Description: The man who created the Smithsonian's contemporary visual identity system, Ivan Chermayeff, died this week. Here's more on the history of the Smithsonian's identity. [via Smithsonian Magazine]If you're a high school student interested in design, you have until February 12 to enter the Cooper Hewitt's competition for design solutions to make the everyday more accessible! Also
Description: The 1846 legislation that established the Smithsonian Institution provided for a Secretary, appointed by the Board of Regents, who would run the day-to-day affairs of the Institution. When David Skorton became Secretary last year, he was the thirteenth person to take on that responsibility. In our last blog, we discussed the first six and now we’ll look at seven through
Description: Eliza Scidmore was a lifelong photographer, writer, and world traveler. In addition to facilitating a gift of cherry blossom trees from Japan to the U.S. capital, Scidmore donated her time, photographs, and some artifacts to the Smithsonian’s collections. She also accessed the world through colonial channels that she reinforced with her writings.
Description: For the next installment of “Miscellaneous Adventures,” we’ve taken a dive into blank standardized forms once used at the Smithsonian, found in Record Unit 65, Smithsonian Institution Chief Clerk, Forms, Circulars, Announcements, 1846-1933, Box 14, Folder Miscellaneous Forms – Assorted. And these forms are certainly assorted! The contents range from memorandum forms to
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="421" caption="Smithsonian's pilot aluminum-can recycling program started early in February 1990. Forty-four containers like the one pictured were placed at the National Museum of American History (NMAH), National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), National Air and Space Museum, and the Museum Support Center, 1989, by Jeff Tinsley,
Description: Senior scientist, Dr. Cynthia Gilmour, is the Director of the Microbial Ecology Lab at the Smithsonian's Environmental Research Center where studies microbes that produce methylmercury in order to reduce the risk of mercury pollution. #Groundbreaker
Description: As the Lichtenstein Foundation closes, half a million documents are coming to the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art! [via NY Times]Bitcoin is entering the art market. [via Mutual Art]Hyperspectral scanning reveals Picasso's process during his "blue period." [via The Star]What could possibly connect Abraham Lincoln to vampires? The Smithsonian's National Museum of American
Description: Link Love: a weekly blog feature with links to interesting videos and stories regarding archival issues, the Smithsonian, and Washington D.C and American history.