Description: As a laborer at the Smithsonian from 1882 until his death in 1918, Harrison Lomax served the Institution’s top leaders. A letter in our collections that he wrote to Secretary Samuel P. Langley is an example of the ways in which African American employees advocated for themselves in order to earn promotions and raises.
Description: Nancy J. Bechtol has supervised all facilities engineering and management needs across the Smithsonian as director of Smithsonian Facilities since 2012. Previously, Bechtol was the director of Smithsonian Gardens, 1995–2002, and director of the Office of Facilities Management and Reliability, 2002–2012. #Groundbreaker
Description: Archives are often used by genealogists to create their family histories. Often it's a tedious process that can involve many repositories throughout the country or even the world, but the final product can be fascinating. Take, for instance, Melbourne ("Mel") Romaine Carriker's Vista Nieve: The Remarkable True Adventures of an Early Twentieth Century Naturalist and His Family
Description: [caption width="189" caption="Wanda Margarite Kirkbride Farr (b. 1895), sitting in lab with microscope, Smithsonian Insitution Archives"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_238" width="162" caption="New Use for Light Reflector, National Museum of American History"][/caption]I was intrigued by a recent post on the National Museum of American History’s (NMAH) blog about the
Description: LaVerne M. Love, Women's Program Manager with the Office of Equal Opportunity, 1973–1980, was the executive officer of the Smithsonian Women's Council and wrote the organization's first bylaws. In 1976–77, she chaired the Civil Service Commission task force on minority women. At the time, she was the highest ranking African American woman at the Smithsonian. #Groundbreaker
Description: Visitors: Share photos of your trip to the Smithsonian museums in this new Flickr set! Tyler Green of Modern Art Notes posts an interview with Secretary Clough that includes a mention of the Smithsonian Photography Initiative and Institution’s overall prioritization of digitizing and archiving photographs. Time sink! The BBC launched a World Music Archive this morning! There
Description: Jane Rosen Glaser was Director of the Office of Museum Programs (1976–89), Special Assistant in the offices of the Assistant Secretary for the Arts and Humanities (1989-94), Assistant Provost (1994-96), and Provost (1996). During her long career with Smithsonian, Glaser organized seminars and conferences for museum professionals and published numerous books and articles about