Affiliations National Conference 2007 and Affiliate Feedback
The Smithsonian Affiliations Conference commenced on June 5 last week after three days of meetings, tours and receptions in Washington, DC. When it was all said and done, there were 91 staff members representing 61 Affiliates attended the conference. Registrants came from 29 states, Panama, and Puerto Rico. Altogether, 40% of our 153 Affiliates were represented by at […]
Spring 2007
Can you believe it’s May already?! Here’s a sampling of some fun Smithsonian activity from this spring. Who Knew? Historian Heather Ewing just published The Lost World of James Smithson, which fills in a lot of the details of his life. The book reveals “not the dour recluse historians had once thought Smithson to be but an […]
Webby Awards
Kudos to our Smithsonian colleagues who are nominated for a webby award, hailed as “the Oscars of the Internet.” Please go online and vote for them at peoplesvoice.webbyawards.com!!! Nominees: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies SmithsonianEducation.org is the Institution’s central education website. – Nominated for Best Cultural Institution Website (Society category) – Selected as […]
Conference ideas
Affiliations staff have the privilege of attending regional museum conferences throughout the year, which help to keep us in touch with potential issues facing affiliates. This year, affiliations staff have attended at least six regional conferences across the nation. As expected, the conferences offered tons of ideas and stimulated the energy to try them! We’ll be sharing those […]
Smithsonian Teachers’ Night
Thanks to our local affiliates who made the Affiliations table at Smithsonian Teachers’ Night such a smashing success!! Over 1600 teachers attended Friday night’s event (October 20), and Affiliations staff could hardly keep up with their zeal for materials! We had a nice sampling of American history resources – a lesson plan website on the French […]
Do you have an experience design strategy?
In conjunction with its renovation, the American History Museum has sponsored a staff development series, bringing leading consultants, authors and thinkers to SI to challenge our paradigms about museum-going and our attitudes toward an experience design strategy. A few months ago, we heard from David Norton of Stone Mantel (gostonemantel.com), presenting research from the influential book, Experience Economy: […]
Tourism and Dining – end of the summer pleasures at Cooper-Hewitt
I had the pleasure of experiencing two lovely exhibitions at Cooper-Hewitt this weekend. They are closing soon, so if you find yourself in NYC before the end of October 2006, treat yourself and do not miss them! (cooperhewitt.org) It might surprise you to know that Cooper-Hewitt has the largest collection of works by Frederic […]
Why do we collect this stuff? Does anybody ever look at it?
…the intriguing title to the final lecture in an excellent series by Undersecretary for Science, David Evans. The entire series is available online at https://www2.si.edu/research/spotlight/lectures_2006.html. The question that formed his title is a good one, considering that the largest portion of SI’s collection, some 126.5 million objects, reside in the Natural History Museum. And did you […]
Dynamo!
Check out Heritage Harbor’s new website – heritageharbor.org – and the great coverage they got in kicking off the redevelopment of the appropriately-named Dynamo House, a former power plant that will become the Museum’s home in a few years. They’ve also started an education blog at heritageharboreducation.blogspot.com. Congratulations Heritage Harbor!
How do you define educational success?
On Tuesday, several Smithsonian educators, and myself, attended a session of the Museum Education Roundtable. (mer-online.org/) The discussion focused on defining educational success in museums, and how differing educational approaches not only help to determine results, but differing definitions of success as well. The speaker was Margaret Lindauer, faculty member of Virginia Commonwealth University, and an experienced […]
Traveling exhibitions available from the National Museum of Dentistry
The National Museum of Dentistry is pleased to announce the availability of two traveling exhibitions: The Future is Now! African Americans in Dentistry and Branches, Bristles and Batteries: Toothbrushes through Time. The Future is Now! African Americans in Dentistry pays tribute to the extraordinary men and women who paved the way for African Americans’ success as dental […]
A visit from the Booth Western Art Museum
A few members of the Affiliations staff had the pleasure of meeting with Seth Hopkins, Director of the Booth www.boothmuseum.org. Seth is a Northerner heading up the Booth in Cartersville, Georgia. The museum’s collection focuses on contemporary Western art, including cowboy art! On permanent exhibition are presidential portraits, civil war paintings and Western themed ephemera. […]
Desperate Voyage
Mark your calendars! On November 19, the History Channel will debut a film called Desperate Voyage, about the crossing of the Mayflower in 1620. Some of the film was shot at the replica of the ship, Mayflower II, owned and interpreted by affiliate Plimoth Plantation. www.plimoth.org Plimoth Plantation will be holding premier screenings of the […]
An afternoon of Chinese Kunqu Theater
On Friday, August 4, some Affiliations staff attended an explanatory demonstration of this fascinating art form, a precursor to a real Kunqu performance at the Freer/Sackler Gallery entitled ‘The Palace of Eternal Youth’. https://www.asia.si.edu/events/performances.asp Named an ‘Intangible Heritage of Humanity’ by the United Nations, kunqu is classical Chinese musical theater. We learned that a single performance may be made up of 50-200 scenes, so […]
2006 National Conference
It has been a little over a month since our memorable annual National Conference. All the Affiliations staff members would like to thank the Affiliates who were able to join us to commemorate our 10 Year Anniversary. Here are some pictures for your enjoyment! Smithsonian Resource Fair Office of Exhibits Central Tour Congressional Reception 10th Anniversary Reception
Packaging sunlight from cucumbers
On Friday, some of the Affiliations staff attended the first in a new lecture series by SI’s Under Secretary of Science, David L. Evans. Deriving his title from a scientist in Gulliver’s Travels, his thesis in the lecture was to illuminate the values of pure scientific research, unfettered by a concern for its practical application. (check it […]
