Description: Eliza Scidmore was a lifelong photographer, writer, and world traveler. In addition to facilitating a gift of cherry blossom trees from Japan to the U.S. capital, Scidmore donated her time, photographs, and some artifacts to the Smithsonian’s collections. She also accessed the world through colonial channels that she reinforced with her writings.
Description: On June 16, 2006, Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum changed its name for the third time, signaling a renewed focus on local Black history and beyond.
Description: [edan-image:id=siris_sic_8807,size=250,left] In the institutional archivists' world, there is constant discussion about what we save and why we save it. While there are many reasons why this is such a pointed concern, one of the main factors institutions consider when deciding what to collect is the relevance of a collection's contents to the institution's mission.
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption=""EXIT" sign in the Smithsonian Institution Building (i.e. "The Castle Building"), by Adam Gerard, Creative Commons: Attribution BY-NC-SA 2.0."][/caption] We agree, Adam! The Smithsonian “Castle” takes the cake for vintage details. Via @voteprime on Twitter: “I am fascinated by this EXIT sign I saw at the Smithsonian
Description: For the next installment of “Miscellaneous Adventures,” we’ve taken a dive into blank standardized forms once used at the Smithsonian, found in Record Unit 65, Smithsonian Institution Chief Clerk, Forms, Circulars, Announcements, 1846-1933, Box 14, Folder Miscellaneous Forms – Assorted. And these forms are certainly assorted! The contents range from memorandum forms to
Description: Today was the kickoff of the International Year of Chemistry 2011, and so we wanted to take the chance to introduce you to some of the chemists from our collections featured on the Smithsonian’s Flickr Commons. Our Flickr Commons sets are filled with photos both of chemistry greats that even the non-scientifically inclined among us celebrated in grade-school textbooks, and
Description: As a remarkable auction of artifacts of a bygone aristocratic world takes place, we look at a surprising connection between Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe and the Smithsonian’s founding benefactor, James Smithson
Description: As the Preservation Intern at the Archives this summer, my main project was part of a massive re-organization of the oversized map cases at the Archives. An introduction to that project can be found in blog posts by previous interns, Caitria Sunderland and Margaret Rose Hunt. However, when taking breaks from the cool climate of collections storage, I worked on rehousing the
Description: When museum visitors match the artwork. [via artFido]The Smithsonian's Secretary, David Skorton, is convening thought-leaders to discuss critical issues Americans are facing, starting with immigration. The International Federation of Television Archives' Innovation award went to Radio.Garden, a website that allows you to browse radio stream geographically. [via Sound and