Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="Photo shoebox upset, by Stephen Cummings, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."][/caption] I recently took a position as photograph archivist at the Smithsonian Institution Archives and hope to be able to share through this blog some of the processes we are undertaking to make our photographic collections more useful and
Description: [caption id="attachment_2064" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Photographs of Paul and Julia from page 262 of My Life in France, by Thérèse-Marie Blazek of feastingonpixels.blogspot.com."][/caption] If you haven’t seen Nora Ephron’s latest film Julie & Julia yet, there are several scenes, which indicate that aside from his work for the U.S. government, Julia Child’s
Description: Link Love: a weekly post with links to interesting videos and stories about archival issues, technology and culture, and Washington D.C. and American history.
Description: [edan-image:id=siris_arc_306419,size=200,left]During World War II, Science Service correspondent Emma Reh (1896-1982) spent several years living and working in Paraguay. Her letters home, like the ones written when she worked in Mexico and the American West, typically combined personal and professional news with her colorful descriptions of the countryside and people.Emma had
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="384" caption="Charles Doolittle Walcott (1850-1927) family at "Olmsted," Provo, Utah, c. 1907, by Unidentified photographer, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Science Service Records, 1902-1965 (Record Unit 7091), Image ID: SIA2009-0983."][/caption] Alright, I admit it. I often write about the Walcott family and why not?
Description: [caption id="attachment_1679" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Untitled (Drive-In: Circle Theatre), Steve Fitch, 1976, Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection"][/caption] Media and transportation seem forever linked. As I wrote in a previous post, the portable camera and the bicycle made a very nice pairing in their early years at the turn of the 20th century.
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="Fingers typing, by Simon Steiner, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."] [/caption] You know that sinking, then maddening feeling: you need to find something you’ve carefully put away, but can’t remember where you’ve stored it or how you characterized or labeled it. That common problem, when it’s blown up to institutional
Description: In honor of MayDay – Do One Thing for Emergency Preparedness, 2014, here is an item of interest about a new group at the Smithsonian called Preparation and Response in Collections Emergencies (PRICE) and resources on Incident Command in emergencies for cultural heritage organizations.
Description: Even though the world is becoming increasingly more electronic, many of us still have an abundance of things not created or saved in digital format. Whether it's old letters, original architectural drawings from the house your grandfather built, books, photographs, or home movies on Super 8, figuring out how to store these things can be difficult. [caption id="attachment_7890"