Description: In 1864, Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth sparked people’s imagination, but have you heard that before the novel was published, the Smithsonian attempted a journey of its own.
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="Waldo LaSalle Schmitt at the Cosmos Hotel, Punta Arenas, Chile, Schmitt, curator of Marine Invertebrates, United States National Museum, conducted extensive field work in South America, 1927, by Unidentified photographer, Black and white photographic print, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7231 Box 83 Folder
Description: [edan-image:id=siris_sic_5844,size=250,left]A staff-favorite story in the Smithsonian’s history is that of the Megatherium Club — a revolving group of young naturalists who made the Castle their temporary home in between expeditions to the outer reaches of the United States. Who could not be intrigued by this photo of the Club where they look to be sharing a joke, or a plan?
Description: Dr. Margaret S. Collins became a renowned expert in multiple areas of termite zoololgy during her almost 50-year career as a scientist and professor.
Description: The Freer Sackler Gallery’s efforts to make their large collection of squeezes (paper molds that capture the inscriptions of ancient monuments) into an easy-to-use Web resource received a nice write-up on The Atlantic’s Tech blog [originally posted on the Smithsonian Collections Blog]. David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States, talks about “balancing access and
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="384" caption="Construction of the Pension Building, Designed by Montgomery Meigs, c. 1883, by Unknown photographer, Albumen print, National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center, Image ID: AFS 182."][/caption] One of the first collections that I encountered during my travels through the photography collections of the
Description: Smithsonian Online (SOL) was an online platform through AOL that included Smithsonian images, chats, message boards and other features during the 1990s.
Description: We thought our work was done when a social media follower helped us identify our popular “unidentified male model” as German naturalist Emil Bessels. Then we discovered he may have murdered his captain during the 1871–73 Polaris Expedition.
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="446" caption="Taxidermists Charles R. Aschemeier (right) and Watson M. Perrygo (left) are at work in a laboratory in the United States National Museum (now the National Museum of Natural History) preserving a sailfish caught by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1935, by Unknown photographer, Photographic print, Smithsonian Institution