Description: It can be so frustrating to put great effort into something, and then to have your work and achievements called into question. I can't begin to imagine how frustrated Samuel Pierpont Langley was in 1903. By that time, he had spent over forty years studying astrophysics and aerodynamics. His work on astronomically-derived time measurement in the late 1860's is the heart of the
Description: The Buddhist Shrine Room is coming back better than ever with the re-opening of the Freer Sackler. [via Smithsonian Magazine]Your last chance to catch the major David Bowie retrospective is at the Brooklyn Museum March 2nd-July 15th, 2018. [via Art Newspaper]Get your gif on this month with DPLA's annual contest, GIF IT UP!Five previously-unpublished Kurt Vonnegut stories
Description: Each week, the Archives features a woman who has been a groundbreaker at the Smithsonian, past or present, in a series titled Wonderful Women Wednesday.
Description: Kjell Bloch Sandved worked as a photographer for the National Musuem of Natural History for 32 years and his Photographic Files captured the Museum’s staff at work in 1975.
Description: Link Love: a weekly post with links to interesting videos and stories about archival issues, technology and culture, and Washington D.C. and American history.
Description: [caption id="attachment_541" align="alignleft" width="144" caption="Inscription inside Lincoln's watch, by Hugh Talman, 2009, National Museum of American History"][/caption] Does photography always report on the past? Recently, as part of the Lincoln Bicentennial celebration, the Smithsonian took a closer look at a rare Lincoln object that possessed a secret message.
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="Mountain Chief, Chief of Montana Blackfeet, in Native Dress With Bow, Arrows, and Lance, Listening to Song Being Played On Phonograph and Interpreting It in Sign Language to Frances Densmore, Ethnologist, March 1916, by Harris & Ewing, Smithsonian National Anthropological Archives"][/caption] I received an interesting
Description: What's changed, and hasn't — the Fair Housing Act 50 years later. [via National Museum of American History]A 1749 book, The Governess, advocated for female literacy when the literacy rate was 40% in England. [via Smithsonian Magazine]The Library of Congress has archival materials of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and records on historical Supreme Court cases now