Description: To celebrate International Migratory Bird Day on May 9th, we will be releasing recently digitized specimen drawings by ornithologist Robert Ridgway (1850-1929.) Ridgway's career with the Smithsonian began in 1864 when he wrote asking for help identifying a bird. As they say, the rest is history. Starting in 1869, Ridgway became curator at the Smithsonian's United States
Description: While responding to a digitization request, I uncovered the story of how the Smithsonian International Exchange Service (1849-1992) helped rebuild the library collections of Chinese cultural heritage institutions during the Second World War.