Collection Highlights

We’re celebrating new publications, exciting exhibitions, and the festive holiday season with another round of digital jigsaw puzzles. This collection of images highlights a few winter favorites as well as recent Smithsonian Libraries and Archives projects.

Play them right here on our blog or use the links to play full screen. Each puzzle is set to be 100 pieces but they are customizable to any skill set. Click the grid icon in the center to adjust the number of pieces.

It’s been a busy year! Indulge us as we take a trip down memory lane and highlight our top blog posts of 2022.

In no particular order, here are five of our most-read posts of the year:

An Interview with Director Tamar Evangelestia-Dougherty, Smithsonian Libraries and Archives  by Liz O’Brien

As a new year begins, the idea of sorting or reorganizing files might be running through our minds. Without the use of computers, how were important records filed or accessed in the late 19th Century? This trade catalog provides a few hints, especially for workplaces such as courthouses and clerk’s offices.

In the early 20th Century, a knock on the door might have come from a salesperson offering the latest in cosmetics or household supplies. How did salespeople at that time display their product line? What kind of vehicle did they use? A circa 1919 J. R. Watkins Co. trade catalog offers a few ideas.

The Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regents recently appointed Evelyn Dilsaver, Cathy Heron and David H. Lipsey to the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives Advisory Board. They join 17 prominent community and business leaders dedicated to building the Libraries and Archives’ collections, increasing digital initiatives, advancing education, progressing library and archival preservation, creating high-quality exhibitions and programs, and securing a financial legacy.

This is the third in a series of ongoing blog posts from Smithsonian Libraries and Archives’ Audiovisual Media Preservation Initiative (AVMPI), spotlighting the labor of Smithsonian media collections staff across the Institution. Analiese Oetting currently serves as Audiovisual Archives Specialist (contractor) with the National Museum of American History’s Archives Center (NMAH-AC).

The Smithsonian Libraries and Archives exhibition, Nature of the Book, looks at the natural materials and evolving techniques in bookbinding from 1450-1850 as illustrated by our collections.

Gardens provide us food, sustenance, exercise, and pleasure. Gardens also require a lot of work. It takes time, energy, and patience to grow a garden. In the early 20th century, gardeners hoping to save time and labor might have considered using this hand cultivator. It was described as a “Time Saving Garden Tool.”

Oliver Byrne, in the introduction to his The First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid of 1847, states that “the Elements of Euclid can be acquired in less than one third the time usually employed, and the

It’s National Library Week 2020! This year’s theme is “Find your place at the library.” While the Smithsonian Libraries has closed its 21 physical branches during the COVID-19 outbreak, our work continues. We invite you to find a place with us online through our virtual resources, continued services, and digital content. We are here to help you explore and discover from the comfort of your home–and we look forward to welcoming you back in person as soon as we can.

Although our 21 physical branches remain closed during the COVID-19 outbreak, we’re still excited to celebrate National Library Week with our users near and far. While staff and researchers are certainly missing physical book collections, thousands of titles are available online thanks to the work of our Digital Library and Digitization Department.

An activist, a teacher, a poet — Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was an extraordinary figure in American history. She was born free in the city of Baltimore in 1825, orphaned at the age of three, and grew up under the tutelage of her uncle Rev. William Watkins.

With just one glance at the front cover of this trade catalog, it appears like Spring is on the way. A lady is surrounded by flowers. Purple ribbons accessorizing her outfit are gently blowing in the breeze. Let’s take a look at what consumers might have stumbled across in 1915 while perusing this mail order/department store catalog.

Need a fun mental break? We’ve created six digital jigsaw puzzles through Jigsaw Explorer that feature a few favorite images from our collection. Play them right here on our blog or use the links to expand an individual puzzle. Each puzzle is set to contain about 100 pieces, but they are customizable for any skill set. Hit the question mark icon on a puzzle for more information. We’ve tested these with staff (and kid volunteers!) and hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

During this hectic time, it’s always great to be able to learn new and exciting things. From a recent social media discussion, I found out about an especially inspiring  endeavor from our Smithsonian Family.  For those not aware,

In a society that largely relies on motor vehicles for transportation, or even for sport, it may seem difficult to understand why it was so monumental for a plucky twenty-year-old woman to be allowed to participate in bicycle races, meets and other activities involving the sport.

With Mother’s D

Few who walk past the Bethesda Fountain in New York City’s Central Park know the history behind the angel statue, standing high atop the fountain with wings outstretched. This sculpture, called Angel of the Waters, has been the backdrop for many movies and TV shows.

For the past few months, many Americans have relied on delivery vehicles to transport essential goods, like food and other household products. And okay, maybe a non-essential pair of shoes, a game or a book or two. But delivery vehicles are nothing new. Let’s take a look at delivery cars through the lens of this early 20th Century trade catalog.

The Edo period (1600-1868) in Japan was a time of prolonged peace. Ruling under an isolationist foreign policy (Sakoku) and with no civil wars, the Tokugawa Shogunate government focused on social and political stability, and securing infrastructure. They created and regulated five major roads, boarding houses and transportation systems in order to strengthen central control over the daimyōs (Sankin kōtai — a governmental policy requiring the daimyō to live in their domain for one year and in Edo the alternate year).

This post was written by Cora Nevel, a student at School Without Walls in Washington, DC, who recently interned in the Smithsonian Libraries Education Department. 

Sometimes, planning a trip is as much fun as the trip itself. The Trade Literature Collection at the National Museum of American History Library includes catalogs that might have been used to plan vacations. Some are about summer and winter resorts while others describe railway and steamship travel. Let’s take a look at a late 19th Century trip along the Great Lakes.

This is the sixth in a series of posts about the Art Deco resources at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum library. Each post will highlight primary resources which contain the styles and designs of the Art Deco era.

Brighten someone’s day with our new set of digital postcards! Based on images in our collections, these customizable cards could invite a recipient to daydream of an island vacation, encourage them to stop and smell the flowers, or remind them that our stacks of books will be waiting for them post-pandemic. Scroll through to find your favorites and pass along to friends and family.

As I removed the trade catalog from its protective envelope, the awnings on the front cover caught my eye. It reminded me of visits to my grandmother as a child and the awnings over the windows of so many houses and stores in her neighborhood. Once I opened the catalog, and just as the title suggests, I realized Murray & Baker sold much more than awnings.

Whether you’re headed back to school, back to work, or back to your home office or dining room table this fall, we’ve compiled a few fun treats and created this Digital Book Bag for you! Piece together digital jigsaw puzzles, download free coloring pages, or browse a few favorite books from our Di