Description: Solar eclipse trips can have lasting effects on an astronomy student’s life, as NASM’s David DeVorkin tells us about the 1970 Yale Observatory expedition and beach party to view an eclipse at Nantucket.
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: Here at the Smithsonian we love to observe. So of course on August 23, 2011, at 1:51 PM, when a 5.8 magnitude earthquake shook the Washington, DC region and many of us with it, we immediately started to observe what happened and how we could document it. As the Institution's historians, inevitably we needed to know, had this happened before and what were the effects? After
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="Privacy And Control, by Michael Pickard, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."][/caption] It’s a sign of the times that we’re being watched often and everywhere. Surveillance, a word that once summoned up all things intrusive and sneaky, is part of everyday lexicon and experience.
Description: As the Director of Science Service, chemist Edwin Emery Slosson not only edited the submissions of his staff and external contributors but he also dispensed writing tips that remain timely today.
Description: Memoranda have been with us for decades. While their purpose remains the same, their form and appearance have changed over the years. This short video gives a brief overview of how memoranda found in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution Archives evolved over time.
Description: [caption id="attachment_4184" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Obama Billboard in Times Square, New York, January 7, 2010, Courtesy of Marvin Heiferman."][/caption] Both the media and Times Square were aflutter recently over a photograph of President Obama used without permission on a huge two-sided billboard in midtown Manhattan to advertise men’s coats.
Description: The first woman to start a bank, Maggie L. Walker, the daughter of a slave, gets a statue commemorating her in Richmond, Virginia. [via WAPO]A pop-up museum in Amsterdam is helping refugees work with their past. [via NY Times]The new Wikipedia podcast, Wikipedia Weekly #123, discusses WikiCite, Wikidata, and how Zotero is getting added to the mix! [via Wikipedia Weekly] Two
Description: [caption id="attachment_564" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="Taft Voting, by Bain News Service, publisher, 1912, Library of Congress, LC-B2- 2442-16"][/caption] It’s against the law to photograph certain things, at certain times, in certain places. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently reported that a photograph of an election ballot in a mayoral race—showing the name
Description: In honor of Archives Month, it’s time for the Smithsonian’s annual Facebook Q&A where the public can ask questions about preserving and organizing their own collections!
Description: Snuggle up and pass the popcorn because the Smithsonian American Art Museum and New-York Historical Society teamed up for a #MuseumHolidayMovies marathon. [via SAAM]Five climate experts are giving us hope. [via Earth Optimism][edan-image:id=siris_arc_386150,size=450,center]The New York Times reviews the decade through photographs. [via New York Times]The National Museum of
Description: Late in July, LENS, a New York Times blog that focuses on images and issues photographic, posted an interesting story by James Estrin. Magnum Photos, the legendary co-operative photo agency founded after World War II by photographers including Robert Capa and Henri Cartier Bresson, announced that to boost the visibility (and paid use) of the hundreds of thousands of images it