Description: Toward the end of a long day last week, tired of looking at and thinking about still pictures, I decided to take a break to check out what kinds of videos about photography had been posted on YouTube. The key word "photo" yielded 885,000 videos and feeling a little daunted, I started scanning the first couple of hundred to see what turned up. All the how-to videos about
Description: On Thursday, October 22nd, four of our archivists/conservators were available on the Smithsonian's Facebook page to answer questions about preserving your own archival collections. The four archivists at the Q&A have specialties in the preservation and organization of audio/visual material, photos, and digital records (email, digital video, etc.) This is our fifth year hosting
Description: [edan-image:id=siris_sic_10581,size=200,left]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 tantalizing glimpses of our patrons’ manifold research topics.The reference team fields around 6,000 queries per year. Ask us what people have been
Description: How photos from the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Gardens help preserve the memory of gardens (such as the Middlegate Japanese Gardens pictured above) that are now gone. The Museum of the Future has a great roundup of videos and blogs about museums, technology, and media. An update on earthquake damage at the Smithsonian, and hear Smithsonian Secretary (and earthquake
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="196" caption="Pioneers to the Past, Exhibition catalogue, Image courtesy of The Oriental Institute of The University of Chicago."][/caption] Archives now! The Oriental Institute of The University of Chicago has just opened an exhibition, Pioneers to the Past: American Archaeologists in the Middle East 1919-20, in a very interesting
Description: [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="181" caption="Edmonia Lewis, National Portrait Gallery"][/caption] In Kodak and the Lens of Nostalgia (2000), Nancy Martha West describes how the company—marketing the first box cameras in the 1890s—aggressively targeted female consumers, hoping they’d “see photography not only as a necessary component of domestic life but as an integral
Description: The Hirshhorn and neighboring areas are enveloped in polka dots, and we love it. [via Washington Post]A new African American history treasure trove; digitized post-Civil War 'wanted ads' searching for love ones separated by slavery. [via NPR]11 African American inventors (including the Smithsonian's own Regent, Dr. Shirley Jackson) who changed the world. [via Mental Floss]The
Description: How can photography help us see things that would otherwise go unnoticed in our everyday lives? How does photography change our perception of the world? If you have ideas about this, consider contributing your image and story to the new click! photography changes everything call for entry: "Seeing Other Worlds." While you’re at it, check out some of our click!