Swingin’ with the Smithsonian in Daytona Beach

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15038_10151615476644102_362315537_nSpecial thanks to Monica Reardon, Smithsonian Affiliations summer intern, for authoring the 2013 #MuseumDayLive! Affiliate blog series.

The Museum of Arts & Sciences (MOAS) is a science and history museum located in Daytona Beach, Florida.  This Affiliate’s collections showcase a multitude of topics, which include Coca-Cola® memorabilia, paintings of Florida, a giant ground sloth skeleton, celestial charts, and more.  Not to mention a planetarium, an open storage building, and two off-site exhibit areas.  The Museum, since joining Affiliations in 2000, has featured a variety of Smithsonian objects, exhibitions, and programs.

In that spirit, MOAS will be welcoming speakers, musicians and affiliates of the Smithsonian Institution to Daytona Beach for its 3rd Annual Septembers with the Smithsonian series of events. Beginning September 6th, MOAS will be featuring an exhibition as well as special speakers from the Smithsonian Institution and other Smithsonian Affiliates.

“Septembers with the Smithsonian was created to share the benefits of our Smithsonian Affiliation with our community,” stated MOAS Executive Director, Andrew Sandall. “It’s a chance for us to show the diversity of the subject matter museums preserve. Any form of art, either physical or performed, has influenced people’s lives and made them who they are today – the same pieces have different meanings and interpretations for each of us and become part of us.”

A fellow Smithsonian Affiliate museum, the Orange County Regional History Center, has generously loaned the artworks in Highwaymen: African-American Folk Artists of Florida which will be on exhibition through the Fall. On September 12, visitors can explore Florida’s marine environments at the Smithsonian Marine Station with Dr. Valerie Paul, Director of the Smithsonian Marine Station at Ft. Pierce. In addition, Underwater Archaeologist Chuck Meide, from the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum–another Smithsonian Affiliate– will talk about the British Revolutionary Warship, the “Storm Wreck” on September 18. Other speakers will present topics such as archeology, biology and paleobiology, some of which will be highlighted in the Museum’s Natural History Festival on September 21st.

969531_10151615475654102_177155945_nOn September 28th from 7-9pm, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra (SJMO) will perform “Swingin’ with the Smithsonian,” featuring vocalist Lena Seikaly. The SJMO will perform selections from the Ella Fitzgerald song book. A special matinee concert for children, “Swingin’ with the Smithsonian Junior” has been added to the concert schedule this year, and will take place Saturday, September 28th from 2-3pm at MOAS.

“Septembers with the Smithsonian was created to share the benefits of our Smithsonian Affiliation with our community. We are looking forward to each of this year’s exciting events at MOAS,” stated MOAS Executive Director, Andrew Sandall.

This year, Smithsonian Museum Day Live! is September 28th. Visitors who present the Museum Day Live! ticket will gain free entrance for two at participating venues for one day only. One ticket is permitted per household, per email address. This ticket is not valid for “Swingin’ with the Smithsonian” or “Swingin’ with the Smithsonian Junior” concerts. This project received financial assistance from VISIT FLORIDA. Exhibits and dates subject to change.

Is the Smithsonian in your neighborhood? Find out which other Affiliates are participating in #MuseumDayLive on September 28, 2013, here.

 

 

every time i visit your museum, bling bling

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Special thanks to Monica Reardon, Smithsonian Affiliations summer intern, for authoring the 2013 Smithsonian #MuseumDayLive! blog series.

Housed in an historic bank building on Wall Street in New York City, the Museum of American Finance is dedicated to preserving, exhibiting and teaching about American finance and financial history.  The founder, John Herzog, began with two exhibits in a U.S. Custom House in 1988.  Since then, this independent, non-profit museum has gradually expanded in exhibits and programs to what it is today, including becoming a Smithsonian Affiliate in 2001.

