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Scurlock Photographs, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the NMAH Archives...
By David Haberstich The previous post described Robert Scurlock's unsuccessful attempts to publish or exhibit photographs by his father, Addison N. Scurlock, and the Scurlock Studio. This happy ending...
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Celebrating Smithsonian Women in Women's History Month
By Pamela HensonSmithsonian Institution Archives has a wide array of photographs of women since our early years, but some stand out more than others. I am particularly fond of this image of a group of...
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Spotlight on Women Amateur Photographers, No. 1
By Pamela Wintle “Not content with making sandwiches and massaging feet, these women were active both in the field and in post-production. They recorded sound, shot film, edited, wrote, narrated,...
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Spotlight on Women Amateur Photographers, No. 2
By Pamela Wintle“The rule seemed to be that a great woman must either die unwed ... or find a still greater man to marry her. ... The great man, on the other hand, could marry where he liked, not...
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Spotlight on Women Amateur Photographers No. 3
By Pamela Wintle"For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.” Virginia WoolfMayme Lou Bruce, known as Stevey, was married to James Bruce, a prolific amateur filmmaker and explorer who had a particular...
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Geneva Townes Turner
By Jennifer MorrisGeneva Calcier Townes Turner married Lorenzo Dow Turner, a pioneering African American linguist and celebrated father of Gullah studies, who conducted groundbreaking research in the...
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New Virtual Finding Aids for Three Smithsonian Institution Anthropology...
By Katherine ChristensenIn addition to collections which were maintained and donated by individual scientists, the National Anthropological Archives (NAA) holds collections created and maintained by...
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Elizabeth Peratrovich: An Early Civil Rights Activist from Alaska
By Mikaela Hamilton and Nathan SowryOn February 16th, 1945, nearly 20 years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the first anti-discrimination law in the United States was signed into effect. The...
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Collections-Based Research and Zoom Programs
The pandemic of 2020-2021 suddenly and ruthlessly limited human interaction, but educational institutions and organizations responded rapidly to fill the gaps. Everyone had to “pivot” in some...
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Joseph Cornell Study Center Processing Project
By Anna RimelJoseph Cornell with Book Object, circa 1940In the summer of 2017, I began work as the archivist of the Joseph Cornell Study Center collection in the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM)....
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Seeking Pride in Our Collections
By Hannah Byrne Like so many employees across the Smithsonian (and at museums, libraries, archives, and cultural heritage institutions around the world), at the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives we...
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From March to Marketing: The Changing Face of Pride
By Franklin A. Robinson, Jr.The Stonewall uprising of 1969 was triggered by a New York Police Department (NYPD) raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar located at 53 Christopher Street in New York City’s...
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Gardens: The Universal Language
By Taylor ElyeaIn January 1937, one hundred forty-seven members of The Garden Club of America ventured on a nineteen-day trip to numerous sites in Mexico. Extensive documentation of that journey, now...
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DAWN V. ROGALA'S CIRCUS PHOTOGRAPHS: A SMITHSONIAN COLLABORATION
By David HaberstichOctober is American Archives Month! I’m celebrating it with this backstory and update to an SI Collections Blog post by former Smith College intern Kira Leinwald, published in late...
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Hidden History: Lillian Evanti's Lobbying Contributes to the Creation of the...
By Jennifer SieckThis post is being published on November 12, the eightieth anniversary of the founding of the National Negro Opera Company in 1941.At the same time, the John F. Kennedy Center for the...
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Living Documents and Historic Postcards of Guinea
By Haley SteinhilberWriting? On an archival document?! Traditionally, archives are known for their dedication to preserving original photographs, documents, and visual materials in their original...
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Butter and Egg Money
By Lily Stowe-AlekmanElizabeth Bourne Robinson was born on December 3, 1892, and died on July 25, 1976. On November 20, 1929, she married Frank A. Robinson and moved to the Robinson family farm near...
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Hidden History, Part 2: Joy McLean Bosfield Sings at Kennedy Center Dedication
By Jennifer SieckJoy McLean Bosfield framed this page from the score for “Gloria in Excelsis” signed for her by MASS composer Leonard Bernstein. She sang in the choir for MASS’s world premiere,...
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The Iconic, Controversial Sidney Poitier: A Tribute for Black History Month
By David HaberstichActor Sir Sidney Poitier, Feb. 3, 1977, photograph probably by Robert Scurlock. Gelatin silver acetate negative, Scurlock Studio Records,Archives Center, National Museum of American...
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Women, Cameras, and Images
By David HaberstichIn recent years the Smithsonian Collections Blog has featured numerous posts about women photographers represented in Smithsonian collections. For instance, I’ve blogged about the...
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Piedmont Manufacturing: More than Just a Textile Mill
By Joe HurseyThe Archives Center possesses an incredible set of architectural drawings of late 19th-century textile mills, known as the Lockwood-Greene Records. At first glance, these drawings seem...
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One Picture is Worth A Thousand Stories
By Adam Gray, May 2022Rehearsal of the toka dance in Yoohnanan on the island of Tanna, September 1974. Kal Muller films and photographs of Vanuatu (New Hebrides), Tanna Island slides, Slide roll #56.In...
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The Evolution of Anthropological Research in Documenting Diversity: How...
By Muna Ali and Ashley Ray Documenting Diversity: How Anthropologists Record Human Life is an exhibit that outlines the ways in which anthropologists have utilized changing technology to record...
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Women Photographers in Africa: Lynn McLaren
The Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives (EEPA) is pleased to share the Lynn McClaren collection as part of the Women Photographers in Africa initiative. Eluned M. Demarest – better known...
View ArticleA Fond Farewell
By David HaberstichWhen I accepted the position of coordinator/editor of the Smithsonian Institution Collections Blog about two years ago, I certainly didn't think I would all too soon be presiding...
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