Description: This National Preparedness Month, collections care professionals might consider joining their local Alliance for Response initiative to improve their organizations, practices, and programs.
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: In their efforts to document the history of computing at the Smithsonian, volunteers are interviewing former staff to preserve their stories and experiences. Ching-hsien Wang was a force that helped libraries and archives make their collections accessible online and here are some early excerpts from our interview with her.
Description: On January 24, 1925, for the first time in over a century, a total solar eclipse would be visible across the northern part of the United States. How scientists used a dirigible to observe the phenomenon.
Description: Did you know that April is Records and Information Management Month? What is records and information management? Glad you asked! [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Dan Brown Books, by Federico Filacchione, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."][/caption] Information is collected data, thoughts, ideas, or memories. Records are documents that contain information
Description: A closer look at staff member Henry Horan (1838-1896), who held several positions at the Smithsonian, including janitor, watchman, and superintendent of buildings, during his long career at the Institution.