Have you caught up on Smithsonian news in your neighborhood?

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cover2Extra! Extra! Read all about it! The Fall 2013 issue of The Affiliate Newsletter just wrapped up production. In this issue:

West Coast Partner Brings SI to LA

Get a peek at several Smithsonian collaborations at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles that are helping to tell the American story through the Japanese story.

2013 conference attendees participated in hands-on workshops at ImagiNATIONS education space in the National Museum of the American Indian.

2013 conference attendees participated in hands-on workshops at ImagiNATIONS education space in the National Museum of the American Indian.

Connecting Communities, Classrooms, and Colleagues at the 2013 National Conference

A record-breaking 119 attendees from 74 Affiliates attended the 2013 Affiliations National Conference. Check out some conference photos and see what your Affiliate colleagues said about the meeting.

Hanging Out with Elvis in Fort Worth

Guest author Amy Henderson, cultural historian at the National Portrait Gallery, shares her experience visiting Fort Worth Museum of Science and History while the Elvis at 21 exhibition was on display.

Smithsonian EdLab Shares New Twist to Digital Learning

Smithsonian EdLab workshops at four Affiliates demonstrated the power of going beyond the walls of the classroom to create a 21st-century idea of what education can be.

Announcing the I. Michael Heyman Smithsonian Across America Fund

We’re announcing a new fund to support the work of Smithsonian Affiliations in sharing resources with people in their own communities.

2013 Intern Partners and Visiting Professionals

Quick highlights from our four Affiliate staff members and one Affiliate intern during their residencies at the Smithsonian.

Ed Nichols, History Colorado director, and Harold Closter, Smithsonian Affiliations director view Jefferson's Bible before it is displayed at History Colorado (Denver).

Ed Nichols, History Colorado director, and Harold Closter, Smithsonian Affiliations director view Jefferson’s Bible before it is displayed at History Colorado (Denver).

A Conversation with History Colorado

Five questions with History Colorado about the impact of bringing Thomas Jefferson’s Bible to the Denver community.

Smithsonian In Your Neighborhood

A recap of events, exhibitions and programs in Affiliate neighborhoods from May to October 2013.

Visit our ISSUU library for past editions of The Affiliate Newsletter.

What to see at a Smithsonian Affiliate in your neighborhood

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It’s the Friday before Thanksgiving break. We’re all excited about seeing friends and family and taking a little break from school and work. So here are a few ideas for including the Smithsonian in your holiday plans from our Affiliate partners across the country:

Midwest

The Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art in Elmhurt, Illinois, hosts Modern Designer Jewelry from the Smithsonian, an exhibition that features jewelry from American Jewelry designers from 1960 to 2009 from the collections of the National Museum of Natural History.

Mid-Atlantic

Take an in-depth look at Pennsylvania’s significant role during the Civil War at the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh. In its new major exhibition, Pennsylvania’s Civil War, you can find a tintype camera and portable printing press on loan from the National Museum of American History.

Mountain Plains

Apollo Boilerplate Command Module on loan from the National Air and Space Museum.

Apollo Boilerplate Command Module on loan from the National Air and Space Museum.

More than 21 artifacts on loan from the National Air and Space Museum are on view at the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamagordo. Get an up-close look at an Apollo Boilerplate Command Module and see the training coveralls worn by New Mexico astronaut, Harrison Schmitt, the only scientist to walk on the moon.

If you’re in San Antonio, the Institute of Texan Cultures is currently displaying two exhibitions from the National Museum of the American Indian and organized for travel by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). Native Words, Native Warriors tells the story of soldiers from more than a dozen tribes who used their Native languages while in service in the U.S. military. Ramp It Up: Skateboard Culture in Native America celebrates the vibrancy, creativity and history of American Indian skateboarding culture.

New England

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without the rich tradition of gathering together at harvest time and celebrating the abundant joys of the season. At Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Massachusetts, visitors can learn all about the settlement of the Plymouth Colony in the 17th century.

Southeast

Go on safari at the Schiele Museum of Natural History in Gastonia, North Carolina. Fourteen specimens–from a tiny eastern mole to a mountain gorilla–are on loan from the National Museum of Natural History.

The Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, Florida, includes five works of art from the National Air and Space Museum collection in its exhibition Paintings of the Space Age.

The Mennello Museum of American Art in Orlando, Florida, has Earl Cunningham’s painting Seminole Indian Summer Camp on view from the Smithsonian American Art Museum in its Earl Cunningham gallery. 

Seminole Indian Summer Camp, ca. 1963, Earl Cunningham, oil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Michael and Marilyn Mennello.

Seminole Indian Summer Camp, ca. 1963, Earl Cunningham, oil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Michael and Marilyn Mennello.

West

Arizona State Museum, in Tucson, celebrates the creative work of American Indian directors, producers, writers, and actors during the Native Eyes Film Showcase, in collaboration with the National Museum of the American Indian and many others.

If you’re in California, visit the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles and see I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story. Created by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and organized for travel by SITES, the exhibit tells the story of how Asian Pacific Americans have shaped and been shaped by the course of our nation’s history.

