Smithsonian Institution Archives

10/05/2021

We have exciting news to share! 🎉

Tamar Evangelestia-Dougherty has been appointed director of Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, effective Nov. 6. An expert in the stewardship, interpretation and acquisition of collections, Evangelestia-Dougherty brings a rich background driving public outreach and cultivating robust print and digital collections across diverse subject matters. ➡ s.si.edu/3FjNapf

We have exciting news to share! 🎉

Tamar Evangelestia-Dougherty has been appointed director of Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, effective Nov. 6. An expert in the stewardship, interpretation and acquisition of collections, Evangelestia-Dougherty brings a rich background driving public outreach and cultivating robust print and digital collections across diverse subject matters. ➡ s.si.edu/3FjNapf

10/05/2021

What’s new on our website?

✨ 3,000 historical images
✨ 790 revised or new finding aids
✨ 76 Finding Aids with new links to digitized material

We can’t wait to see what our researchers dig into! More on the blog → s.si.edu/3FhY7HO

What’s new on our website?

✨ 3,000 historical images
✨ 790 revised or new finding aids
✨ 76 Finding Aids with new links to digitized material

We can’t wait to see what our researchers dig into! More on the blog → s.si.edu/3FhY7HO

10/01/2021

Cuban zoologist Dr. Isabel Pérez Farfante’s journey to the Smithsonian was far from typical.

After she had completed her doctorate 1948 in the United States and was working as a professor and biologist in Cuba, Farfante and her husband, geographer and economist Gerardo Canet, learned they had been blacklisted by the government after Canet declined to accompany Che Guevara on a trip abroad. Fearing for their safety, the family moved to the United States with only one suitcase, leaving their possessions and lives behind in Cuba.

Fortunately, Farfante had already established ties at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, and her career continued to flourish. She joined the National Marine Fisheries Service as a systematic zoologist at its laboratory at Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in 1966. She was appointed carcinologist emeritus with the Service in 1986, and, one year later, she earned a role as a research associate in the Museum’s division of crustacea, where she remained until her retirement in 1997. Farfante is perhaps most well-known for her expertise in the systematics of penaeoid shrimp.

(📷:2001-7266) #SmithsonianHHM #HispanicHeritageMonth #HHM #SmithsonianHistory #Smithsonian175 #NaturalHistory

Cuban zoologist Dr. Isabel Pérez Farfante’s journey to the Smithsonian was far from typical.

After she had completed her doctorate 1948 in the United States and was working as a professor and biologist in Cuba, Farfante and her husband, geographer and economist Gerardo Canet, learned they had been blacklisted by the government after Canet declined to accompany Che Guevara on a trip abroad. Fearing for their safety, the family moved to the United States with only one suitcase, leaving their possessions and lives behind in Cuba.

Fortunately, Farfante had already established ties at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, and her career continued to flourish. She joined the National Marine Fisheries Service as a systematic zoologist at its laboratory at Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in 1966. She was appointed carcinologist emeritus with the Service in 1986, and, one year later, she earned a role as a research associate in the Museum’s division of crustacea, where she remained until her retirement in 1997. Farfante is perhaps most well-known for her expertise in the systematics of penaeoid shrimp.

(📷:2001-7266) #SmithsonianHHM #HispanicHeritageMonth #HHM #SmithsonianHistory #Smithsonian175 #NaturalHistory

09/30/2021

After he was adopted by naturalist William Healey Dall, George Tsaroff, an Unangan (Aleut) boy from Unalaska Island, worked and lived in the Smithsonian Castle.

Though he died at age 22, he clearly left a lasting impact at the Institution → s.si.edu/3CWhgwY

09/28/2021

When the Quadrangle opened in 1987, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry declared September 28th "Smithsonian Institution Day."

The new underground complex consisted of two new museums—Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art and National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution—as well as the S. Dillon Ripley Center. ➡️ s.si.edu/2ZuCmEc

09/24/2021

Happy 5th anniversary to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture! 🎉

In 2009, the architectural team Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup won a competition to design the new Museum. Listen to architect Sir David Adjaye reflect on the plans.

Watch the full 📽️ : s.si.edu/3o2H8my

09/23/2021

Before she became the highest-ranking Latina in the Bush administration as Treasurer of the United States, Anna Escobedo Cabral served as the director of Smithsonian Latino Center between 2003 and 2004.

More on our blog: s.si.edu/3kAXmS0 #HispanicHeritageMonth

Before she became the highest-ranking Latina in the Bush administration as Treasurer of the United States, Anna Escobedo Cabral served as the director of Smithsonian Latino Center between 2003 and 2004.

More on our blog: s.si.edu/3kAXmS0 #HispanicHeritageMonth

09/22/2021

It’s the first day of fall and we can smell those PSLs from a mile away. 🍁☕️🍂

We’d like to think Dr. Leo J. Hickey understood the hype. A paleobotanist and curator with Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's department of paleobiology between 1969 and 1982, Hickey revolutionized the study of fossil leaves by conducting a comprehensive study of leaf vein patterns in living plants. He used those detailed patterns to identify and classify the fossils.

