Description: We thought our work was done when a social media follower helped us identify our popular “unidentified male model” as German naturalist Emil Bessels. Then we discovered he may have murdered his captain during the 1871–73 Polaris Expedition.
Description: As a laborer at the Smithsonian from 1882 until his death in 1918, Harrison Lomax served the Institution’s top leaders. A letter in our collections that he wrote to Secretary Samuel P. Langley is an example of the ways in which African American employees advocated for themselves in order to earn promotions and raises.
Description: While researching my last blog post on the "mad wolf" who escaped from the National Zoo, I came across an old black-and-white photograph in the Smithsonian Institution Archives that caught my eye. The image is grainy, but appears to show a man and a wolf, separated by a chain-link fence, holding each other's rapt attention while the man operates some sort of recorder. Unable
Description: Ron Vasile teaches AP U.S. History, U.S. History and Anthropology at Lockport Township High School in Lockport, Illinois.We bring to you the story of a dedicated naturalist turned museum pioneer.
Description: Barry Hampton played an important role in Division of Reptiles and Amphibians in the Natural History Museum for decades, but recognition was slow to come.
Description: For Draw a Bird Day, Smithsonian Libraries highlights the work of some of the Smithsonian’s youngest scientific illustrators. [via Smithsonian Libraries] [edan-image:id=siris_arc_369082,size=450,center]THE CITY features the archives and museums working to collect documentation of New Yorkers’ experiences during the pandemic. [via THE CITY]The latest in movie recs: historical