Description: A file in the Smithsonian Institution Archives’ accession records tells the story of an historic piece of Lincoln memorabilia that didn't wind up in the Smithsonian’s collections.
Description: To celebrate Volunteer Appreciation Month, we would like to recognize Marianne Green, a volunteer in the Digital Services Division who digitizes and reviews documents, letters, and photographs requested by researchers, helping provide access to our collections.
Description: On Thursday, October 22nd, four of our archivists/conservators were available on the Smithsonian's Facebook page to answer questions about preserving your own archival collections. The four archivists at the Q&A have specialties in the preservation and organization of audio/visual material, photos, and digital records (email, digital video, etc.) This is our fifth year hosting
Description: You asked. We answered. On October 7, 2020, six Archives staff members were excited and ready to answer questions on Twitter and Instagram for #AskAnArchivist Day.
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption=""Backscatter" x-ray scan, courtesy of Flickr user publik16, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."][/caption] Following the Christmas Day capture of a passenger, dubbed “The Underwear Bomber,” who attempted to blow up an American airliner, controversy swirls around the use and efficacy of full body scanners and the fate of
Description: An inside peek at the "Belle of the Mall" (aka our Arts & Industries building) which just received its new director. [via NPR]Less than 30 days until our new African American History and Culture Museum opens and its director, Lonnie Bunch, gives us some perspective on this historic event. [via WAMU]Sketch your way to finding the image you're searching for! [via The Verge]One
Description: Cancer, James T. Patterson observed in The Dread Disease, serves as a powerful metaphor in American culture, where the malady mirrors the “manifestation of social, economic, and ideological divisions” in modern life. In the decades since publication of Patterson’s book, medical research has made great strides in methods of detection and treatment. But the challenge for science
Description: On this day in 1850, a young man was killed in the Castle, the first of four deaths to occur within its walls. William H. Page was working in the building, which was still under construction at the time, when he fell to his death.