Throughout his career, Hickey authored or contributed to more than 80 scientific papers and six books.

(📷:SIA2013-03971) #FirstDayOfFall

It’s the first day of fall and we can smell those PSLs from a mile away. 🍁☕️🍂

We’d like to think Dr. Leo J. Hickey understood the hype. A paleobotanist and curator with Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's department of paleobiology between 1969 and 1982, Hickey revolutionized the study of fossil leaves by conducting a comprehensive study of leaf vein patterns in living plants. He used those detailed patterns to identify and classify the fossils.

Throughout his career, Hickey authored or contributed to more than 80 scientific papers and six books.

(📷:SIA2013-03971) #FirstDayOfFall

09/21/2021

Happy anniversary to Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, which opened on September 21, 2004.

The celebrations began with a Native Nations Procession in which 25,000 Native people from the U.S., Canada, Central America, and South America walked to the entrance of the new Museum. ➡ siarchives.si.edu/history/national-museum-american-indian

09/17/2021

All aboard! ⚓️ On Thursday, 9/30 at 5 pm EDT, join media digitization manager Kira Sobers for a screening of “To Tropic Seas Aboard Velero III,” which follows Smithsonian curator Waldo LaSalle Schmitt on his 1934 voyage to the Galapagos Islands.

🎟 → siarchives.si.edu/events

09/16/2021

As an executive assistant to Smithsonian leaders, Dorothy Rosenberg kept the Institution’s top offices running between 1959 and 1980.

One of her responsibilities was to serve as a liaison to the Smithsonian Board of Regents, where she was often the only woman at the table. On the blog today → s.si.edu/3zraMnT

As an executive assistant to Smithsonian leaders, Dorothy Rosenberg kept the Institution’s top offices running between 1959 and 1980.

One of her responsibilities was to serve as a liaison to the Smithsonian Board of Regents, where she was often the only woman at the table. On the blog today → s.si.edu/3zraMnT

09/15/2021

John Kinard was only 31 when he became the Smithsonian’s first Black museum director as the founding leader of
Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum, which opened on this day in 1967.

Read about how Kinard challenged the relationship between museums and the communities they serve → http://s.si.edu/Kinard

John Kinard was only 31 when he became the Smithsonian’s first Black museum director as the founding leader of
Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum, which opened on this day in 1967.

Read about how Kinard challenged the relationship between museums and the communities they serve → http://s.si.edu/Kinard

09/10/2021

One year after the terrorist attacks on the United States, the National Museum of American History opened “September 11: Bearing Witness to History.”

The exhibition featured 50 objects. Visitors took in a twisted piece of steel from the World Trade Center, part of a scorched firetruck near the Pentagon, a teddy bear and a softball left at a memorial site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. At a listening station, people paused to listen to answering machine messages from friends and families desperately trying to reach their loved ones in New York.

Visitors to the exhibition could also record their own reflections or stories, later added to the September 11 Digital Archive. Today, the Museum continues to work to create a space for communities and individuals to share their experiences. How did the attacks affect you or your community? How have you felt living in a post-September 11 world? You’re invited to share today. ➡️ americanhistory.si.edu/stories-of-september-11

(Image no. 2002-16408 | 2002-10546 | 2002-14696)

09/09/2021

On the surface, it appears to be a stuffy 18th-century property agreement. But within its pages, the Hungerford Deed tells the captivating story of a fiery conflict between Elizabeth Macie, James Smithson’s mother, and Henrietta Maria Walker, his aunt. For 20 years of the English chemist’s life, from the time Smithson was an infant, Macie was in and out of the courtroom with neighbors and relatives, including her sister, in disputes over the ancestral family lands listed in the Deed.

How did his family’s obsession with legacy shape Smithson’s life?

Explore “A Tale of Two Sisters,” a brand new web exhibit that helps us reimagine Smithson's bequest to found the Smithsonian for the “increase and diffusion of knowledge" → s.si.edu/HungerfordDeed #Smithsonian175

09/08/2021

Ever have a catchy TV commercial jingle stuck in your head? Imagine studying them for a living! 📺

As director of the National Museum of American History's Center for Advertising History between 1989 and 1993, Stacy Flaherty collected advertisement materials and conducted oral history interviews with ad executives, actors, and beyond.

Learn more about Flaherty in this week's ✨Wonderful Women Wednesday✨ post on the blog → s.si.edu/3lbgdlM

Ever have a catchy TV commercial jingle stuck in your head? Imagine studying them for a living! 📺

As director of the National Museum of American History's Center for Advertising History between 1989 and 1993, Stacy Flaherty collected advertisement materials and conducted oral history interviews with ad executives, actors, and beyond.

