Description: Vicarious research is one of the great joys of the reference desk at the Smithsonian Institution Archives. From our front-row (well, only-row) seat outside the reading room, we catch tantalizing glimpses of our patrons’ manifold research topics.The reference team fields thousands of questions per year.
Description: For the month of March, the Smithsonian Institution Archives will be posting about interesting women from our collections in honor of Women’s History Month. Over the past two years, I have had the privilege of watching the Smithsonian Institution Archives’ Video History Collection interviews while they were digitized. One of my favorites is Black Aviators (RU 9545) because of
Description: [caption id="attachment_11498" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Out of The Depths, or, the Triumph of the Cross by Nellie Arnold Plummer. AHC 2003.0025.1, in its custom clamshell box after full conservation (inset: before treatment condition), Courtesy Nora Lockshin and Anacostia Community Museum."][/caption] The Smithsonian Institution Archives will be
Description: [view in Spanish][edan-image:id=siris_sic_6874,size=185,left]Alexander Wetmore, ornithologist and avian paleontologist, was the Smithsonian's sixth Secretary (1945-1952). As a young biologist with the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey, Wetmore conducted extensive fieldwork in Latin America. He spent 1911 in Puerto Rico studying bird life, and later traveled through South