Description: During debates about the Smithsonian’s founding, the idea of using James Smithson’s bequest for a botanic garden was included in several drafts of the bill considered by Congress. In 1850, President Millard Fillmore commissioned America’s preeminent landscape designer Andrew Jackson Downing to design plans for the National Mall, including grounds around the Smithsonian Castle,
Description: Spring edition! British Library is digitizing the last surviving play script by William Shakespeare pleading for the humane treatment of refugees. [via The Guardian]Why Ben Franklin would hang out at libraries today. [via the Atlantic]Wall of Birds, a new interactive from artist Jane Kim and Cornell Lab ornithologists. A local wins the National Portrait Gallery's 2016 Outwin