Cultural Heritage Library (2012)
A collection comprised of the digitized volumes from the Libraries' History, Art, and Culture libraries. View the most recently digitized volumes on the Internet Archive.
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Libraries in a Networked World (2008) by Roy Tennant
Roy Tennant is Senior Program Officer for OCLC Research.
He is the owner of the Web4Lib and XML4Lib electronic discussions, and
the creator and editor of Current Cites, a current awareness newsletter
published every month since 1990. His books include "Technology in
Libraries: Essays in Honor of Anne Grodzins Lipow" (2008), "Managing the
Digital Library" (2004), "XML in Libraries" (2002), "Practical HTML: A
Self-Paced Tutorial" (1996), and "Crossing the Internet Threshold: An
Instructional Handbook" (1993).
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Not Done Yet: Charting a new Course for Librarianship (2008) by R. David Lankes
R. David Lankes is director of the Information Institute of Syracuse, and an associate professor in Syracuse University's School of Information Studies. Lankes is a passionate advocate for libraries and their essential role in today's society. He also seeks to understand how information approaches and technologies can be used to transform industries.
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The Art of African Exploration (2008) by Kirsten VanderVeen, Daria Wingreen-Mason
The Art of African Exploration presents a selection of drawings, book illustrations, and other objects from the The Russell E. Train Africana Collection in the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History. The compelling images that emerged from the early european exploration of Africa tell the story of Africa as it was first seen by Western eyes, and the impact it had on a fascinated public.
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Information on Old Books (1998) by Special Collections Department Staff
Answers many commonly asked questions about aged books, such as how to determine bibliographical information and find an appraiser.
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Book Dealers Specializing in African Art (1997) by Janet Stanley
A list compiled by staff of the National Museum of African Art Library of book dealers around the world
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Museums in the U.S. with African Art Collections (2002) by Janet Stanley
Links to American museums with African Art collections with state-by-state listings
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American Seed and Nursery Industry (2001) by Marca Woodhams
Bibliography of the nursery industry. One hundred individual biographies covering the careers of commercial nurserymen who established and expanded the American seed and plant sales industry starting in the 1800s. Listings' lengths vary from four to forty lines with an emphasis on horticultural sales or product innovations. Each biography includes abbreviated citations with links to sources.
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Archive of African Artists (2003) by Janet Stanley
The National Museum of African Art Library maintains a fast-growing collection of more than 2,000 files on contemporary African artists. No other library in the United States is developing or maintaining this type of collection. Although most of these artists are living and working in Africa, the Library also collects information on African artists internationally. The individual files may contain gallery brochures, exhibition announcements and invitations, price lists, resumes, press releases, reviews, and newspaper cuttings.
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Art & Artist Files in the Smithsonian Libraries' Collections (2005)
The Smithsonian artists' files are an exceptionally valuable resource for art historical research done on emerging regional and local artists and often are the only obtainable sources of information. This site represents the holdings of the five Smithsonian art libraries and will grow to include artists represented in the collections of non-art libraries at the Smithsonian.
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List of Audio Tapes: Hirshhorn Museum And Sculpture Garden Library (2003) by Anna Brooke
A comprehensive list of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library’s audio tape holdings, featuring many important artists of the 20th century
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List of Films and Videotapes: Hirshhorn Museum And Sculpture Garden Library (May 20, 2003) by Anna Brooke
A comprehensive list of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library’s video and film holdings, featuring many important artists of the 20th century
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Ornithologie (1773-1792) by François Nicolas Martinet
To understand the significance of François Martinet's work, it is important first to recognize the difficulties involved in producing illustrations of birds in the 18th century. This provides a foundation for viewing the development of Martinet’s bird illustrations and their contribution to works that became classics in the history of ornithology and makes possible a fuller appreciation of the beautiful hand-colored plates in Ornithologie, the folio reproduced in this digital edition. Digital edition made possible with funding from the Marcia Brady Tucker Foundation.
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Shedding Light on New York : Edward F. Caldwell & Co. (2009) by Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Library
The E. F. Caldwell & Co. Collection at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum Library, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, contains more than 50,000 images consisting of approximately 37,000 black & white photographs and 13,000 original design drawings of lighting fixtures and other fine metal objects that they produced from the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries.
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Celebrity Caricature: Selections from the Smithsonian Institution Libraries (2003) by Smithsonian Institution Libraries
In the late 1990's the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery Library (AA/PG Library) made a special effort to collect materials on caricature and cartoon in conjunction with the National Portrait Gallery's 1998 exhibition "Celebrity Caricature in America", curated by Wendy Wick Reaves.
