The era of the space shuttle may have drawn to a close, but shuttles are finding new life in education at museums across the country. The retirement of the shuttle fleet presents unique educational and collaborative opportunities for a greater community of organizations to explore space history through STEM programs.
The Smithsonian and Smithsonian Affiliations community represent, in collections and educational programs, the entirety of the U.S. Space Shuttle Program, from its inception, through the history of its flights, to the commemoration of its triumphs and tragedies. The National Air and Space Museum is home to Discovery, Smithsonian Affiliates California Science Center hosts Endeavour, and The Museum of Flight displays a full scale test shuttle to its visitors. Several more Affiliates have significant collections related to the shuttle program; five are home to Challenger Learning Centers.
As so many Affiliates are working to interpret space history and the shuttle program, we’re facilitating projects to bring this group together to encourage sharing information and materials. To begin, we’re hosting a session at the Mutual Concerns of Air and Space Museums conference, April 11-14, 2014. In this session, three museums will present case studies demonstrating unique exhibition and educational plans for the retired space shuttle fleet with the goal of sharing experiences and resources that would benefit other museums interested in using the space shuttle program in their educational offerings.
California Science Center will discuss plans for the new facility that will house Endeavour and the immersive experiences intended to encourage creativity and innovation. The Museum of Flight will share the hands-on experience (not possible with decommissioned orbiters) that visitors have when they climb into the three-story full-body trainer at the museum. The National Air and Space Museum will talk about the installation and exhibition of Discovery at the Udvar-Hazy Center. We hope a lively discussion at Mutual Concerns will lead us to future collaborations. We’d like to hear our Affiliates ideas on how to connect: should we support a trip to Washington or connect digitally? Is this a topic that would resonate with museum visitors or spark imaginative school programming? Please contact us to take part, or join us June 23-25, 2014 at the Smithsonian Affiliations conference to continue the discussion.
https://affiliations.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/si_Affiliations_rgb_single-line_color-280w-1.jpg00Laura Hansenhttps://affiliations.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/si_Affiliations_rgb_single-line_color-280w-1.jpgLaura Hansen2014-02-25 10:26:242020-01-02 17:49:37Take Off with Shuttle Programs
The Children’s Museum of the Upstate (Greenville, South Carolina)
Article- Children’s Museum partners with Smithsonian: Partnership helps museum expand reach, focus on STEM growth The Children’s Museum of the Upstate has been named a Smithsonian Affiliate, becoming the only children’s museum in the nation to partner with the century and a half old institution that serves as custodian of a large swath of cultural and historical heritage.
Greensboro Historical Museum (Greensboro, North Carolina)
Montagnard teens tell stories in Smithsonian-funded documentary The film was made through a grant to the Greensboro Historical Museum from the Smithsonian Affiliates and the Asian Pacific American Center. The staff at the historical museum reached out through church sponsors to find Montagnard teenagers, convened about a dozen of them to discuss what kind of story they wanted to tell about themselves, put video cameras in their hands and then set them loose to interview each other.
Schiele Museum of Natural History (Gastonia, North Carolina)
Smithsonian traveling exhibit on ants opens at Gastonia’s Schiele Museum It’s an intricate, highly regimented insect society that conducts business out of sight from most humans. A new traveling exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution that opened Saturday at Gastonia’s Schiele Museum of Natural History explores this diverse world.
Fun social media opportunity coinciding with Titanoboa exhibit. Photo courtesy University of Nebraska State Museum.
University of Nebraska State Museum (Lincoln, Nebraska)
Replica of giant snake slithers into Lincoln for exhibit expected to scare, inspire visitors The collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Florida Museum of Natural History and University of Nebraska State Museum is expected to be a hit. “It will be very popular with families and with the students – everyone likes a good scare,” said Cheryl Washer, registrar and project director for the Smithsonian traveling exhibit service.
