Description: As a laborer at the Smithsonian from 1882 until his death in 1918, Harrison Lomax served the Institution’s top leaders. A letter in our collections that he wrote to Secretary Samuel P. Langley is an example of the ways in which African American employees advocated for themselves in order to earn promotions and raises.
Description: On January 24, 1925, for the first time in over a century, a total solar eclipse would be visible across the northern part of the United States. How scientists used a dirigible to observe the phenomenon.