National Museum of American History Is Looking for Your Childhood Gaming Photos

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Three people stand at pinball machines
Photo by Louie Castro-Garcia on Unsplash

Did you play video games or computer games as a kid? Did you go to arcades? Do you have old photos of yourself playing these games or holding controllers or a console (for instance, holding an unopened box in a holiday photo)? If so, we want to hear from you!

The National Museum of American History team is working on a video for an exhibition space that will feature photos of people playing video games, computer games, and arcade games from their childhood. If you submit a photo, you might even have a chance to appear in the video talking about your memories of playing games!

What they are looking for:

Photos of you, your friends, and your relatives from the early 1980s through early 2000s playing video, computer, or arcade games, and the stories that go along with them. What game were you playing in the photo? Was it your favorite? Who else, if anyone, were you playing with? Where and when was the photo taken? Do you remember how the controllers felt in your hands? Do you remember how it felt to win the game or advance to the next level? We welcome contributors from across the globe, but the photo should relate to gameplay in the United States.

Gather your photo (or photos), scan it, or snap a quick image and e-mail it to NMAH-VideoGames@si.edu. Include your name, an e-mail or phone number where we can reach you, and a few sentences about the photo and your memories of playing video games or arcade games. Deadline: December 31, 2021

Smithsonian Affiliations at 25: Chapter 5: Moving Forward, Together

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Affiliations Anniversary Series: 25 Years in Your Neighborhood
Chapter 5: Moving Forward, Together
#SmithsonianAffiliations25

smithsonian 150th anniversary logo

In 1996, the Smithsonian created this logo to celebrate its 150th anniversary.

In 1993, the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents established the Commission on the Future of the Smithsonian and tasked the group with “an examination of the Smithsonian, its mandate and its roles, and an examination of the cultural, societal, and technological factors that influence its capacity to act.” Two years later, the Commission issued a report that identified a range of strategies for the Smithsonian to consider as it approached its 150th birthday—strategies aimed at making the Institution more relevant and accessible to the American public and enabling it to fulfill its mission as a national organization.

The 1995 report concluded, “The Smithsonian cannot achieve the nation’s expectations by itself,” and set out a series of recommendations around education; collections, research, and exhibitions; governance; and the future. Embedded in this report were the following recommendations:

  • Emphasize education both on the Mall and across the country through electronic means, traveling and collaborative exhibitions, and public programs,
  • Build collaborative partnerships with other museums, research centers, and educational institutions throughout the nation, and
  • Shape a master plan for maintenance of the priceless collections, including the sharing of collections through long-term or permanent loans to partner institutions.

Crowd on National Mall in 1996

As the Smithsonian’s 150th birthday celebration draws to a close, the crowd gathers in front of the Castle for an evening performance. Photo by Richard Hofmeister. Smithsonian Institution Archives, Acc. 09-257.

Just a year later, on the occasion of the Smithsonian’s 150th anniversary, I. Michael Heyman, then Secretary of the Smithsonian, announced the Smithsonian Affiliations program as one of several outreach initiatives introduced to fulfill the recommendations of the Commission and expand the Institution’s national reach: “The Smithsonian of the future must provide access to its collections and its vast resources. There is no value in being just the largest if we do not share the Smithsonian with as many people as possible. It means making sure those who cannot travel to Washington can somehow experience and enjoy the Smithsonian.”

In addition to the Affiliations program, the Smithsonian launched its first-ever website and the traveling exhibition, America’s Smithsonian, which featured some of the Institution’s most prized artifacts, including First Ladies’ gowns, Arthur Ashe’s tennis racquet, and the Apollo 14 command module, and reached an estimated 10 million people across the nation.

The Affiliations program was formally approved by the Board of Regents on September 15, 1996: “VOTED that the Board of Regents adopts the statement of policy and guidelines…on the Smithsonian Institution’s collections-based affiliations…”

A person sits at a workshop desk with the Apollo 13 Odyssey command module in the shadows.

