The papers document Leo H. Baekeland, a Belgian born chemist who invented Velox photographic paper (1893) and Bakelite (1907), an inexpensive, nonflammable, versatile plastic. The papers include student notebooks; private laboratory notebooks and journals; commercial laboratory notes; diaries; patents; technical papers; biographies; newspaper clippings; maps; graphs; blueprints; account books; batch books; formula books; order books; photographs; and correspondence regarding Baekeland, 1887-1943.

This accession consists of records that constitute the morgue files for the Science Service, and as such contain past articles, press releases and other materials pertaining to medical, psychological, and sociological issues. In addition are supplemental correspondence, photographs, news clippings, scientific papers and articles, obituaries an...

These papers document Preble's personal life and careers with the Bureau of Biological Survey and the American Nature Association, and include general correspondence, primarily incoming; published and unpublished manuscripts for scientific and conservation work; addresses and reports by others; field notebooks, diaries, lists and checklists ...

Documentary filmmaker Jorge Prelorán was best known for his intimate approach to ethnographic film, a style known as "ethnobiography." The majority of Prelorán's films were shot in rural areas of Argentina, particularly the Andean highlands and the Pampas (plains), often in communities of mixed Indian and Spanish heritage. Prelorán documented a wide range of subjects, including art, folk crafts, agriculture, ranching, markets, religious rituals and festivals, and social and cultural change. This collection contains edited films and videos, film outtakes, audio tapes, photographic prints and transparencies, digital books, correspondence, production files, scripts, project files, and press clippings spanning 1954-2008.

The records contain proposals and drafts of contracts and grants, correspondence concerning their acceptance and implementation, budget information, reports about grant-sponsored activities, and information concerning the administration of the Office and the authority of the Contracting Officer. Entries include the following information if ava...

The William J. Rhees Collection consists of the remains of his Manuscript and Newspaper Scrap portfolio files. The dates of the material indicate that Rhees was collecting these papers from the beginning of his tenure at the Smithsonian, but the files were not organized until 1891 when he was appointed keeper of the Archives. The collection ...

The collection documents the career of George S. Morison, a prominent civil engineer, specializing in railroad bridge design. The materials consist primarily of drawings and maps (linen tracings, blueprints, sketches); final bridge reports; photographs; glass plate negatives; daily diaries; correspondence; and published material documenting George S. Morison's participation on the Isthmian Canal Commission, 1898-1903.

These records document the history of the Smithsonian from 1872-1927. Most of the records concern the tenure of Samuel P. Langley, the third Secretary, who served from 1887-1906. There is also some material dating from as early as 1866 to as late as 1927 in the collection. This record unit is the last to be based on a distinction between ...

These records document the tenures of Frank A. Taylor, John C. Ewers, and Robert P. Multhauf as Directors of the Museum of History and Technology (NMHT); of Daniel J. Boorstin, Brooke Hindle, and Roger G. Kennedy as Directors of the National Museum of History and Technology; and of Roger G. Kennedy as Director of the National Museum of Am...

The Smithsonian Institution Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998. The materials collected here document the planning, production, and execution of the annual Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present) and its predecessor offices (1967-1999). An overview of the entire Festival records group is available here: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.