When I was a book editor in New York, we had a licensing partnership with the American Museum of Natural History and I had the luck of being assigned to work on some projects that required me to go visit the offices and sneak peeks behind the scenes. In fact, when I left (when Hudson was born) I was in the middle of creating a new children’s guide to the museum, and had just finished editing a book on butterflies and moths.
I wrote about my experiences a bit, here, but I’m going to be a tad obnoxious and quote myself about visiting the photo files in the museum’s research library:
“Our librarian/guide began flipping through plastic sleeved contact prints in the vertebrate paleontology section, pulling up images such as those of horse-drawn covered wagons carrying scientists on a fossil-hunting trip into Utah in the 1870s! In fact, when the tour was over, we all came back to these stacks to flip through on our own. I particularly enjoyed the drawers of historical images documenting the creation of the museum—like the ones above that show curators creating dioramas, or the many great shots of Central Park, before the great lawn existed and when sheep still grazed its grasses.”
Well, yesterday, the American Museum of Natural History opened their digital archive to the public—nearly 7,000 images from the museum’s 145-year history, many never never seen before. And once again I’m finding myself enamored with old field photos of research trips to far-away-lands (true Indiana-Jones-fodder), with notes on the creation of iconic dioramas, and with images of a far-gone Manhattan. What a treasure!
Maybe because I just had a baby (and because about five friends just did or are about to as well), this mother’s day gift guide is a bit more skewed toward my wish list than usual. I think if I were shopping off this list for my mother (instead of leaving it open on the computer for someone else to see), I would just have to make a few adjustments: she’d like a hat… but probably one with a wider brim; and she’d like stationary… but maybe notecards with a bit more of a pastel than neon hue. I think, however, we’d both enjoy reliving freshman year on Felicity, but the point would be to consider some guilty-tv-pleasure DVDs or instant videos. So whether it’s for you, your wife, your gal pal, or your mother, I hope there’s something inspiring here. (And if not, check out the last mother’s day gift guide. I still stand by all of those suggestions, too.)
My annual favorite: an accordion brag book from Pinhole Press. (I’ve talked about how much I love these before.) Use the code hither15 for 15% off at Pinhole Press through Mother’s Day.
A stack of good reads she won’t find at the grocery store. These three (Kinfolk, The Gentlewoman, and Darling) are all for sale at Anthropologie. Add a cup of coffee and an hour of quiet to make it complete.
A gift card to one of her favorite stores to go jeans shopping (and a promise to watch the kids while she tries several pairs on)
That photograph she still loves, framed, even though she’s seen it everywhere. (Or, perhaps, get her the book of the entire Praia Piquinia series
.)
Special plans (that you made for her) for the day. Breakfast in bed. A hike. The beach. Something for everyone to be together. (Not pictured, but maybe the best gift of all.)
Thank you again for letting me share our home tour this past week! It’s been a lot of fun and, as usual, you have all been so generous and kind.
This is the last of it—our office. I spend quite a bit of time in this room, so we just had a skylight added to get more of that uplifting natural light! I was amazed, actually, at how straightforward it was. It’s just as you might imagine: you simply have a giant hole cut into the ceiling and someone puts in a window. Best decision! There are actually lots of skylights in the house—there’s even one in the laundry room—so I thought it only seemed fair…
