Description: Why would a fashion video appear on an environmental blog? That’s the question I found myself asking while performing web quality assurance (aka web QA) on the blog for the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), which has more to do with fish than it does with fashion. As an intern in the Digital Services Division at the Smithsonian Institution Archives, my work in
Description: At SPI, we were sad to learn that Jessie Cohen died earlier this week. Jessie was one of the photographic mainstays at the Smithsonian; she started working at the Smithsonian National Zoo in 1979, photographing animals, their living quarters, and behind-the-scenes events for exhibition, education, and marketing purposes. In addition, Jessie also managed the Zoo’s exhibition
Description: Read a brief history of the gelatin dry plate negative and learn about the work being done at the Smithsonian Institution Archives to preserve this glass plate negative photographic format.
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Glass lantern slide of Roscrana in Glencoe, Illinois, 1930. The garden includes white tulips, blue forget-me-nots and allee of trees. Unidentified Photographer. Archives of American Gardens, Smithsonian Institution. "][/caption] In the 1960s, during the process of planning a kitchen remodel at its headquarters in New York
Description: Even though the world is becoming increasingly more electronic, many of us still have an abundance of things not created or saved in digital format. Whether it's old letters, original architectural drawings from the house your grandfather built, books, photographs, or home movies on Super 8, figuring out how to store these things can be difficult. [caption id="attachment_7890"
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="424" caption="U.S. National Museum, May 3, 1917, seen from the National Mall, by Unknown photographer, Photographic print, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 45, Box 79, Folder: 10, Neg. SIA2009-2203."][/caption] As part of my work as the historian for the history of the Smithsonian, I’ve been working for the past year on