Affiliations has gone mobile!

app_previewNew for the 2014 Affiliations National Conference is a mobile app to keep all conference activities at your fingertips. Access all the information you need during the conference on your smartphones and devices.  This new feature is generously provided by CrowdTorch from Cvent.

The app will include an online agenda and a note section that allows attendees to take notes inside the app and email the document to save or share with colleagues.

Speaker bios are linked to conference sessions for easier planning during the event.

Meeting locations  have been formatted in a google map so users can easily get directions from any location around the National Mall.

The app is loaded with time saving information and tools right at your fingertips!

Smithsonian Affiliations National Conference app will be available from the App Store in mid June.

Stay tuned for updates so you can download the App before the Conference.

Questions? Contact Christina DiMeglio Lopez dimeglioc@si.edu

 

The Evolution of a Dino Hall

Photo courtesy Donald E. Hurlbert / Smithsonian Institution.

Photo courtesy Donald E. Hurlbert / Smithsonian Institution.

On April 28, 2014, the National Museum of Natural History’s Fossil Hall closed to the public to begin a 5-year renovation. The Hall will undergo the largest and most complex renovation in the Museum’s history. The new exhibition will showcase the Museum’s unrivaled fossil collection and present the most current scientific research.

New fossil displays and scientific stories, informed by the most current research, will give fresh meaning to ancient life. And new techniques for fossil display and collections management enable researchers to tell new stories with historic specimens. Visitors to the new hall will explore how life, environments, and ecosystems have interacted to form and change our planet over billions of years.

Many museums are in similar situations when determining how to upgrade a popular exhibition space. Meeting 21st-century technology demands, presenting the most current scientific research as well as incorporate the latest educational programs in an inviting and accessible way are all things to consider when reinvigorating an exhibition space.

At the 2014 Smithsonian Affiliations National Conference, Affiliate attendees will have the opportunity to learn from the NMNH staff organizing and executing the Fossil Hall renovation. Those in attendance will share their own experiences and take away ideas for reshaping a new story in old exhibits.

The session, The Evolution of a Fossil Hall: Bringing a Modern Lens to an Ancient Story, takes place at the National Museum of Natural History on Wednesday, June 25. All registered Affiliate attendees are welcome to join.

The panel consists of:
Kara Blond, Director of Exhibitions, National Museum of Natural History
Kathy Hollis, Paleobiology Collections Manager, National Museum of Natural History
Steve Jabo, Fossil Preparator, National Museum of Natural History

There’s still time to register to attend the Affiliations National Conference and discover something new!

The Smithsonian Affiliations National Conference is for current Affiliates only. If you are interested in becoming an Affiliate, or have an application in progress and would like to attend the Conference, please contact Elizabeth Bugbee for more information.

This exhibit sketch featuring a Triceratops and soaring pterosaur brings the world in which the T. rex lived to life, and is just one possibility of what visitors could see after the museum’s largest, most extensive exhibition renovation is complete. The Nation’s T. rex arrived at the National Museum of Natural History on April 15, and will be the centerpiece of the museum’s new 31,000-square-foot dinosaur and fossil hall, which is slated to open in 2019. (Courtesy Smithsonian Institution)

This exhibit sketch featuring a Triceratops and soaring pterosaur brings the world in which the T. rex lived to life, and is just one possibility of what visitors could see after the museum’s largest, most extensive exhibition renovation is complete. (Courtesy Smithsonian Institution)

kudos Affiliates! for May 2014

Congratulations Affiliates on your spring accomplishments!

FUNDINGbcm

Birthplace of Country Music Museum (Bristol, TN) announced a $100,000 gift by Bank of Tennessee as part of the museum’s “Name Your Seat” fundraising campaign.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced a partnership with Mystic Seaport (Mystic, CT) to support the upcoming journey of the Charles W. Morgan, which will sail the New England coast this summer to promote conservation strategies. NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries will work with the museum to develop science and outreach activities around the voyage.

Russell Ebeid, a Michigan businessman and philanthropist has made a $2-million bequest to the Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, MI) to endow the museum’s community archive. Ebeid’s gift will support oral histories, photographs, artifacts, books, newspapers and ephemera that highlight Arab-American contributions and places their immigrant experience within the larger context of American history.