The University of Nebraska State Museum has been named an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. “The State Museum’s new designation as a Smithsonian Affiliate builds on our long-standing research collaborations with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History,” said Priscilla Grew, director of the museum. “Three of our curators are Smithsonian research associates, and the Smithsonian’s national scarab beetle research collection has been on long-term loan to the State Museum for many years.”
Titanoboa, world’s largest snake, replica comes to Morrill Hall Titanoboa is coming to Lincoln. The 48-foot-long replica of the world’s largest snake will be featured at the University of Nebraska State Museum in Morrill Hall starting Saturday. The exhibit is part of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and will be open through Sept. 7.
World’s largest snake replica slithers to Lincoln UNL paleontologist Jason Head helped bring the Smithsonian exhibit to Nebraska. He is the world-renown snake expert who, on a video conference five years ago, helped researchers identify the beast from a fossil. The titanoboa was uncovered in a Colombian coal mine.
Smithsonian exhibit makes its way to Lincoln Cheryl Washer of the Smithsonian Institute has been traveling with exhibits for more than twenty years. She’s the one responsible for getting Titanoboa to look her best before the exhibit opens up to the public. “When I get to go to the museum to see the reaction of the staff, if I get to see the visitors,” Washer said. “This is an exhibit that’s not only educational but a lot of fun. And that’s a joy.”
Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, Calif.) JANM Joins Smithsonian National Youth Summit on Freedom Summer Approximately 200 students will be at JANM to participate in the National Youth Summit by joining in the conversation and hearing from Tamio Wakayama, a Nisei Japanese Canadian who joined the American Civil Rights Movement as a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art (Elmhurst, Illinois)
Lizzadro Museum exhibits ‘showy’ Smithsonian jewelry They say diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but Dorothy Asher took explicit care to look for other gem stones when cultivating the Lizzadro Museum’s current “Modern Designer Jewelry from the Smithsonian” exhibit.
This is a replica of the Apollo 11 space suit. While the space suits were life-giving, remarkable engineering feat in space, they are too fragile for the earth’s atmosphere. The originals from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum do not travel.
Tampa Bay History Center (Tampa Bay, Florida)
Exhibit explores space through astronaut clothing The latest exhibition at Tampa Bay History Center explores space through astronaut clothing. The History Center’s “Suited for Space” opened in February 1st and will be on display through April 27.
What to Wear? The History and Future of Spacesuits The issue of “what to wear?” takes on an extra dimension of life and death when it comes to space travel. We recently had a chance to see the past, present and future of space suit technology in the Smithsonian Institutions’ touring Suited for Space exhibit currently on display at the Tampa Bay History Center in Tampa, Florida.
https://affiliations.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/MonsterSnakeSelfies-social-300x300.jpg300300Elizabeth Bugbeehttps://affiliations.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/si_Affiliations_rgb_single-line_color-280w-1.jpgElizabeth Bugbee2014-02-24 11:14:482024-07-24 12:17:56Affiliates in the news!
Special thanks to Paula Lee, Smithsonian Affiliations intern, for this guest post. This is the second of a five-part blog series she is writing as part of the Young Historians, Living Histories (YHLH) collaboration with the Asian Pacific American Center and our Affiliate network.
Students of the Montagnard community proudly representing the Smithsonian Museum and Greensboro Historical Center
Greensboro, North Carolina is home to the largest Montagnard community living not only in the United States, but outside of Vietnam which makes Greensboro, a pretty big deal. Today I’ll share what the Young Historians, Living Histories project has enabled the Smithsonian and its collaborators to discover in the recent weeks! Dean Macleod, Curator of Education at the Greensboro Historical Museum(Greensboro, North Carolina), guided me through some fascinating facts about the Montagnard community that he learned through interacting with the community’s youth.
French for “mountain people,” the Montagnard (pronounced mon-tuhn-yahrd), are the indigenous people of the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Due to political, religious, and land disputes initiated by the Communist majority of North and South Vietnam, the natives were evacuated from the highlands at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 through American efforts. The refugees began their resettlement to Greensboro, Raleigh and Charlotte, NC starting as early as 1986 in multiple but slow waves of immigration. There are as much as 9,000 Montagnard refugees in North Carolina with a majority in Greensboro, some of which have identified as Americans.
