Description: The intense efforts that started the Field Book Project and have kept it in high gear are slowing down to a sustainable pace. After almost ten years, grant funding for the Field Book Project has drawn to a close, but there is still plenty more to look forward to that will benefit researchers for years to come.
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: Travel with us to the Galapagos and the Marshall Islands as we launch some warm-weather scientific field books, diaries, and correspondence. While it’s not very wintery in Washington D.C., we’re hoping this will offer an escape to those entering the long remaining months of snow, sleet, and ice. And if you’re avoiding the cold, what a better way to spend your time than helping
Description: Several SIA Archivists participated in the 2012 Society of American Archivists confernence, discussing such topics as archiving websites, Encoded Archival Context (EAD) and the Fieldbook Project.
Description: [edan-image:id=siris_arc_308449,size=250,left]Though Roxie Laybourne may be a well-known topic here in the Smithsonian Institution Archives, there is a good reason she is so popular. From good advice to her pioneering career to modern day inspiration, her work offers new insight each time we turn to it. Laybourne’s interest in natural history began long before she began her
Description: Posters at the Smithsonian display a wide range of exhibitions and programs, each with a design that is visually intriguing and purposeful in conveying information.
Description: A brief biographical sketch of Roxie Laybourne, an Ornithologist who specialized in feather identification and pioneered the field of forensic ornithology.
Description: [view:sia_slideshow==75408]Scientific research has been integral to the Smithsonian, from its founding to today. The Smithsonian's founder, Englishman James Smithson, saw in the U.S. (according to his biographer, Heather Ewing) "a place of the future" that could support "science and progress for humanity." He believed that scientists were "citizens of the world" and that the
Description: Paul Hamilton Allen, botanist, writes in his field book about testing different varieties of corn to determine which is the best for popcorn.
Description: Discusses the opening of an exhibit When Time and Duty Permit: Smithsonian Collecting in World War II and the correspondence files that will be displayed.