Description: As a remarkable auction of artifacts of a bygone aristocratic world takes place, we look at a surprising connection between Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe and the Smithsonian’s founding benefactor, James Smithson
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Silver Fox Rabbit at the Kid's Farm, 2008, by Meghan Murphy, National Zoological Park. "][/caption] Five years in the making, the Kid's Farm at the National Zoological Park opened in June 2004.
Description: President John F. Kennedy's doodles were given a new dimension by local Washington, D.C. sculptor Ralph M. Tate and the Anacostia Community Museum.
Description: Link Love: a biweekly post with links to interesting videos and stories about archival issues, technology and culture, and Washington D.C. and American history.
Description: [caption id="" align="alignright" width="167" caption="The Mona Lisa, between 1503 and 1505, by Leonardo da Vinci, Oil on poplar, The Louvre Museum."][/caption] Scientists have discovered the secret behind Mona Lisa’s beguiling smile by using x-ray technology [via More Intelligent Life]. And while we're at it, scientists use UV light to reveal how awesomely gaudy the colors of
Description: Ruth B. MacManus and Gertrude Brown bonded over their heavy workloads and shared experiences as working women in the Great Depression. Together, they helped improve a publication that does not bear their names: the Smithsonian Scientific Series.
Description: 435 high resolution book plates of gorgeous illustrations from Audubon's The Birds of America are now available for free download! [via Hyperallergic]And after you're done with the plates, check out peacock feathers under a high magnification lens, by artist Waldo Nell. [via Wired]University students are working to save the remaining copies of a black-owned newspaper, The