Description: On January 16, 1907, a man carrying packages asked a carpenter for directions to a former colleague's office in the U.S. National Museum. Minutes later, that man pulled a rifle out of one of the packages and murdered an illustrator working for the Smithsonian.
Description: After extensive renovations of the Old Patent Office Building that houses the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture held a grand opening July 1, 2006.
Description: I’ve been inspired by the snowflakes Wilson A. Bentley photographed through a microscope in the late 1800's ever since I first saw them in the Archives. Bentley donated 500 of his photographs to the Smithsonian in 1903 (you can read more about them in a post by Archives colleague, Courtney Esposito). The images capture nature at its most creative, mathematical, and elegant.
Description: "Kin and Communities: The Peopling of America" seminar with Wilton S. Dillon, Dr. Margaret Mead, and Lucille Dawson, by Richard Hofmeister, SIA Acc. 11-009, 76-7580-17.
Description: Although fun and easy to use, post-it notes are often harmful to archival records, as seen with the conservation of Cordelia Rose’s recently acquired scroll.
Description: To celebrate International Migratory Bird Day on May 9th, we will be releasing recently digitized specimen drawings by ornithologist Robert Ridgway (1850-1929.) Ridgway's career with the Smithsonian began in 1864 when he wrote asking for help identifying a bird. As they say, the rest is history. Starting in 1869, Ridgway became curator at the Smithsonian's United States
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="393" caption="Tennessee v. John T. Scopes Trial: The seven scientists asked to testify for the defense standing in front of the Defense Mansion, 1925, by Watson Davis, Black and white photograph, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Image # SIA2008-1146"][/caption] We are nearing the 2nd anniversary of the Smithsonian launching on the