Book Tower comprised of Smithsonian Publications at the Conference on the Future of the Smithsonian, February 11, 1927. For this installment of the In the Stacks we visit The Smithsonian Institution Archives for some bookish love. The SI archives are a repository that: captures, preserves, and makes available to the public the history of this extraordinary Institution. From its inception in 1846 to the present, the records of the history of the Institution—its people, its programs, its research, and its stories—have been gathered, organized, and disseminated so that everyone can learn about the Smithsonian. The history of the Smithsonian is a vital part...
The Books in Julia Child’s Kitchen
In 2001 Julia Child gave her kitchen to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.The kitchen, designed by her husband Paul, was where millions of Americans watched as Child worked her culinary magic on her incredibly popular public-television series. The kitchen bookshelfChristine Klepper, a Museum Studies graduate student at The George Washington University, has been spending some time in the kitchen working with the books. Her recent post on the blog of the National Museum of American History, What's on Julia Child's bookshelf, recounts her experience:My assignment in the kitchen was to complete object condition reports on all 27 books on...
They Laughed When I Sat Down To Read Piano 300
On March 8, 2000, the National Museum of American History opened Piano 300 in the Smithsonian Institution's International Gallery in Washington D.C.Celebrating the tricentennial of the piano’s introduction in Florence by Bartolomeo Cristofori, this outstanding exhibition was seen by more than 330,000 visitors from around the world during its twenty-month run.I’m a sucker for great exhibition catalogs, and that which accompanied Piano 300 is one of the most interesting and visually rewarding that I’ve seen in quite awhile. It is, arguably, be the best, most concise volume about the instrument there is with chapters that include: Early Stages; The Rise...