Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="368" caption="Cybill Shepherd at the "Castle" during the filming of "Chances Are," where she plays an SI curator, 1988, by Jeff Tinsley, Photographic print, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 371, Box 5, Negative Number: 88-10752-31. "][/caption] The frequency with which the words “curator” and “curating” pop up continues to
Description: When the names of certain cities are mentioned, photographic images of them pop into your head almost immediately. Washington = buildings on or near the mall. New York = skyscrapers of one sort or another. Paris = the Eiffel Tower. Tokyo = the Ginza shopping and entertainment district. With that thought in mind—and considering the multiple roles photography plays in shaping,
Description: I was reading one of Holland Cotter’s reviews of an art exhibition in the New York Times a couple of weeks ago, when I came across a description of a show that was about to close and wished I’d been able to see. At a space run by the Esopus Foundation, Bob Warner, a New York artist and optician, was opening, one box at a time, the cartons of material that another artist, Ray
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Salman Rushdie's archives, featured in an Emory University publication, by Georgia Popplewell, Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic."][/caption] Back in October I talked—with great interest and at length—with Anne Van Camp, director of the Smithsonian Institution Archives, about the various
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="313" caption="Georgia O'Keefe at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (HMSG) with Rene Magritte's sculpture "Delusions of Grandeur," 11 November 1977, by Richard Farrar, Photographic print, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 371 Box 2 Folder December 1977, Negative Number: 92-1789."][/caption] It is always fascinating
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="Posing with a yearbook picture of myself, by Billy Mabray, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."][/caption] I’m a fan of yearbooks. I was an editor of mine in college, a somewhat unusual, multi-volume, and boxed object that included two books, a booklet, a brochure, and (it being the late sixties) a balloon. Back then, we
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="Fingers typing, by Simon Steiner, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."] [/caption] You know that sinking, then maddening feeling: you need to find something you’ve carefully put away, but can’t remember where you’ve stored it or how you characterized or labeled it. That common problem, when it’s blown up to institutional
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="A Penmanship sign was located in Boerum Hill and was painted in 1997. It was a faux billboard created by Jerry Johnson of Orange Outdoor Advertising, Photo by Bosc d'Anjou, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0 Generic."][/caption] A week or so ago, I was looking through documents scanned by the Smithsonian Institution
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="Perfect, by Bruce Berrien, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."][/caption] At the turn of the 21st century, as federal organizations and private corporations were competing against each other in the race to decode the human genome, a number of exhibitions that explored areas where genetic science and visual imagery
Description: Across the Smithsonian, in hundreds of photographic collections, you’ll find images that document historic objects and events, species on land and under the oceans, cultural achievement, and data that streams in from outer space on a daily basis.
Description: [caption id="attachment_1085" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="President Barack Obama and health care executives leave the State Dining Room of the White House following a press statement May 11, 2009. Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson."][/caption] A few days ago, watching TV and seeing Barack Obama face yet another gaggle of photographers and