Past Events

On Wednesday December 2, 2015, the Smithsonian Libraries will host its 22nd Annual Dibner Library Lecture featuring Laura Otis. 5:00pm, with reception to follow  Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium  Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery 8th and G Streets NW, Washington, DC This event is free, please click here to reserve your tickets, or call 202.633.3054.

Explore artists’ books and the art of bookmaking! At the first in a series of six sessions, visit the National Museum of Africa Art to enjoy the beauty and artistry of artists’ books firsthand as you leaf through selections from the Warren M. Robbins Library’s collection, and create your own work of art in a bookmaking workshop conducted by guest artist and local bookmaker Patricia Autenrieth. This event is perfect for the whole family!

Enjoy an elegant evening with us celebrating French food, wine and culture while exploring and adopting Smithsonian Libraries Rare Books. Guests will have the opportunity to browse a trove of remarkable and historic volumes and are invited to learn more about the Libraries' special collections and why they must be preserved.

Hey educators! Smithsonian Libraries needs your help!

Wednesday, September 16th, 2015. 2-5pm. Lecture Room, National Museum of African Art950 Independence Avenue Southwest, Washington, DC 20560 Free and open to the public.

Join us for a Tweet Up with the National Museum of American History and Smithsonian Libraries!

Opening July 2015 in the Smithsonian Libraries Exhibition Gallery in the National Museum of American History

Date: April 14 Time: 5:30 p.m. Location: Baird Auditorium, National Museum of Natural History

Thursday, February 26th 11:00am-12:00pm S. Dillon Ripley Center, Lecture Hall Free and open to the public  

Nancy E. Gwinn, Director, Smithsonian Libraries Cordially invites you to attend the 21st Dibner Library Lecture  

Gone and nearly forgotten, the Labrador Duck, Great Auk, Heath Hen, Carolina Parakeet and Passenger Pigeon have left a hole in the American landscape and in our collective memory.  Moved by their stories, sculptor Todd McGrain set out to bring their vanished forms back into the world by permanent

Martha's Flight into the Future: Heresy as Hope

The film, "From Billions to None," will have the power to move minds. It will be the strongest element in the 2014 centennial effort to galvanize awareness of human-caused species declines. The trends, documented by careful research in the sea and in the wild, are overwhelming.

Free program. Suggested ages: 12 and younger.

Numbering in the billions, the passenger pigeon was the most abundant bird in North America if not the world. As late as 1860, a single flight near Toronto likely exceeded a billion birds and maybe three billion.