Description: As a laborer at the Smithsonian from 1882 until his death in 1918, Harrison Lomax served the Institution’s top leaders. A letter in our collections that he wrote to Secretary Samuel P. Langley is an example of the ways in which African American employees advocated for themselves in order to earn promotions and raises.
Description: We all have the opportunity to support the Smithsonian—come see how the Libraries and Archives Adopt-a-Book program offers a chance to do so.
Description: [caption id="attachment_7261" align="alignleft" width="430" caption="Advertisement on Fifth Avenue in New York City, 2010, Photo courtesy of Marvin Heiferman."][/caption] You’ve probably noticed, in recent years, that in order to attract shoppers’ attention retail establishments have been filling both exterior and interior display spaces with big, colorful, and evocative
Description: These photos just make you want to write solely in pencil. [story on one of America's last pencil factory via NY Times]It's hard to believe the Flickr Commons, a space in Flickr for archival photo collections, is 10 years old. [via Library of Congress]Scientists, including a fellow from our National Museum of Natural History, Ligiane Moras, have identified two new species of
Description: As editor E. E. Slosson began setting up the Science Service news office, his mail was flooded with inquiries from potential contributors. Writers and photographers described their accomplishments and submitted samples of their work. One such letter, from Albert Harlingue on April 13, 1921, must have piqued Slosson’s interest, for it coincided with the Washington visit of “a
Description: In the process of scanning glass plate negatives, how do we determine what each image is when it comes with so little information attached?
Description: Link Love: a weekly post with links to interesting videos and stories about archival issues, technology and culture, and Washington D.C. and American history.
Description: SPOILER ALERT! The Getty Museum is summarizing Game of Thrones episodes each Monday on Tumblr. (via Mental Floss)The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has openly released their patent and trademark datasets to developers. (via Info Docket)Daunting - "Archiving a Website for Ten Thousand Years." (via Atlantic)The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery now has a
Description: A couple of years ago, in the process of curating Now is Then, an exhibition for the Newark Museum, I spent some time researching and thinking about the content, meaning and sequential lives of snapshots. Since their introduction in the late 19th century, inestimable numbers of those small, but powerful pictures have been made, looked at and saved—at least for a while.