SIRIS (Smithsonian Institution Research and Information System) provides researchers and hobbyists an avenue to check all Libraries, Archives and Research Catalogs across the Smithsonian with the click of a button.Consider the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery founder, Charles Lang Freer. If you perform a search for him across all of Smithsonian using the SIRIS catalog you will find he doesn't just pop up at his founding Gallery!
By typing in "Charles Lang Freer," I am immediately given 5254 hits! These hits can be collection descriptions, photographs, art he donated, etcetera. You can use the handy sifting tools at the left to narrow or broaden your search as needed; providing you with a hand crafted result of your optimum hits. The power of SIRIS is really demonstrated by Freer showing up in collections not just at the Freer+Sackler Gallery, but also in: Smithsonian Institution Archives, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Archives of American Art, National Portrait Gallery, and Smithsonian American Art Museum. A query using Freer demonstrates the transcendence of a search from just one individual museum into a search play ground as big as, well, the Smithsonian.
Happy Searching!
Rachael Cristine Woody
Archivist
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives
woodyr@si.edu
Posts
Very helpful tip. I followed your search example, and then clicked on "Charles Lang Freer" under the name section on the left, my search result was filtered into a very focuced set on things about Freer and by Freer.
ReplyDeleteIt saved me a lot of time.
Thank you!
Rachael,
ReplyDeleteI love the last sentence: "the transcendence of a search from just one individual museum into a search play ground as big as, well, the Smithsonian."
That is it in a nutshell!
Thanks for writing this post!