The Conservation Lab was excited to receive another Adopt-a-Book recently. The volume was Ostéographie ou description iconographique comparée du squelette et du système dentaire des mammifères récents et fossiles(1839–64) by the French Anatomist and Biologist, Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville.
Smithsonian Libraries and Archives / Unbound
We often think of the book as a container of information. A book’s text conveys meaning through reading. However, meaning can be expressed in other ways. Typography, ink color, blank space, paper, artwork, and binding also provide information to the reader about the artist’s project. Featuring artists’ books from the Smithsonian American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery Library (AA/PG), this exhibit investigates the way that book artists use material and visual features to make meaning.
The Smithsonian Libraries will host international and New York Times bestselling author Steve Berry for a writer’s workshop at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History on October 18. The event is part of Berry’s History Matters Foundation, which raises funds for historic preservation and conservation projects around the world.
This post was written by Kate Wilson, a 2012 spring intern at the Smithsonian American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery Library (AAPG Library).
I have background and work experience in both library and archival science – I’ve worked equally in both types of institutions and enjoy the hands-on, primary resources I find in archival work but the interaction, service, and reference I get from working in libraries. The AAPG Library’s Art & Artist File combine my love of primary documentation and reference work, and it is in this unique collection that I found a trove of original promotional materials for the short-lived Federal Art Project, the fine arts arm of the Works Project Administration.
Greetings! The Smithsonian History, Art, and Culture digital collection recently added a number of titles from the special collections housed at the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology.
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he Smithsonian Libraries, in conjunction with the National Museum of Natural History, will host a series of lectures on both Mark Catesby’s art and science on November 6.
Over the past several years I’ve noticed a growing interest in wrought iron furniture- for both indoor and outdoor use, with people requesting information and images of furniture going back to the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Is there is a retro revival going on? Are people restoring their old patio furniture or finding missing or replacement pieces at auctions and yard sales?