Description: It does not take long for today’s visitors to one of the Smithsonian Institution’s nineteen museums to find themselves engulfed within the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex. The flood of world’s fairs in the late nineteenth century played a central role in placing the Smithsonian en route to that unparalleled distinction. The New Orleans World’s
Description: While teleworking for the last year, the Archives has been busy capturing web content that documents the Smithsonian’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Description: We all screamed for ice cream at the old-fashioned ice cream parlor at Smithsonian's National Museum of American History between 1981 and 2006.
Description: Uta C. Merzbach was the Smithsonian's first curator of mathematical instruments. She brought her field to life with unique presentations of mathematical concepts and computer history.
Description: The Smithsonian Institution Building, or Castle, was designed by architect James Renwick, Jr. Construction began in 1847 and was finished in 1855. The statue in front of the Castle, which is visible in many of these postcards, is of Joseph Henry, who was the first Secretary of the Smithsonian. The postcards in this gallery provide exterior views of the Castle.