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Czech Book Covers of the 1920's and 1930's in the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Library (2004) by Stephen H. Van Dyk
During the period between the two World Wars, the Czechoslovak Republic was an important and prolific center for avant-garde book design. Signed, limited editions showcased experimental design techniques, high-quality materials, and specially commissioned graphics. Book design for the general public, although mass-produced and much more affordable, was similarly innovative and attentive to questions of design.
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Development of non-destructive techniques to search for a lost mural by Leonardo da Vinci (1976) by H. Newton Travers and Maurizio Serancini
Final report for grant N. FC-6-66619, 1976, special studies/research
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Doodles, Drafts & Designs: Industrial Drawings from the Smithsonian (2004)
How do ideas evolve into reality? Doodles, Drafts, and Designs: Industrial Drawings from the Smithsonian offers a fascinating glimpse into inventors' sketchbooks, engineers' mechanical drawings, and architects' renderings from the 1830s to the 1990s, to show the origins of some of the most familiar sites and devices of modern-day life.
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Drawing from Life: Caricatures and Cartoons from the American Art / Portrait Gallery Collection (2003) by Kent Boese
The Smithsonian Institution Libraries has a substantial collection of cartoon and caricature books. While these materials can be found in several branch libraries - such as the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Library or the National Museum of American History Library - the largest concentration is at the Smithsonian American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery Library (AA/PG). The collection at AA/PG includes general collections, rare, and special collections titles which date from 1800. Currently numbering over 600 volumes, this growing collection has a strong focus on the works by American artists - the oldest dating to the Civil War period.
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Le Garde-meuble, ancien et moderne (1839-1935) by Désiré Guilmard
Le Garde-meuble, ancien et moderne (Furniture repository, ancient and modern), a bimonthly periodical published in Paris, exerted an enormous influence throughout the world by promoting French styles in furniture, fabrics, and interior decoration for a nearly a century, beginning in 1839 during the reign of Louis Philippe and ceasing in the waning years of the Third Republic around 1935.
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Frontier Photographer: Edward S. Curtis (2000) by William E. Baxter
Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952) left an indelible mark on the history of photography in his 20-volume life's work, The North American Indian.
Part photographic essay, part ethnographic survey, and part work of art, Curtis' North American Indian Project represented an attempt to capture images of American Indians as they lived before contact with Anglo cultures. The photogravure prints in The North American Indian reveal peoples whose traditional ways of life were coming to an end as the U.S. frontier began to fade.
Thirty years of grueling work on the North American Indian Project cost the artist his marriage and his health. It also yielded an American legacy that is an artistic masterpiece.
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" Hair Pipes in Plains Indian Adornment" (from Bulletin 164) (1957) by John C. Ewers
John Ewers's scholarly paper, "Hair Pipes in Plains Indian Adornment" was published as an Anthropological Paper within the BAE series in 1957, Ewers presents a short but comprehensive discussion on the history, manufacture, uses, and meanings of these ornaments. In doing so, he uses both published and archival references, verbal testimony of Indian informants, and the careful study of ethnological objects, drawings, paintings, and photographs.
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Photo Collection Inventory: Hirshhorn Museum And Sculpture Garden Library (July 23, 2003) by Anna Brooke
A comprehensive list of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library’s photo collection, featuring many important artists of the 20th century
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The House Painter, or, Decorator's Companion (1841) by William Mullingar Higgins
The House Painter is a splendid example of the kind of trade manual which serves as a primary document in the history of technology, manufacturing, culture, and aesthetic styles. The SIL copy is a well-worn, craftsman copy, and is an intriguing artifact in itself.
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Incunabula in the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology (2004)
The Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology has 320 incunabula in its collection. Incunabula (from the Latin meaning swaddling clothes or, figuratively, infancy) are European books printed with movable type during the fifteenth century.
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Ternate: The Residency and its Sultanate (Bijdragen tot de kennis der Residentie Ternate) (1890) by F.S.A. de Clerq
The book can just be enjoyed as a vivid and informative account of court life at the historic sultanate of Ternate, joined to a travelogue about the far-flung dependencies of the sultanate, as told by a witty and opinionated observer with many interests--who happened also to be the "Resident" or supreme local representative of the colonial government. This translation ries to convey the detailed data de Clercq presents while also preserving the pungent style with which he leads the reader on this tour of his Residency.
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James Wong Howe, Cinematographer, Selected Bibliography (2000) by Thomas R. Baker
Publications and other resources for further research compiled by Smithsonian Institution Libraries’ staff.
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A Jules Verne Centennial: 1905 - 2005 (2005) by Norman Wolcott
The Smithsonian Institution Libraries is fortunate to have a few early editions of Verne's works with the original engraved illustrations which made his works so popular. Verne and his publisher Julius Hetzel paid acute attention to the details of these illustrations, so that they are almost an integral part of the story. Later reprints usually omitted these engravings, and since the original woodcuts and early printing plates are long gone, all that remains are these images from the early books
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Deciphering the Archimedes Palimpsest and Creating Digital Manuscripts (2009) by William Noel
William Noel, Curator of Manuscripts at the Walters Art Museum discusses conservation and imaging of the Archimedes Palimpsest.
