The Archives Goes Viral!

The Special Collections & Archives got a small taste of what it means to go viral this year. One June 12, 2026, I posted an Instagram video to our account of the “Frigidaire Decorator Color Selector” from our Frigidaire Historical Collection (MS-262). I found this cool piece during the school year while helping an eighth grader from New York with her National History Day project and thought it would be fun to share online. 

The item—which was filed in the “Press Kits, 1954” folder—features a transparent card with the outline of a kitchen and all its appliances printed on it. Attached to it are five other cards in solid colors. The whole thing resembles a paint color fan deck. It was meant to help a buyer envision their kitchen appliances in either Almond, Avocado, Coffee, Terra Cotta, or Wheat.

The video was short and sweet. In 23 seconds, it showed my hands flipping through all five colors, with Rosemary Clooney cheerfully singing “Mambo Italiano” in the background. The caption identified it as an object from 1954.

In just a few hours, the post was approaching 1,000 likes—the most interaction any of our posts had ever gotten. It had apparently caught the attention of midcentury interior design influencers and collectors. It had also caught the attention of some nay-sayers. As Clooney sings in the song, “But wait a minute, something’s wrong.”

“There’s no way this is 1954. Those colors would have been white, turquoise, teal, even pink,” one commentor wrote. “My guess is it’s late ‘70s. Definitely not 1954,” another chimed in. “As many others have stated, this could not have been 1954 and may be misidentified if it is archived as 1954,” someone else said. 

As much as I wanted to believe our collection was accurate, the contesting comments kept coming, as did the likes—by the thousands. With such a large amount of attention on the post, it was important to present accurate information. I took another look in the collection. Sure enough, in another folder, I found a 1978 promotional booklet with the same unique color palette. Turns out, the item had been misfiled in the 1954 folder.

I went back to edit the post. Instead of deleting the incorrect information and acting as if the misidentification didn’t happen, I decided to add to the caption. Below the original caption, I wrote, “EDIT: It appears this groovy object was mistakenly filed in the collection’s ‘Press Kits, 1954’ folder. These things happen—perhaps the misfiling happened decades ago! We’ve confirmed it was created in 1978 and updated the collection accordingly. Thank you for helping us keep our records accurate!”

My hope was to turn this into a teaching moment for the thousands of people interacting with the post. I wanted to message to be: Yes! Sometimes things are filed incorrectly in special collections. It’s up to both archivists and the public to correctly identify the material. After all, we share and care for this history together. 

The post is still grabbing attention online. At the time I’m writing this, it is approaching 19,000 likes, has 193 comments, and has been shared 6,200 times. Something to dance about! Hey, mambo!