Description: A biography of Joseph Henry (1797–1878), noted U.S. scientist and first Secretary, or chief executive officer, of the new Smithsonian Institution in 1846.
Description: The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History needs your help to preserve Dorothy's ruby red slippers. [via Washington Post]The gravedigger from Hamlet, Malvolio from Twelfth Night, and more Shakespeare-inspired Halloween costumes! [via Folger Shakespeare Library]IBM's Watson Supercomputer + Encyclopedia of Life= Biodiversity Treasure Trove Unlocked! [via Smithsonian
Description: In a world drowning in images, where we swipe past photos of friends, relatives, and selves in mere seconds, a set of remarkable portraits taken in the 1910s and 1920s by Julian Papin Scott (1877-1961) deserve more considered attention. Sometimes, his subjects appear immersed in work, surrounded by microscopes, beakers, or stacks of books, as if unaware of the photographer.
Description: Historian Lonnie Bunch is the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Smithsonian’s 19th museum. Growing up with a love of history and a sense that African Americans deserved “a voice,” his education and early career gave him the research, museum, and management experience that allowed him to successfully develop an idea into a
Description: Bloggers on The Bigger Picture often describe how, in the course of their work, they come across intriguing archival objects and artifacts that trigger new insights into history. “Hands on” encounters with compelling evidence from the past are thrilling and can be provocative. But so can different sorts of encounters, including those that are driven by data, rather than