Description: A daily photo highlight from Smithsonian collections. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="Launching of Malcolm Forbes hot-air balloon on March 31, 1983 on the National Mall. Forbes offered his balloon, a replica of the Forbes chateau in France, for ceremonies dedicating the Postal Service's stamp commemorating 200 years of hot-air ballooning, by Richard K.
Description: This is the latest post in our "Hot Topix" series. In each quarterly edition we show you what the reference team has been up to, and bring you some of the more notable inuqires we have received.Vicarious research is one of the great joys of the reference desk at the Smithsonian Institution Archives. From our front-row (well, only-row) seat outside the reading room, we catch
Description: May 11 is the anniversary of establishment of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). That 1976 legislation further ratified the influence of scientists on national policy, positioning them to provide ready advice to the President.
Description: [edan-image:id=siris_sic_13754,size=400,center]When people think of a Smithsonian exhibit, they probably don’t think of one filled with documents from an archives! A piece of paper doesn’t grab your attention from across the room, as the Fénykövi elephant or Chuck Berry’s car do. But on closer inspection, handwritten scraps have fascinating stories to tell. They can be
Description: If the Smithsonian Institution had a hall of fame for Volunteers, then Zoe Martindale would certainly be in line for induction. Martindale started volunteering at the Smithsonian Institution Archives in 1997 immediately after she retired. This past February, Martindale retired again, this time from her volunteer position at the Archvies after over twenty years of service.
Description: [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="251" caption="Photo of William F. Mack, Roentgenologist, by Margrethe Mather, 1922, National Museum of American History, Behring Center, Division of Information Technology and Communications"][/caption] Just how closely do radiologists look at what they’re supposed to be analyzing? Would knowing whose CT scans they were studying make
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="Intersection of Adelaide and Creek Streets, Brisbane 1893 flood, State Library of Queensland - Negative number: 61449, Courtesy Wikimedia Commons."][/caption] A huge donation and lots of new photos to browse: the State Library of Queensland donates 50,000 photos to Wikimedia Commons [via Resource Shelf]. Thoughts on why
Description: Archived correspondence between Joseph Hirshhorn and modern artists Willem de Kooning, Alexander Calder, and Marc Chagall bring light to the means in which we communicate artist to collector relationships in the digital era.