Description: The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery and National Museum of African American History and Culture acquired a portrait of Henrietta Lacks, the African American woman whose cells were unknowingly contributed to over 10,000 medical patents, aiding research and benefiting patients with polio, AIDS, Parkinson’s disease and other conditions. [via Smithsonian
Description: Last week, Dr. Cynthia Chavez Lamar was named director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Chavez Lamar has worked at the Museum throughout her career, from an internship in 1994 to her current role as acting associate director for collections and operations. Between 2000 and 2005, she was an associate curator, leading the work on “Our Lives,” one of
Description: On New Years Day 2015, the 44,000 works of art in the Smithsonian’s Freer | Sackler collection will be available online. [via WAMU] Dumpster diving! The National Museum of American History added a copy of the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Atari 2600 game found in a landfill to their collection. [via O Say Can You See, National Museum of American History]The grand re-opening of
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Steven Cohn, the Smithsonian’s Office of Safety, Health and Environmental Management and the museum’s representative Industrial Hygienist, tests Owney's fur for arsenic, lead and mercury. Courtesy of the National Postal Museum "Pushing the Envelope" blog."][/caption] More interesting preservation challenges. We’ve covered
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="" align="aligncenter" width="368" caption="The first flight on December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina with Orville Wright at the controls of the Wright Flyer, by Unidentified photographer, Photographic print, Smithsonian Institution Archives Record Unit 95 Box 25 Folder 41, Negative Number: 2002-12169."][/caption] On this day in 1903 the Wright Brothers
Description: Women's History Month edition, continued!The story of fossil seller and paleontologist Mary Anning (for whom the "She Sells Seashells" rhyme was possibly written), in Peeps. [via The Last Word on Nothing]A look at the WWI Women's Land Army composed of "farmettes" who went outside the home to address the national food shortage. [via LOC Blog]For 25 cents an hour, less than
Description: A new exhibition offers a chance to explore the world of Grand Tour travel in the late eighteenth century, similar to that experienced by the Smithsonian’s own founding donor, James Smithson.