Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption=""EXIT" sign in the Smithsonian Institution Building (i.e. "The Castle Building"), by Adam Gerard, Creative Commons: Attribution BY-NC-SA 2.0."][/caption] We agree, Adam! The Smithsonian “Castle” takes the cake for vintage details. Via @voteprime on Twitter: “I am fascinated by this EXIT sign I saw at the Smithsonian
Description: In 1925, seven George Washington University students volunteered to stay awake for sixty hours, and drove, danced, sang, and swam in an effort to remain alert.
Description: A brief biographical sketch of Thomas R. Henry, who served in WWI, was a War Correspondent in the field during WWII, participated in the “Operation High Jump” exploration of Antarctica (1946-1947,) served the Smithsonian as a press writer, and The Washington Evening Star as a science writer.
Description: This is the latest post in our "Hot Topix" series. In each quarterly edition we show you what the reference team has been up to, and bring you some of the more notable inuqires we have received.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
Description: In 1864, Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth sparked people’s imagination, but have you heard that before the novel was published, the Smithsonian attempted a journey of its own.
Description: Many of us read, write and send emails every day, but when did it all start at the Smithsonian? In 1980 Smithsonian staff had typewriters and telephones on their desk, with one or two FAX machines per office. The Smithsonian operated a single general purpose computer, the Honeywell mainframe, for all Smithsonian data processing applications and which did not include an email
Description: In this next edition of our Miscellaneous Adventures, choose your own adventures by diving into the folders yourself in the Smithsonian Transcription Center.
Description: Smithsonian Libraries and Archives recently welcomed Tamar Evangelestia-Dougherty as our inaugural director. Join us as we get to know the new leader of our organization!
Description: Investigating digital files from the 1980s turns up software that let people play matchmaker–for endangered species. Let’s see where this leads.
Description: Did you know that April is Records and Information Management Month? What is records and information management? Glad you asked! [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Dan Brown Books, by Federico Filacchione, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."][/caption] Information is collected data, thoughts, ideas, or memories. Records are documents that contain information
Description: This blog post was edited in October 2021 for clarification. While surveying and collecting specimens in the Aleutian Islands in 1871-1872 for the United States Coast Survey, later renamed the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, naturalist William Healey Dall befriended George Tsaroff (1858-1880), an Unangan (Aleut) teen from Unalaska Island who had been hired as local
Description: Masks and endless sanitizing again? What has the Smithsonian done during past pandemics? We’ll look back to the public health emergency in 1918.
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