Kudos Affiliates!! April 2019

Congratulations to these Affiliates on their recent accomplishments! Do you have kudos to share? Please send potential entries to Aaron Glavas, GlavasC@si.edu.

FUNDING

Science Museum Oklahoma (Oklahoma City, OK) announced that Schlumberger will provide a matching grant of $90,000 to help renovate the museum’s energy exhibit, Energy Quest. Energy Quest will feature more than 2,000 square feet of space and provide an immersive environment to explore the science, technology, engineering, and math associated with energy production in Oklahoma.

The Baltimore Orioles announced plans to honor the legacy of Hall of Famer Frank Robinson during the 2019 season by donating $20,000 to the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture (Baltimore, MD) to highlight the achievements of African Americans throughout our nation’s history.

Public Service Co. of Oklahoma announced a $250,000 grant from the American Electric Power Foundation to help the Stafford Air & Space Museum (Weatherford, OK) reach its Legacy Campaign goal. The money raised during the campaign will fund a planned 18,000-square-foot expansion of the museum. Plans include expanding existing exhibit galleries, the addition of new galleries, and renovations to STEM classrooms and work areas.

The Detroit Tigers and the Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, MI) announced a special event- Arab American Night. The special night will take place on Aug. 6 at Comerica Park in Detroit. The evening is sponsored by Tigers partner Saad Wholesale Meats and $3 from every ticket sold as part of the promotion will be used to support the museum.

Sunderland Foundation has awarded Union Station, Kansas City, Inc. (Kansas City, MO) a multi-year grant of $1.5 million in support of Science City’s Early Learning Expansion Project.  The programmatic footprint will fill more than 35,000 square feet and include multiple exhibit zones and interactive experiences to spark curiosity and creativity in Kansas City’s youngest learners.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

A small yet mighty new dinosaur was recently discovered thanks to the work of Lindsay Zanno, head of paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and her team. The new dinosaur — Moros intrepidus, which means “harbinger of doom” after the Greek god Moros — is a relative of the much larger Tyrannosaurus rex, and is the oldest Cretaceous tyrannosaur species discovered in North America.

Warren Washington, a senior scientist from National Center for Atmospheric Research, managed by University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (Boulder, CO), won the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, considered the “Nobel Prize For The Environment.” He will share the honor and the $200,000 award, with climate scientist Michael Mann, director of the Earth Systems Science Center at Pennsylvania State University.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services announced 30 finalists for the 2019 National Medal for Museum and Library Service including two Affiliates-El Pueblo History Museum (Pueblo, CO), part of History Colorado, and Orange County Regional History Center (Orlando, FL). The National Medal is the nation’s highest honor given to museums and libraries for community service.

LEADERSHIP CHANGES

Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals (Hillsboro, OR) announced Board Member Garret Romaine will serve as interim director. Previous director Julian Gray stepped down and will continue at the museum as a curator and exhibition planner.

The Arab American National Museum announced Dr. Diana Abouali will become the new director of the museum in April. Dr. Abouali becomes the third director of AANM.

The Connecticut Historical Society, has named Robert Kret, former director of The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, as the museum’s new CEO. Robert will begin his position in May.

75th Anniversary of D-Day Smithsonian Material Culture Forum Webcast

Watch the live webcast of the Smithsonian Material Culture Forum on Monday, May 13, 4-6 pm! See below for the event schedule.

From its grand strategy to the personal stories of individual soldiers, the history of D-Day remains a captivating and rich story. To usher in the 75th anniversary of the battle, the Smithsonian presents, “Forgotten Voices, Forgotten Objects,” a forum exploring avenues of historical inquiry, highlights of Smithsonian and non-Smithsonian collections, and expert research on the topic. RSVP for the webcast here.

112th Meeting of the Smithsonian Material Culture Forum

75th Anniversary of D-Day: Forgotten Voices, Forgotten Objects

Monday, May 13, 2019, 4–6 p.m. EDT

INTRODUCTION
Michelle Delaney, Senior Program Officer for History and Culture, Smithsonian Office of the Provost and Under Secretary for Museums, Education, and Research and Todd Kinser, Chief of Exhibit Planning, Smithsonian Exhibits

WELCOME
Susan Ades, Director, Smithsonian Exhibits

MODERATOR
Richard B. Frank, a lawyer and military historian, has written several books and articles on the Pacific Campaign of World War II, including Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle (1990), Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japan Empire (1999), and MacArthur (2007).