Master restoration specialist Greg “Buck” Buckingham oversaw the evaluation, identification and reinstallation of more than 80,000 components of the Apollo 13 spacecraft Odyssey. This view shows Buckingham inside Odyssey’s restoration lab, which was glassed in to allow the public to view the historic project. Photo courtesy of the Cosmosphere, Hutchinson, KS.

The first Affiliate joined the program in early 1997. By the end of that year, there were 21 Affiliate collaborators across the U.S . As we entered the 21st century, more than 50 mission-aligned organizations made up the Affiliate network and were collaborating with the Smithsonian to bring its resources to their communities. In these first years, the Affiliations program was primarily envisioned as a way to extend the impact of the America’s Smithsonian exhibition and reach communities across the nation with objects from the Smithsonian’s collections. Affiliate organizations could borrow objects on long-term loan, connecting the Smithsonian with their audiences in ways that were meaningful, relevant, and accessible. Working with the National Air & Space Museum, the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS began the restoration of the Apollo 13 Command Module Odyssey in 1995, as part of an effort to re-assemble the historic spacecraft. Made famous by the movie Apollo 13 which tells of the greatest rescue effort of a manned space flight, Odyssey went on display at the Cosmosphere in 1998, the same year the museum became an Affiliate. The command module remains on display today in the Cosmosphere’s Apollo Gallery, and the Affiliate continues to provide critical restoration services to the Smithsonian through its SpaceWorks division.

Over our 25-year history, Affiliations has grown far beyond its initial mandate to share objects with Affiliate organizations and has lived up to the Institution’s ambition to educate beyond the National Mall and build collaborative relationships with other museums and cultural organizations. Today, with more than 200 Affiliate collaborators in 46 states, Panama, and Puerto Rico, the Smithsonian is able to engage communities across the nation in myriad ways, many of which have been highlighted in our blog over the last several months. As a network, we are able to spark curiosity and learning, inspire a deeper understanding of our world, and work together to create a better tomorrow.

As the African proverb says, “If you want to go fast go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” As we at Smithsonian Affiliations celebrate our 25th anniversary, we look forward to many more years of moving forward together with our Affiliate collaborators and continuing the Smithsonian’s important work grounded in the increase and diffusion of knowledge.

Smithsonian yellow sunburst with 175 to the right of it

Celebrate Smithsonian Affiliations’ 25th anniversary on social media with us September 15, 2021, #SmithsonianAffiliations25! All Smithsonian Affiliates are invited to share a memory as a Smithsonian Affiliate with us using the hashtag #SmithsonianAffiliations25. Make sure to tag @SIAffiliates on Twitter or @SmithsonianAffiliates on Instagram! Contact us for more info.

Catch up on our whole 25th Anniversary blog series here:

Smithsonian Affiliations at 25: Chapter 4: Supporting the People that Make Us Strong

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Supporting our network of Affiliate partners is a keystone of our work at Smithsonian Affiliations. As we continue to reflect on our past 25 years, it is the strength of the people we work with at Affiliate organizations that truly makes an impact on the work that we do. This month we are focusing on the professional development collaborations with Affiliate colleagues. Here we take you on a visual journey of the ways in which we have helped to make an impact furthering the professional growth of staff at our Affiliate partner organizations.

Read the full article

Smithsonian Affiliations at 25: Chapter 3: 10 Years of Reaching for the Stars Together

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Affiliations Anniversary Series: 25 Years in Your Neighborhood
Chapter 3: 10 Years of Reaching for the Stars Together

By: Tricia Edwards, Deputy Director, Smithsonian Affiliations and Natalie Wimberly, Management Support Specialist and Universe of Learning Project Manager, Smithsonian Affiliations

A young boy crouches in front of a telescope next to an adult in a bright green shirt seated next to him.

Student astrophotographer at Carolinas Aviation Museum (Charlotte, NC). Photo credit: Carolinas Aviation Museum.

“Working with Affiliations over the last 10 years has been one of the most productive collaborations for our Science Education Department,” says Mary Dussault, a STEM education program director at Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) in Cambridge, MA. Since 2012, with generous support from the Smithsonian’s Youth Access Grant program (YAG), Smithsonian Affiliations and Affiliates have collaborated with SAO to bring astronomy and astrophotography education to their communities through the Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos program (YCCC). Dussault adds, “Right from the get-go, we realized that the educational goals of the YAG program, the strategic partnership capacity and national network of Smithsonian Affiliations, and the scalable and accessible technology resources of SAO’s MicroObservatory Robotic Telescope Network were a case of the stars aligning.”

