Description: The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (NPG) will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2018. Ahead of next year’s festivities, NPG unveiled an exhibition commemorating its May 1968 opening. The Smithsonian Institution Archives (SIA) provided several pieces for this gallery, including a photo of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s dedication speech on May 3rd. Check out the full
Description: The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) has undergone many name changes over the years. One of these – the National Collection of Fine Arts (NCFA) – was in use from 1937 to 1980. During this time, the NCFA underwent several exciting changes. After years of being housed in multiple locations and several failed attempts to build a permanent building, the collection moved to
Description: In the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of Exhibits, Margaret Jane Russell Roller (1888-1973) had begun to specialize in fabricating lifelike wax models of food and animals.
Description: [edan-image:id=siris_sic_14760,size=200,left] On July 1, 2016, the current National Air and Space Museum (NASM) building, covered with a Tenessee pink marble façade and recessed glass bays, celebrated its 40th anniversary. For this, NASM reopened its central exhibition, the Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall, and hosted various events including greetings from Mars and from
Description: Have you ever wondered why museums choose the exhibition topics they do? These are the kinds of questions that the Smithsonian Institution Archives’ historic records of exhibitions can sometimes help us answer. An idea could stem from the personal interest of a curator, reflect an institution’s holdings, be inspired by comments from a visitor, or be designed around a specific
Description: Each week, the Archives features a woman who has been a groundbreaker at the Smithsonian, past or present, in a series titled Wonderful Women Wednesday.
Description: Eliza Scidmore was a lifelong photographer, writer, and world traveler. In addition to facilitating a gift of cherry blossom trees from Japan to the U.S. capital, Scidmore donated her time, photographs, and some artifacts to the Smithsonian’s collections. She also accessed the world through colonial channels that she reinforced with her writings.
Description: We are pleased to announce a new mobile experience produced by the Archives, Castle of Curiosities. The Smithsonian's first building, the Castle, opened its doors in 1855. While the Norman architectural style evoked "learned university," it was bordered by fetid canals and rather isolated from the rest of Washington D.C. Check out an app about iconic stories in the history of
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="349" caption="Washington, D.C. 1975, from the series Archaeological Series, 6 Inch Contour Gauge, 1975, by Kenneth Josephson, Gelatin silver print on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the National Endowment for the Arts, 1983.63.828."][/caption] In 1981, the Smithsonian American Art Museum (at the time it was named
Description: On National Visit the Zoo Day, a look at a unique exhibition at the National Zoological Park, the National Museum of Natural History, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden: “Animal In Art,” an exhibit and series of “sketch-ins,” part of an international campaign for the World Wildlife Fund.