Description: In August 1996, the Smithsonian marked its 150th anniversary with a huge birthday celebration on the National Mall. For its sesquicentennial, a term which this author constantly forgets no matter how many times she looks it up, the Institution threw itself a two-day birthday party, sprinkled with special exhibit tents, concerts, nineteen birthday cakes, a special website, and
Description: There is a remarkable figure in the Smithsonian’s history that doesn’t get much of the spotlight; Thomas W. Smillie. He served as the Smithsonian’s first official photographer from 1870 until his death in 1917, and additionally became the Smithsonian’s first photography curator in 1896. Smillie amassed a collection of photographic equipment starting with the purchase of the
Description: The Smithsonian Institution Archives will be celebrating African American History Month throughout February with a series of related posts on THE BIGGER PICTURE.
Description: A rare meeting of the scientific minds at the 92nd Annual British Association Conference in 1924, captured by Science Service journalist Watson Davis.
Description: A daily photo highlight from Smithsonian collections. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="404" caption="Passenger pigeon group exhibit in Bird Hall in the National Museum of Natural History after the Exhibits Modernization Program, 1956, by Unknown photographer, Photographic print, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 95 Box 44 Folder 5, Negative number:
Description: In celebration of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, this is the second in a series of installments from Smithsonian Institution Archives staff highlighting women in science photographs. We will post portraits of women science here throughout the month. In a 1930s movie about hotshot newspaper reporters, you might hear the star (Jimmy Cagney, probably) yell