When the Smithsonian Institution was founded “for the increase and diffusion of knowledge,” it was difficult to know how impactful this mission would still be 175 years on. To this more »
Smithsonian Libraries / Unbound
Before online outlets and a certain Swedish superstore, imagine decorating and furnishing a new home in the early 20th Century. What did your furniture look like? What curtains or window hangings did you choose? How did you communicate with your neighbors? The Trade Literature Collection at the National Museum of American History Library includes a few catalogs related to these very things.
This blog post was written by Taylor Smith, the 2019 Kathryn Turner Diversity and Technology Intern in the Smithsonian Libraries’ Web Services Department. At the time of her internship, Taylor was an undergraduate Computer Science more »
A chill rain drizzled over guests arriving at Bamie Roosevelt’s midtown brownstone near the corner of Madison Avenue and East 62nd Street in December 1887. There weren’t many of them, but all had two things more »
This post was written by Katerina Ozment, part of the Smithsonian Libraries’ 50th Anniversary 2019 Intern Class, funded by the Secretary of the Smithsonian and the Smithsonian National Board. At that time she was an undergraduate at the more »
Do you remember summer camp as a child? Perhaps you went on a camping trip with your family or maybe you camped out in your own backyard. The Trade Literature Collection located at the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives holds a variety of catalogs. Some illustrate camping equipment. Have you ever wondered what it was like to camp over a century ago? This trade catalog might give us an idea.
This post first appeared on the Smithsonian Institution Archives’ blog. Being an avid reader, every once in a while an item comes across my desk for digitization with such an more »