YCCC introduces communities, especially students, to the wonders of the universe. Participants can access SAO’s robotic telescopes, take images of the cosmos, and manipulate the photographs to produce their own artistic and scientific interpretations of the stars and galaxies. Along the way, they gain important technology skills and engage in—and apply—science, technology, engineering, art, and math content. As one young participant said, “I loved editing the photos. It grew my imagination and made me want to do more with it.”

A black and white image of the moon is pictured to the left of a brightly colored red, green, yellow and blue interpretation of the moon on right.

Photo captured by the MicroObservatory robotic telescope (left) alongside a student’s interpretation of the image.

Many Affiliates have participated in the program for multiple years and used YCCC to reach new audiences or forge deeper partnerships with existing collaborators. One Affiliate commented, “As a direct result of implementing the program we have already begun discussions with [our local] high school to develop a more intense astronomy program for next year.”

Since 2012, YCCC has grown to include 29 Smithsonian Affiliates and has reached more than 7,000 participants across the nation.

“Each Affiliate brings particular expertise and knowledge of their local community to adapting our SAO resources and materials, thereby creating wonderful program models that we never would have anticipated on our own,” says Erika Wright, SAO Education Specialist. For example, arts educator Annette Eschelman from the Springfield Museum of Art (Springfield, OH) was able to combine visual arts and astronomical imaging techniques to engage incarcerated youth. Starr Kelly from the Abbe Museum (Bar Harbor, ME) developed a summer camp program in which indigenous knowledge of the Wabanaki Nations informed the experience of students in the local Indian Township School.

Pieces of the Astronomy Kit rest on a table

Astronomy Kit for virtual NASA UoL 2020 Programming at Cape Fear Museum (Wilmington, NC). Photo credit: Cape Fear Museum

The successful collaboration model itself has also expanded, as SAO and Affiliations have teamed up to pursue a number of other astronomy-based education programs funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA. NASA’s Universe of Learning (NASA’s UoL), for example, connects the science, technology, subject matter experts, and adventure of NASA Astrophysics with STEM concepts, education standards, and 21st century skills central to science understanding and literacy. Resulting products, programs, and professional development experiences span a spectrum of environments and applications, enabling a rich learning “ecosystem” across the traditional boundaries of education. The goal of the program is to create and disseminate education products, programs, and professional development experiences that use NASA Astrophysics science, technology, and subject matter experts to advance NASA’s Science Mission Directorate education objectives on a national scale.

In partnership with Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 15 Smithsonian Affiliate partners, over the course of 3 years, were identified to join the national network of collaborators for this project. The majority of the Affiliates who participated were already building on the long-term partnerships and successful implementations of the Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos program. Growing from these past project relationships, NASA’s UoL is able to extend its reach through Affiliates and the communities they serve.

“We have great content that we’ll share in our virtual portfolio and will gladly share with any other organization that can make use of it. I also hope to do other projects with Universe of Learning when possible.” Nathan Meyer, Cosmosphere, Hutchinson, KS

NASA’s UoL project asks 3 main questions: How does the Universe work? How did we get here? Are we alone? The project creates and delivers science and audience-driven resources along with experiences designed to engage and immerse learners of all ages and backgrounds in exploring the universe for themselves. Its main goal is to expose astrophysics content to a wider underserved audience as well as create a Community of Practice within the Affiliate partners to document, share, and discuss ideas about how this information could translate into their own institutions.

Astronomy resources are placed on a table at the Anchorage Museum

NASA’s UoL Science of Light Program at Anchorage Museum (Anchorage, AK). Photo credit: Anchorage Museum.

