Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="President Gerald Ford, former astronaut and NASM Director Michael Collins, and Secretary S. Dillon Ripley with satellite ribbon-cutting apparatus on July 1, 1976, are ready for the opening day ribbon-cutting ceremony at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM), 1976, by Unidentified photographer, Photographic print,
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: Did you know that Joseph Francis invented the first metal life-saving boat? Or that Gail Borden invented the process for creating condensed milk? Neither did I until I heard The World Is Yours episode titled “Unheraled American Inventors,” which originally aired on April 4, 1937.Where most of the episodes I’ve listened to begin with the host walking up to two people while they
Description: In 2019, the Smithsonian faced the repercussions of the nation’s longest-ever government shutdown, but the institution is no stranger to the dreaded furlough.
Description: Have a little fun with images from our collections that have been designated as open access. Anyone can now download, transform, share, and reuse millions of images as part of Smithsonian Open Access.
Description: The multi-talented William Henry Holmes contributed to the Smithsonian as an artist, explorer, geologist, archeologist and museum director.
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="425" caption="The package containing the Hope Diamond is presented to Smithsonian Secretary Dr. Leonard Carmichael, The donor, Harry Winston, shipped the diamond through the regular United States Postal Service via first-class mail; the postage cost him $2.44, plus $142.85 for $1 million dollars worth of insurance, November 10, 1958,
Description: The Christmas Bird Count was begun in 1900 by the Audubon Society. Many Smithsonian staff have participated in it in the decades since then.