The diverse Montagnard youth unite to complete each role required for the interviewing processes.
With this in mind, Macleod approached the community with caution and respect and discovered that “the youth of the Montagnard community were thrilled that the Museum was engaging with them, and interested in digitizing their stories.” Although the 15 Montagnard students are of one community, they are unique to each other. Each student represented separate tribes as well as being refugees from different waves of immigration; some were born in Cambodia, others raised in Vietnam, and a few even born in America. Macleod remarks that the students’ involvement in the program was a way for them to feel like they were giving back for the sacrifices made by their ancestors.
The Montagnard stories in Greensboro even inspired other participating Affiliates to learn more. “I didn’t know anything about the Montagnard until hearing about this project. Thanks to the Greensboro Historical Museum, I’ve done a bit of research as a result,” said Shauna Tonkin, Director of Education at the Pacific Aviation Museum (Honolulu, Hawaii).
Because of this research, Greensboro Historical Center included the stories and artifacts in their Voices of a City: Greensboro North Carolina exhibition. This exhibit displays 300 years of local history that enlighten its viewers on the extraordinary stories that the city has to say about the community that shaped it.
Voices of a City Exhibition. Photo courtesy Greensboro Historical Center
Don’t forget to check back, next week’s entry will highlight students in action as we step into the spotlight and begin filming and interviewing!
Mic check ! Let’s get these stories heard.
Students are using Mac OS Editing Software to edit their videos.
Students experience Textile Revolution: An Exploration through Space and Time, the permanent exhibition at the American Textile History Museum.
For the eighth consecutive year, Citizens Bank charitable foundation donated $25,000 to the African-American Museum in Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA) in honor of Martin Luther King Day. The funding was used to underwrite the museum’s costs to offer free admission and cultural activities to more than 3,000 expected visitors.
The American Textile History Museum (Lowell, MA) has received a major gift of $1 million from the late G. Gordon Osborne and his wife, Marjorie, which will go towards the museum’s endowment fund.
The Western Reserve Historical Society recently received a $407,000 grant from the Burton D. Morgan Foundation to work with its local school district to implement an entrepreneurial curriculum for 4th-6th graders. The 3-year program will be implemented this spring.
Awards and Recognition
The Oklahoma Historical Society (Oklahoma City, OK) announced the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. has selected The Daughter of Dawn as one of 25 films inducted to its 2013 National Film Registry, a collection of cinematic treasures that represent important cultural, artistic and historic achievements in filmmaking. The 80-minute, six-reel silent movie was shot during the summer of 1920 in Oklahoma’s Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge outside of Lawton.
Charlene Donchez-Mowers and the Historic Bethlehem Partnership (Bethlehem, PA) have been named the recipients of the seventh Tribute to Historic Preservation Award sponsored by the Sun Inn Preservation Association.
Leadership
The board of governors of the Strategic Air and Space Museum (Ashland, NE) announced that Michael McGinnis has been appointed as the museum’s new Executive Director.
https://affiliations.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/ATHM-300x221.jpg221300Elizabeth Bugbeehttps://affiliations.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/si_Affiliations_rgb_single-line_color-280w-1.jpgElizabeth Bugbee2014-01-27 15:20:152020-09-24 09:46:21kudos Affiliates! February 2014 edition
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.
Museum of the Rockies (Bozeman, Montana) Museum of the Rockies T. rex to arrive at Smithsonian in April The T. rex unearthed in Montana in 1988 will arrive at the National Museum of Natural History on April 15 on a 50-year loan by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Smithsonian is planning a new, 31,000-square-foot dinosaur hall that is scheduled to open in 2019.
Jack Horner, Curator of Paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies, provides scale for Tyrannosaurus rex fossils at the excavation site near the Fort Peck Reservoir in Montana in June 1990. Named for its discoverer, Kathy Wankel, the Wankel T.rex is estimated to have weighed six to seven tons. Photo courtesy Museum of the Rockies.
