The American Experience: A Resource Portfolio of American Images (Monograph : circa 1975-1976)
Extent:
4 cu. ft. (4 record storage boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Books
Black-and-white photographs
Place:
United States -- History
United States -- Social life and customs
Date:
circa 1975-1976
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of two sets of The American Experience: A Resource Portfolio of American Images which are publications of photographs of American life
and scenes.
Smithsonian Networks is a joint venture between Showtime Networks and the Smithsonian Institution. It was formed to create channels featuring programs largely inspired
by the assets of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum and research complex. Smithsonian Channel features award-winning original documentaries, series and
ground-breaking programs highlighting America's historical, cultural and scientific heritage. This accession consists of programs created for the Smithsonian Channel that
cover a range of topics including aeronautics, astronautics, science, nature, and American culture and history. Materials are in electronic format.
Restrictions:
Special restrictions on use of these materials apply. See Record of Transfer, Appendix B, Transferring office; Record of Transfer, August 25, 2009; Contact reference staff for details.
Smithsonian Institution. Office of Telecommunications Search this
Extent:
0.5 cu. ft. (1 document box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Videotapes
Place:
Japan
United States -- History
United States -- Social life and customs
Date:
1993-1994
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of videotapes created during the production of a number of joint television ventures between Nihon Hoso Kyokai (NHK), a Japanese television
network, and the Smithsonian Institution. Some programs deal with aspects of the Smithsonian and others with American history and culture. Materials include dubs and copies
on VHS.
Restrictions:
Restrictions pertaining to the use of these materials may apply (based on contracts/copyright). Access restrictions may also apply if viewing copies are not currently available. Viewing copies can be made for a fee. Contact reference staff for details.
This accession consists of the website for Smithsonian Jazz, as it existed on August 5, 2010. Smithsonian Jazz is a National Museum of American History program preserving
and perpetuating jazz as an American national treasure through collections, exhibitions, performances, recordings, publications, oral histories, and educational programs.
The website includes classroom materials, lesson plans, and teacher kits; oral histories; links to jazz-related exhibitions, websites, and publications; and details about
Jazz Appreciation Month. In addition, the website features the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra which explores, presents, promotes, and perpetuates the historical legacy
of jazz through performances and educational activities. Materials include websites and audio files and are in electronic format.
National Museum of American History. Department of Social and Cultural History Search this
Extent:
10.8 cu. ft. (10 record storage boxes) (1 document box) (1 oversize folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Brochures
Clippings
Manuscripts
Architectural drawings
Drawings
Maps
Posters
Black-and-white photographs
Place:
United States -- Social life and customs
United States -- History
Date:
1981-1985
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of records that document research for the major permanent exhibition in the museum, After the Revolution: Everyday Life in America, 1780-1800,
which opened in 1985. Included are scripts; contracted research reports by non-museum historians; graphics files for logos and stationery; public relations and educational
training files; departmental chairman's files; administrative project files, including budget and personnel records; lists of objects for the exhibition; project historian's
files; drawings of early American houses and site plans; and artwork for logos and stationery.
1.45 Cubic feet (consisting of 3 boxes, 2 folders, 2 oversize folders, 1 map case folder, plus digital images of some collection material.)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Speeches
Monographs
Newsclippings
Fliers (printed matter)
Clippings
Newspaper clippings
Books
Realia
Magazines (periodicals)
Plates (illustrations)
Programs
Application forms
Illustrations
Concert programs
Signs (declaratory or advertising artifacts)
Booklets
Publications
Transcriptions
Certificates
Pamphlets
Date:
1787-1964
Summary:
A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Accounting and Bookkeeping forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Subseries 1.1: Subject Categories. The Subject Categories subseries is divided into 470 subject categories based on those created by Mr. Warshaw. These subject categories include topical subjects, types or forms of material, people, organizations, historical events, and other categories. An overview to the entire Warshaw collection is available here: Warshaw Collection of Business Americana
Scope and Contents:
The subject category Women documents the Suffrage Movement within the United States, as well as aspects of women's lives and societal contributions. This includes information about women's social lives, fashion, health, occupations, as well as commentary about the roles and expectations of many women in society. There is a notable shortage of material related to women of color.
Women includes newslippings, and material related to pro and anti-Suffrage efforts such as fliers, speeches, monographs, and realia. Outside of Suffrage-related topics, Women also includes artistic prints and images of women, poems about women, and serial publications related to women's issues or oriented towards an audience of women.
