This post was written by John Powell, Exhibit Developer/Writer with Smithsonian Exhibits. It first appeared on the Smithsonian Exhibits blog. Last year, Smithsonian Libraries celebrated its 50th anniversary as more »
Category: Special Collections
Our Resource Description department is busy throughout the year cataloging books and other materials for our 21 branch libraries. This holiday season our catalogers shared a few delightful items that were recently cataloged, using the hashtag #12DaysofCataloging. Below is a round-up of all the titles we featured on social media. Get ready for lots of pop-up books, castles and winter themes! These fabulous books were compiled by staff members Heidy Berthoud, Lesley Parilla and Julia Blakely.
The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Library has nearly 2,000 movable and pop-up books, that are made with a variety of paper construction types and mechanisms that control the movement of more »
This 1930’s Czech tubular steel trade catalog titled Kovový nábytek, (translated simply as Metal Furniture), is a recent addition to the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Library’s extensive collection of furniture more »
Should you happen to spot—say, in a yard sale, thrift store or grandparent’s house—an old copy of that classic of ornithological literature, A Field Guide to the Birds, have a close look. The first printing of the first edition of 1934 is calling for prices well over $10,000 in the antiquarian book trade. One was recently spied by keen-eyed staff in an office at the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park. This volume has been transferred to a more suitable habitat, the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History, for cataloging, preservation, research access, and education. Curator Leslie Overstreet has gathered from branch libraries three others of this title to include in the rare book library’s holdings.
My favorite chronicler of natural and cultural histories in early America is Englishman John Josselyn. He was a curious and good-humored observer of the 17th-century inhabitants of northern New England, more »
The Smithsonian Libraries invites you to the 2018 Dibner Library Lecture, featuring Dr. Bruce Fye: Medical book collecting and scholarship: A recovering bibliomaniac shares his perspective Thursday, December 6th, 2018, more »