Description: [edan-image:id=siris_sic_12123,size=250,left]It is a simple answer really: We counted. From 1978 to 1983, the Smithsonian undertook a comprehensive inventory of its collections. It was the first time the Smithsonian had ever tried to count each object in its collections and it was a massive task. Over five years, staff from every museum and research center spent thousands of
Description: Spectacular natural events, like eclipses, have long been the bread-and-butter of science journalism. Science Service, too, succumbed to the lure of combining colorful, firsthand descriptions with technical explanations.
Description: Librarians at the White House Historical Association have digitized 25,000 previously uncatalogued slides! [via CNN]In case you missed it, the blog, Missing Scientists' Faces, shared 28 days of African American female scientists during Black History Month. [via @MissingSciFaces]Check out some of the Digital Public Library of America's primary source sets for Women's History
Description: Dr. Elizabeth Cottrell, Geologist and Director of the Global Volcanism Program at the National Museum of Natural History, researches volcanoes to improve our understanding of how the plate-tectonic cycle, or continental drift, is oxidizing and hydrating the deep Earth. #Groundbreaker
Description: Each week, the Archives features a woman who has been a groundbreaker at the Smithsonian, past or present, in a series titled Wonderful Women Wednesday.
Description: The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) has undergone many name changes over the years. One of these – the National Collection of Fine Arts (NCFA) – was in use from 1937 to 1980. During this time, the NCFA underwent several exciting changes. After years of being housed in multiple locations and several failed attempts to build a permanent building, the collection moved to