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: Dr. Elizabeth Cottrell, Geologist and Director of the Global Volcanism Program at the National Museum of Natural History, researches volcanoes to improve our understanding of how the plate-tectonic cycle, or continental drift, is oxidizing and hydrating the deep Earth. #Groundbreaker
Description: Claudine K. Brown began her long career with Smithsonian as the Director of the African American History Project, 1990–1995, developing a program plan for the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Brown also served as Smithsonian’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Arts and Humanities, 1991-1995. She returned to the Smithsonian in 2010 as Assistant
Description: In 1864, Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth sparked people’s imagination, but have you heard that before the novel was published, the Smithsonian attempted a journey of its own.
Description: Have a little fun with images from our collections that have been designated as open access. Anyone can now download, transform, share, and reuse millions of images as part of Smithsonian Open Access.
Description: Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery has a new show on the history of silhouettes, a pre-photography method for capturing an individual's likeness. [via Artsy]"How To File Catalogs" and more Office 101. [via Smithsonian Libraries]What do archives look like before they come to clean boxes and folder arrangement? Yikes. [via Cambridge University Library Special
Description: I was intrigued to receive a tweet from a digital colleague over at the NY Times pertaining to a family story that could very well be solved at the Archives. I’m continuously surprised at the variety of papers we hold here, but by now, I shouldn’t be given how far-reaching and varied the scope of the Smithsonian has been through history. Back to the story. THE elephant that