Description: Link Love: a weekly blog feature with links to interesting videos and stories regarding archival issues, the Smithsonian, and Washington D.C & American history.
Description: While digitizing the collection of Smithsonian entomologist Doris Holmes Blake, I discovered a treasure trove of correspondence that sheds light about growing up as a young woman in the mid-20th century and the story of an intimate mother-daughter relationship.
Description: Archives are often used by genealogists to create their family histories. Often it's a tedious process that can involve many repositories throughout the country or even the world, but the final product can be fascinating. Take, for instance, Melbourne ("Mel") Romaine Carriker's Vista Nieve: The Remarkable True Adventures of an Early Twentieth Century Naturalist and His Family
Description: [edan-image:id=siris_sic_13754,size=400,center]When people think of a Smithsonian exhibit, they probably don’t think of one filled with documents from an archives! A piece of paper doesn’t grab your attention from across the room, as the Fénykövi elephant or Chuck Berry’s car do. But on closer inspection, handwritten scraps have fascinating stories to tell. They can be
Description: The Smithsonian’s scientists and naturalists were, and still are, constantly on the move. When they weren’t in the field, they were in the museum studying collected specimens, writing papers, and getting ready for the next series of trips. Dr. Waldo LaSalle Schmitt (1887-1977) was no exception.Logistics is a special skill, an essential one when traveling on scientific
Description: [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="251" caption="Veiled Woman with Pearls, c. 1890, by Antoin Sevruguin, Gelatin silver print, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Myron Bement Smith Collection, Gift of Katharine Dennis Smith, 1973–85, Image ID: 2.07."][/caption] The Archives of the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery contain a collection of