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Library and Archival Exhibitions on the Web (1999 -) by S. Diane Shaw
Library and Archival exhibitions on the Web features links to over 2,500 online exhibitions sponsored by libraries, archives, and manuscript collections from around the world. Search for exhibitions by keywords in titles, subjects, and/or institutional names. "Editor's Pick," Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries (August 2010).
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The Making of a Homemaker (2003) by Erin Clements
Sustaining a home and healthy family was a full time job for middle class women in late nineteenth century America. Daniel Wise articulated the popular sentiment when he proclaimed, "Home is woman's world, as well as her empire".1 Cooking, cleaning, and child rearing were seen as women's work. To some, "Comfort for her family is provided even at the expense of many an exhausted nerve, and an aching heart". How did they handle the daunting work without the aid of microwave ovens, vacuum cleaners and carpools? Wealthier women might rely on servants while other matrons bore the brunt of work themselves. However, to almost all, a comprehensive domestic guidebook could be indispensable.
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Modern African Art: A Basic Reading List (1998) by Janet L. Stanley
Modern African Art: A Basic Reading List" is an Internet version of a bibliography that was originally compiled in 1990 and is being updated continually. This reading list is intended to dispel the notion that nothing has been published on modern African art. It consists primarily of books and exhibition catalogs.
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Monographs on African Artists: An Annotated Bibliography (2007) by Janet L. Stanley
This bibliography is limited to substantive monographs and exhibition catalogs about 20th-21st century African artists. Focusing on a single artist, these texts are usually written by a scholar or critic who has conducted art historical research on the artist and/or who has gathered for publication a wide range of images of the artist's work. It also includes autobiographical writings by artists.
The purpose of delimiting the bibliography in this way is to highlight art historical scholarship which treats in depth the life and history of individual artists. The secondary and indirect aim is to point the way to artists yet unexplored. It is startling to realize how few substantial artist's monographs there are amidst the profusion of writing on modern African art. This bibliography is supposed to extract the polished gems from the stone.
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The Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio (2004) by Joy Kiser
Illustrations of the nests and eggs of birds of Ohio was published in the small town of Circleville, Ohio, over a period of eight years (from 1879 to 1886) through the dedicated efforts of the family and friends of a young woman named Genevieve Jones. Despite being produced not just by amateurs but largely by women, far from the publishing houses and intellectual centers of 19th-century America, the book was hailed as an extraordinary achievement from the moment its first few plates were published. Elliott Coues, one of the foremost American ornithologists of the period, praised the book as its parts came off the press and were distributed.
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An Odyssey in Print: Adventures in the Smithsonian Libraries (2002) by Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Throughout time, explorers have drawn readers to faraway places through stories and songs, maps and drawings, manuscripts and books. Their intriguing accounts of the new and unknown have brought the world closer to those left at home. As you explore six centuries of rare books, manuscripts, art, and artifacts from the Smithsonian Institution, you'll learn how Smithsonian staff use these resources in their everyday work.
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Picturing Words: The Power of Book Illustration (2005)
Through historic illustrations, viewers of the exhibit are able to see what inspires and drives graphic art. Andreas Vesalius, an early physician and progressive scientist, wrote the book “De Humani Corporis Fabrica” (1543) with illustrations of the human body showing muscles pulled back to see what was underneath. The illustrations of Vesalius changed the way people looked at the human form and helped develop modern medicine. Letters have been shown to be inspiration for some writers, as seen through the graphic images from children’s alphabet books; and pictures drawn with a calligraphic style add a degree of artistry to poems about birds in Armand Monjo’s “Tu l’as vu l’oiseau?” (1993)
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Vibrant Visions: Pochoir Prints in the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Library (2004) by Stephen H. Van Dyk
The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Library, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, has a rich collection of vibrantly colored illustrated books and periodicals that were created using the pochoir stenciling process. The pochoir process, characterized by its crisp lines and brilliant colors, produces images that have a freshly printed or wet appearance. This display provides a brief history and description of the pochoir process along with select examples of pochoir images from the library's collection that illustrate costume, interior, and pattern designs produced in France from 1900 through the 1930s.
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A History of Pop-up and Movable Books: 700 Years of Paper Engineering (2010) by Ellen Rubin
Ellen G. K. Rubin discovered pop-up and movable books when she began reading them to her sons over 25 years ago. Today, she has more than 6,500 books and thousands of uncataloged movable ephemera. While at Yale Medical School's Physican Associate program in 1987, she attended the Sterling Library's exhibition on the history of movable books. It was there that she learned about the scholarly dimensions of her passion.