Learn more about Flaherty in this week's ✨Wonderful Women Wednesday✨ post on the blog → s.si.edu/3lbgdlM

09/07/2021

What were members of the Smithsonian Institution Women’s Council reading in the 1970s and 1980s? 📚

From The Feminine Mystique to Ms. magazine: take a look at some of the titles on the group’s library shelves → s.si.edu/2VlMRrM #BecauseOfHerStory

What were members of the Smithsonian Institution Women’s Council reading in the 1970s and 1980s? 📚

From The Feminine Mystique to Ms. magazine: take a look at some of the titles on the group’s library shelves → s.si.edu/2VlMRrM #BecauseOfHerStory

09/02/2021

How can you preserve CDs and DVDs that have been affected by fire? 🔥

Conservation volunteer Miguel Resendiz walks us through his experimental treatments of optical discs that had been put through a mock fire disaster → s.si.edu/3t9N0uL

How can you preserve CDs and DVDs that have been affected by fire? 🔥

Conservation volunteer Miguel Resendiz walks us through his experimental treatments of optical discs that had been put through a mock fire disaster → s.si.edu/3t9N0uL

08/31/2021

Can someone fix our clocks? For some reason, our calendars say tomorrow is September. 🕰

David Todd began working with National Museum of American History’s collection of clocks in 1978. As a restoration specialist, Todd was not only responsible for repairs, but he also photographed, documented, and described each clock.

He’s pictured, here, refitting the newly gold-leafed hands to the clock of the Flag Tower of the Smithsonian Castle in 1991.

📷:84-8056-17A → s.si.edu/3zwK8dP

Can someone fix our clocks? For some reason, our calendars say tomorrow is September. 🕰

David Todd began working with National Museum of American History’s collection of clocks in 1978. As a restoration specialist, Todd was not only responsible for repairs, but he also photographed, documented, and described each clock.

He’s pictured, here, refitting the newly gold-leafed hands to the clock of the Flag Tower of the Smithsonian Castle in 1991.

📷:84-8056-17A → s.si.edu/3zwK8dP

08/30/2021

In the 1970s, Louise Daniel Hutchinson brought the National Portrait Gallery to the classroom. 🍎✏️

Hutchinson designed a series of educational programs for D.C. public school students that explored local African American history through the museum’s collections. Learn more about Hutchinson on our website: s.si.edu/3tpcvrS

In the 1970s, Louise Daniel Hutchinson brought the National Portrait Gallery to the classroom. 🍎✏️

Hutchinson designed a series of educational programs for D.C. public school students that explored local African American history through the museum’s collections. Learn more about Hutchinson on our website: s.si.edu/3tpcvrS

08/27/2021

As part of her internship this summer, Lezlie Hernandez added to a dataset about women in science at the Smithsonian. And one woman—Mary Farnham Miller —really stood out to her.

Read more about the botanist who specialized in lichens and mosses on our blog → s.si.edu/3BidvRD #BecauseOfHerStory

As part of her internship this summer, Lezlie Hernandez added to a dataset about women in science at the Smithsonian. And one woman—Mary Farnham Miller —really stood out to her.

Read more about the botanist who specialized in lichens and mosses on our blog → s.si.edu/3BidvRD #BecauseOfHerStory

08/26/2021

Race and Our Shared Future Forum

Race and Our Shared Future Forum

08/26/2021

Every day can be a good hair day if you just believe. ✨

Oscar Loew was the first person to officially hold the “Office of Smithsonian Chemist” between 1872 and 1876. He first joined the Smithsonian as a member of the Wheeler Survey, formally known as the Geographical and Geological Surveys West of the 100th Meridian. In his role as chemist for the survey, Loew was primarily tasked with noting mineral resources and agricultural potential of the southwestern United States.

Read about his career as part of our new Spotlight series on the blog → s.si.edu/2XQGltU

Every day can be a good hair day if you just believe. ✨

Oscar Loew was the first person to officially hold the “Office of Smithsonian Chemist” between 1872 and 1876. He first joined the Smithsonian as a member of the Wheeler Survey, formally known as the Geographical and Geological Surveys West of the 100th Meridian. In his role as chemist for the survey, Loew was primarily tasked with noting mineral resources and agricultural potential of the southwestern United States.

Read about his career as part of our new Spotlight series on the blog → s.si.edu/2XQGltU

08/25/2021

What does “other duties as assigned” mean to you? For Amy Ballard, it meant donning a jumpsuit and motorcycle helmet and feeding barn owls in the Smithsonian Castle. 🦉

Before she was a senior historic preservation specialist, Ballard worked as an assistant to the curator of the Castle. Read about her 40+ year career at the Institution on the blog → s.si.edu/38rXvjT

What does “other duties as assigned” mean to you? For Amy Ballard, it meant donning a jumpsuit and motorcycle helmet and feeding barn owls in the Smithsonian Castle. 🦉

Before she was a senior historic preservation specialist, Ballard worked as an assistant to the curator of the Castle. Read about her 40+ year career at the Institution on the blog → s.si.edu/38rXvjT

08/24/2021

How can we work smarter, not harder? 🤝

During this period of extended telework, our digitization and conservation teams paused to consider what workflows will look like once we're back with our collections. Read about their new processes and methods of communication → s.si.edu/3koD64H

How can we work smarter, not harder? 🤝

During this period of extended telework, our digitization and conservation teams paused to consider what workflows will look like once we're back with our collections. Read about their new processes and methods of communication → s.si.edu/3koD64H