Your Blog's Got Nothing On The Smithsonian's Tumblr

The Smithsonian Institution has been around since 1846 and was established "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge." Tumblr, on the other hand, has been around since 2007 with the strict mission statement of "increasing the world's knowledge of cat GIFs and doctored celebrity nudes." Naturally, we were pretty pumped to find that the Smithsonian's Tumblr, Turning The Book Wheel, was as fascinating and intuitive as the institution itself.

We went through the blog's two-year history, which showcases the Smithsonian's more interesting and bizarre images from its digital collections program, and picked out some posts that made us feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

Duesseldorfer from Napoleon Lajoie’s official baseball guide in 1906.

Apparently, July 15th is "National Cow Appreciation Day" and this babe of a mammal was taken from  “Van Pelt’s Cow Demonstration" in 1911. 

At one point in time, people needed elves to show them how electricity worked... 

This 1844 drawing from The Pictorial Museum of Animated Nature is an ode to the wonderful poisonous duck-billed mammal known as the platypus. 

Chapters on the Ethnology of the Powhatan Tribes of Virginia by Frank G. Speck from 1928. These are the kinds of people you don't want to touch without a latex glove. 

Electricity + water. What could possibly go wrong? From Popular Electricity In Plain English (1910).

This is Uncle Dan. He will destroy you. 

"Conrad Gesner was a renowned Swiss naturalist whose Historiae animalium is possibly the seminal work of zoology." On a related note, staring into this cat's eyes will cause you to spontaneously combust. 

There was no tolerance for erection jokes back in the 19th century. 

Further proof from The Pictorial Museum of Animated Nature that sloths have been rocking in the free world since 1892. 

Pretty cool... but nowhere near as cool as Steve McQueen's.

Few people know that the Statue of Liberty has battle music and, if performed correctly, will prompt Lady Liberty to transform into Optimus Prime and crush Communism. 

This all seems pretty legit until you get to the narwhal. What narwhal looks like that? Seriously. 

Doesn't matter what this is: we'd drink it. 

Definitive proof from Germany that Germany has always been scary. 

Diligenza per la Luna: "Voyage to The Moon."

The “Springfield Cup” trophy from the 1884 issue of Wheelman’s Gazette. 

Bummer City, population: THIS guy. 

From the Bella C. Landauer Collection of Aeronautical Sheet Music, but—more than anything—a promise that there will one day be flying pickles.


Jeremy Glass is the Vice editor for Supercompressor and yearns for the days of dill blimps.