Research @ Smithsonian

As one of the world’s foremost research centers in science, the arts, and the humanities, the Smithsonian has many resources for research across the Institution.

Research Centers

In addition to 19 museums and the National Zoo, the Smithsonian Institution’s Research Centers are facilities for deep inquiry into specialized fields from art conservation to species survival.

Resources for Researchers

For researchers and learners of all types, the Smithsonian offers many opportunities to delve deeper in a topic through online resources, subject experts, and physical collections.

Search Collections

Smithsonian Collections Search Center is a portal into over 13 million records of museum objects, archives, and library materials.

Scholarly Press

Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press continues the Institution’s rich history of scholarly publishing, and is dedicated to publishing research and other scholarly and educational contributions authored by Smithsonian curators and researchers, including monographs, collection catalogs, exhibition catalogs, technical studies and analyses, and edited collections and proceedings.

Research Computing

The Office of Research Information Services is a part of the Office of the Chief Information Officer and exists to help support researchers in organizing, analyzing, and sharing research data, while also assembling a first-class research computing infrastructure.

Smithsonian Libraries

At the center of research across the Smithsonian are the specialized branches and librarians of the Smithsonian Libraries. The collections and staff of the Libraries play a key role in helping the Smithsonian’s research and curatorial staff make sense of the museums’ almost innumerable, often unique, objects and their cultural and historical contexts.

Smithsonian Archives

The Smithsonian Institution Archives captures, preserves, and shares with the public the history of this extraordinary Institution. From its inception in 1846 to the present, the records of the history of the Institution—its people, its programs, its research, and its stories—have been gathered, organized, and disseminated so that everyone can learn about the Smithsonian and its role in American history, scientific exploration, and with the promotion of international cultural understanding.

Smithsonian Global

The Smithsonian is a global organization actively involved in conserving biodiversity, priceless art, and much more. Discover the differences we’re making in communities around the world.

Public Access

Fellowships and Internships

The Office of Fellowships and Internships facilitates scholarly interactions between Smithsonian experts and students and scholars at universities, museums, cultural organizations, and other research institutions around the world. OFI administers Institution-wide research support programs, and encourages and assists other Smithsonian museums, research institutes, and research offices in the development of additional fellowship, internship, and research associate appointments.