“Students wanted to spend more time doing these activities and engaging with astronomy related STEM resources. For some of the students, it was their first time in a planetarium, and being able to go there twice was their favorite part of the program. Others really enjoyed learning about the MicroObservatory resource and said they would continue using it on their own.” Aaron Slonecker, Anchorage Museum, Anchorage, AK

Within the 3-year program period, our Affiliate partners have created long-term NASA UoL community programs and are actively still engaged with Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory to help broaden the scope and reach of NASA’s UoL future programming.

Through both YCCC and NASA’s UoL, Affiliates have helped to broaden access to SAO resources and magnify the reach of their expertise, all while engaging young learners in their communities in astronomy. Affiliates have also built their capacity. They have bolstered their astronomy knowledge and expertise, while also learning how to implement public workshops and programs for audiences of all ages. They have created a community of learners through online discussions and webinars, brainstormed programming ideas, and learned with and from one another.

Later this year, Smithsonian Affiliations and SAO will debut the Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos toolkit, developed in collaboration with the Abbe Museum, Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum (Honolulu, HI), and Springfield Museum of Art. The toolkit will provide how-to instructions for accessing the MicroObservatory, along with successful YCCC program models implemented by Affiliates with different audiences and in different settings, enabling even more Affiliates and their communities to explore the wonders of the cosmos. We also look forward to rolling out the Observing with NASA program soon. Affiliates will have the opportunity to apply to host Observing with NASA kiosks that allow public audiences to request their own telescope images and to practice image processing skills. Stay tuned for more details on these two exciting projects!

Stay tuned next month for another chapter in our 25th Anniversary Series! Until then, catch up on stories you’ve missed:

Smithsonian Affiliations at 25: Chapter 2- National Youth Summits

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Affiliations Anniversary Series: 25 Years in Your Neighborhood
Chapter 2: National Youth Summits

Catch up on Chapter 1: The Ten Thousand Springs Pavilion here.

The late John Lewis seated next to filmmaker Stanley Nelson on stage at the National Youth Summit

The Late Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) and filmmaker Stanley Nelson at the 2011 National Youth Summit on Freedom Rides. Photo courtesy National Museum of American History.

Engaging younger audiences has always been a goal of the Affiliate network. As an ongoing reflection of the past 25 years of working with our Affiliates, this month we focus on the role of the National Youth Summit and the regional youth conversations produced by Affiliates to complement and amplify the Smithsonian’s national program.

In 2010, Smithsonian Affiliations met with colleagues at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History on a concept for a new program— one in which students confront enduring questions of power, representation, privilege, and choice through peer-to-peer discussions, individual reflections, and shared action planning. The National Youth Summit would take place at the National Museum of American History, while Affiliates would host regional youth summits to amplify and augment the national program, allowing middle and high school students in Affiliate communities to discuss local issues.

With the assistance of five Affiliate museums, the first National Youth Summit launched on February 9, 2011, and commemorated the 50th anniversary of the 1961 Freedom Rides. The Summit featured Freedom Ride veterans and scholars discussing civic activism and the history of the Freedom Rides. Since that original program, there have been seven Youth Summits with Affiliate collaboration, with topics ranging from women’s suffrage to systemic racism, Japanese American incarceration to the war on poverty, and featured speakers like the late Congressman John Lewis-(D-GA) and documentarian Ken Burns.

five people sit on a stage in an auditorium filled with young people

National Youth Summit at the Japanese American National Museum. Photo courtesy JANM.

The topics are national, but the impact is local. Affiliates exemplify this with customized programs for local students—programs that reflect the demographics and lived experiences of youth in their community and center the community’s history through museum programming and interpretation. Over the past decade, the regional summits have reached thousands of young people and inspired numerous discussions about important events in America’s past that have relevance to the nation’s present and future.

Auditoriam at the birmingham civil rights institute

National Youth Summit at Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Photo courtesy Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

The National Youth Summit with Affiliate regional conversations continues to grow and play a vital role. By extending the reach to schools who might otherwise not be able to participate, by expanding historical content available through the program, and by creating deeply meaningful learning that relates to the actual lived experiences of students in underrepresented communities, Affiliates continue to show why they are critical venues for a national conversation.

An eighth Youth Summit is in the works for Fall 2021. Until then, catch up on past programs and conversation kits on the National Youth Summit website.

