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: Have you ever wondered why museums choose the exhibition topics they do? These are the kinds of questions that the Smithsonian Institution Archives’ historic records of exhibitions can sometimes help us answer. An idea could stem from the personal interest of a curator, reflect an institution’s holdings, be inspired by comments from a visitor, or be designed around a specific
Description: The Smithsonian Institution has long been known for both its original research and its exhibitions. But, it was not until 1980 that the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) first exhibited an on-going active research project, the world's first indoor living coral reef.[edan-image:id=siris_sic_7411,size=450,center]In the late 1960s, when NMNH paleobiologist Walter H. Adey
Description: A clause in the last will and testament of English scientist James Smithson eventually led to his estate being left to the United States "to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.” There was much debate as to what constituted such an establishment, but many of the proposals