Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="424" caption="U.S. National Museum, May 3, 1917, seen from the National Mall, by Unknown photographer, Photographic print, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 45, Box 79, Folder: 10, Neg. SIA2009-2203."][/caption] As part of my work as the historian for the history of the Smithsonian, I’ve been working for the past year on
Description: [edan-image:id=siris_sic_9654,size=225,left]Spencer Fullerton Baird was a visionary and can be rightfully credited as a co-creator of the Megatherium Club. Through his position as Assistant Secretary at the Smithsonian, and then Secretary in 1878, Baird corresponded with many of the great naturalists and explorers of his time, in hopes that they would help build the