Ellen now lectures and writes about her books, conducts workshops, and curates exhibitions. In 2000, she co-curated Brooklyn Pops Up! The History and Art of the Movable Book at the Brooklyn Public Library. She is a charter member of the Movable Book Society and writes for their newsletter and is a member of the Grolier Club. Ellen hosts her website, The Pop-Up Lady. to disseminate information on the subject.
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Ramelli's Machines: Original drawings of 16th century machines (2004) by Ronald Brashear
The military engineer Agostino Ramelli produced a remarkable illustrated book in 1588 describing a large number of machines that he devised. Called Le diverse et artificiose machine del Capitano Agostino Ramelli (The various and ingenious machines of Captain Agostino Ramelli), this work had a great impact in the field of mechanical engineering. The book contains 195 superb engravings of various machines along with detailed descriptions of each one in both French and Italian. The Dibner Library has original drawings of seven of the machines and this web site has been developed to further research on these artworks. We have on display here each of the drawings along with their counterparts in the printed book.
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Theatrum instrumentorum et machinarum (1578) by Jacques Dauphinois Besson
Near the end of the 16th century, a new type of book appeared which evolved into an entire genre of literature known as the "Theater of machines." These works represented a new way of thinking that was cultivated during the Renaissance: mathematical principles could be applied to the development of new machines and new technical achievements were appropriate considerations for monarchs and the upper class.
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The William Woodville Rockhill donation (2008) by Lily Kecskes
William Woodville Rockhill (1854-1914) was a US scholar-diplomat stationed in China in the latter part of the 19th century. In 1927 his widow donated his Chinese books to the Smithsonian Institution and placed them in the Freer Gallery of Art library. This bibliography is a comprehensive listing of the books that were part of the donation, as well as select publications by Rockhill, and is an appendix to the article "A Scholar Diplomat‘s Legacy : William Woodville Rockhill and his
Chinese Language Books at the Freer Gallery of Art Library” by Lily Kecskes which appears in the Journal of East Asian Libraries.
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Science and the Artist's Book (1995) by Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Science and the Artist’s Book takes its inspiration from the Heralds of Science (1955; rev. ed. 1980), Bern Dibner’s bibliography of 200 landmark works in the history of science and technology. In 1995-1996, the Smithsonian Institution Libraries and the Washington Project for the Arts hosted an exhibition of works by more than two dozen artists, who re-interpreted various scientific ideas, methods, and discoveries through their imaginative use of the book form.
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Scientific Identity: Portraits from the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology (2003)
The scientific portrait collection in the Dibner Library was assembled by Bern Dibner. The images formed a fine research complement to the thousands of scientific books and manuscripts in the library he founded, the Burndy Library. Bern Dibner obtained most of the portraits during the 1940s from print dealers in Boston, London, and Paris. By 1950 he had about two thousand images and arranged them into ten scientific subdivisions: Botany, Chemistry, Electricity, Geology, Mathematics, Medicine, Philosophy, Physics, Technology, and Zoology. The portraits are of various types: woodcuts, copper and steel engravings, mezzotints, lithographs, oil paintings, and photographs.
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Seed and Nursery Catalogs (2005)
The Smithsonian Institution Libraries have a unique trade catalog collection that includes about 10,000 seed and nursery catalogs dating from 1830 to the present. Many of the trade catalogs were part of the Burpee Collection donated to the Horticulture Services Division by Mrs. David Burpee in 1982. The collection includes both Burpee and their competitors' catalogs.
The real gems of the collection date from 1830 to the 1930s and are both beautiful and important multidisciplinary historical documents. The seed trade catalogs document the history of the seed and agricultural implement business in the United States, as well as provide a history of botany and plant research such as the introduction of plant varieties into the US Additionally, the seed trade catalogs are a window into the history of graphic arts in advertising, and a social history, through the text and illustrations, showing changing fashions in flowers and vegetables.
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SIRIS: Smithsonian Institution Research Information System ()
SIRIS is the first stop in performing research at the Smithsonian Institution. Search thousands of records in the libraries, archives and more.
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Tapestry: A Guide to Information Sources (2005) by Courtney Ann Shaw, Ph.D.
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Voyages: A Smithsonian Libraries Exhibition (2001) by Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Voyages of discovery can be of many kinds: a physical journey to an unknown place, a mental exploration of new or familiar territory, or a wholly new episode of creative thought. All three are explored in Voyages, an exhibition spanning five centuries of rare books, manuscripts, art, and artifacts from the Smithsonian Institution Libraries.
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Your Smithsonian Libraries (2006) by Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Did you know the Smithsonian has a library? Actually, the Smithsonian has 20 libraries combined into one system and supported by an online catalog of the combined collections of: Over 1.5 million books, 50,000 rare books, 10,000 historic manuscript and over 2,000 electronic journal titles
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