Description: Ever heard of The Impossible Project? When Polaroid announced they would stop production of instant film, these folks saved the last Polaroid production plant in the Netherlands, and started to develop new instant film with a small team of former Polaroid employees. Check out some shots of Smithsonian museums taken by Aaron Dunn and created with the fruits of their labor. What
Description: Computer science researchers at the University of Washington and Cornell University have announced a new system of powerful graphics algorithms that will create three-dimensional renderings of buildings, neighborhoods, and potentially even entire cities. Fittingly the inventors went for the gold and named the system PhotoCity. Like its precursor, Microsoft’s Photosynth, the
Description: [caption id="attachment_7288" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Baseball Photographer Trading Card: Ansel Adams, 1975, by Mike Mandel."][/caption] What happens when you mix baseball cards with famous photographers? I’m loving Mike Mandel’s 1975 Baseball Photographer Trading Cards project posted over at Fans in a Flashbulb. The Tenement Museum in downtown New York has
Description: First hired by the Smithsonian in 1871, topographical illustrator William Henry Holmes was well known for paintings that were described as "orgies of pure color." His knowledge of geology, archaeology, anthropology, and ethnology made him a master in the scientific documentation of landscapes. His achievements included important publications on Native American cultures in
Description: BackgroundIn July 2009, Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough spoke of the digital future of museums, libraries, and archives. "We have the capacity to tell the story of America and all its hopes, struggles, triumphs, creativity, contradictions, and courage." "Ultimately, we want to put all of our ... objects ... online so you can access them wherever you live. An overview of
Description: This summer Visiting Professional Laura Wahl had the chance to learn more about how to respond to the problem of mold residues found on archival materials. The Smithsonian Affiliations’ Visiting Professionals Program allowed her to spend time at the Smithsonian Institution Archives’ conservation lab researching this topic.