Besides being functional, lighting can also be decorative. The Libraries’ Trade Literature Collection includes many catalogs by companies which manufactured and sold lighting and related products. One of these companies is Macbeth-Evans Glass Co., a manufacturer of illuminating glassware.
Smithsonian Libraries and Archives / Unbound

The Washington Art Library Resources Committee (WALRC) has awarded $5000 in funding to Freer | Sackler Library for a 2012 travel grant program. The purpose of the program is to provide short-term travel and lodging support for graduate students and scholars of East Asian art who need to use the library’s collection.
Five grants of $1000 each will be awarded on a competitive basis. These grants are meant for students and scholars residing outside the Washington metropolitan area.
Here’s another in our series, Library Hacks, where we take a look at cool and interesting online resources from the Smithsonian Libraries and the cyberworld at large.
Readers of this blog have probably figured out that the Smithsonian is more than a set of museums – it’s also a hub for research. In 2011 alone, Smithsonian researchers published more than 2000 articles, books, and book chapters. Given the Institution’s 165 year history, the cumulative knowledge output of the Smithsonian Institution located in one place is quite the extensive resource.

Novices, experts, students, and scholars agree that the extraordinary collections of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Library are the premier resource in the United States for books, trade catalogs, serials, pictures, and archival material covering design and decorative art from the Renaissance to the present. The National Design Library features more than 6,500 treasures including 16th century lace patterns guides, rare 18th century brass and furniture trade catalogs, historic home decorating periodicals, and over 700 pop-up books.
The Book Conservation Lab received a rush request to repair
a two volume set of “Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio.” The set is to be displayed at a May 9th event with author Joy Kiser discussing her book “America’s Other Audubon,” chronicling the publication of this work.
This month, we commemorate the arrival of Spring by highlighting the addition of several turn of the century baseball journals into the Smithsonian History, Art, and Culture (SHAC) digital collection. According to SILRA’s leading information specialist, Mike Hardy,
These books cover an early period of organized baseball in the Unites States.

Saturday, May 5, 2012 is Space Day at the National Air and Space Museum. Space Day is an annual family day program sponsored by Lockheed Martin.
Kids, parents and museum enthusiasts are all welcome to explore amazing exhibits, as well as presentations provided by aerospace industry engineers, specialists and astronauts. There are also interactive, space-related educational activities for all ages to enjoy.