Description: A forerunner of today’s efforts to decolonize and Indigenize American museums, Tichkematse was one of the first Native American employees at the Smithsonian Institution. His work with natural history and anthropological collections continue to inspire Native and non-Native museum professionals nearly 150 years later.
Description: When Mickey Mouse was used in war propaganda. [via National Museum of American History]NASA is on the search for new planets. [via BBC]The Initiative for Open Citations is attempting to make an open repository of citations. [via Boing Boing]Benjamin Franklin's papers are now online at Library of Congress. [via LOC blog]Service training for DC police officers — a visit to the
Description: In addition to physical damage and deterioration of storage media, the technological complexity and dependency of electronic records make them uniquely vulnerable to loss, corruption, and alteration (both accidental and malicious). To achieve long-term preservation of fragile born-digital materials, digital archivists need a plan.
Description: [edan-image:id=siris_sic_12311,size=250,right]Walking into the rotunda of the National Museum of Natural History one immediately comes face to face with the Fénykövi Elephant (also affectionately known as Henry). Taken at a glance, the African elephant is impressive and imposing, standing over guests to a tune of 13 feet and 2 inches when measured at the shoulder. The Fénykövi
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: This is the latest post in our "Hot Topix" series. In each quarterly edition we show you what the reference team has been up to, and bring you some of the more notable inuqires we have received.Vicarious research is one of the great joys of the reference desk at the Smithsonian Institution Archives. From our front-row (well, only-row) seat outside the reading room, we catch