SEPTEMBER 2010

From the Director

Have you ever wondered how an elaborate pop-up book was made? A video in our exhibition Paper Engineering shows the complex process involving artist, engineer, and fabricator. This is our most popular exhibition ever, illustrating how books with moving parts have existed for centuries. Follow the "Fold, Pull, Pop and Turn" blog at http://smithsonianlibraries.si.edu/foldpullpopturn/.

Intern Season at the Libraries

Did you know the Libraries hosted over 20 interns this summer? Meet Sara Clark, who created a marketing plan for the Libraries' Adopt-a-Book initiative.

Caldwell & Co.

Want to see the lighting fixtures that graced the houses of such notable Americans as the Roosevelts? Caldwell & Co. was America's premier producer of lighting and other metal objects during the turn of the 20th century through the 1940s, and the physical archives are currently stored in the Cooper-Hewitt Library. Notable clients of Caldwell lighting fixtures included the Rockefellers, the Carnegies, and the Roosevelts, and the company was also commissioned for famous landmarks such as the Grand Central Terminal, Radio City Music Hall, and the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. Our online collection boasts over 35,000 images.

Smithsonian Libraries Contributes to World Digital Library

The Libraries has selected seven titles to contribute to the World Digital Library, managed by the Library of Congress. The titles will be in multilingual format and available at no cost to people all over the globe. The items selected for digitization are: Systema Saturnium (1659) by Christiaan Huygens; Theatrum instrumentorum et machinarum (1578) by Jacques Dauphinois Besson; Astronomiae instauratae mechanica (1602) by Tycho Brahe; Description Botanique du Chiranthodendron (1805) by Jose Dionisio Larreategui; Ornithologie (1773-1792) by Francois Nicolas Martinet; Prodromus in systema historicum testaceorum (1795 [1801 issue]) by Joachim Johann Nepomuk Spalowsky; and Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Volume 1. Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, 1847.

OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST

Amy Levin Retires - Amy Levin, head librarian of the Museum Studies and Reference Library, retired on September 3rd. Amy worked for the Libraries for over 30 years, and tirelessly supported the research of Smithsonian staff as well as the general public during her tenure. She will be missed!

James Smithson's Library - Ever wondered what was in James Smithson's personal library collection? View the complete list here, gathered by the Libraries' Special Collections curator Leslie Overstreet: http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/SmithsonLibrary/