Description: It was brilliant to work at the Smithsonian Institution Archives (SIA) this past summer as a conservation intern helping to restore damaged books from SIA’s Reference Room. This primary research library includes many histories and annals published by the Smithsonian from the 1880s through the 20th century, and in the process of learning different ways to conserve some of them,
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Glass lantern slide of Roscrana in Glencoe, Illinois, 1930. The garden includes white tulips, blue forget-me-nots and allee of trees. Unidentified Photographer. Archives of American Gardens, Smithsonian Institution. "][/caption] In the 1960s, during the process of planning a kitchen remodel at its headquarters in New York
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="237" caption="Georgia O'Keeffe, 1920, by Alfred Stieglitz, Photographic print, Archives of American Art, Local Number: AAA 440 (fr. 508)."][/caption] I confess, way back when as a student of American Modernism, I was never much interested in Georgia O’Keeffe. I was supposed to be. She was the lone, out-there, woman painter of America;
Description: Before becoming the Director of the Diné College Museum in Arizona, Harry Walters spent three months at the Smithsonian learning techniques for the care and handling of artifacts, including their identification, description, conservation, storage, and exhibition.
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="296" caption="This image from Mercury mission number four taken on Sept. 13, 1961 is just one of the many images that was written on by engineers. Credit: NASA/JSC/Arizona State University."][/caption] On May 16th, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the vicinity of Cape Canaveral to watch the Endeavor, the NASA space shuttle,
Description: Like Lou Costello or Mo of the Three Stooges whenever I hear the name “Niagara Falls” I pause and take a turn. One turn is to, of course, remember the classic comedy routine (when I was growing up it seemed to play on TV all the time) that involves the interactions between a once prosperous and educated bum and an unsuspecting citizen who doesn’t have a clue about the
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Photograph of airmail planes at Elko, Nevada, by unknown photographer, c. 1920, Smithsonian National Postal Museum."][/caption] Just last week, we uploaded some new photos of early US airmail from the National Postal Museum to the “People and the Post” set on the Flickr Commons. I was immediately drawn in by the portraits
Description: [caption id="attachment_7450" align="aligncenter" width="379" caption="A broken glass plate negative, Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Archives."][/caption] We are in the throes of summer here in Washington DC, and that means three things: heat, more heat, and interns. Interns not only allow us to share expertise and experience with newcomers to the field, but also allow
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="271" caption="Untitled, by unidentified photographer, date unknown, Anacostia Community Museum."][/caption]Wedding season is upon us, and so it is no wonder that this beauty, with her frothy veil and layers of lace has been very popular on the Smithsonian Flickr Commons.