Description: Bonanza! A gorgeous medieval illuminated manuscript from the University of Aberdeen is now online. [via Hyperallergic]Hello, funny face. A Japanese museum of rocks, with faces! [via Colossal]My childhood favorite wooden 'Little People' just entered the Toy Hall of Fame. [via NPR]Want to save your election day newspaper? Smithsonian's Museum Conservation Institute weighs in.
Description: In honor of Women’s History Month and the 50th anniversary of Smithsonian Libraries, let’s learn about Leila Gay Forbes Clark (1887-1964), the second woman to direct the Smithsonian’s library. She was beloved by the researchers she worked with (really loved in one case….) and began the restructuring of the many small libraries across the Smithsonian.
Description: You have probably heard of Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, and Vixen. Even Comet, Cupid, Donder and Blitzen. And I know you have heard of Rudolph. But do you recall the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s most famous reindeers of all? “Operation Reindeer” was the most publicized event of 1958. Fourteen reindeer and one caribou made their way, sans the open sleigh, to Washington, D.C., for
Description: This post originally appeared on the National Museum of Natural History's blog, Unearthed.Who would think that behind the west wall of NMNH's paleontology hall is a painting of a goddess that created a sensation when installed in 1910? Some of you who visited the museum fifty years ago may remember the captivating Diana of the Tides as she surveyed the hall.Diana was painted
Description: Consider the courage it took for some of the earliest women in science at the Smithsonian to donate their personal papers to the Institution.
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: [caption id="attachment_6524" align="alignright" width="220" caption="Linsey Scott, Intern, and Michael Barnes, Photographer, from the Center of Scientific Imaging and Photography stand in front of the freshly remounted world-record Black Marlin that was caught in 1953 using 130 pound test line by Alfred C. Glascock, Jr."][/caption] I had the recent opportunity to sit down
Description: Dianne van der Reyden was a paper conservator at the Smithsonian from 1981 to 2002. She was hired by the National Museum of American History in 1981 and was promoted to senior paper conservator and head of the paper conservation section before transferring to the Smithsonian’s Conservation Analytical Laboratory in 1984. There, van der Reyden was promoted to head of paper
Description: Eliza Scidmore was a lifelong photographer, writer, and world traveler. In addition to facilitating a gift of cherry blossom trees from Japan to the U.S. capital, Scidmore donated her time, photographs, and some artifacts to the Smithsonian’s collections. She also accessed the world through colonial channels that she reinforced with her writings.