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Smithsonian Institution

3,308 photos
59.4M views
Member since 2008
Last upload was
July 2018
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Welcome to the Smithsonian Institution! The Smithsonian is happy to join the Flickr community. We look forward to your tags, comments, and general participation in this new venture. We will be adding more photos on a regular basis and hope you will often return to visit us. The Smithsonian and Photography Photography predates the founding of the Smithsonian by just a few years. The introduction of various photographic processes in the 1830s culminated in the development of the daguerreotype in 1839. From its founding in 1846, the Smithsonian adopted the camera to advance its mission, cataloging plant and animal species and documenting the grandeur of the American landscape and the continent’s original inhabitants. Photography brought the faraway near and made visible the previously invisible. Many of our photographs also serve as a historical record of the growth of the Institution.

When were these photos taken?

573

1880

2015

Where were these photos taken?

4% of these photos are geotagged.

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Photos of interest

These photos have had lots of views, comments, and favourites.

Recent uploads

The last upload was July 2018.

Lucile Quarry Mann Feeding Tiger Cub, Babette uploaded July 2018
Marian H. Pettibone at Her Retirement uploaded July 2018
Mary Rice at Florida Marine Station's Lab uploaded July 2018
Mrs. Leila Forbes Clark Facing Camera uploaded December 2017
Waldo LaSalle Schmitt uploaded July 2017
Waldo L. Schmitt and Thomas E. Bowman examining a giant crab of Japan uploaded July 2017
Claudine Brown uploaded March 2016
Citizen Regent Jeannine Smith Clark uploaded March 2016
Sophie Lutterlough at a Microscope, 1983 uploaded March 2016
Amina Dickerson uploaded March 2016
Eva J. Pell uploaded February 2016
Shark, Pearl Islands, Panama, 3 March 1935 uploaded November 2015
Kingstown, Jamaica, leaving harbor, aboard SS Calamores(?), 24 January 1935 uploaded November 2015
Large swamp a few miles from La Jagua Hunting Club, 10 February 1935. (Rake catfish taken here) uploaded November 2015
Papaya or "Pepya". Note melon-like fruit attached to trunk of trees near top. Barro Colorado Island Laboratory, 5 March 1935. Name of Plant is "papayo". Name of fruit in Cuba is "fruta bomba." uploaded November 2015

Conversations

Here’s a selection of the conversations happening on these photos::

Fremont Davis (1915-1977)

from Smithsonian Institution

2 older comments, and then…
Permissible Transport said:
See a blog post featuring this photograph at THE BIGGER PICTURE.
Iam Marjon Bleeker said:
A beauty!!
blumoon222 said:
This is so wicked, Fremont is my great-grandfather! My mom says that her dad Parker Davis also took pictures for the Smithsonian, so I was wondering if you might have photographs he took or pictures of him that you could send to me? My e-mail address is blumoon_222@hotmail.com if you decide to send them to me! Thank you!
Smithsonian Institution said:
blumoon222 Bluemoon222, that is pretty wicked!

I conducted a search for "Parker Davis" on Smithsonian's Collection Search Center. However proving unfruitful, I did find more Fremont Davis image results.

If your mother has any additional information regarding the subject matter of these images or perhaps which Smithsonian museum or research center may have Parker Davis images in their collections . . . any relevant information will be most helping in the identification of collection items. Please do keep me posted!

Sincerely,

Susannah
Smithsonian Institution Archives
Smithsonian Institution said:
Hi blumoon222,

Just to add to Susannah's comment above, there are also more photos taken by Fremont Davis on Smithsonian Collections Search as well.

I asked around the Archives about Parker Davis and this is what our researcher Marcel Chotowski LaFollette had to say: "I do not recall Parker Davis appearing in the Science Service records (either 7091 or the others that I have looked through closely). He would have been a small boy during the time encompassed by most of the records (that is, up through 1966, when Watson Davis retired). I suspect that, because the Smithsonian and not Science Service is mentioned in the comment above, Parker Davis may have either worked for the Smithsonian (remember that Malcolm Davis, the brother of Watson and Fremont, was a senior person at Smithsonian Zoo) or did freelance photography for some part of the Smithsonian Institution. I suggest a check of the personnel records or perhaps the Zoo records. There's also some Fremont Davis material at George Washington University archives."

We'll look into this for you, but I thought you'd like to hear the most recent update!

Best wishes,

Catherine
Smithsonian Institution Archives

Rural Letter Carrier in Sleigh

from Smithsonian Institution

12 older comments, and then…
Polite Effect said:
very nice work
Steep Spark said:
Sure hope he has a hot water bottle to sit with...Merry Christmas indeed!
hobvias sudoneighm said:
This image has been used in the indicommons.org post: Delivering the Mail
change your name said:
good
allr1 said:
Amazing how far we have come. Email what?