We have exciting news to share: the Smithsonian Libraries has launched new subject guides to support general research in the natural and physical sciences. These web guides include Natural History, Vertebrate Zoology, Entomology, Paleontology, Invertebrate Zoology, Geosciences, and even a bonus guide outlining maps resources Maps. We also have updated our guides for the National Zoo, Tropical Research, the Chesapeake Bay, Botany & Horticulture and Anthropology. In each of these guides you will find carefully-selected resources for each subject from the Smithsonian Institution and from other authoritative sources from across the web. The content in the new subject guides was chosen to support research for middle and high school students and teachers, as well as for those who have a general interest in the topic. You can find more specific research resources may be available through OneSearch on our Research Tools website. The guides include links to subject databases, image collections, interactive websites, experts, and more. For example, the new Geosciences includes links to the Global Volcanism and Antarctic Meteorite more »
The Smithsonian Libraries Digital Library contains over 10,000 digitized books, journals and manuscripts from the Libraries’ physical collections. From those, about 15,000 individual images are available in the Image Gallery, where they are assigned relevant keywords and collections for easier browsing and searching. The Image Gallery is a great resource for researchers and teachers, but recently it has found a new audience – the product designers of Physician Endorsed. Physician Endorsed, a more »
Elizabeth Broman and Julia Blakely co-authored this post The plot of the recent film, “Paddington 2,” revolves around a one-of-a-kind pop-up book. In a wonderful scene, the good-souled, marmalade-loving bear is transported after opening the covers to movable parts within, unfurling into a dream of London (link here). Paddington declares it is the perfect gift (“like she were finally here”) for his adored Aunt Lucy in “Darkest Peru.” The volume is for more »
School is back in session. Summer vacations are over. However, if you lived in 1892 and had the means to afford it, your vacation might have just started. And it might have lasted 72 days!
“The African Art Library has been collecting African cartoons, comic books and graphic novels for more than a decade,” says Janet Stanley, librarian at the Warren M. Robbins Library at the National Museum of African Art. “Being illustrative works by African artists, as well as harbingers of popular culture, these comics & graphics books are very much part of the visual culture of Africa. We are working to build this collection.” The more »
This post was written by Olivia Robertson, summer intern at the Smithsonian Libraries Research Annex and student at Goucher College. As an intern at the Smithsonian Libraries Research Annex (SLRA), I worked creating gift-in-hand records for a collection of books donated by the Culinary Historians of Washington D.C. (CHoW). Making a gift-in-hand record is the first step in cataloging an item. This happens just after a library receives the item, while the more »
The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Library owns over 4,000 photographs by American photographer and journalist Thérèse Bonney, (1894-1978), who documented life in Paris from 1925-35. In 1929, she and her sister Louise created A Shopping Guide to Paris, for the “350,000 Americans who visit Paris every year.” The foreword says, “dozens of books have been written telling you what to see, but we are writing about where to buy, … buying is as important as sightseeing in this enchanting city.” An American woman shopping for Paris fashions might have felt overwhelmed by the many small boutiques and fashion houses. Thérèse and Louise Bonney outlined in great detail the procedure and etiquette of visiting couturiers and buying dresses and coats, as well as the separate boutiques for hats, gloves, leather goods, and other accessories. These tips made shopping less intimidating and reassured the American traveler that they could be as knowledgeable, sophisticated and as chic as the French woman. Advice on who the top name fashion houses were, the chapters devoted more »
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