SPEAKERS (View the program booklet here)
Kate Clarke Lemay, Ph.D, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Gratitude, Trauma and Repression: D-Day in French and American Collective Memory

Frank A. Blazich, Jr., Ph.D, Curator, Modern Military History, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
The Magic Boxes of D-Day: How One Humble Invention Helped Make Operation Neptune Possible

Laura Oviedo, Ph.D, ABD, Smithsonian Fellow, Division of Armed Forces, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Belonging in War and Nation: Latina/os & World War II

Krewasky A. Salter, Ph.D, (Guest) Associate Curator, National Museum of African American History & Culture, Smithsonian Institution
African Americans, D-Day and World War II

Rebecca Head Trautmann, Project Curator, National Native American Veterans Memorial, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution; Herman J. Viola, PhD., Senior Advisor, National Native American Veterans Memorial, and Curator Emeritus, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution
National Native American Veterans Memorial

Megan Harris, Reference Specialist, Veterans History Project, Library of Congress
“I Hardly Know Where to Start”: Personal Narratives of D-Day within Veterans History Project Collections

Greg Elder, Chief Historian, Office of Corporate Communications, Defense Intelligence Agency
Intelligence Support to Operation OVERLORD

Jeremy R. Kinney, Ph.D, Curator, Aeronautics Department, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Flak-Bait: A Story of Survival from World War II

Shannon Perich, Curator, Photographic History Collection, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Exploring Robert Capa’s Iconic D-Day Photographs

Q&A—Moderator: Richard Frank, Historian

The Material Culture Forum was organized in 1988 with a mission of maintaining the sense of a scholarly community throughout the Smithsonian museums, libraries, and research and cultural centers.  The Forum considers topics from the vast world of objects that the Smithsonian collects, preserves, studies, and presents.

the Moon is rising in Affiliateland in April 2019

Great events at Affiliates as spring starts blooming!

NORTH CAROLINA
The National Air and Space Museum has loaned three Apollo-related artifacts for the exhibition One Giant Leap: North Carolina and the Space Race opening at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh, 4.5.

WASHINGTON
Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission exhibition, organized by the National Air and Space Museum and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, will open at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, 4.13.

ILLINOIS
As part of the Smithsonian Year of Music, the DuSable Museum of African American History will host A Celebration of Ella!!, a tribute event honoring the music and legacy of Ella Jenkins. At 94, Jenkins is one of the most revered singers and songwriters of the past century, with dozens of albums released through Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, in Chicago, 4.13.

PENNSYLVANIA
A protest armband from the 1960s, on loan from the National Museum of American History, will be part of the The Vietnam War: 1945-1975 exhibition at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, 4.13.


NEW YORK

Katherine Ott, curator at the National Museum of American History, delivers the last talk of the Questioning Identity lecture series, Poking at Normal: Museums and the History of Real People  at the Rockwell Museum in Corning, 4.24.

WASHINGTON, D.C.
Teens from five Affiliate communities will visit Washington with museum staff and parents, to meet with Smithsonian Secretary David Skorton and participate in person in the final meeting of the Secretary’s Youth Advisory Council. Thanks to the Rockwell Museum, Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, the Arab American National Museum, and the Upcountry History Museum, for helping us to include national teen voices in the work of the Smithsonian over the last two years!, in D.C.,  4.24.

IOWA
Smithsonian Affiliations Director Myriam Springuel and National Outreach Manager Aaron Glavas will participate in the affiliation announcement at new affiliate, the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library in Cedar Rapids, 4.26.

MASSACHUSETTS
Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory will present the April talk Moon Race: The U.S.-Soviet Competition to Put a Human on the Moon as part of the year-long Moon Landing in Context lecture series at Framingham State University in Framingham, 4.27.