Description: [view in Spanish][edan-image:id=siris_sic_13396,size=150,left]Much of the Smithsonian's early natural history collections came from Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. The fourth Annual Report (1850) discusses several Latin American expeditions, in particular the exploration of islands near Nicaragua by Ephraim G. Squier, who served as U.S. charge d'affaires
Description: Paul Hamilton Allen, botanist, writes in his field book about testing different varieties of corn to determine which is the best for popcorn.
Description: I’ve been inspired by the snowflakes Wilson A. Bentley photographed through a microscope in the late 1800's ever since I first saw them in the Archives. Bentley donated 500 of his photographs to the Smithsonian in 1903 (you can read more about them in a post by Archives colleague, Courtney Esposito). The images capture nature at its most creative, mathematical, and elegant.
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Silver Fox Rabbit at the Kid's Farm, 2008, by Meghan Murphy, National Zoological Park. "][/caption] Five years in the making, the Kid's Farm at the National Zoological Park opened in June 2004.