Women includes a span of subject materials related to more specfic aspects of women's lives and social commentary. This includes historical overviews of notable women's lives, guides to aspects of womanhood, fashion documentation, literature to promote good health, and background about the role of women in varied trades.
No single subtopic is explored in particular depth, though Women offers general information about various aspects of women's lives and varied social and political environments.
Arrangement:
Women is arranged in three subseries.
Suffrage Movement
Genre
Subject
Forms Part Of:
Forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana.
Series 1: Business Ephemera
Series 2: Other Collection Divisions
Series 3: Isadore Warshaw Personal Papers
Series 4: Photographic Reference Material
Provenance:
Women is a portion of the Business Ephemera Series of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Accession AC0060 purchased from Isadore Warshaw in 1967. Warshaw continued to accumulate similar material until his death, and it was donated in 1971 by his widow, Augusta. For a period after acquisition, related materials from other sources (of mixed provenance) were added to the collection so there may be content produced or published since Warshaw's death in 1969. This practice has since ceased.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Women, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
Smithsonian Networks is a joint venture between Showtime Networks and the Smithsonian Institution. It was formed to create channels featuring programs largely inspired
by the assets of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum and research complex. Smithsonian Channel features award-winning original documentaries, series and
ground-breaking programs highlighting America's historical, cultural and scientific heritage. This accession consists of programs created for the Smithsonian Channel that
cover a range of topics including aeronautics, astronautics, science, nature, and American culture and history. Materials are in electronic format.
Restrictions:
Special restrictions on use of these materials apply. See Record of Transfer, Appendix B, Transferring office; Record of Transfer, August 25, 2009; Contact reference staff for details.
Smithsonian Networks is a joint venture between Showtime Networks and the Smithsonian Institution. It was formed to create channels featuring programs largely inspired
by the assets of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum and research complex. Smithsonian Channel features award-winning original documentaries, series and
ground-breaking programs highlighting America's historical, cultural and scientific heritage. This accession consists of programs created for the Smithsonian Channel that
cover a range of topics including aeronautics, astronautics, science, nature, and American culture and history. Materials are in electronic format.
Restrictions:
Special restrictions on use of these materials apply. See Record of Transfer, Appendix B, Transferring office; Record of Transfer, August 25, 2009; Contact reference staff for details.
Smithsonian Networks is a joint venture between Showtime Networks and the Smithsonian Institution. It was formed to create channels featuring programs largely inspired
by the assets of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum and research complex. Smithsonian Channel features award-winning original documentaries, series and
ground-breaking programs highlighting America's historical, cultural and scientific heritage. This accession consists of programs created for the Smithsonian Channel that
cover a range of topics including aeronautics, astronautics, science, nature, and American culture and history. Materials are in electronic format.
Series and programs include "100 Years of Natural History;" "Aerial America;" "Amazing Plants;" "America's Lost Submarine;" "America Wild and Wacky;" "Asteroid Trackers;"
"Baby Planet;" "Battle for the Atlantic;" "Concorde: Flying Supersonic;" "Cromwell: God's Executioner;" "Electrified: The Guitar Revolution;" "Gallipoli;" "Hindenburg: The
Untold Story;" "Hittites;" "Hydrotech;" "Inside the Music;" "Japanese Bow: Built to Kill;" "Martin Clunes: A Man and His Dogs Origins;" "Martin Clunes: A Man and His Dogs
Best Friends;" "Panda Breeding Diary;" "Parthenon 'Roadsworth';" "Raven Tales;" "Running with Wolves;" "Seed Hunters;" "Seizing Justice: The Greensboro 4;" "Smithsonian Spotlight;"
"South Sea Pearls;" "Stealth: Flying Invisible;" "System Crash;" "Tattoo Odyssey;" "The Real Story;" "The Re-Inventors;" "The Rivals;" "The Roman Invasion of Britain;" "The
Sword;" "Uncommon Courage: Breakout at Chosin;" "Undersea Edens;" and "Zoo Vets: Claws, Paws, and Fins."
Restrictions:
Special restrictions on use of these materials apply. See Record of Transfer, Appendix B, Transferring office; Record of Transfer, August 25, 2009; Contact reference staff for details.
Smithsonian Networks is a joint venture between Showtime Networks and the Smithsonian Institution. It was formed to create channels featuring programs largely inspired
by the assets of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum and research complex. Smithsonian Channel features award-winning original documentaries, series and
ground-breaking programs highlighting America's historical, cultural and scientific heritage. This accession consists of programs created for the Smithsonian Channel that
cover a range of topics including aeronautics, astronautics, science, nature, and American culture and history. Materials are in electronic format.
