Description: An overview of the history of Martha the passenger pigeon, the last of her species, who was donated to the National Museum of Natural History 100 years ago.
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: [edan-image:id=siris_arc_287602,size=250,left]As a child in England in the 1930s, Oliver Sacks enjoyed playing with his Uncle Abe’s spinthariscope. It was, he would later recall, “a beautifully simple instrument, consisting of a fluorescent screen and a magnifying eyepiece, and inside, an infinitesimal speck of radium.We take a look at the spinthariscope at the Smithsonian.
Description: I was intrigued to receive a tweet from a digital colleague over at the NY Times pertaining to a family story that could very well be solved at the Archives. I’m continuously surprised at the variety of papers we hold here, but by now, I shouldn’t be given how far-reaching and varied the scope of the Smithsonian has been through history. Back to the story. THE elephant that
Description: Before you head to “Deep Time,” opening this weekend at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, learn about how Smithsonian’s fossil collection was initially formed and exhibited.
Description: Whether you have a little downtime or you wish you remembered what downtime was like, the Archives is here for you with a few distance learning activities and organization tips.
Description: A daily photo highlight from Smithsonian collections. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="266" caption="Portrait of John MacLean (1800-1886), President of Princeton College and a citizen member to the Smithsonian Board of Regents from New Jersey, Date unknown, by Unknown photographer, Photographic print, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 95 Box 16 Folder 48,
Description: A daily photo highlight from Smithsonian collections. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="248" caption="Gown and cape worn by Jacqueline Kennedy, wife of President John F. Kennedy, 1961-1963, to the Inaugural Ball, c. 1960s, by Unknown photographer, Photographic print, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 95, Box 53, Folder 4, Negative number: 50202."][/caption]
Description: Did you know that Joseph Francis invented the first metal life-saving boat? Or that Gail Borden invented the process for creating condensed milk? Neither did I until I heard The World Is Yours episode titled “Unheraled American Inventors,” which originally aired on April 4, 1937.Where most of the episodes I’ve listened to begin with the host walking up to two people while they
Description: People everywhere are helping the Smithsonian Institution Archives make more of its collections deeply accessible through helping transcribe field books, journals, and diaries in our collections.
Showing results 409 - 420 of 731 for Presidents -- United States -- History