Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="Fingers typing, by Simon Steiner, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."] [/caption] You know that sinking, then maddening feeling: you need to find something you’ve carefully put away, but can’t remember where you’ve stored it or how you characterized or labeled it. That common problem, when it’s blown up to institutional
Description: Several weeks ago a brown box full of photographs arrived at “The Smithsonian.” Now being that “The Smithsonian” is actually made up of many museums and research centers, this brown box was circulated through several offices before I finally got the call to see if it was something that I wanted. Usually the Smithsonian would rather not receive unsolicited donations. Though,
Description: At the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, we are determined not to let history repeat itself. From our colleagues at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, who research and track birds in the wild, to our Bird House keepers who care for and breed these animals at the Zoo, we are working together to study, understand and protect common birds
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="384" caption="Architect's Model of the Smithsonian Institution Castle, 1846, by Unidentified photographer, Daguerreotype, National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center, Division of Information Technology and Communications, Image ID: AFS 140."][/caption] In 2000, as an answer to the question, “does the Smithsonian have
Description: [edan-image:id=siris_sic_9273,size=500,center]Have you ever heard of Smithsonian Park? If you are visiting the Smithsonian today, probably not. But if you had visited the Smithsonian in the 1850s, it would have been one of the first things you experienced.Smithsonian Park occupied the area between the Smithsonian Institution Building, or the Castle, and Downtown Washington,
Description: A look at Spencer F. Baird's tenure at the Smithsonian establishing a network of collectors to launch the Smithsonian's first official museum.
Description: The theme of this year’s International Migratory Bird Day is unity. The Smithsonian has a longstanding history of commitment to the natural world. No figure in the Institution’s history better exemplifies the theme of unity surrounding migratory species than sixth Smithsonian Secretary and ornithologist Alexander Wetmore. He knew the importance of the role that birds play in