Description: In 1956, Helena M. Weiss received a letter asking for information about “how to capture them, also how to raise them… what to put them in, also what to feed them.” Interestingly, the letter-writer neglected to specify what he or she meant by “them,” leaving Weiss only to guess what exactly the inquiry was referring to. From 1948 to 1956, Weiss was Chief of the Office of
Description: [caption id="" align="alignright" width="214" caption="Neighborhood Map (Hopkins, 1887), Hand-colored neighborhood map, Office of the Surveyor Map Collection, Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs."][/caption] Looks a lot cooler than it sounds: the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs will post more than a century’s worth of beautiful maps to Flickr [via Effie
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: Each week, the Archives features a woman who has been a groundbreaker at the Smithsonian, past or present, in a series titled Wonderful Women Wednesday.
Description: Each week, the Archives features a woman who has been a groundbreaker at the Smithsonian, past or present, in a series titled Wonderful Women Wednesday.
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Installation View of Smithsonian Photography Exhibition Art Section, by Thomas Smillie, c.
Description: As a postdoctoral fellow at the National Museum of American History, I’ve spent months in the Smithsonian Institution Archives researching a book tentatively titled, Not Naturally a Grass Country: Environment, Plant Genetics, and the Quest for Agricultural Modernization in the Humid World. It’s largely a story about global attempts to replace one form of agriculture—the