kudos! december 2011 – january 2012
Congratulations Affiliates on ending the year so strong! Two Affiliates received SITES’ Smithsonian Community Grants, supported by MetLife Foundation: The Orange County Regional History Center (Orlando, Florida) received $5,000 to fund honoraria, travel, materials and marketing for three programs related to the themes of Beyond Baseball: The Life of Roberto Clemente. The Reginald F. […]
New Tricks from an Old Mummy
Special thanks for this guest post to Sarah Wisseman, Director, Program on Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials, Illinois State Archaeological Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The University of Illinois Roman-period Egyptian mummy at the Spurlock Museum has undergone two radiologic investigations using Computerized Tomography (CT), twenty years apart. In 1990, an interdisciplinary […]
SITES in your neighborhood this winter
Smithsonian Affiliates across the country are bringing Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) exhibitions to their communities this winter. Here’s what’s opening at an Affiliate near you: November 5, 2011 – January 1, 2012 Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture(Baltimore, Maryland) Beyond Baseball: The Life of Roberto Clemente The baseball diamond has […]
“It’s more than just an instrument.” Smithsonian cultural specialist travels to Charlotte, NC, for Native American Heritage Celebration
I met Dennis Zotigh (Kiowa/Ohkay Owingeh/Santee Dakota), museum cultural specialist at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), after he had finished a short performance in the rotunda at the museum. He had begun softly beating the drum and as it grew louder, heads appeared over the railings three floors up and visitors gathered […]
Remembering America’s Real War of Independence
Most of us know little about the War of 1812. What were its causes, when did it start, who were its heroes and how did it end? If we remember anything at all, it may be the burning of Washington, D.C., the bombardment of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry – the event that inspired Francis Scott Key […]
We want YOU! (to share your conference ideas with us)
Each June, we invite all of our Smithsonian Affiliates to Washington, D.C., to participate in our Smithsonian Affiliations National Conference. We host sessions, workshops, tours, and receptions designed to give you more tools to make the most of your Affiliation. We’re currently planning the 2012 conference, and would like your feedback. Is there a session you’d […]
coming up in affiliateland in november 2011
ILLINOIS: The National Museum of Natural History’s David Hunt will be the keynote speaker at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana Spurlock Museum’s 100th anniversary celebration in Champaign, 11/1. NEW MEXICO: The City of Las Cruces Museum System will host SITES’ NASA | ART: 50 Years of Exploration in Las Cruces, 11/4. CALIFORNIA: Apollo 15 astronaut Al […]
An inspiring exhibition for your neighborhood
Thirty-five seconds. That’s all it took to forever change the world for millions of Haitians on January 12, 2010. Now imagine those 35 seconds from a child’s point of view. Soon after the devastating earthquake, first lady of Haiti Elisabeth D. Préval called on Haitian artist Philippe Dodard and his fellow artists, as well as psychologists, […]
kudos affiliates! november 2011
Nice going, Affiliates! The Allegheny Regional Asset District board has proposed a $25,000 increase for the Senator John Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) in the upcoming 2012 budget. The increase is to oversee the operating for the Fort Pitt Museum. The Wisconsin Maritime Museum (Manitowoc, Wisconsin) has received a $39,550 award through the Wisconsin Department of Tourism […]
what’s it like in your town?
What is special about living in a small town? Throughout the history of literature and popular culture, we know that there is something unique about small-town life. We can all recall a story or personal experience from a small-town “Main Street” that goes beyond nostalgia to touch on values that all Americans hold dear – […]
At the Controls in your neighborhood
Ever wondered what the cockpit looked like in Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis? Or what the viewpoint was inside the Wright brothers’ 1903 Flyer? Affiliates now have the opportunity to show their visitors an up-close view of some of the most famous cockpits in aviation history. At the Controls, an exhibition created from a […]
kudos affiliates! october 2011
Way to go Affiliates! Saginaw Art Museum (Saginaw, Michigan) has received a $15,000 Michigan District Grant from the Macy’s Foundation to continue to host “Macy’s Free Fridays” through 2012. This program is a collaborative effort to make the arts more accessible to the diverse people and organizations of the Great Lakes Bay Region. The Lower Manhattan Development […]
coming up in affiliateland in october 2011
Autumn is always a busy time in Affiliateland! Hope you can catch one of these opportunities to experience the Smithsonian in your hometown. KENTUCKY: The Ten Thousand Springs Pavilion architectural model, on loan from the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute, is on view at the Headley-Whitney Museum in Lexington, through 3/2012. WASHINGTON: Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden […]
Art, Community, and Culture on the Mississippi Gulf Coast
Special thanks to Sharon Shaffer, Executive Director, Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center, for this guest post. The Ohr O’Keefe Museum of Art (Gulfport, MS) tells three significant stories through its museum and collections. It is the museum design of Frank Gehry, the unparallelled collection of pottery by George Edgar Ohr, and the artifacts of freed slave and […]
Museums’ Futures Rely on Relevance
Special thanks to Ellen Rosenthal, President and CEO at Conner Prairie Interactive History Park, a Smithsonian Affiliate in Fishers, Indiana, for this guest post. Around 500 BCE the legendary Greek philosopher Heraclitus declared that the only constant is change. Imagine what he would say today. For more than a quarter century museums have been a central part of […]
Affiliates invited to share 150th Civil War activities via Smithsonian social media
In April 1862, as train passengers and crews were eating breakfast in Big Shanty (modern Kennesaw, Georgia), a band of Union Civil War spies led by James J. Andrews stole the General locomotive from under the watchful eyes of guards at nearby Confederate Camp McDonald. Destroying telegraph wires and uprooting tracks in their escape north, […]