The National Endowment for the Arts announced it’s awarding of $74.85 million in grants for the second half of the fiscal year for a wide variety of projects, from the avant-garde to traditional folk art including the following Affiliate projects:

  • Heard Museum (Phoenix, AZ)  – $10,000

To support Free Summer Sundays, a multidisciplinary program featuring Native American visual and performing artists. Economically disadvantaged residents will receive free admission to the museum on Sundays.

  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Champaign, IL)  – $10,000

To support the publication and promotion of the journal “Ninth Letter,” as well as a chapbook and issues on a forthcoming iPad app. Each digital edition is centered around a theme; past themes include Midwestern literature, women’s writing, and international literature in translation.

To support the 18th & Vine Jazz and Blues Festival, a one-day indoor and outdoor festival that will include Ramsey Lewis, Geri Allen and Arturo Sandoval.

 

ACHIEVEMENTS and RECOGNITION

Rendering of the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science in downtown Miami

Rendering of the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science in downtown Miami

The Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science (Miami, FL) received a Britweek Business Innovation Award for Innovation in Sustainability by the British Consulate-General, Florida and UK Trade and Investment for the new museum, to open in 2015.

The American Alliance of Museums has announced that the National Canal Museum (Easton, PA) was one of four museums that earned re-accreditation at the February meeting of the Accreditation Commission.

The Hershey Harrisburg Regional Visitors Bureau presented the Antique Automobile Club of America Museum (Hershey, PA) with the Platinum Award for “Excellence in Programming”.

 

LEADERSHIP

The Board of Directors of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science (Dallas, TX) appointed Colleen Walker as the Museum’s Eugene McDermott Chief Executive Officer, effective June 1, 2014.

Janis Rowe was named Associate Director of Hubbard Museum of the American West (Ruidoso Downs, NM).

affiliates in the news

Congrats to these Affiliates making news! Each month we highlight Affiliate-Smithsonian and Affiliate-Affiliate collaborations making headlines.  If you have a clipping highlighting a collaboration with the Smithsonian or with a fellow Affiliate you’d like to have considered for the Affiliate blog, please contact Elizabeth Bugbee.

Ohio History Connection (Columbus, Ohio)
Ohio Historical Society Changes Its Name To Ohio History Connection
Logan says the word “connection” also better explains how people can access Ohio history.  With more than 1.9 million artifacts in its collection, Logan says the Ohio History Connection is a national leader in changing how people can access history and believes the new name better reflects this trendsetting programming

University of Nebraska State Museum (Lincoln, NE)
Watch the Kirk Johnson’s public lecture at the Museum here!

All photos courtesy University of Nebraska State Museum.

All photos courtesy University of Nebraska State Museum.

Smithsonian director praises Nebraska’s treasure trove of fossils
“Ninety of the state’s 93 counties have supplied fossils to the world …,” Johnson, sant director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, told an audience in Lincoln on Wednesday. “You have a world resource here — not just a Nebraska resource.”

Smithsonian director to discuss Nebraska’s fossils at UNL
The lecture is partially connected to Morrill Hall’s recent affiliation with the Smithsonian Institute back in February. The Smithsonian Affiliations is a national outreach program which develops relationships with museums, educational and culture organizations to enrich communities with Smithsonian resources. The NU state museum joins 184 museums, educational and cultural organizations in its affiliation.

Museum Center at 5ive Points (Cleveland, TN)
Museum signs agreement to be Smithsonian affiliate
The Museum Center at Five Points has signed an agreement to become an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. Hassan Najjar, the museum’s executive director, said the partnership means the local museum may soon play host to nationally traveling artifacts and exhibits owned by the Smithsonian.

Photo credit: Museum of the Rockies

Photo credit: Museum of the Rockies

Museum of the Rockies (Bozeman, MT)
Tyrannosaurus Rex to embark on cross country journey
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District’s Wankel Tyrannosaurus Rex will soon travel from Montana, where it has resided for the past 66 million years, to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. The Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, Mont., home to the T.rex since it was excavated in 1993, will host a free, public sendoff April 11, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Smithsonian Museum to get a T. rex – via FedEx
Known as “the Nation’s T. rex,” the unmounted specimen is being trucked from the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman to Washington, via FedEx, where it will be unpacked April 15 and eventually serve as the centerpiece of a new National Fossil Hall, opening in 2019, according to the Washington Post.

65 million-year-old T Rex headed to nation’s capital for next 50 years
Big Mike outside the Museum of the Rockies is a creature many of us recognize. The T-Rex is actually a bronze replica of a fossil found in the 90’s which is about to head to a new home in Washington D.C.