American Textile History Museum (Lowell, Massachussets) American Textile Museum Receives Major Gift The American Textile History Museum in Lowell, MA has received a major gift of $1 million from the late G. Gordon Osborne and his wife, Marjorie, who passed away last year.
https://affiliations.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/51cc48ffc1792.image_.jpg269400Elizabeth Bugbeehttps://affiliations.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/si_Affiliations_rgb_single-line_color-280w-1.jpgElizabeth Bugbee2014-01-27 09:06:412017-03-10 17:50:33affiliates in the news
The PPG Industries Foundation announced a $5,000 donation to the Frontiers of Flight Museum (Dallas, TX) to support aviation and space-flight education programs for Pre-K through 10th-grade students.
The Putnam Museum (Davenport, IA) has received a $300,000 grant to develop a Science and Technology Innovation Center. The Community Attraction and Tourism (CAT) grant from Vision Iowa will support the $2.2 million STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) learning center that will provide hands-on learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture (Baltimore, MD) received a $128,000 grant award through The Star-Spangled 200 (SS200) Grant Program in the commemoration of the bicentennial of the War of 1812 for maximum benefit to Marylanders. The funding will go to support the exhibition “For Whom it Stands: The Flag and the American People” highlighting Grace Wisher’s contribution to the original Star-Spangled Banner and investigates the broader history and representation of the United States flag as an icon of our nation and its people
The Schiele Museum of Natural History (Gastonia, NC) received a $1,000 Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibitions Service Smithsonian Community Grant, sponsored by MetLife Foundation. The award will be used to fund speakers’ fees for “Bugapolooza,” the museum’s annual celebration of the contributions made by insects to the natural world. Programs will include hands-on activities, interaction with entomologists, museum displays, and presentations by insect researchers in order to increase interest in entomology, as well as an awareness of the value of biological research programs. All programming relate to the themes of Farmers, Warriors, Builders: The Hidden Life of Ants.
A citizen science initiative led by the Adler Planetarium (Chicago, IL) and Oxford University won $1.8 million from Google’s Global Impact Awards. Zooniverse, a nonprofit collaboration between the two institutions that has already had close to 1 million volunteer scientists participating, links ongoing research to willing volunteers who, in most cases, comb through data that requires human interpretation. The 18 current projects include searching for lightcurve anomalies in telescopic images to help discover distant planets and classifying animals caught in Serengeti National Park camera traps. Zooniverse will use the money to rebuild its platform to make it easier for more science projects to take part. The money will also help the Adler extend the project to schools and youth and community groups locally.
Historic BethlehemPartnership (Bethlehem, PA) will hire and train costumed docents to act as historic ambassadors to Bethlehem’s Moravian history, thanks to a $45,000 allocation in 2014 by the Northampton County Council. Awards and Recognition
The New England Museum Association (NEMA) elected Susan Funk, executive vice president of Mystic Seaport (Mystic, CT), as president of its board of directors.
The American Alliance of Museums has announced that eight museums were newly accredited including an Affiliate, the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History (Albuquerque, NM).
Assistant Superintendent Peter Aucella of the Lowell National Historical Park (Lowell, MA) received the
Department of the Interior’s Superior Service Award in recognition of his 23-year career with the National Park Service and his stewardship of the Lowell Summer Music Series.
The Silo Cooking School at Hunt Hill Farm (New Milford, CT) was awarded the honor of 2013’s Best Cooking Classes by Connecticut Magazine.
Leadership
The Executive Board of Trustees of the International Museum of Art & Science has appointed Danella Hughes as its new Interim Executive Director.
https://affiliations.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/si_Affiliations_rgb_single-line_color-280w-1.jpg00Elizabeth Bugbeehttps://affiliations.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/si_Affiliations_rgb_single-line_color-280w-1.jpgElizabeth Bugbee2014-01-06 12:38:292014-01-06 12:38:29starting the new year off right! Affiliate kudos for January 2014
