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: Research has been at the core of Smithsonian’s mission from the beginning, and sharing that research—through activities like publishing papers and data—is still key to fulfilling that mission for the “increase and diffusion of knowledge.”
Description: In honor of the anniversary of the discovery of x-rays, a look inside the Foucault pendulum that used to hang at the National Museum of American History.
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: Before Congress created the National Zoo, the Smithsonian's Department of Living Animals kept it’s collection of animals behind the Castle.
Description: Marines are investigating a possible case of mistaken identity in the iconic WWII Iwo Jima photo. [via NPR]The little known history behind Cinco de Mayo. [via Smithsonian Magazine]A short film on the Smithsonian's incredible whale skeleton collection. [via Hakai Magazine]The Prelinger Archives has published 6600 public domain films to the Internet Archive! [via Open Culture]A
Description: The Smithsonian Institution Archives recently digitized over 300 images of Washington, D.C. from the 1920s. Read more about the collection here, and check out the photographs, which are now available on Smithsonian Collections Search Center as well as on the Flickr Commons. Intern Amanda Kaufman writes about the collection, which she helped digitize this summer, below. How
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="403" caption="Untitled, 2001, by Susan Watts, Digital photograph, National Museum of American History, Behring Center, Division of Information Technology and Communications, Courtesy of Susan Watts/New York Daily News, Image No. watts012."][/caption] Given how quickly photographs are spread by the news and social media, we’ve come to
Description: This piece is part two in a series of posts about Smithsonian Institution Archives’ (SIA) paper conservator and interns working on stabilizing a 1921 panoramic photo of air mail pilots and crews that is being moved to the National Air and Space Museum’s (NASM) Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Also see part 1 and a related post on NASM's blog. [caption id="attachment_7587"
Description: In 1982, the Smithsonian Institution paid homage to the birth of the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, born January 30, 1882, through six new exhibits.