Description: [edan-image:id=siris_arc_287602,size=250,left]As a child in England in the 1930s, Oliver Sacks enjoyed playing with his Uncle Abe’s spinthariscope. It was, he would later recall, “a beautifully simple instrument, consisting of a fluorescent screen and a magnifying eyepiece, and inside, an infinitesimal speck of radium.We take a look at the spinthariscope at the Smithsonian.
Description: Nearly two years ago, I first heard of a course on the conservation of Japanese paper co-organized by ICCROM, the cultural heritage arm of UNESCO, and the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (also known in Japanese as “Tobunken”). Over three weeks, the course offered a first-hand look at the traditional Japanese conservation techniques, materials, and
Description: Consider the courage it took for some of the earliest women in science at the Smithsonian to donate their personal papers to the Institution.
Description: In the course of my internship at the Smithsonian Archives’ Digital Services Division I’ve worked with myriad digital records, converting both new material and past accessions into formats that can be more easily preserved. But the most exciting part of my time here came when I was given my very own accession, the Devra G. Kleiman Papers, to work on. My task was to copy all of
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="341" caption="Funeral home, Date unknown, by Scurlock Studio (Washington, D.C.), Silver gelatin on cellulose acetate film sheet, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Scurlock Studio Records, 1905-1994, Call No. 0618.239244."][/caption] The Smithsonian has millions of pictures organized in hundreds of subject based