SMITHSONIAN LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES

Tune in for the Smithsonian 175th Film Fest

Grab your popcorn! To mark the Smithsonian’s 175th anniversary this year, the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives will host monthly virtual programs featuring films from the collections of the Smithsonian Institution Archives. Register today.

Collage of audio visual material that will be screened during the Smithsonian 175th Film Fest.
Collage of audio visual material that will be screened during the Smithsonian 175th Film Fest.

To celebrate the Smithsonian Institution’s 175th anniversary in 2021, the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives will host monthly programs featuring films from the collections of the Smithsonian Institution Archives. The series will be hosted virtually between August 2021 and August 2022.

What makes this series so special? In addition to the film screenings, archivists, conservators, and subject experts will also provide some context to the videos, share a little about their work, and answer questions from the audience during the one-hour programs. These screenings will also be the first instance that the films have ever been made available online to the public.

There will be a little something for everyone featured in the series. Watch giant panda baby doctor appointments. Tune in to listen to groundbreaking ornithologist Roxie Laybourne discuss her method for identifying birds by their feathers. Hear how Smithsonian conservators preserve outdoor sculptures.

The Libraries and Archives will be kicking off the series on Friday, August 27 at 12 pm EDT. Chief Archivist Tammy Peters will screen The Smithsonian Institution with S. Dillon Ripley, along with two short promotional videos. In the primary film, Secretary Ripley, an ornithologist who led the Smithsonian through a period of tremendous growth between 1964 and 1984, invites audiences on a tour of the Institution, attempting to answer the question: “What is the Smithsonian?” During the program, Peters will discuss our work at the Archives, the breadth of films in our collections, and the legacy of S. Dillon Ripley.

Register now!

Though the program will be screened on YouTube, we encourage you to register for the webinar here. The full programs will also be simulcast on YouTube, and the recordings will be saved to the Smithsonian Institution Archives YouTube channel for future viewing.

Emily Niekrasz

Emily Niekrasz is the Website and Social Media Content Manager at the Smithsonian Institution Archives, where she researches and edits blog posts, social media content, and new pages for the website. Every Wednesday, she writes a feature on the blog about a woman who has made an impact at the Smithsonian, past or present. She earned a master's degree in museum studies and a bachelor's degree in history from the George Washington University.

Kira Sobers

Kira Sobers is the Media Digitization Manager for the Smithsonian Institution Archives, part of the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives. She has been involved with the digitization of field notes, documents, audio, and video materials from initial cataloging to online access for the last ten years. Kira has a Masters in Applied American History from George Mason University.