Past Events

To celebrate the Smithsonian Libraries exhibition Picturing Words: The Power of Book Illustration, SIL hosted “Book Illustration and Visual Culture,” a lecture and reception on June 24, 2009 in the National Museum of American History.

On June 10, 2009, around 70 guests gathered for “Afternoon Tea with Audubon,” an event celebrating the gift of a double-elephant folio facsimile of John J. Audubon’s Birds of America to the Libraries. This impressive and valuable work, published by Robert E.

The Smithsonian Institution Libraries hosted a two-day symposium titled “The Era of Experiments and the Age of Wonder: Scientific Expansion in the 17th-19th Centuries” March 4 and 5 in the National Museum of American History.

February 10, 2009 marked the Smithsonian Institution Libraries Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology reopening celebration. This rare books library was closed for over two years as part of the National Museum of American History renovation.

Botanica Magnifica is a five-volume, double elephant folio that holds 250 detailed shots of rare flowers. Most of the vibrantly-colored photographs were taken in the Smithsonian Department of Botany Research Greenhouses, located in Suitland, Md.

On December 9, 2008, the Smithsonian Institution Libraries displayed a new exhibition titled the Art of African Exploration, which showcases the Russell E. Train Africana Collection, a collection rich in visual materials.

The Smithsonian Institution Libraries sealed the 40thanniversary celebratory year by hosting a black-tie “Paint the Town REaD!” Ruby Gala at the Donald W.

Dr. Joyce E.

Dr.

Albert Van Helden (University of Utrecht) on "Huygens's Ring, Cassini's Division, and Saturn's Family: The First Explorations of the Solar System.

"Measures matter.” This underlying theme in Professor Ken Alder’s prize-winning book The Measure of All Things: The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error that Transformed the World (2002) also informs his essay presented here as “The Measure of the World.” Professor Alder has chosen something we al

Anthony T.

In October 1976, the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology opened its doors in what was known as the National Museum of History and Technology, now the National Museum of American History, Behring Center.

The Dibner Library Lectures contribute immeasurably to the Smithsonian Libraries' efforts to acquaint the larger public with the valuabl

In 1992, the Smithsonian Institution Libraries inaugurated a series of annual lectures on varied topics and themes, all sharing a common element of using the rich resources found in the Libraries' Dibner Library