Description: It does not take long for today’s visitors to one of the Smithsonian Institution’s nineteen museums to find themselves engulfed within the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex. The flood of world’s fairs in the late nineteenth century played a central role in placing the Smithsonian en route to that unparalleled distinction. The New Orleans World’s
Description: Manjula Kumar was a Project Manager and Project Director in various offices around the Smithsonian, including the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Education and Public Service and the Center for Education and Museum Studies, between 1985 and 2015. She organized multicultural programming and directed the award process for proposals submitted to the Educational Outreach
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: Ellen Roney Hughes’ supposition in 1999 was “Well, I think it’s still a man’s world at the Smithsonian.” This may hold some validity due to recent discoveries at the Smithsonian.
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: August is National Parks Month, a time to celebrate the resources that have been preserved across the country for the public. In August of 1916, the US Congress created the National Park Service which today provides access to unparalleled natural beauty and treasured sites in American history.
Description: Meredith Smith Diggs was employed at the Smithsonian in different capacities and was closely associated with the second Secretary of the Smithsonian, Spencer Fullerton Baird. Through Diggs' correspondence we can get a small glimpse of his life and work at the Smithsonian.