Monopoly Game Pieces

Monopoly Game Pieces

The museum currently has on display a unique piece on long-term loan from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Visitors during Smithsonian Museum Day Live! can get up close to a golden, bejeweled Monopoly set worth $2 million, created by jeweler Sidney Mobell.  The board and pieces are solid 18-karat gold and encrusted with 165 precious gemstones including diamonds, rubies and emeralds.  Bling Bling!! Even the dice are blinged-out with 42 full-cut diamonds marking the number dots on the die.

“We have quite a few finance-related board games in our collection, and games are a great way to introduce basic financial concepts to visitors. It made sense to borrow the Monopoly set for display,” noted Becky Laughner, Director of Exhibits & Archives.

The “eye-catching” Monopoly set attracts a variety of visitors from grade-school students to bank executives.  “We display many paper documents, and the Monopoly set could not be more different, while still assisting us in teaching financial history and promoting financial literacy.”

Laughner hopes that the game helps visitors “to understand that learning about finance can be fun and interesting.”  She adds,

“We hope visitors leave [the Museum] with a better understanding of money, finance and US history, and we realize that these topics are common threads that run through almost every aspect of our lives.”

Is the Smithsonian in your neighborhood? Find out which other Affiliates are participating in #MuseumDayLive on September 28, 2013, here.

Monopoly Board Game

Monopoly Board Game

Satisfy your Museum Day hunger with a Flying Pancake

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Special thanks to Monica Reardon, Smithsonian Affiliations summer intern, for authoring the 2013 Smithsonian #MuseumDayLive! blog series. 

A donation in 1963 to The University of Texas marked the beginnings of the museum Frontiers of Flight, now located in Dallas, Texas.  The collection of artifacts and archival materials of George Haddaway, an aviation historian and the publisher of “Flight” magazine, became the “History of Aviation Collection.”  The collection then moved from Austin to The University of Texas at Dallas in the late 1970’s.  Eventually, The Frontiers of Flight Museum was formed as an organization in 1988.  From there, it grew into what it is today.

Frontiers of Flight became a Smithsonian Affiliate in 2002 and has consistently participated in Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day Live! for the past 7 years. The museum recently helped restore the Chance Vought V-173 Flying Pancake, on long-term loan to the museum from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM). In addition, visitors to the museum can view the Apollo 7 Command Module and more than 20 other space-related artifacts also on loan from NASM.

Is the Smithsonian in your neighborhood? Find out which other Affiliates are participating in #MuseumDayLive on September 28, 2013, here

Vought V-173 "Flying Pancake" at Frontiers of Flight Museum

Photo courtesy Joseph May (C) 2012 at Travel for Aircraft

Plimoth Plantation creates mishoon for Smithsonian museum

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On September 6, 2013, Plimoth Plantation (Plymouth, Mass.) will donate a mishoon to the National Museum of the American Indian. Created this past spring by the Wampanoag Indigenous Program (WIP) at Plimoth Plantation, members of the WIP will present the mishoon and accompanying paddles to NMAI in a special gift ceremony at the museum’s Cultural Resources Center in Suitland, Maryland.

“As a museum dedicated to the history and culture of Native American communities, we’re delighted to welcome a creation like this one that represents a living tradition among the Wampanoag,” says Kevin Gover (Pawnee) Director, National Museum of the American Indian.

So what is a mishoon?  During the 17th century, the mishoon–a traditional Native American canoe–was the most common boat in North American waters. A typical 17th-century mishoon was created from a giant tree and capable of carrying 40 men. The mishoon being accepted into the NMAI collection isn’t quite that large–it’s 16 feet long and can fit up to 3 people–but it was created in the traditional way.

Photo courtesy Plimoth Plantation.

Photo courtesy Plimoth Plantation.

Daruis Coombs with tree that will become mishoon

Photo courtesy Plimoth Plantation.