Restrictions:
Special restrictions on use of these materials apply. See Record of Transfer, Appendix B, Transferring office; Record of Transfer, August 25, 2009; Contact reference staff for details.
Smithsonian Networks is a joint venture between Showtime Networks and the Smithsonian Institution. It was formed to create channels featuring programs largely inspired
by the assets of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum and research complex. Smithsonian Channel features award-winning original documentaries, series and
ground-breaking programs highlighting America's historical, cultural and scientific heritage. This accession consists of programs created for the Smithsonian Channel that
cover a range of topics including aeronautics, astronautics, science, nature, and American culture and history. Materials are in electronic format.
Restrictions:
Special restrictions on use of these materials apply. See Record of Transfer, Appendix B, Transferring office; Record of Transfer, August 25, 2009; Contact reference staff for details.
This accession consists of programs created for the Smithsonian Channel that cover a range of topics including aeronautics, astronautics, science, nature, and American
culture and history. Series and programs include "Aerial America" "All Dolled Up;" "America Wild and Wacky;" "America's Greatest Monuments;" "America's Hangar;" "America's
Treasures;" "America's Yellowstone;" "Animal Winter Games;" "Animals Aloft;" "Apocalypse: The Second World War;" "Arlington: Call to Honor;" "Baby New at the Zoo;" "Batwomen
of Panama;" "Shark Therapy;" "The Big Blue;" "Bomb, Bullets, and Fraud;" "Carrier at War: The USS Enterprise;" "cELLAbration Live! A Tribute to Ella Jenkins;" "China's Forbidden
City;" "Critter Quest!;" "Cutting Loose;" "The D'Autremont Train Robbery;" "The Da Vinci Detective;" "Day of the Kamikaze;" "Decoding Christianity;" "Designing Dogs;" "Dream
Window: Reflections on the Japanese Garden;" "Eyewitness Kamikaze;" "Flying with Condors;" "Footprints on the Water: The Nan Hauser Story;" "Ghost Cat: Saving the Clouded
Leopard;" "The Ghosts of Duffy's Cut;" "The Golden Age of Zeppelins;" "Goodwood: Race Car Legends;" "Hidden Armor, Found Treasures;" "History in HD;" "Hover Racers: Flying
on Air;" "In Search of Santa Claus;" "Insect Microcosm;" "Into the Frozen Abyss;" "The Leeper Mail Bomb;" "Legend of the Crystal Skull;" "Legendary Coins of the Smithsonian;"
"Light at the Edge of the World;" "Lives that Changed the World;" "Loose at the Zoo;" "The Lost Gods;" "Making the Monkees;" "The Men Who Brought the Dawn;" "Nature Tech;"
"Nick Baker's Weird Creatures;" "Pandas in the Wild;" "Play On, John: A Life in Music;" "Picturing the President: George Washington;" "Picturing the Presidents;" " Portrait
of Artistic Genius: Katsushika Hokusai;" "The Real Story;" "Remembering Vietnam: The Wall at 25;" "Saving Treasures;" "SciQ;" "The Sculpture Diaries;" "Secrets of the Great
Barrier Reef;" "Sky View;" "Smithsonian Spotlight;" "Smithsonian Channel's Sound Revolution;" "Smithsonian's Weirdest;" "Soul of a People: Writing America's Story;" "Stonehenge
Deciphered;" "Stories from the Vaults;" "Street Monkeys;" "The Supercar Story;" "The Sweet Lady with the Nasty Voice;" "Thunderheads;" "Tiger Tales;" "Timewatch: D-Day: The
True Story of Omaha;" "Timewatch: The Rebel Pharaoh's Lost City;" "Tomb Detectives;" "Unbelievable Flying Objects;" "The Ultimate Gun Room;" "Unleashed: A Dogumentary;" "The
Vampire Princess;" "Wanted: Anaconda;" "When Pigs Fly;" "White House Revealed;" "Wings of Honor;" "A Woman Among Wolves;" "World's Finest Cars: The Insider's Guide;" "World's
Smallest Planes;" "Worlds of Sound: The Ballad of Folkways;" "Zambezi;" and "Zoo Vets." Also included is the visitor welcome video created for the Smithsonian Institution
in 2008. Materials are in electronic format.
Historical Note:
Smithsonian Networks is a joint venture between Showtime Networks and the Smithsonian Institution. It was formed to create channels featuring programs largely inspired
by the assets of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum and research complex. Smithsonian Channel features award-winning original documentaries, series and
ground-breaking programs highlighting America's historical, cultural and scientific heritage.
Restrictions:
Special restrictions on use of these materials apply. See Record of Transfer, Appendix B, Transferring office; Record of Transfer, August 25, 2009; Contact reference staff for details.
This accession consists of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery website and the Eye Level blog. The website, crawled June 14, 2010, features
general information for visitors, a calendar of events, online exhibitions, and the Research and Scholars Center Newsletter as well as collections, research, conservation,
educational program, and donation information. The blog, crawled June 29, 2010, is dedicated to American art and the ways in which the nation's art reflects its history and
culture.
National Museum of American History. Division of Information Technology and Society Search this
Extent:
16 cu. ft. (16 record storage boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Brochures
Clippings
Manuscripts
Floppy disks
Floor plans
Black-and-white photographs
Color photographs
Black-and-white negatives
Color negatives
Place:
United States -- Social life and customs
Date:
1942-2001
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of records which document the planning, development, and installation of Science in American Life, a major permanent exhibition at the
National Museum of American History (NMAH). This exhibition demonstrates how science has changed the way Americans have lived over the past 125 years. Opening on April 27,
1994, Science in American Life was 4 years in the making and took the work and collaboration of more than 75 curators, educators, writers, designers and scientific
consultants. It occupies 13,000 square feet of exhibition space and includes approximately 600 artifacts, 700 graphics, six video loops, three sound and light displays, six
computer interactives, two CD-ROM interactives, 11 mechanical interactives, and a science center featuring 20 hands-on activities.
The exhibition was underwritten by a $5.3 million contribution from the American Chemical Society and was executed under the leadership of Chief Curator, Arthur P. Molella,
chair of the Department of the History of Science and Technology. The exhibition begins with an orientation area where people are greeted by 12 host scientists - 10 scientists
and two children, represented by life-size photographs and recorded voices - who give a personal, contemporary perspective of the historial materials found in the exhibition.
Following this are 6 sections arranged in chronologic order: "Laboratory Science Comes to America, 1876-1920;" "Science for Progress, 1920-1940;" "Mobilizing Science for War,
1940-1960;" "Better Than Nature, 1950-1970;" "Science in the Public Eye, 1970 to the present;" and "Looking Ahead." Developed by Museum Specialist Howard Morrison, "Looking
Ahead" focuses on the science of biotechnology and public attitudes about it.
An additional component to the exhibition is the 1,500 square-foot interactive education center known as the "Hands on Science Center." All aspects of the exhibition are
documented, including publicity, the anti-science controversy, the glossing over of corporate misdeeds, exhibition design, educational aspects, curriculum development, grant
proposals, advisory board meetings, copyrights, audio and video development, feasibility studies, audience surveys, and object acquisition. Subjects and people covered in
the exhibition include chemists Ira Remsen and Ellen Henrietta Richards; coal tar and synthetic materials; the Manhattan Project; the first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile no.
1; the birth control pill; pesticides; DNA; chlorofluorocarbons and atmospheric ozone; the Superconducting Super Collider; genetic engineering; and biotechnology. Materials
include correspondence, memoranda, reports, meeting minutes, notes, scripts, contracts, loan agreements, exhibitions proposals, evaluations, budget summaries, design submittals,
floor plans, black-and-white photographs and negatives, color photographs and negatives, floppy disks, clippings, and brochures.
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 06-276, National Museum of American History. Division of Information Technology and Society, Exhibition Records
This accession consists of records that document that planning, building, and administration of the Winton M. Blount Center for Postal Studies at the National Postal
Museum. The Blount Center was funded in large part by former Postmaster General Winton M. Blount and serves as a research, education, and conference center at the museum to
explore, document and interpret the role of the postal system in American life through research and public outreach. Materials include correspondence, memoranda, agreements,
proposals, meeting notes, drawings, floor plans, and images.
Smithsonian Networks is a joint venture between Showtime Networks and the Smithsonian Institution. It was formed to create channels featuring programs largely inspired
by the assets of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum and research complex. Smithsonian Channel features award-winning original documentaries, series and
ground-breaking programs highlighting America's historical, cultural and scientific heritage. This accession consists of programs created for the Smithsonian Channel that
cover a range of topics including aeronautics, astronautics, science, nature, and American culture and history. Materials are in electronic format.
