Description: What happens when you have information about a historic photograph that is contradictory? How do you decide what information is correct? Check out how one historian grapples with these mysteries.
Description: Born in 1829 to free black parents along the border between Maryland and the District of Columbia, Solomon Galleon Brown would become, at age 23, the first black employee of the Smithsonian. Starting out as a laborer in the Exchange Office, he ultimately became the personal assistant of Spencer Baird, the second secretary of the Smithsonian. By the time of his 1904 retirement,
Description: While responding to a digitization request, I uncovered the story of how the Smithsonian International Exchange Service (1849-1992) helped rebuild the library collections of Chinese cultural heritage institutions during the Second World War.