Delicate dance with a dinosaur
In collaboration with the Museum of the Rockies, in Bozeman, Mont., the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District entered an agreement to loan one of its two Tyrannosaurs Rex specimens to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History for 50 years.

Rare T.rex sets off from Montana on road trip bound for Smithsonian
The fossil of the 38-foot-long carnivore, found on federal lands in Montana in 1988, has played a starring role in scientific research at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman since its excavation by paleontologists led by curator Jack Horner.

 

#NationsTrex in crates when it arrived @NMNH on April 15. Photo credit: Smithsonian Affiliations.

#NationsTrex in crates when it arrived @NMNH on April 15. Photo credit: Smithsonian Affiliations.

Rare T.rex goes on a road trip in the US
The rare and nearly intact skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex that roamed the earth 65 million years ago set off from Montana last Friday on a cross-country road trip, its first, bound for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC.

65-million-year-old T-Rex fossil arrives at DC museum
The tyrannosaurus rex was FedEx-ed to the Smithsonian in 16 different crates carefully carrying all of the 200 plus fragile bones for the road trip from the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana. Estimated at about 65 million years old, the skeleton is nearly 85 percent intact.

T. rex gets new home in Smithsonian dinosaur hall
More than 100 years after dinosaurs were first displayed on the National Mall, T. rex – the king – is joining the Smithsonian collection after a 2,000-mile journey from Montana.

sites corner: traveling exhibits in your neighborhood

Looking for an opportunity to highlight your status as a Smithsonian Affiliate? Consider hosting a traveling exhibition from SITES. Regardless of your museum’s size, budget, or discipline, there’s a SITES exhibition that’s just right for you. Here’s what’s new:

Brand New Exhibitions:

Dancers and musicians perform a Bollywood show at a restaurant in Jackson Heights. Queens, New York Photo by Preston Merchant

Dancers and musicians perform a Bollywood show at a restaurant in Jackson Heights. Queens, New York
Photo by Preston Merchant

Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation
Have your organization launch the national tour of Beyond Bollywood:  Indian Americans Shape the Nation! The opening slot is currently available from May 2 to June 12, 2015.  This slot includes Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May and will kick off the national tour of the traveling version of the Beyond Bollywood exhibition now on display through August 2015 at the National Museum of Natural History. Featuring a traveling trunk with typical Indian American possessions, an audio station that plays Indian American music, display thalis (plates) and wall-hung panels, Beyond Bollywood explores the rich history and vital contributions of Indian Americans in the U.S.  As one of America’s largest ethnic groups, Indian Americans’ historical influence and continuing impact on our nation’s politics, medicine, science, technology, culture and the arts are vibrantly documented in the exhibition.  Bring this inspirational American story to your community today. Get a peek in person at the Affiliations National Conference, June 23-24, 2014! Register today and get a special behind-the-scenes exhibition tour with the curator and learn how you can bring this exhibit to your neighborhood from SITES team members. Contact: Ed Liskey, 202-633-3142.

 

Photography by Gene Daniels, Escondido, California, April 1972. From the exhibition, Searching for the Seventies: The DOCUMERICA Photography Project.

Photography by Gene Daniels, Escondido, California, April 1972. From the exhibition, Searching for the Seventies: The DOCUMERICA Photography Project.

Searching for the Seventies: The DOCUMERICA Photography Project
When we think of 1970s America, bell-bottoms, disco dancing, and other popular cultural references immediately come to mind. But the decade was also a time of great social change for our country, from political scandal and protests to energy crises and suburban sprawl. The DOCUMERICA project was launched in 1971 by the newly established U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a way to record the country’s environmental troubles and triumphs. About 70 photographers including Flip Shulke, John Corn, Danny Lyon, John H. White, and Lyntha Scott Eiler shot close to 16,000 photographs between 1972 and 1977. DOCUMERICA evolved to include much more than environmental issues – it also captured powerful moments of everyday life for Americans across the country.

This exhibition with wide appeal features 90 carefully chosen, framed color photographs organized into three sections named for popular songs of the era like “Ball of Confusion”, which highlights the tumultuous issues of the day. Text panels, labels, and a short video complete the exhibition experience, and venues are encouraged to draw a local connection to the content by supplementing from their own collections. Searching for the Seventies

is a collaboration of SITES and the National Archives and Records Administration which now holds the original DOCUMERICA photographic materials and records. Tour begins February 2015. Contact: Minnie Russell, 202-633-3160.

