Erin Clements Rushing is the Outreach Librarian for Smithsonian Libraries and Archives. She enjoys sharing the Libraries and Archives' treasures with new audiences and telling the stories from the stacks through various outreach efforts. She coordinates social media and the blog (Unbound), plans tours and manages the internship program. She also handles rights and reproductions for library collection images and acts as point person for copyright concerns. Erin holds an M.L.S from the University of Maryland, as well as a B.A. in History and Art History.
The Smithsonian Libraries is excited to announce that applications are now open for the 2015 Professional Development Internship program. These paid summer internships are six week-long opportunities for students in MLS or related graduate programs to gain valuable knowledge while working in the worlds’ largest museum library system! This year, applicants may select from two projects, detailed below.
This post was written by Julia Blakely, special collections cataloger. It previously appeared on the Smithsonian Collections Blog.
The trailer for the big Hollywood movie of Nathaniel Philbrick’s book In the Heart of the Sea: the Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (G530.E76 2000X NMAH) is out and it is terrifying. The true saga of the Essex inspired aspects of Moby Dick, or the title as it originally was published, The Whale, thirty years after the ship was sunk by a furious sperm whale in the southern Pacific Ocean. Herman Melville himself is part of the movie story, interviewing one of the survivors.
This post was written by Anna Brooke, head of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Gallery Library.
We just can’t get enough of art book fairs! Local nonprofit, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, for printmaking, papermaking and book arts, sponsored the 13th Biennial Book Arts Fair and Conference, last month. As one of the DC tours offered to participants, the Hirshhorn Museum Library gave a presentation on our collection of artist’s books. American Art Portrait Gallery Library (AAPG) staff joined the presentation due to the large and enthusiastic response.
This post was written by Vanessa Haight Smith, Head of Preservation Services.
The Book Conservation Lab makes use of hand-made marbled papers in some of our book treatments and projects. Originally used for decorative book covers and endsheets, marbled papers are occasionally replaced during treatments with new handmade papers when the originals are substantially damaged or missing.
This post was written by Julia Blase, Field Book Project Manager. It first appeared on the Field Books Project Blog here.
Recently, I sat down to scan two diaries of Bohumil Shimek, a botanist, zoologist, and geologist of Czech descent whose field books came to the Smithsonian along with his extensive collection of specimens after his death in 1937. He is well-known for his long career and extensive study of the geology and ecology of the American prairies, particularly in his home state, Iowa, though he is also remembered as a champion of education and a supporter of Czechoslovakian independence . In fact, his travels to Europe in 1914, initiated by his invitation to visit the Charles University of Prague, Bohemia, as exchange professor in Botany in 1914, are what led to the two remarkable items I scanned as part of the Field Book Project. Our cataloger, Lesley Parilla, wrote a piece about these items almost a year ago, because they are indeed striking. The volumes capture Shimek’s first impressions of the unfolding of the beginning of World War I:
This post was written Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Gallery Library volunteer Shawon Sarkar.
In the middle of the vast collection of art books, exhibition catalogues, and serials, there are 20 black notebooks on a shelf at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library. These are the press and publicity books holding archival materials on the founding of the museum, the past exhibitions, and the Hirshhorn family.
This post was written by Grace Costantino, Outreach and Communications Manager for the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL).
We are pleased to announce the release of two new BHL online exhibitions: Early Women in Science and Latino Natural History.
Earlier this year, the Smithsonian Women’s Committee awarded a one-year grant to Smithsonian Libraries (SIL) to build online exhibitions to showcase the scientific and historical contributions of Women and Latino naturalists and illustrators. The project, entitled Notable Women and Latinos in Natural History, draws from content in BHL and uses the Biodiversity Library Exhibition (BLE) platform developed by BHL Europe.