Description: In a world drowning in images, where we swipe past photos of friends, relatives, and selves in mere seconds, a set of remarkable portraits taken in the 1910s and 1920s by Julian Papin Scott (1877-1961) deserve more considered attention. Sometimes, his subjects appear immersed in work, surrounded by microscopes, beakers, or stacks of books, as if unaware of the photographer.
Description: Exhibit case filled with West African knives, shields and axes from an exhibition of the Herbert Ward African Collection in the Museum of Natural History, MNH-26819H.
Description: Aerial view of the National Mall looking east from the Washington Monument during its first stage of building towards the U.S. Capitol, circa 1881, SIA Acc. 11-006, MAH-8015A.
Description: As the Smithsonian geared up to celebrate its 175th anniversary, the Libraries and Archives decided to revisit the online exhibition From Smithsonian to Smithsonian, created a quarter of a century ago. Today, on the Smithsonian’s birthday, we are pleased to celebrate the launch of a new, refreshed and greatly expanded web exhibition, Smithson to Smithsonian.
Description: When James Smithson wrote his will on October 23, 1826, he made several bequests to people before adding the contingent clause that created the Smithsonian Institution. One bequest was to a resident of London’s notorious East End.
Description: While responding to a digitization request, I uncovered the story of how the Smithsonian International Exchange Service (1849-1992) helped rebuild the library collections of Chinese cultural heritage institutions during the Second World War.