Description: These photos just make you want to write solely in pencil. [story on one of America's last pencil factory via NY Times]It's hard to believe the Flickr Commons, a space in Flickr for archival photo collections, is 10 years old. [via Library of Congress]Scientists, including a fellow from our National Museum of Natural History, Ligiane Moras, have identified two new species of
Description: As Director of the Smithsonian Photography Initiative, I’m often asked what makes the Smithsonian photography collections interesting and unique. For me, the answer is less about size – although, the Smithsonian does have more than 13 million photographs of all types – than about function.
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: Within the dynamic field of digital preservation, identifying the possibilities to maximize workflow is paramount to ensuring the greatest level of efficiency in digital asset management.
Description: Preservation intern discusses working with oversize materials in the Archives collection, including information on the creation of custom enclosures, surface cleaning of blueprints, and humidification.
Description: Digital strategist Effie Kapsalis was dedicated to building bridges between Smithsonian collections and audiences. In a Smithsonian career spanning nearly twenty years, Effie mobilized her colleagues to share more diverse stories, break down barriers to access, and fight for gender and racial equity in the cultural heritage sphere. Sadly, we lost Effie on December 11, 2022.
Description: There is a remarkable figure in the Smithsonian’s history that doesn’t get much of the spotlight; Thomas W. Smillie. He served as the Smithsonian’s first official photographer from 1870 until his death in 1917, and additionally became the Smithsonian’s first photography curator in 1896. Smillie amassed a collection of photographic equipment starting with the purchase of the