Staff Voices

Deputy Director Liza Kirwin explores an illustrated letter—currently on view in the Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery—both elegiac and hopeful.

Kelly Quinn, the Terra Foundation Project Manager for Online Scholarly and Educational Initiatives, introduces a new series, Tip of the Hat, which takes a light-hearted look at artists and their headgear.

Archivist Rihoko Ueno, who recently processed holdings and curated an exhibit related to the Monuments Men at the Archives of American Art, examines how the actions of Rose Valland and James J. Rorimer saved valuable works of art in World War II.

The dog days of summer—those sweltering days of August, when the air hits you like a blast furnace—are upon us. To lighten our spirits in this oppressively hot month, the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art has selected 31 photographs of artists with their dogs for the 31 days of August for our Flickr site.

The Archives of American Art recently received as a bequest the personal papers of Jock Truman, an art dealer who served for many years as director of the Betty Parsons Gallery. Truman’s papers, approximately 3.5 linear feet of correspondence, photographs, biographical material, artwork, and printed material, arrived in two suitcases. This was an unusually personal mode of delivery for material that normally arrives in pasteboard boxes and manila envelopes, and my curiosity about this new acquisition was instantly piqued.

Reference specialist Elizabeth Botten investigates Rockwell Kent and a whale of a scarf tale.

In honor of William Shakespeare's 449th birthday, a look at some very special editions of his plays from our collection.

To inaugurate our newest series, The Accidental Tourist, reference specialist Elizabeth Botten takes a trip through the papers of Arthur Sinclair Covey and finds some rhymes.