Have an opening in your exhibition schedule? These offerings are available in the coming year and are ready for immediate booking:
Mail Call
Organized with the Smithsonian’s Postal Museum, this is the fascinating story of military mail and communication – from the American Revolution to the current war in Afghanistan. Available: August 9 – October 19, 2014

X-Ray Vision: Fish Inside Out
Features 40 stunning black-and-white digital prints (radiographs) of specimens from the Smithsonian’s National Collection of Fishes selected to highlight evolutionary development and fish anatomy. Available: August 30- November 23, 2014

 

Laura Kina, “Issei,” 2011.

Laura Kina, “Issei,” 2011.

I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story
Rich with compelling, often surprising stories, this is a sweeping look at the history of Asian Pacific Americans in this country, from the very first Asian immigrants to the influx of highly skilled workers many decades later. Available: September 20 – November 30, 2014 and December 20, 2014 – March 1, 2015

Ramp It Up: Skateboard Culture in Native America
This object-based exhibition reveals the thriving skateboard subculture in Indian communities. An ideal choice if you’re looking to engage young audiences. Available: December 13, 2014 – February 8, 2015

 

B. McLeod (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA)

B. McLeod (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA)

The Evolving Universe
Through amazing, large-format photographs, visitors can travel through time and learn how Smithsonian scientists study space, from our solar system to the edge of the universe.  Available:  January 24 – April 5, 2015 and April 25 – July 5, 2015

IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas
Explore historical and contemporary stories of peoples and communities whose shared histories are woven into the fabric of American identity but whose presence has long been invisible to many in our country. Available: July 25 – October 4, 2015

Green Revolution
We provide the design files and YOU build and fabricate the exhibition using old and repurposed items, all in keeping with the “green” themes of the exhibition like renewable energy and climate change. Venues determine their own display dates.

coming up in affiliateland in May 2014

 

As summer approaches, things are heating up in Affiliateland!

WYOMING
Several staff members from the Buffalo Bill Center of the West will speak during a day-long conference at the Smithsonian on 300 Years of Innovation in Scotland and America, coming from Cody, 5.1.

Affiliations director Harold Closter will be speaking at the Colorado-Wyoming Museum Association meeting in Cody, 5.7-10.

Beth Wilson of the National Air and Space Museum leads a videoconference session on the Wright Flyer.

Beth Wilson of the National Air and Space Museum leads a videoconference session on the Wright Flyer.

GEORGIA
Wayne Motts, Director of the National Civil War Museum (an Affiliate in Harrisburg, PA) will give a public lecture on the Civil War at the members preview of the new 1864 exhibition at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, 5.2.

SOUTH DAKOTA
The South Dakota State Historical Society hosts a talk and book signing on the Smithsonian’s History of America in 101 Objects by Richard Kurin, Under Secretary for History, Art and Culture, in Pierre, 5.5.

WASHINGTON
The National Air and Space Museum will present an online workshop for students on Kites, Wings and Flying Things: Learning with the Wright Brothers, to be held at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, 5.6, 13 and 27.

INDIANA
Conner Prairie Interactive History Park  hosts a workshop on the Importance of Informal Learning with Betsy Bowers, Director of the Smithsonian Center for Innovation in Early Learning in Fishers, 5.9.

Betsy Bowers will discuss how young explorers in informal museum environments are a vital part of early childhood learning at the Smithsonian.

Betsy Bowers will discuss how young explorers in informal museum environments are a vital part of early childhood learning at the Smithsonian.

FLORIDA
National Air and Space Museum curator Carolyn Russo will serve as a juror for the Mayfaire Arts Festival at the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, 5.10-11.

The Frost Art Museum hosts a talk and book signing on the Smithsonian’s History of America in 101 Objects by Richard Kurin, Under Secretary for History, Art and Culture, in Miami, 5.21.

PENNSYLVANIA
A group of staff from the U.S. Army Heritage & Education Center will spend a day touring collections and exhibitions with colleagues at the National Museum of American History, coming from Carlisle, 5.12

MARYLAND
The Smithsonian Associates have organized a study tour on Natural History of the Mid-Atlantic: Stories of Calvert County that will visit Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center in Solomons, 5.17.

COLORADO
Allison Wickens, Director of Education at the National Postal Museum, will give a public lecture on  Colorado Mail Stories: By Train, Plane, and Pony Express at History Colorado in Denver, 5.20