Description: The American Foundation for the Blind launched the Helen Keller Archive, the world's first fully accessible digital archive comprised of more than 160,000 artifacts. [via PR Newswire]Ahead of his major retrospective at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, artist Trevor Paglen shares his views on the social and political implication of surveillance systems and artificial
Description: Vernacular photography is the latest type of photography to be discovered by museums. Postcards, collected by Walker Evans (but still, postcards), have just been exhibited by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and a tintype exhibition just closed at the International Center of Photography in New York, another exhibit of snapshots was seen at the National Gallery of Art.
Description: We thought our work was done when a social media follower helped us identify our popular “unidentified male model” as German naturalist Emil Bessels. Then we discovered he may have murdered his captain during the 1871–73 Polaris Expedition.
Description: Amy Ballard is a senior historic preservation specialist emerita with the Smithsonian’s Architectural History and Historic Preservation Office, where she worked between 1985 until her retirement in 2016. She was promoted to senior historic preservation specialist in 2010. Ballard has contributed to plans for new buildings, including the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the
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: Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Media Arts, Dr. Asma Naeem, was an attorney and public servant prior to studying art history, and researches the history of technology and the sensorial imagination of both artist and beholder. #Groundbreaker
Description: The Smithsonian Castle sits just over a mile away from Washington D.C.’s most notable address,1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. We are more than just a short walk away from the White House, however—we are directly tied to it and its occupants. Not only does the Smithsonian collect the history of United States Presidents (including, yes, Lincoln’s top hat and even the hair of a few