So how does one create a mishoon? Picking the tree is the first step of course. With the help of Gurney’s Lumber Yard in Freetown, Massachusetts, WIP selected a white pine. The tree was burned down by wrapping clay around the trunk and burning the roots. It was then brought to Plimoth Plantation’s Wampanoag Homesite, where the log was worked with fire. By burning into the widest point of the tree a natural keel is created, where the bottom of the boat is thicker than its sides. Historically, mishoons were burned 24 hours a day, since the longer the fire was maintained the hotter it would get. Typically, it would take about 10-12 days for mishoons to be created in the 17th century. Although this seems like a long time, trees during this period were typically over 150 feet tall and 6 feet wide, capable of creating the mishoons that could carry 40 men.

“It’s an honor that the Smithsonian will accept it, and we enjoy doing new work–it keeps the job challenging,” said Darius Coombs, Associate Director of the Wampanoag Indigenous Program. “It has been a fun and educational experience. The mishoon is an invaluable piece that will add depth to the Smithsonian’s already rich representation of Northeast Native life.”

Smithsonian Affiliations and NMAI will be tweeting live on September 6 as the #mishoon enters the collection. Follow @SIAffiliates, @SmithsonianNMAI, and @Plimoth and check out our Flickr group for photos from the event.

Mishoonash in the Eel River next to Plimoth Plantation’s Wampanoag Homesite. Photo courtesy Smithsonian Affiliations.

Mishoonash in the Eel River next to Plimoth Plantation’s Wampanoag Homesite. Photo courtesy Smithsonian Affiliations.

Plimoth Plantation has received some amazing press coverage of the donation. Check it out below:

https://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130905/NEWS/309050323

https://www.therepublic.com/view/story/7432b135bbb744ff90f829a97a073bc5/MA–Wampanoag-Canoe-Smithsonian

https://www.enterprisenews.com/news/x1281953326/Plimoth-Plantation-makes-replica-of-Native-American-canoe-for-Smithsonian

https://www.patriotledger.com/topstories/x1281953326/Plimoth-Plantation-makes-replica-of-Native-American-canoe-for-Smithsonian

https://www.wickedlocal.com/plymouth/news/x1843580627/PLIMOTH-PLANTATION-Mishoon-accepted-by-Smithsonian-National-Museum-of-the-American-Indian

https://plymouth.patch.com/groups/around-town/p/smithsonian-accepts-dugout-canoe-from-plimoth-plantation

https://www.pr-inside.com/smithsonian-s-national-museum-of-r3786683.htm

https://www.wbur.org/2013/09/03/wampanoag-canoe-smithsonian

https://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2013/09/02/wampanoag-canoe-headed-the-smithsonian/kNmhDOOWTQnB2VkOQmMiUO/story.html?rss_id=Top+Stories

https://ww.abc6.com/story/23319713/wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-smithsonian

https://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/09/wampanoag_canoe_headed_to_the_smithsonian

https://www.dailyjournal.net/view/story/7432b135bbb744ff90f829a97a073bc5/MA–Wampanoag-Canoe-Smithsonian/#.UiX9idIp8to

https://www.eagletribune.com/boston/x335461568/Wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-Smithsonian

https://www.myfoxboston.com/story/23319713/wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-smithsonian

https://www.necn.com/09/02/13/Wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-Smithsonia/landing.html?&apID=7432b135bbb744ff90f829a97a073bc5

https://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-Smithsonian-4781724.php

https://www.telegram.com/article/20130902/APN/309029676

https://www.news10.com/story/23319713/wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-smithsonian

https://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/20130902/APN/1309020791

https://www.cbs3springfield.com/story/23319713/wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-smithsonian

https://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20130902/APN/1309020791

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-Smithsonian-4781724.php

https://www.the-dispatch.com/article/20130902/APN/1309020791

https://www.wtnh.com/news/massachusetts/ap-massachusetts/wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-smithsonian_70775095

https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-Smithsonian-4781724.php

https://www.houmatoday.com/article/20130902/APN/1309020791

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-Smithsonian-4781724.php

https://www.sportballa.com/2013/09/indigenous-peoples/canoe-headed-wampanoag-smithsonian

https://www.chron.com/news/article/Wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-Smithsonian-4781724.php

https://www.dailycomet.com/article/20130902/APN/1309020791

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-Smithsonian-4781724.php

https://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20130902/APN/1309020791

