Got two #FolkwaysRecords releases today at Vintage Vinyl, a new record shop in downtown #Sarasota. They also had a very cool Leadbelly 10” that I decided to leave behind.

I always thought Folkways was a project of the #Smithsonian but it only became that when the original owner of the label, Moses Asch, died in 1986. I wonder why I’ve heard more about John & Allan Lomax and Harry Smith than him? It really was genius to think to record all of these different types of #FolkMusic in their original settings so that we can have that window into the past for posterity. #Leadbelly #vinyl

US #Holocaust #Museum announced temporary closure of exhibit detailing #UnitedStates turned away #Jewish #refugees during #worldwarii This decision reportedly follows an order from #Trump to vet #Smithsonian museums for content considered to be #antiamerican. Closure of the exhibit, which highlights a critical historical narrative, has sparked a conversation about the boundaries of such vetting processes and their impact on historical education. @NoLieWithBTC: Museum closes exhibit #censorship

US #Holocaust #Museum announced temporary closure of exhibit detailing #UnitedStates turned away #Jewish #refugees during #worldwarii This decision reportedly follows an order from #Trump to vet #Smithsonian museums for content considered to be #antiamerican. Closure of the exhibit, which highlights a critical historical narrative, has sparked a conversation about the boundaries of such vetting processes and their impact on historical education. @NoLieWithBTC: Museum closes exhibit #censorship

Last week trump announced plans to "review" 8 Smithsonian museums. Today he doubled down, very explicit about the intent to revise history to reflect the ethno-nationalist fantasy of US history.

You can do something about that! We are backing up the digital archives of those museums on sciop: https://sciop.net/tags/smithsonian

You can take direct action to preserve the historical artifacts the right wants to destroy:

1) you can download a copy and seed it, every seeder counts. Subscribe to the smithsonian RSS feed to auto-download torrents as they are scraped.

2) we have also written a crawler connected to sciop that distributes the scraping work, and automatically creates and uploads a validated torrent that piggybacks off the s3 bucket as a webseed source while it lasts (instructions in reply).

The data from the 8 threatened museums is on the order of ~10 TB, and we have split it up by jpg/tif so people without much spare storage can join in on the jpg's at least. The full contents of the public smithsonian bucket is ~700TB, so if we want to have a full independent copy we'll need lots more seeders.

All this code is being written flat out, on the run, as it's needed by volunteers with exactly zero resources, so it's not polished or well documented, and if you're interested in helping damp the flames of the book burning by contributing to any of the code or docs, we'd love to have you.

#Smithsonian#Sciop

Last week trump announced plans to "review" 8 Smithsonian museums. Today he doubled down, very explicit about the intent to revise history to reflect the ethno-nationalist fantasy of US history.

You can do something about that! We are backing up the digital archives of those museums on sciop: https://sciop.net/tags/smithsonian

You can take direct action to preserve the historical artifacts the right wants to destroy:

1) you can download a copy and seed it, every seeder counts. Subscribe to the smithsonian RSS feed to auto-download torrents as they are scraped.

2) we have also written a crawler connected to sciop that distributes the scraping work, and automatically creates and uploads a validated torrent that piggybacks off the s3 bucket as a webseed source while it lasts (instructions in reply).

The data from the 8 threatened museums is on the order of ~10 TB, and we have split it up by jpg/tif so people without much spare storage can join in on the jpg's at least. The full contents of the public smithsonian bucket is ~700TB, so if we want to have a full independent copy we'll need lots more seeders.

All this code is being written flat out, on the run, as it's needed by volunteers with exactly zero resources, so it's not polished or well documented, and if you're interested in helping damp the flames of the book burning by contributing to any of the code or docs, we'd love to have you.

#Smithsonian#Sciop

Yes, W. Kamau Bell. In fact, the upper floors of the NMAAHC show some of the most fascinating and inspiring history of Black creativity and achievement. The museums don't just tackle "slavery".
There's also a fantastic museum café with regional delicacies served. And a cookbook you can buy as a souvenir. (I own a copy. Dr. Jessica B. Harris, "High on the Hog" author & food historian, co-edited it.) Leave the museums to the trained historians. #nmaahc#Smithsonian #americanhistory #museums

Yes, W. Kamau Bell. In fact, the upper floors of the NMAAHC show some of the most fascinating and inspiring history of Black creativity and achievement. The museums don't just tackle "slavery".
There's also a fantastic museum café with regional delicacies served. And a cookbook you can buy as a souvenir. (I own a copy. Dr. Jessica B. Harris, "High on the Hog" author & food historian, co-edited it.) Leave the museums to the trained historians. #nmaahc#Smithsonian #americanhistory #museums

The recent removal of a placard at the National Museum of American History that detailed President Donald Trump's two impeachments did not come after White House pressure. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/03/world/politics/smithsonian-trump-exhibit/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #worldnews #politics #us #donaldtrump #censorship #smithsonian

Amy Sherald Pulls Smithsonian Show Over Censorship Concerns

The museum reportedly did not want to show the artist's painting of a transgender woman out of fear of provoking the President. The painting is called “Trans Forming Liberty.”

https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/amy-sherald-cancels-smithsonian-exhibition-amid-censorship-concerns-1234748194/

#transgender #trans #lgbtq #2SLGBTQIA#BlackArt#AmySherald#BlackQueer #censorship#Smithsonian#Art #painting

Amy Sherald Pulls Smithsonian Show Over Censorship Concerns

The museum reportedly did not want to show the artist's painting of a transgender woman out of fear of provoking the President. The painting is called “Trans Forming Liberty.”

https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/amy-sherald-cancels-smithsonian-exhibition-amid-censorship-concerns-1234748194/

#transgender #trans #lgbtq #2SLGBTQIA#BlackArt#AmySherald#BlackQueer #censorship#Smithsonian#Art #painting

Update. The #OpenAccess Biodiversity Heritage Library ( #BHL) needs a new home. The #Smithsonian will stop hosting it next January.
https://blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2025/04/new-future-for-bhl.html

#Biodiversity #DefendResearch #ILoveBHL #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics