Art
The Bird-Based Color System that Eventually Became Pantone
WASHINGTON, DC — An effort to describe the diversity of birds led to one of the first modern color systems.
Smithsonian Libraries
Art
Airships and Reanimated Corpses from the Pages of Early Science Fiction
WASHINGTON, DC — Science fiction rose to prominence in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when authors like H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, and Mary Shelley imagined the extraordinary possibilities of advances in technology and exploration.
Art
Art Deco Patterns of Beetles and Butterflies
Emile-Allain Séguy was enamored with the overlooked wonders of the natural world.
Art
How Audubon Pranked a Fellow Naturalist with a Bulletproof Fish
Field books capture essential information for ecological history but are often difficult to track down in scientific collections.
Art
The 16th-Century Fossil Book that First Depicted the Pencil
The first book to illustrate a pencil was published in the 16th century, and its author was more interested in the properties of the lead than the implement itself.
Books
A Portal to Unite the Smithsonian Libraries Artists' Books Collection
This month the Smithsonian Libraries Artists' Books Collection launched an online platform that unifies artists' books from across several Smithsonian collections.