Restrictions:
Special restrictions on use of these materials apply. See Record of Transfer, Appendix B, Transferring office; Record of Transfer, August 25, 2009; Contact reference staff for details.
The Myron Bement Smith collection consists of two parts, the papers of Myron Bement Smith and his wife Katharine and the Islamic Archives. It contains substantial material about his field research in Italy in the 1920s and his years working on Islamic architecture in Iran in the 1930s. Letters describe the milieu in which he operated in Rochester NY and New York City in the 1920s and early 1930s; the Smiths' life in Iran from 1933 to 1937; and the extensive network of academic and social contacts that Myron and Katharine developed and maintained over his lifetime. The Islamic Archives was a project to which Smith devoted most of his professional life. It includes both original materials, such as his photographs and notes, and items acquired by him from other scholars or experts on Islamic art and architecture. Smith intended the Archives to serve as a resource for scholars interested in the architecture and art of the entire Islamic world although he also included some materials about non-Islamic architecture.
Scope and Contents:
The Myron Bement Smith Collection consists of two parts, the papers of Myron Bement Smith and his wife Katharine and the Islamic Archives. The papers include some biographic material about Myron but little about his wife. Information on his academic and professional experience is sketchy and his diaries and appointment books often contain only sporadic entries. The papers contain substantial material about his field research in Italy in the 1920s and his years working on Islamic architecture in Iran in the 1930s. Correspondence comprises the largest and most potentially useful part of the papers. Letters describe the milieu in which he operated in Rochester, NY and New York City in the 1920s and early 1930s; the Smiths' life in Iran from 1933 to 1937; and the extensive network of academic and social contacts that Myron and Katharine developed and maintained over his lifetime.
The Islamic Archives, formally entitled The Archive for Islamic Culture and Art, was a project to which Smith devoted most of his professional life. It includes both original materials, such as his photographs and notes, and items acquired by him from other scholars or experts on Islamic art and architecture. Most of the latter consists of photographs and slides. Smith intended the Archives to serve as a resource for scholars interested in the architecture and art of the entire Islamic world although he also included some materials about non-Islamic architecture. The core collection of the Archives consists of Smith's original photographs and architectural sketches of Iranian Islamic monuments made during his field research in the 1930s. He meticulously photographed the interior and exterior of monuments, including their decorative detail. Some of the photographic materials subsequently loaned, purchased, or donated to the Archives may enable scholars to document sites over time but in many cases the materials are poorly preserved or reproduced. A notable exception to this is the glassplate negatives and prints of 19th century Iranian photographer Antoin Sevruguin.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 2 major series with further subseries. A third series inventories the outsized and miscellaneous materials.
Series 1: Papers
Subseries 1.1: Biographic Materials
Subseries 1.2: Professional Experience
Subseries 1.3: Notebooks, Journals and Appointment Books
Subseries 1.4: Correspondence
Subseries 1.5: Published and Unpublished Materials
Subseries 1.6: Italy Research 1925, 1927-1928
Subseries 1.7: Iran Research 1933-1937
Subseries 1.8: Katharine Dennis Smith Papers and Correspondence
Series 2: The Islamic Archives
Subseries 2.1: Islamic Archives History, Collection Information
Subseries 2.2: Resource Materials Iran
Subseries 2.3: Resource Materials Other Islamic World and General
Subseries 2.4: Myron Bement Smith Architectural Sketches, Plans and Notes, Iran, 1933-1937
Subseries 2.5: Myron Bement Smith Iran Photographs, Notebooks and Negative Registers
Subseries 2.6: Country Photograph File
Subseries 2.7: Lantern Slide Collection
Subseries 2.8: Myron Bement Smith 35 mm Color Slides
Subseries 2.9: Country 35 mm Color Slide File
Subseries 2.10: Myron Bement Smith Negatives
Subseries 2.11: Country Photograph Negatives
Subseries 2.12: Antoin Sevruguin Photographs
Series 3: Outsize and Miscellaneous Items
Subseries 3.1: Map Case Drawers
Subseries 3.2: Rolled Items
Subseries 3.3 Items in Freezer
Subseries 3.4 Smithsonian Copy Negatives
Biographical Note:
Myron Bement Smith was born in Newark Valley, New York in 1897 and grew up in Rochester, New York. He died in Washington D.C. in 1970. He showed an early interest in drawing, and after graduation from high school, he worked as a draftsman for a Rochester architect. He served in the US Army Medical Corps in France during World War I and on return again worked as an architectural draftsman. He studied at Yale University from 1922 to 1926, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. During summer vacations, he worked as draftsman or designer for architectural firms in New York City. After graduation, he received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation grant and spent two years in Italy doing research on northern Italian brick and stone work. He used photography as an tool for his research and published several well-illustrated articles. On return he joined an architectural firm in Philadelphia and in 1931 became a registered architect in New York. He enrolled in Harvard University graduate school in 1929 pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree.
