Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="Photo shoebox upset, by Stephen Cummings, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."][/caption] I recently took a position as photograph archivist at the Smithsonian Institution Archives and hope to be able to share through this blog some of the processes we are undertaking to make our photographic collections more useful and
Description: Volunteers have been an integral part of the Smithsonian since the beginning. As our historian Pamela Henson likes to say, we have always relied on the kindness of strangers. A blog post in honor of Volunteer Appreciation Month 2015. Includes a list of Smithsonian crowdsourcing projects that volunteers can participate in.
Description: [caption id="" align="alignright" width="254" caption="Untitled (In the Movie House Watching "Haunting of Hill House"), ca. 1950, Weegee, Gelatin silver print on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum Museum purchase, 1988.45."][/caption] Weegee on news photography: “I will walk many times with friends down the street and they'll say, ‘Hey, Weegee. Here's a drunk or two drunks
Description: [caption id="attachment_3939" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Prehistoric paintings, Lascaux caves, France. Photo courtesy of Prof saxx, Wikimedia Commons."][/caption] Roger Shattuck, teacher, writer, and cultural critic (The Banquet Years, his study of turn of the 20th century French avant-garde stands as one of the best cultural histories ever produced), once wrote
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="393" caption="Tennessee v. John T. Scopes Trial: The seven scientists asked to testify for the defense standing in front of the Defense Mansion, 1925, by Watson Davis, Black and white photograph, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Image # SIA2008-1146"][/caption] We are nearing the 2nd anniversary of the Smithsonian launching on the