Description: The Freer Sackler Gallery’s efforts to make their large collection of squeezes (paper molds that capture the inscriptions of ancient monuments) into an easy-to-use Web resource received a nice write-up on The Atlantic’s Tech blog [originally posted on the Smithsonian Collections Blog]. David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States, talks about “balancing access and
Description: Headed to DC soon? Leave your thoughts at the National Museum of American History’s TalkBack Board, and then whether you’re in the capital or elsewhere, tune into the NMAH’s Twitter feed for #TalkBackTuesdays, where they’ll feature the best questions and comments from the board. The Museum of Photographic Arts has just joined Flickr Commons, and their photos include some
Description: The history behind the film, Hidden Figures, from Curator Paul Ceruzzi. [via National Air and Space Museum]Umbra Search African American History now has over 500,000 items from more than 1000 libraries, museums and archives. [via OCLC and University of Minnesota Libraries]A Twitter tribute to Holocaust victims who were turned away by the U.S. in 1939. [via Atlantic]Library of
Description: On the evening of October 1, 1847, while using a small telescope on the roof of the family home, Maria Mitchell (1818-1889) spotted a comet where one had not been before. Word of this achievement spread quickly through the scientific community. The American Journal of Science declared her “the first American entitled to the honor of the original discovery of a comet.” Some
Description: Alcione M. Amos, Curator at the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum since 2009, researches the history of post-slavery societies and Afro-Brazilians from West Africa in the nineteenth century. She curated major exhibitions at the museum, such as Word, Shout, Song (2010–2011) and How the Civil War Changed Washington (2015). #Groundbreaker
Description: In 1917, police detectives arrested two suffragists suspected of planning a pro-suffrage demonstration at the United States National Museum.