Description: [edan-image:id=siris_arc_391599,size=250,left] “[T]he paleontologist is a queer character,” Robert Kennicott notes in his letter “Folks at Home”. “Indeed he [Meek] is very excellent and Honorable gentleman with fine feelings and extremely modest though he is now one of our best Paleontologists.”Meek was born on December 10, 1817 in Madison, Indiana, along with a brother and
Description: [caption id="" align="alignright" width="147" caption="Walt Whitman, 1875, by Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Chalk on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Robert Tyler Davis Memorial Fund, 1980.73."][/caption] Fascinating interview with poet Robert Roper, who dug into the National Archives to examine the moving letters poet Walt Whitman wrote to family
Description: Last week, on December 17 and 18, folks from across the Smithsonian and the public gathered to listen, learn, and discuss at "Working Women: The Smithsonian Institution as a Case Study," a two-day symposium, organized by the American Women’s History Initiative. Presenters celebrated women working at the Smithsonian and explored how they represent the broader experience for
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="448" caption="Temperance Parade, Church of the Nazarene, Medora, Illinois, photographer unknown, real-photo postcard, 1908, Courtesy of Luc Sante, 2009."][/caption] One of the thrills of seeing—when you stop to pay attention to it—is how complex and quickly the process of looking and making sense of what we see happens. According to
Description: An employee of the Smithsonian since 1975, Michael Barnes is one of a select group of photographers with the responsibility of documenting the history of the Smithsonian.1 Pragmatic and passionate about photography, he worked his way up from the Smithsonian’s print shop and taught himself the art of taking pictures. An employee of the Smithsonian since 1975, Michael Barnes is