Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Photograph of airmail planes at Elko, Nevada, by unknown photographer, c. 1920, Smithsonian National Postal Museum."][/caption] Just last week, we uploaded some new photos of early US airmail from the National Postal Museum to the “People and the Post” set on the Flickr Commons. I was immediately drawn in by the portraits
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="221" caption="Uniformed Letter Carrier with Child in Mailbag, by Unidentified photographer, c. 1900, National Postal Museum."][/caption] Since the Smithsonian began uploading photos to the Flickr Commons, there have been some clear crowd favorites. The photo above, for example, is by far our most popular photo on the Flickr Commons,
Description: Throughout his twenty-five years as a Science Service journalist, Frank Thone maintained an active correspondence with fellow scientists and conservationists. His letters in the Smithsonian Institution Archives both preserve his wit and offer a glimpse at the informal networking that helped shape how Americans perceived the natural world. One of Thone’s correspondents was a
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="288" caption="Owney Embarks on his Makeover, photo courtesy of National Postal Museum, Pushing the Envelope blog."][/caption] Owney the Railway Mail Service dog is about to undergo conservation to improve his appearance and will be tweeting about the whole process on his very entertaining Twitter feed. You all know about our passion
Description: Art-inspired pumpkins. [via Hyperallergic]Gif's turned art. [via Wired]Our neighbor, the National Gallery of Art, just reopened their beautiful east wing and it has a stunning blue friend. [via Washington Post]Loved the Renwick Gallery's Wonder exhibit? You can now experience it in VR! [via DCist]The powerful symbolism in Nat Turner's bible. [via Smithsonian Magazine]Nashville
Description: Volunteers have been an integral part of the Smithsonian since the beginning. As our historian Pamela Henson likes to say, we have always relied on the kindness of strangers. A blog post in honor of Volunteer Appreciation Month 2015. Includes a list of Smithsonian crowdsourcing projects that volunteers can participate in.
Description: Oral history interviews sometimes reveal the central role that a mentor can play in the life of a young person, changing the road taken in that person’s life.
Description: Ellen Roney Hughes’ supposition in 1999 was “Well, I think it’s still a man’s world at the Smithsonian.” This may hold some validity due to recent discoveries at the Smithsonian.
Description: On Monday, October 27th, four of our finest 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 fourth year hosting this event and