Description: Roxie Collie Laybourne pioneered the field of forensic ornithology through her study of bird feathers, which has meant improved aviation safety.
Description: Before Uncle Beazley, the popular life-size model of a triceratops, made its way to its final destination at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, he stopped at a couple other destinations around the Institution.
Description: When I started working with museums in 2005, the concept of crowdsourcing was in its infancy. That year, James Surowiecki ‘s book, “The Wisdom of Crowds,” was published and there were tiny experiments in crowdsourcing occurring in the cultural heritage sector. There were hesitations and objections about the whole concept within the GLAM (gallery, library, archive, museum)
Description: Thirty-six years ago today, M*A*S*H: Binding Up the Wounds opened at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, and the response was overwhelming.
Description: Handwriting is a personal passion of mine, despite it having become something of a lost art. Today, when most people think of handwriting at all, it is as a greatly individual method of writing recognizable characters, regardless of the writing system, but in the past, when you could make a living as a scribe, there were highly standardized styles.
Description: If you are a regular reader, or someone who works for a museum, library, or archive, you intimately understand the difficulty in managing big collections. If you’re not in this world, you do understand how hard it is to manage family photographs, a collection of email love letters, or the folder tucked in the bottom of your closet with old college papers. When you multiply
Description: While Lucile Mann’s contributions to zoological history have often been reduced to her work raising infant animals, her work with the National Zoo and resulting publications demonstrate that her legacy should be reexamined.
Description: [caption id="attachment_7261" align="alignleft" width="430" caption="Advertisement on Fifth Avenue in New York City, 2010, Photo courtesy of Marvin Heiferman."][/caption] You’ve probably noticed, in recent years, that in order to attract shoppers’ attention retail establishments have been filling both exterior and interior display spaces with big, colorful, and evocative
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
Description: In December 1978, Gloria Steinem met with the Smithsonian Institution Women’s Council (SIWC) to advise the group on carrying out the work of change at the Smithsonian and to broaden members’ understanding of the women’s movement. As described by attendees, the conversation was “dynamite…great…wonderful.” One member expressed her surprise at finding Steinem so agreeable;
Description: Among the many photos in the Archives' collections are images from the Panamanian island, Coiba, where former Smithsonian Secretary Alexander Wetmore, conducted ornithological research. We've featured some of these images on the blog before, and I always wondered about their captions, which mentioned that Coiba was a penal colony.
Description: To commemorate the Smithsonian’s 175th anniversary on August 10, 2021, the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives is launching a web exhibit that sheds new light on English chemist James Smithson’s gift to found the Smithsonian.
Showing results 373 - 384 of 605 for Smithsonian Institution yesterday & today (Monograph : 1990)