Description: Collections here at the Archives span over 171 years of Smithsonian history and include personal papers of the many notable people who have been part of its work in science and culture. Cryptic and coded content is not unusual here. One would expect special vocabulary in the accessions of scientific observations. For example, notations of depth, temperature, and sounding and
Description: [edan-image:id=siris_sic_9246,size=500,center]THE BIGGER PICTURE's “Wonderful Women Wednesday” series profiles the female curators, directors, and research scientists who have risen to prominence in their careers at the Smithsonian.These stories of broken glass ceilings are fascinating, but they barely scratch the surface of the Smithsonian’s female workforce through the
Description: Readers of The Bigger Picture will be familiar with the Hungerford Deed, a 1787 property contract dividing a lucrative land inheritance between the mother and aunt of the Smithsonian’s founding donor, James Smithson. Over the last three years I have been able to take a deep dive into the content of the Deed and strengthen our understanding of Smithson’s choice to leave his
Description: Read a brief history of the gelatin dry plate negative and learn about the work being done at the Smithsonian Institution Archives to preserve this glass plate negative photographic format.