological Area (CZBA), and later renamed the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), was transferred to the Smithsonian in 1946, photo taken December 1965, by
Description: A station for the Metro, Washington DC’s subway system, was eliminated from early plans but protest by the Smithsonian ensured it would be built.
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="385" caption="Games, by Axel Tregoning, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."][/caption] While some people seem to enjoy fantasizing about doomsday scenarios and the end of the “real” world, a recent piece on Ars Tehchnica’s website makes it clear that virtual worlds don’t last forever, either.
Description: As a postdoctoral fellow at the National Museum of American History, I’ve spent months in the Smithsonian Institution Archives researching a book tentatively titled, Not Naturally a Grass Country: Environment, Plant Genetics, and the Quest for Agricultural Modernization in the Humid World. It’s largely a story about global attempts to replace one form of agriculture—the
Description: Most archival “discovery” stories are bogus, but this one (from the Smithsonian’s Joseph Cornell Study Center) is very, very cool! [via Artnet]DCist features some of the objects from the Library of Congress's new Rosa Parks exhibit. [via DCist] [edan-image:id=siris_sic_9968,size=450,center]Medieval medical manuscripts depict unrealistically happy patients. [via Onisillos
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="425" caption="Six children play on the sculpture "Uncle Beazley," the 25 foot long replica of a triceratops, placed on the Mall in front of the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), 1976, by Unidentified photographer, Photographic print, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 95, Box 33, Folder: 23, Negative Number:
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="303" caption="Photographer holding large folding camera, by unidentified photographer, c. 1935, National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center, Archives Center."][/caption] Recently photography has said goodbye to two industry icons. Polaroid stopped production of its instant film, and Kodak announced that it is