Description: The Hungerford Deed split an inherited estate between two sisters—but what do we know about those properties? We’ve dug deep into one of them here.
Description: When a television channel asks to film our collections, we want to show them at their best. Read how we accommodate media requests while keeping our collections safe.
Description: Unusual sized and shaped items can be a challenge in archives—here’s how our conservation staff dealt with a particularly tricky accession.
Description: Our treasures can pose significant—and often unexpected—challenges, like when a map has been attached to a hotel linen. See how our staff tackled a complex intervention in progress!
Description: Readers of The Bigger Picture will be familiar with the Hungerford Deed, a 1787 property contract dividing a lucrative land inheritance between the mother and aunt of the Smithsonian’s founding donor, James Smithson. Over the last three years I have been able to take a deep dive into the content of the Deed and strengthen our understanding of Smithson’s choice to leave his
Description: The Archives was recently gifted an 1860 letter from Spencer F. Baird, second Secretary of the Smithsonian, to George N. Lawrence, fellow naturalist. The donor requested that, along with a digital version, a transcription be provided, which I undertook alongside a simple treatment. The letter was in overall excellent condition: the thin paper exhibited only a pair of small