Description: This is post is part of our series on career advice for the aspiring archives professional. Each edition features information and career advice from a different member of the Smithsonian Institution Archives team, regarding what they do, how they got here, and how you can too. Don’t be afraid to let us know who you might like to hear from next!What is preservation? This is a
Description: When disaster strikes your collections, it can be stressful, especially if you’ve neglected that emergency preparedness plan. MayDay is the perfect time each year to revisit preparedness, salvage, and recovery plans, and here are a few keys things to make sure you include to aid in your disaster response.
Description: In celebration of Preservation Week 2016, here’s a brief overview of surveys and their role in preservation, as well as a look into an audiovisual survey currently taking place right here at the Smithsonian.
Description: Joan Gilder has been a volunteer with the Smithsonian Institution Archives' Preservation Team for two decades, and has worked to treat many of our collections in order to increase their lifespan and improve access. She has been an invaluable asset to the Archives since she first began, and we are thrilled to share a little more about her story.What did you do before you began
Description: Improved physical housing is one step you can take to help extend the life of your audiovisual media. Take a look at the new housing for lacquer transcription disc recordings from The World is Yours radio programs.
Description: The Archives recently received several scrapbooks created by Elizabeth C. Reed during her husband's tenure as Director of the National Zoological Park (NZP). These scrapbooks contain information about noteworthy events and consist mostly of newspaper clippings gathered from newspapers around the country. Anyone who's attempted to preserve scrapbooks can tell you it's a bit of
Description: Providing suitable housing for collections can sometimes be cost-prohibitive. When the Archives received a large collection of oversized drawings, a cost-savings approach had to be employed while still achieving an appropriate housing strategy for long-term preservation.
Description: With the ongoing reorganization of the map cases at the Archives, collections containing panoramic photographs, drawings, and maps require unique housing that provides adequate support when storing and handling.