Description: Joan Madden, Assistant Director for Education, 1987–88, Supervisory Information and Education Specialist, 1980–86, and Education Coordinator, 1974–80, was integral to the development and management of the Discovery Room and Naturalist Center at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. She also managed volunteers for Smithsonian’s Office of Elementary and Secondary
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: The Smithsonian Institution Building, or the “Castle,” is the most iconic of all the Smithsonian’s 769 facilities, which include its nineteen museums, nine research centers, National Zoo, and all of its other establishments. The Castle was the first building constructed specifically for the Smithsonian after it was founded in 1846. On March 19, 1847, a contract was signed with
Description: [caption id="" align="alignright" width="168" caption="Canna indica L., identified by P.J.M. Maas & H. Maas, Cusco, Peru, National Museum of Natural History, Botany Department, Catalog Number: 1998001."][/caption] The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History Botany Department just added over 1,300 images to the Smithsonian Collection Search Center! Some gorgeous
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="384" caption="Construction of the Pension Building, Designed by Montgomery Meigs, c. 1883, by Unknown photographer, Albumen print, National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center, Image ID: AFS 182."][/caption] One of the first collections that I encountered during my travels through the photography collections of the
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.