Description: How photos from the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Gardens help preserve the memory of gardens (such as the Middlegate Japanese Gardens pictured above) that are now gone. The Museum of the Future has a great roundup of videos and blogs about museums, technology, and media. An update on earthquake damage at the Smithsonian, and hear Smithsonian Secretary (and earthquake
Description: [caption id="attachment_1356" align="aligncenter" width="251" caption="Tommy Dodgen, age 4, standing by the largest lamp in the world : Tampa, Florida, by unknown photographer, 1947, State Library and Archives of Florida, Commerce Collection."][/caption] The cover shot of Popular Science’s July issue, which focuses on the future of energy, uses some interesting new
Description: [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="251" caption="Joseph Henry, first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution (1846-1878), and his wife, Harriet Henry, and their daughters Caroline, Helen and Mary with croquet mallets on the grounds of the Smithsonian Institution Building, c.
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="National Museum of Natural History physical anthropologists Lucille St. Hoyme (1924-2001), J. Lawrence Angel (1915-1986), and Thomas Dale Stewart (1901-1997) hold a seventeen and one half foot long beard found in a North Dakota attic, 1967, by Unidentified photographer, Photographic print, Smithsonian Institution
Description: [edan-image:id=siris_sic_5844,size=250,left]A staff-favorite story in the Smithsonian’s history is that of the Megatherium Club — a revolving group of young naturalists who made the Castle their temporary home in between expeditions to the outer reaches of the United States. Who could not be intrigued by this photo of the Club where they look to be sharing a joke, or a plan?
Description: The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Library of Congress were able to pool funds to purchase a rare photo of a young Harriet Tubman. [via Washington Post]The Audobon profiles Smithsonian scientist, Roxie Laybourne, who started the field of forensic ornithology which identified birds involved in plane strikes and led to improved
Description: Readers of The Bigger Picture will be familiar with the Hungerford Deed, a 1787 property contract dividing a lucrative land inheritance between the mother and aunt of the Smithsonian’s founding donor, James Smithson. Over the last three years I have been able to take a deep dive into the content of the Deed and strengthen our understanding of Smithson’s choice to leave his
Description: A rare meeting of the scientific minds at the 92nd Annual British Association Conference in 1924, captured by Science Service journalist Watson Davis.
Description: A daily photo highlight from Smithsonian collections. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="422" caption="The operation of the Baker-Nunn camera, located at the Smithsonian Station in Shiraz, Iran, is explained to Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, April 26, 1959, by Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Photographic print, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit