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: Solar eclipse trips can have lasting effects on an astronomy student’s life, as NASM’s David DeVorkin tells us about the 1970 Yale Observatory expedition and beach party to view an eclipse at Nantucket.
Description: Elizabeth Macie née Elizabeth Hungerford Keate (1728–1800) was the mother of James Smithson. She is the central figure and the driving force behind the events recounted in the Hungerford Deed. Macie was a complex individual, keenly aware of her position in society and continually peering backward toward her paternal family’s heritage while hoping to leverage it for her own