In April 1930, Smith was appointed Secretary of the newly created American Institute for Persian Art and Archaeology founded by Arthur Upham Pope and located in New York City. He had no prior academic or work experience in Islamic art or architecture, and his job entailed designing publications, arranging lectures, organizing exhibitions and fund raising. That summer he arranged an independent study course at Harvard University on Persian art and subsequently studied Persian language at Columbia University and attended graduate courses at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. His work and academic credentials enabled him to compete successfully for a research fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies in 1933 to study Iranian Islamic architecture.
Accompanied by his new bride Katharine Dennis, Smith left for Iran in 1933. They suffered a horrendous motor vehicle accident in Iraq en route and required a lengthy recuperation in Lebanon and Cyprus. The Smiths eventually arrived in Isfahan, Iran, where they established their "Expedition House," as Smith called it, in a rented faculty house at Stuart College. Smith's research consisted of meticulous photographic documentation of Islamic monuments and architectural sketches and drawings of many of them. He concentrated on the Isfahan area but also documented monuments elsewhere in Iran. Smith outfitted his station wagon as a combination camper and research vehicle in which he and his staff traveled widely. Katharine sometimes traveled with him but generally she remained in Isfahan managing the household and logistics for the "expedition." The Smiths left Iran in 1937.
Smith published several articles about Iran's Islamic monuments based on his field research and in 1947 completed his PhD thesis for The Johns Hopkins University on the vault in Persian architecture. His professional career from 1938 until his death in 1970 consisted of a series of temporary academic positions, contract work and government or academic sponsored lecture tours and photographic exhibits. He had a long lasting relationship with the Library of Congress where he served as an Honorary Consultant from 1938 to 1940 and again from 1948 to 1970; from 1943 to 1944 he was Chief of the Iranian Section at the Library. Despite his lack of published material, Smith was well-known among academic, government and private citizens who worked, traveled or were otherwise interested Iran and the Islamic world.
Smith developed an extensive network of professional and social contacts that dated from his early student days and increased markedly during his time at the Persian Institute and later in Iran. He kept in touch with them and they touted him to others who were interested in Iran or Islamic art and architecture. This network served him well in realizing his ambition of creating a resource for scholars that relied on photographs to document Islamic architecture. The Islamic Archives began with his own collection of photographs from his Iran research and grew to include all manner of photographic and other materials not only on the Islamic world but also other areas. Creating and managing the Archives became the main focus of Smith's professional life and career. In 1967 he received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to revise his PhD thesis as a publishable manuscript but died before he could complete it.
Related Materials:
The Antoin Sevruguin Photgraphs
Ernst Herzfeld Papers
Lionel B. Bier Drawings
Lionel D. Bier and Carol Bier Photographs
Provenance:
Gift of Myron Bement Smith
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Smithsonian Networks is a joint venture between Showtime Networks and the Smithsonian Institution. It was formed to create channels featuring programs largely inspired
by the assets of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum and research complex. Smithsonian Channel features award-winning original documentaries, series and
ground-breaking programs highlighting America's historical, cultural and scientific heritage. This accession consists of programs created for the Smithsonian Channel that
cover a range of topics including aeronautics, astronautics, science, nature, and American culture and history. Materials are in electronic format.
Restrictions:
Special restrictions on use of these materials apply. See Record of Transfer, Appendix B, Transferring office; Record of Transfer, August 25, 2009; Contact reference staff for details.
National Museum of the American Indian Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Electronic records
Web sites
Place:
United States -- Social life and customs
Date:
2018
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of the online exhibition, "Americans," presented on the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) website as it existed on February 5, 2018.
This is a digital version of the exhibition of the same name that opened at the NMAI on January 18, 2018, and is currently scheduled to be on display through 2022. The exhibition
highlights the ways in which American Indians have been part of the nation's identity since before the country began. Materials are in electronic format.
