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Smithsonian Libraries and Archives / Unbound

Harrison Dyar: Personal meets Professional

Erin Rushing
May 20, 2016
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Harrison G. Dyar, Jr., third from right, with Entomology staff of the U.S. National Museum in 1905. Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Archives.

From May 13-20th, the Smithsonian Libraries is participating in the #DigIntoDyar campaign – encouraging the public to transcribe the field books of this remarkable entomologist in the Smithsonian Transcription Center and to learn more about his life and work. This post was written by Marc Epstein, Research Associate at the National Museum of Natural History and author of Moths, Myths and Mosquitos:The Eccentric Life of Harrison G. Dyar, Jr.. You can read Marc’s first post about Dyar here and second here.

Harrison Dyar’s scientific legacy has been overshadowed because he dug extensive underground labyrinths and because of his known bigamy (both explored in-depth in this Washington Post series).  His family wealth allowed him to either work gratis or for a pittance at the Smithsonian from 1897-1929.

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Harrison Dyar: Lepidoptera and Blue Books

Erin Rushing
May 16, 2016
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figure 5From May 13-20th, the Smithsonian Libraries is participating in the #DigIntoDyar campaign – encouraging the public to transcribe the field books of this remarkable entomologist in the Smithsonian Transcription Center and to learn more about his life and work. This post was written by Marc Epstein, Research Associate at the National Museum of Natural History and author of Moths, Myths and Mosquitos:The Eccentric Life of Harrison G. Dyar, Jr.. On May 17th, you can learn more about Harrison Dyar with our Google Hangout with Marc or in person during his Smithsonian Associates lecture.

 

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Salad Days (and Months) in Rare Books

Julia Blakely
May 6, 2016
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Salad Days (and Months) in Rare Books

My salad days, when I was green in judgement

This common, if well-worn, phrase first appeared in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra of 1606. At the end of Act One of the play, recalling a youthful affair with Julius Caesar, Cleopatra refers to a time of innocence, silliness or indiscretions. Since May is National Salad Month, let us celebrate the greens by looking at the work of another Englishman, John Evelyn (1620-1706). His Acetaria: a discourse of sallets, printed in London in 1699, was the first book devoted to salads.

 

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Ramayana of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha

Erin Rushing
May 2, 2016
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This post was written by Leila Prasertwaitaya, a library specialist working at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Hidden amongst the Freer | Sackler Library’s much larger collections on East Asian, South Asian and Islamic art is a small gem-like group of books on Thai art and architecture.  Many of these books are in Thai, but with their magical illustrations of Dvarapala (guardians), gold-painted, bell-shaped chedi, five-headed stone nagas, a 70 cm. tall bronze Buddha head and murals of astonishing density and complexity, the books can open up a world of astounding beauty to anyone with a little curiosity.

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American Art and Portrait Gallery Library Celebrates their Volunteers and the Allentown Art Museum Vertical File Donation

Alexandra Reigle
April 28, 2016
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Paul and Janet, two volunteers at the AAPG Library who helped with the Allentown Vertical File Donation.
Paul and Janet, two volunteers at the AAPG Library who helped with the Allentown Vertical File Donation.

April is volunteer appreciation month and the American Art and Portrait Gallery (AAPG) Library would like to take the opportunity to highlight both the completion of a project as well as the volunteers that made it happen. The Allentown Art Museum donated their collection of artist vertical files to the AAPG Library in early November 2014 that consisted of ephemeral materials related to nearly 4,600 artists. The AAPG library was especially interested in the collection’s native Pennsylvanian artists who were missing from our Art and Artists File (AAF) collection.

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