Description: This summer Visiting Professional Laura Wahl had the chance to learn more about how to respond to the problem of mold residues found on archival materials. The Smithsonian Affiliations’ Visiting Professionals Program allowed her to spend time at the Smithsonian Institution Archives’ conservation lab researching this topic.
Description: Bridget Shea was the manager of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Samuel P. Langley IMAX Theater and the Albert Einstein Planetarium, 1992–97, and manager of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s Samuel C. Johnson IMAX Theater, which she also helped design, 1997–2000. Shea supervised the operations of the theaters and prioritized accessibility
Description: Investigating digital files from the 1980s turns up software that let people play matchmaker–for endangered species. Let’s see where this leads.
Description: As National Museum of African American History and Culture opens, let’s look at the first efforts to establish a National African American Museum.
Description: In celebration of Preservation Week, we’ll take a look at a recently created custom housing for a fragile fabric-covered box found within Accession 18-009.
Description: Caroline Newman, Executive Editor, Smithsonian Press, 1989–2008, brought many popular Smithsonian titles into publication. She also managed relationships with outside publishers seeking partnerships with the Smithsonian. #Groundbreaker
Description: When I started working with museums in 2005, the concept of crowdsourcing was in its infancy. That year, James Surowiecki ‘s book, “The Wisdom of Crowds,” was published and there were tiny experiments in crowdsourcing occurring in the cultural heritage sector. There were hesitations and objections about the whole concept within the GLAM (gallery, library, archive, museum)
Description: When you think of the National Museum of Natural History, what comes to mind are probably inanimate things—rocks and dinosaur bones, cultural objects, and stuffed animals. But did you know that the museum has a collection of live insects? Today is the 35th anniversary of the opening of the permanent installation of the Insect Zoo, though the Zoo actually began as a temporary