By Shari A. Stout

While searching for the catalog numbers for mining lamps, a collection manager discovered an impressive photo archive shot in 1884

As a collection manager at the National Museum of American History, I often have access to things no one else gets to see, including the mining collection, one of the oldest at the Smithsonian. Recently, I worked with a team to inventory thousands of objects in the museum's Division of Work and Industry. In the process, I cataloged hundreds of mining lamps.