Description: Amy Ballard is a senior historic preservation specialist emerita with the Smithsonian’s Architectural History and Historic Preservation Office, where she worked between 1985 until her retirement in 2016. She was promoted to senior historic preservation specialist in 2010. Ballard has contributed to plans for new buildings, including the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the
Description: Mary E. RiceSmithsonian Institution Archives Oral History Collection, SIA009622The Smithsonian’s Division of Worms welcomed Dr. Mary E. Rice (1926-2021) to the invertebrate zoology team in 1966. As she pioneered her way through her education and career, Rice seized every opportunity that came her way.
Description: During debates about the Smithsonian’s founding, the idea of using James Smithson’s bequest for a botanic garden was included in several drafts of the bill considered by Congress. In 1850, President Millard Fillmore commissioned America’s preeminent landscape designer Andrew Jackson Downing to design plans for the National Mall, including grounds around the Smithsonian Castle,