Description: To celebrate Women’s History Month, here are two examples of 20th-century women who applied their education and expertise in geology and paleontology outside traditional university career paths.
Description: There is a remarkable figure in the Smithsonian’s history that doesn’t get much of the spotlight; Thomas W. Smillie. He served as the Smithsonian’s first official photographer from 1870 until his death in 1917, and additionally became the Smithsonian’s first photography curator in 1896. Smillie amassed a collection of photographic equipment starting with the purchase of the
Description: Watch a recently-digitized video clip featuring Japanese Ceramics Today, an exhibition at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in 1983.
Description: [edan-image:id=siris_sic_14715,size=250,left] By now you have probably heard of Robert Kennicott, either because of his involvement with the Megatherium Club, or because of the article and blog post on his death that was published last year. I, however, tend to associate him with the Western Union Telegraph Expedition, a collecting mission to Alaska that proved to be his last.
Description: In December 1978, Gloria Steinem met with the Smithsonian Institution Women’s Council (SIWC) to advise the group on carrying out the work of change at the Smithsonian and to broaden members’ understanding of the women’s movement. As described by attendees, the conversation was “dynamite…great…wonderful.” One member expressed her surprise at finding Steinem so agreeable;
Description: The Smithsonian Institution Archives recently acquired the papers of Ursula Marvin, a Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory geologist who has studied meteorites and lunar samples.