Description: Have you ever wondered how our staff preserves the oversize collections at the Smithsonian Institution Archives? Here is an intern’s perspective on preserving the personal collection of Alexander Dallas Bache.
Description: At SPI, we were sad to learn that Jessie Cohen died earlier this week. Jessie was one of the photographic mainstays at the Smithsonian; she started working at the Smithsonian National Zoo in 1979, photographing animals, their living quarters, and behind-the-scenes events for exhibition, education, and marketing purposes. In addition, Jessie also managed the Zoo’s exhibition
Description: The Renwick Gallery has just reopened after a two-year renovation, reinventing itself yet again. Its history has mirrored the history of the nation.
Description: This American Archives Month, we teamed up with archivists and conservators around the Smithsonian for five Instagram takeovers to highlight the breadth of the Institution's audiovisual collections.
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="274" caption="Untitled, 1950/printed 1982, by Roy DeCarava, Gelatin silver print on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by Henry L. Milmore, 1992.15.3."][/caption] Last week American photography lost another of its grand masters. Roy DeCarava died at the age of 87 in New York on October 27th. He was an
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="310" caption="Group of Young Women in Costume During Arrival Reception For Tourists Near Plane at Airport, by Gerald James Holton, 1968, National Museum of Natural History, National Anthropological Archives."][/caption] I came across these photos of tourists on Easter Island on our site and their presence has kind of baffled me.
Description: [edan-image:id=siris_sic_9273,size=500,center]Have you ever heard of Smithsonian Park? If you are visiting the Smithsonian today, probably not. But if you had visited the Smithsonian in the 1850s, it would have been one of the first things you experienced.Smithsonian Park occupied the area between the Smithsonian Institution Building, or the Castle, and Downtown Washington,
Description: The Smithsonian African American Association was formed in 1989 and was an assembly of the Institution's employees who have organized to project a united voice, to have an impact upon pan-institutional policies that affect African Americans, and to convey these concerns to the Smithsonian Administration.
Description: To celebrate the season, we have a series of posts looking at images of summer in the Smithsonian photo archives and collections. To start things off, Mary Savig, Archives Specialist at the Archives of American Art, describes how artists recharged in the summer months. Like eager vacationers everywhere, artists have long escaped to the beach on hot summer days. The shore