Stay tuned next month for Chapter 3: 10 Years of Reaching for the Stars Together, in our 25th anniversary series.

Kudos Affiliates! May 2021

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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

The Minnesota Historical Society announced the newest recipients of 30 Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Small Grants including The Bakken Museum (Minneapolis, MN). The Museum received $9,994 to process the Earl Bakken Legacy Collection, allowing for greater public access to these resources. The Bakken Museum will also be a core research partner as part of a $1.5 million grant awarded to Binghamton University faculty. The grant will help improve makerspace learning for youth.

Frank Leta Honda has donated two new 2020 Honda Odyssey minivans to the Saint Louis Science Center (Saint Louis, MO) to transport Youth Exploring Science (YES) Program teens and Science Center educators to events during the summer as COVID-19 safety protocols allow. The YES Program was founded to help teens, particularly those from underserved communities, to recognize their potential in science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) career fields.

Framingham State University (Framingham, MA) has been awarded a $62,250 grant from the Massachusetts Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) to coordinate a multi-day Racial Equity Policy Review Institute. Designed for up to 150 leaders within the campus community, participants will gain a better understanding of systemic racism in higher education and how it manifests on campus, be able to define what a racist policy is and how it shows up in student outcomes, and create an initial yearlong plan to undertake policy review.

History Colorado (Denver, CO), Hagley Museum (Wilmington, DE) and USS Constitution Museum  (Boston, MA) were among several Affiliates awarded humanity grants from The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Grant awards support the preservation of historic collections, humanities exhibitions and documentaries, scholarly research, and curriculum projects.

  • History Colorado was awarded a Media Projects Production grant for $310,536 to support the production of the Lost Highways Podcast series, an eight-episode offering focused on Colorado and Western history. History Colorado also received an Exhibitions-Implementation grant for $400,000 for The Sand Creek Massacre Exhibition. The permanent exhibition details the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal members.
  • Hagley Museum and Library ($194,400) and Center for Jewish History (New York, NY) ($153,292), each received a Fellowship Programs grant. The grants will support 12 months of stipend support for 1–3 fellowships per year for two to three years.
  • USS Constitution Museum will receive a Dialogues on the Experience of War grant for $96,264 to develop Sailors Speak: The Impact of War on Naval Veterans, their Families, and the Country. The award will be used for the training of facilitators to lead three discussion series for naval veterans and their families, based on historical documents and material culture from the War of 1812 and the post-9/11 wars.
  • City Lore (New York, NY) was awarded an Exhibitions-Planning grant for $75,000 to create a traveling exhibit about the 1970s Federal Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA), that provided work for artists.
  • American Jewish Historical Society (New York City, NY), part of the Center for Jewish History, received $131,681 for a Humanities Collections and Reference Resources grant for The People’s Relief Committee Project to preserve and digitize materials that document the work of the People’s Relief Committee for Jewish War Sufferers (1915–1924), an American Jewish organization that sought to help Jewish communities and individuals in Europe during and after World War I.

The Rhode Island Historical Society (Providence, RI) received a donation of $50,000 from Walmart to pay for the creation of a curriculum to teach Black history and heritage in the local schools. The curriculum will include lesson plans, teacher training, and virtual learning tools.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

The Rockwell Museum (Corning, NY) announced Janelle Steiner, events coordinator, and Kate Swanson, interpretation and public engagement educator, have been selected to participate in The Museum Association of New York’s (MANY) “Building Capacity, Creating Sustainability, Growing Accessibility” program. The IMLS Cares Act grant project is designed to help museums impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic share their collections and reach audiences who cannot physically visit their museums. In this two-year program, museums will identify an event or project to deliver virtually to their audiences, focusing on developing programs from stories found in their collections that reveal cultural and racial diversity in their communities.

LEADERSHIP

Stephanie Haught Wade was named the new director of Historic Arkansas Museum (Little Rock, AR). Wade has been a historian with the Department of Arkansas Heritage since 2017, where she managed the Arkansas Historical Marker Program and was a member and administrator of the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commemoration Committee. She began work on April 5.