Description: Margaret Simmons Vining was a museum specialist and later curator of armed forces history at the National Museum of American History from 1983 until her death in 2018.In addition to curating major exhibitions and building the division’s collections, she founded and supervised the Smithsonian Archive of Women’s Military History. Together with her longtime collaborator and life
Description: Scholar of military history, Dr. Kate Clarke Lemay, Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, has a dual doctorate in American art history and American studies, and is shortly releasing a book about how we remember war through material culture. #Groundbreaker
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="446" caption="Visitors to the National Museum of American History (NMAH) Military History Hall, costumed in Revolutionary attire for the Treaty of Paris Bicentennial celebration held on the grounds around the Washington Monument, 1983, by Richard K. Hofmeister, Black and white photographic print, Smithsonian Institution Archives,
Description: Continuing our series on introducing new staff, I'd like to welcome our new Program Assistant for our Institution History Division, Lisa Fthenakis.
Description: Did you know April is Records and Information Management Month? Did you also know that the Smithsonian Institution has over 154 million objects, 10 million digital records, and 156,830 cubic feet of archival materials in its collections? It is mostly thanks to amazing record keeping that we are able to locate, care, and give access to millions of fascinating objects.We look at
Description: Corine Wegener, Director of the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative has been working to preserve cultural heritage in crisis situations in the U.S. and around the world for the Smithsonian since 2010. A former U.S. Army Reserve officer, she regularly organizes military cultural heritage events at the Smithsonian. #Groundbreaker
Description: The comical infographic of the week that's hitting a nerve with electronic records archivists! [via xkcd]Our National Museum of the American Indian is asking the public to submit design ideas for a memorial honoring American Indian military service. [via Navy Times] The oldest museum of African American culture, the DuSable Museum, was founded by Margaret Taylor-Burroughs in
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="405" caption="U.S. Troops Surrounded by Holiday Mail During WWII, by unidentified photographer, c. 1944, National Postal Museum"][/caption] It’s no wonder that this photo of soldiers sorting holiday mail is such a favorite on the Commons. It clearly tugs on the heart strings of those who know (or try to imagine) what it would be like
Description: As National Museum of African American History and Culture opens, let’s look at the first efforts to establish a National African American Museum.