Description: [edan-image:id=siris_arc_383399,size=180,right]Vicarious research is one of the great joys of the reference desk at the Smithsonian Institution Archives. From our front-row (well, only-row) seat outside the reading room, we catch tantalizing glimpses of our patrons’ manifold research topics.The reference team fields around 6,000 queries per year. Ask us what people have been
Description: [caption id="attachment_8323" align="aligncenter" width="448" caption="Smithsonian employees attend the 2010 Smithsonian Digitization Fair. Photograph by Michael Barnes."][/caption] For two days in mid-September, Smithsonian Institution employees gathered for a digitization fair to share ideas and hear about some neat projects. Even those who work here are impressed by
Description: [caption id="" align="alignright" width="193" caption="Camel cigarette advertisement from Vanity Fair, 1934, by Unknown creator, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, ID: SIL7-78-03."][/caption] Cigarettes and gardenias . . . The Smithsonian Institution Libraries blog checks out old trade literature on women, commerce, and society. Beautiful digital flipbooks at Mediastorm. I
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="336" caption="South Beach, Miami, Florida, 2004, Courtesy of the TypArchive: www.typarchive.com."] [/caption] A visual archive of hand-painted and cool old signage [via @leetranlam]. Check out the Smithsonian Libraries’ extensive links to online exhibitions created by libraries and archives. Catch the spirit! The Gospel Music History
Description: The Smithsonian Institution Archives manages the cold storage vault at the National Museum of American History where approximately 3 million negatives are stored.
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="425" caption="The package containing the Hope Diamond is presented to Smithsonian Secretary Dr. Leonard Carmichael, The donor, Harry Winston, shipped the diamond through the regular United States Postal Service via first-class mail; the postage cost him $2.44, plus $142.85 for $1 million dollars worth of insurance, November 10, 1958,
Description: There are 145 collection items at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, and their new Objects of Wonder exhibit looks at how scientists use these collections to further our understanding of the world! (via Buzzfeed)Get cozy while you research! Folger Shakespeare Library lends out handmade shawls to visitors. [via Atlas Obscura]Students from the College of
Description: Most archival “discovery” stories are bogus, but this one (from the Smithsonian’s Joseph Cornell Study Center) is very, very cool! [via Artnet]DCist features some of the objects from the Library of Congress's new Rosa Parks exhibit. [via DCist] [edan-image:id=siris_sic_9968,size=450,center]Medieval medical manuscripts depict unrealistically happy patients. [via Onisillos