Description: [caption id="attachment_4184" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Obama Billboard in Times Square, New York, January 7, 2010, Courtesy of Marvin Heiferman."][/caption] Both the media and Times Square were aflutter recently over a photograph of President Obama used without permission on a huge two-sided billboard in midtown Manhattan to advertise men’s coats.
Description: Memorable animated gifs for the directionally-challenged! [via Atlas Obscura]Can't wait for Spring 2019 to see the next GoT? A neural network has written the first chapter. [via Motherboard]The history of toys that have enduring popularity (think Slinky and time will tell on the fidget spinner). [via Inc.]The British Library is considering a single digital portal. [via
Description: A station for the Metro, Washington DC’s subway system, was eliminated from early plans but protest by the Smithsonian ensured it would be built.
Description: You may remember that just over a month ago, we asked for your help ID’ing the locations of early 1900s DC spots from our new Martin A. Gruber set on the Flickr Commons. Well, you all sure did deliver!
Description: The Smithsonian Institution Archives needs your help in strengthening our collections through donations of your time and resources. Please check out our new online donations page.
Description: A forerunner of today’s efforts to decolonize and Indigenize American museums, Tichkematse was one of the first Native American employees at the Smithsonian Institution. His work with natural history and anthropological collections continue to inspire Native and non-Native museum professionals nearly 150 years later.
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Eraser, by Sarah McKenzie, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."][/caption] An interesting story surfaced about a week ago, concerning an over-eager defense lawyer anxiously seeking to expunge not only governmental, but media archives, too, of potentially damaging information or previously published articles about a number
Description: [caption id="" align="alignright" width="193" caption="Camel cigarette advertisement from Vanity Fair, 1934, by Unknown creator, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, ID: SIL7-78-03."][/caption] Cigarettes and gardenias . . . The Smithsonian Institution Libraries blog checks out old trade literature on women, commerce, and society. Beautiful digital flipbooks at Mediastorm. I
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="405" caption="Elizabeth Tashjiaan, American painter, 1912-2007, Smithsonian American Art Museum"][/caption]Looking at this photo of artist Elizabeth Tashjian in our new set of portraits of women artists at the Smithsonian Commons on Flickr, it seemed obvious to me that I was looking at a professionally-trained artist, who in fact, won