Description: Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery has a new show on the history of silhouettes, a pre-photography method for capturing an individual's likeness. [via Artsy]"How To File Catalogs" and more Office 101. [via Smithsonian Libraries]What do archives look like before they come to clean boxes and folder arrangement? Yikes. [via Cambridge University Library Special
Description: A couple of months ago, a few members of the Archives staff went out to the Smithsonian Conversation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Front Royal, Virginia, to collect some records that are being accessioned into our collections. One of the items we were given on this trip was a book detailing the facilities located on the property in Front Royal prior to it being used by the
Description: Smithson's Gift EnduresWhat would James Smithson think if he saw today's Smithsonian Institution—the world's largest museum and research complex?The activities of the Smithsonian Institution 150 years after its founding embody "the increase and diffusion of knowledge" in virtually all the modern interpretations of those words. Millions of sightseers each year enjoy Smithsonian