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
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="420" caption="The Great Pyramid and the Great Sphinx, from "Egypt, Sinai and Jerusalem" Portfolio, 1858, Francis Frith"][/caption] The first examples of travel photography are almost simultaneous with the invention of photography itself. In 1841, following an extensive trip through the Middle East, wine merchant and early photographer,
Description: Starting tomorrow through next week, we will be digging into the life of entomologist Harrison Gray Dyar (1866-1929). Dyar was honorary custodian of the Smithsonian's United States National Museum's collection of Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths, etc.) for more than thirty years. As a scientist, Dyar was noted for his work concerning mosquito-borne diseases. He also developed a
Description: The Smithsonian Institution Archives has captured two years of Smithsonian websites using the web tool Archive-It. See how we predict future research.
Description: With the help of digital volunteers, we will make over a century’s worth of Smithsonian Board of Regents Meeting Minutes searchable, via the Smithsonian Transcription Center.