Description: When it comes to the Smithsonian Transcription Center, there’s always more to discover, more material with which to engage. It can be easy to lose track of just how much our crowd of #volunpeers accomplished and why it is so important to us. We’re not done yet, but after four years, it’s a good time to take a step back and see what has been accomplished through the effort of
Description: Born in 1829 to free black parents along the border between Maryland and the District of Columbia, Solomon Galleon Brown would become, at age 23, the first black employee of the Smithsonian. Starting out as a laborer in the Exchange Office, he ultimately became the personal assistant of Spencer Baird, the second secretary of the Smithsonian. By the time of his 1904 retirement,
Description: The 1846 legislation that established the Smithsonian Institution provided for a Secretary, appointed by the Board of Regents, who would run the day-to-day affairs of the Institution. When David Skorton became Secretary last year, he was the thirteenth person to take on that responsibility. In our last blog, we discussed the first six and now we’ll look at seven through