Publications

The list of selected staff publications may be searched by keyword or author and can be sorted by year.

Smith, Barbara Clark
Review of “We the People: Creating a New Nation, 1765-1820,” Chicago Historical Society exhibition, The Journal of American History, Vol. 76, No. 1. (Jun. 1989), pp. 198–202.

Smith, Barbara Clark
Review of The Great River, Art and Society of the Connecticut River Valley, 1635–1820, by Gerald W. R. Ward; William N. Hosley, Jr., The New England Quarterly, Vol. 59, No. 4. (Dec. 1986), 588–594.

Smith, Barbara Clark
"Food Rioters and the American Revolution," William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., Vol. 51, No. 1. (Jan. 1994), pp. 3–38.

Smith, Barbara Clark
Review of Cary Carson, et al. Becoming Americans: Our Struggle to Be Both, in William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser. Vol. 56, No. 4. (Oct. 1999), pp. 842–847.

Smith, Barbara Clark
"From Another Site: Comments on 'Digitizing Women's History'," Radical History Review 68 (1997), pp. 121–25.

Smith, Barbara Clark
"Social Visions of the American Revolution, 1765–1775," in The Transforming Hand of Revolution: Reconsidering the Revolution as a Social Movement, ed. Ronald Hoffman and Peter J. Albert (Charlottesville, Va.: University of Virginia Press, 1995), pp. 27–57.

Smith, Barbara Clark
“A Case Study of Applied Feminist Theories,” in Gender Perspectives: Essays on Women in Museums, ed. Jane R. Glazer and Artemis A. Zenetou (Washington, D.C: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994), 137–146.

Smith, Barbara Clark
“The Adequate Revolution,” Roundtable on Gordon Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution, William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., Vol. 51, No. 4. (Oct. 1994), 684–692.

Smith, Barbara Clark
Men and Women—A History of Costume, Gender, and Power Kathy Peiss. (Washington, D. C: NMAH, 1989).

Smith, Barbara Clark
Excerpts from a Conference to Honor William Appleman Williams with Dina Copelman, ed. Radical History Review 50 (1991), pp. 39–70.

Smith, Barbara Clark
"Markets, Streets, and Stores: Contested Terrain in Pre-industrial Boston," in Autre Temps, Autre Espace/An Other Time An Other Space, ed. Elise Marienstras and Barbara Karsky (Nancy, France: Presses universitaires de Nancy, 1986), pp. 172–97.

Smith, Barbara Clark
"Revolution in Boston," for the National Park Service handbook, Boston and the American Revolution, Boston National Historic Park and Freedom Trail (July 1998), pp. 6–73.

Smith, Barbara Clark
"The Authority of History: The Changing Public Face of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography CXIV (1990), pp. 37–66.

Smith, Barbara Clark
“Revolutionary Consent,” The Boston Review, 29 (Feb/Mar 2004), pp. 20–25.
Smith, Monica M.
"The Electric Guitar: How We Got From Andres Segovia to Kurt Cobain." American Heritage of Invention and Technology 20, no. 1 (summer 2004): 12–21.

The magazine's cover article about the invention and development of the electric guitar and how it changed the world of music during the 20th century. Features guitarists, makers, and innovators who played important roles in the evolution of the instrument and helped influence popular music styles including rock and roll. Reprinted in Regional Cultures in American Rock 'N' Roll: An Anthology, edited by David Stuart and Scott Anderson (2011).

Smith, Monica M.
"Irons," "Stoves," and "Washing Machines." In Facts on File Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Society, edited by Rudi Volti. New York: Facts on File, 1999.

Entries in specialized science and technology encyclopedia about the invention and development of irons, stoves, and washing machines in America, with links to other inventions featured in the publication.

Smith, Monica M.
"From Frying Pan to Flying V: The Rise of the Electric Guitar" With Gary Sturm. Original website 1997; redesigned 2014.

This virtual exhibition features instruments that illustrate how innovative makers and players combined the guitar with a pickup and amplifier to create a new instrument and a new sound that profoundly changed popular music—blues, country, rhythm and blues, jazz, and rock and roll—in the 20th-century. From an exhibition produced by the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, November 1996 through October 1997.

The Invention of the Electric Guitar

Smith, Monica M.
“Medical Alley, Minnesota (1950s): Tight-Knit Community of Tinkerers Keeps Hearts Ticking.” In Places of Invention, edited by Arthur P. Molella and Anna Karvellas, 86-109, Washington, DC Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 2015.

Places of Invention tells the stories of people who lived, worked, played, collaborated, adapted, took risks, solved problems, and sometimes failed--all in the pursuit of something new. It dispels the myth of the lone inventor and shows that invention and innovation abound--not just in the Silicon Valleys of America but in hometowns across the country.

Buy the book

Smith, Monica M.
"Spencer, Percy LeBaron." In American National Biography, April  26, 2018.

Online biographical profile of inventor Percy Spencer (1894-1970), who is best known for his discovery of microwave cooking but also earned the US Navy's Distinguished Public Service Award and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his magnetron research at Raytheon.

Available online

Smith, Monica M.
Journal of Museum Education Co-published by the Museum Education Roundtable and Left Coast Press.

Monica Smith served as the Editor in Chief of  the Journal of Museum Education from 2005 to 2008.

Smith, Monica M.
"Invention at Play: An Award-winning Traveling Exhibition" In Museums at Play: Games, Interaction and Learning, edited by Katy Beale, 440-58. Edinburgh, Scotland: MuseumsEtc., 2011.

This chapter examines how the Lemelson Center's first major exhibition evolved into an exhibition focused on play, and the research, implementation, and evaluation processes along the way, to hopefully provide inspiration for future play-related museum initiatives.

Smith, Monica M.
"Why There? Why Then? Examining Places of Invention." Dimensions 18, no. 3 (May-June 2016): 30-35.

This article in the bimonthly journal of the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) provides an overview of the  Places of Invention (POI) project, including the exhibition and public programs at NMAH and with Smithsonian Affiliate project partners, as well as POI-related questions that could be adapted by other museums for public programs and oral history projects.

Smith, Monica M.
"Playful Invention, Inventive Play." International Journal of Play 5, no. 3 (July 2016): 244-261.

This peer-reviewed article shares the Lemelson Center's primary and secondary research behind the award-winning Invention at Play exhibition regarding connections among play, child development, creativity, and invention.

Smith, Monica M.
"The Electric Guitar: How We Got From Andres Segovia to Kurt Cobain." In Regional Cultures in American Rock 'N' Roll: An Anthology, edited by David Stuart and Scott Anderson, 29-37. San Diego, CA: Cognella, a division of University Readers, Inc., 2011.

Provides a brief history of the invention and early development of the electric guitar in America. Reprinted from the American Heritage of Invention and Technology 20, no. 1 (summer 2004). 

Smith, Monica M., and Arthur P. Molella
"The Lemelson Center's Places of Invention Project" With Arthur P. Molella. Technology and Innovation 16, nos. 3-4 (2014): 175-185.

This peer-reviewed article provides an overview of the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the National Museum of American History and its Places of Invention exhibition project. Reprinted in two parts in Inventors Digest  31, nos. 2-3 (February and March 2015).

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