Results for "Presidents -- United States"
Spotlight: Carl William Schuermann, Jr., Property Clerk
- Date: October 28, 2021
- Creator: Marguerite Roby
- Description: We're taking a closer look at Carl William Schuermann, Jr., a Smithsonian property clerk with an interest in ornithology.
Sweet Caroline
- Date: November 18, 2014
- Creator: Marguerite Roby
- Description: The Kennedy Family presents their twin engine Convair CV-240, "Caroline" to the Smithsonian.
- Blog Post
The Smithsonian's 165th Anniversary
- Date: August 10, 2011
- Creator: Pamela M. Henson
- Description: Exactly 165 years ago today, legislation establishing the Smithsonian Institution was passed by the US Congress and signed into law by President James K. Polk. From today’s perspective, it seems like a “no-brainer” to accept a generous bequest from a little-known Englishman named James Smithson and create an institution in his name. But from the perspective of that era, the
- Blog Post
Controversy in the “Castle”
- Date: November 10, 2011
- Description: Access the official records of the Smithsonian Institution and learn about its history, key events, people, and research.
- Blog Post
See Here: 10/13/2010
- Date: October 13, 2010
- Creator: The Bigger Picture
- Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="Vice President Nelson Rockefeller and Secretary S. Dillon Ripley greet Queen Elizabeth II outside the Smithsonian Institution Building (SIB) or "Castle," July 8, 1976, during her visit to the United States to commemorate the Bicentennial of the American Revolution, 1976, by James Wallace, Black and white photographic
- Blog Post
Discoveries Don’t Happen in an Armchair
- Date: November 27, 2018
- Creator: Ricc Ferrante
- Description: The 19th century was a transformative time for the natural sciences. New discoveries didn't just happen in an armchair. Scientists adventured into unfamiliar territory by land and sea on expeditions, and their new findings fed new theories. Groups like the Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences formalized America's place
- Blog Post
Publicity, Politics, and Physics
- Date: March 10, 2010
- Creator: Marcel Chotkowski LaFollette
- Description: Long ago and far away, before gray hairs and creaky knees, before history became my passion, I was an undergraduate physics major. Physics seemed fascinating and beautiful, if difficult. Later, after career paths led into history and science policy, I learned that physics, however elegant, did not reside in a cultural vacuum. Its people and discoveries coexisted with
Walking in the Footsteps of Hungerfords
- Date: September 15, 2022
- Creator: William Bennett
- Description: Readers of The Bigger Picture will be familiar with the Hungerford Deed, a 1787 property contract dividing a lucrative land inheritance between the mother and aunt of the Smithsonian’s founding donor, James Smithson. Over the last three years I have been able to take a deep dive into the content of the Deed and strengthen our understanding of Smithson’s choice to leave his
International Travels of the Australian Canis Dingo: Part II
- Date: June 15, 2017
- Description: The cultural history of the Australian dingo and the species’ connection to the National Zoo.
Wait. Did That Really Happen? Potential Poison on the Polaris
- Date: August 13, 2020
- Creator: Emily Niekrasz
- Description: We thought our work was done when a social media follower helped us identify our popular “unidentified male model” as German naturalist Emil Bessels. Then we discovered he may have murdered his captain during the 1871–73 Polaris Expedition.
- Blog Post
Science Service, Up Close: White House Science Advisors, from Roosevelt to Nixon
- Date: May 11, 2017
- Creator: Marcel Chotkowski LaFollette
- 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.
“The Proper Thing to Do": James Smithson’s Journey to Washington
- Date: June 27, 2019
- Creator: Emily Niekrasz
- Description: On the 190th anniversary of the death of Smithsonian founding donor James Smithson, we’re taking a look back at his posthumous journey, led by Alexander Graham Bell, to his final resting place in Washington, D.C.