https://www.theledger.com/article/20130902/APN/1309020791

https://www.gainesville.com/article/20130902/APN/1309020791

https://ewallstreeter.com/wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-smithsonian-37

https://www.roonte.com/www/wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-smithsonian

https://boston.cityandpress.com/node/6741978

https://news.silobreaker.com/wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-smithsonian-5_2267076475486208002

https://www.connectednews.com/news/massachusetts/boston/wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-smithsonian/

https://www.tribtown.com/view/story/7432b135bbb744ff90f829a97a073bc5/MA–Wampanoag-Canoe-Smithsonian

https://www.sport-telegram.com/wampanoag-canoe-headed-smithsonian-necn/

https://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130902/APN/1309020791

https://www.masslive.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-smithsonian/7432b135bbb744ff90f829a97a073bc5

promote your smithsonian affiliation on your website

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Gemini 11, which is currently on loan from the National Air and Space Museum to the California Science Center in Los Angeles

Gemini 11, which is currently on loan from the National Air and Space Museum to the California Science Center in Los Angeles

Smithsonian Affiliates are spotlighting their Affiliation on websites and visual communications.  As so many museum visitors log onto a museum’s website before they come through the doors, this is an amazing way to emphasize your ongoing partnership with the Smithsonian to your community and visitors.  We wanted to share some great examples and let you know how you can highlight your Smithsonian partnership!

The California Science Center mentions the ongoing projects with the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum that even precede their Smithsonian Affiliation.  They describe the collaboration that has led to their hosting many space history objects, including Gemini 11.

Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center mentions the special tagline that Affiliates may use: In Association with the Smithsonian Institution.  After uses are approved by your National Outreach Manager, you may use the tagline on many different media including your own enewsletters, as seen here as used by The Mexican Museum.

The Mexican Museum's enewsletter with the tagline, "In Association with the Smithsonian Institution."

The Mexican Museum’s enewsletter with the tagline, “In Association with the Smithsonian Institution.”

Several Affiliates, such as The Freedom Museum and the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History use the Smithsonian Affiliations logo to discuss the Affiliation.  Only Smithsonian Affiliates may use the logo in these ways so be sure to take advantage of this and shout your Affiliation partnership!  We have recently updated our logo, which can be found here on a new page with several easy-to-download files in different formats.  All logo uses must be approved by your National Outreach Manager, who can help with logo and tagline guidelines.

newsalogo

Use the logo and tagline!

Finally, we can also help with press releases for Smithsonian Affiliate collaborations by providing examples and suggestions, or boilerplate that can be included on every press release you send out.  We found Affiliates doing this wonderfully: here’s the Berkshire Museum and Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Other terrific examples of Affiliates devoting web site space to their Affiliation and how it supports their missions are: National Museum of American Jewish History, Irving Arts Center, Frost Art Museum and the Springfield Museum of Art.

Kudos to all the Affiliates who are telling their visitors about our unique partnership!

Plan Ahead- 2014 Jazz Appreciation Month

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Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM)–April 2014–is just around the corner. Affiliates have the opportunity to participate in FREE Media Training/Networking webinars organized by The Jazz Journalists Association (JJA). The JJA program will help Affiliate organizations use JAM as an opportunity to broaden their outreach to local communities and media outlets and to network with local jazz influencers.

Poster art designed by Fritz Klaetke, art director for JAZZ: The Smithsonian Anthology.

Poster art designed by Fritz Klaetke, art director for JAZZ: The Smithsonian Anthology.

Three online webinars will discuss the use of social media and on working with local online and traditional media to

  • Increase local awareness of JAM and the institution’s JAM-related events.
  • Build the institution’s ongoing social media presence.
  • Reach under-served local communities.
  • Connect with other local institutions and individuals involved in jazz and related cultural production.

The exact content of the interactive webinars will be determined by survey results. Click here to take the survey!

Follow Jazz Appreciation Month on Facebook for updates and tweet your activities to @CelebrateJAM #CelebrateJAM.