Check out the San Diego Air and Space Museum where you can see nearly 30 space-related artifacts on loan from the National Air and Space Museum.

 

Is the Smithsonian in your neighborhood? Find an Affiliate here.

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coming up in affiliateland in november 2013

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PUERTO RICO
Museo y Centro de Estudios Humanísticos hosts Budget Planning for Museums, a workshop led by Affiliations director, Harold Closter in Gurabo, 11.2.

TEXAS
SITES exhibition Ramp It Up: Skateboard Culture in Native America opens at the Institute of Texan Cultures in San Antonio, 11.2.

SOUTH DAKOTA
As part of their ongoing Smithsonian Sunday series, the South Dakota State Historical Society will host a webcast from the National Air and Space Museum, 50 Years of Solar System Exploration: New Worlds, New Discoveries, in Pierre, 11.10.

PENNSYLVANIA
The National Museum of American Jewish History presents a lecture and book signing with Undersecretary Richard Kurin, author of The Smithsonian’s History of America in 101 Objects in Philadelphia, 11.12.

NEBRASKA
National Museum of Natural History curator, Hans Sues, will present a lecture at the University of Nebraska State Museum of Natural History in Lincoln, 11.14.

WASHINGTON, DC
Affiliate directors will be among the attendees of the Latino Partnership Forum, organized by the Smithsonian Latino Center and Smithsonian Affiliations, at the Smithsonian, 11.4-11.6.

15 Affiliates shared educational materials which will be available to educators as part of a rescheduled Smithsonian Teachers Night, Washington DC, 11.15.

National Museum of American History curators Nancy Davis and Peter Liebhold will participate in a panel discussion, Show me the Money: Museum Conversations of Debt and Commerce, with the director of the Museum of American Finance, David Cowen, in Washington DC, 11.23.

 

Bring 101 Smithsonian Objects to your Neighborhood!

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101objectsbookOk, so we can’t actually send 101 artifacts on the road all the time, but we can send Smithsonian Under Secretary for Art, History, and Culture Richard Kurin! Aided by a team of top Smithsonian curators and scholars, Richard’s new book The Smithsonian’s History of America in 101 Objects, is a literary exhibition of objects from across the Smithsonian that together offer a marvelous new perspective on the history of the United States.

After the success of his book tours in Affiliateland–Madcap May: Mistress of Myth, Men, and Hope and Hope Diamond: The Legendary Story of a Cursed Gem–Richard is looking forward to visiting Affiliates again and sharing these fascinating stories from American history.

Richard kicks off the Affiliate tour on Tuesday, November 12 at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. One of the unexpected selections in his book is a vial of Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine–which just happens to be on view at NMAJH in their Only In America gallery, on loan from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

KurinHope_web

Richard traveled to more than 10 Affiliates during his book tour for “Hope Diamond: The Legendary History of a Cursed Gem.”

Ranging from the earliest years of the pre-Columbian continent to the digital age, and from the American Revolution to Vietnam, each entry pairs the fascinating history surrounding each object with the story of its creation or discovery and the place it has come to occupy in our national memory. He sheds remarkable new light on objects we think we know well, from Lincoln’s hat to Dorothy’s ruby slippers and Julia Child’s kitchen, including the often astonishing tales of how each made its way into the collections of the Smithsonian. Other objects will be eye-opening new discoveries for many, but no less evocative of the most poignant and important moments of the American experience. Some objects, such as Harriet Tubman’s hymnal, Sitting Bull’s ledger, Cesar Chavez’s union jacket, and the Enola Gay bomber, tell difficult stories from our nation’s history, and inspired controversies when exhibited at the Smithsonian. Others, from George Washington’s sword to the space shuttle Discovery, celebrate the richness and vitality of the American spirit. In his words, each object comes to life, providing a near-tactile connection to American history.

Photo courtesy Smithsonian Institution.

Photo courtesy Smithsonian Institution.

Publishers Weekly called it a “humanistic approach to storytelling (he even includes digressions on things that didn’t make it in, like the ubiquitous stuffed animal named after the first President Roosevelt: the Teddy Bear) which makes for immersive, addictive reading.”

Beautifully designed and illustrated with color photographs throughout, The Smithsonian’s History of America in 101 Objects is a rich and fascinating journey through America’s collective memory, and a beautiful object in its own right.

Interested in booking Richard for a speaking engagement and book signing at your organization? Contact your National Outreach Manager. Availability is February 2014- June 2014.

Interested in stocking your shelves with a great gift? Pre-order here!

Affiliates hear it first from SITES!

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Celebrate your special connection to the Smithsonian. SITES is offering Smithsonian Affiliates first dibs on booking these BRAND NEW exhibitions before we market them widely. Contact us today to reserve your preferred booking period.

Searching for the Seventies: The DOCUMERICA Photography Project 

Credit: Flip Shulke, South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida, June 1973. DOCUMERICA Photography Project. National Archives.

Credit:
Flip Shulke, South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida, June 1973. DOCUMERICA Photography Project. National Archives.

 Images of everyday life in 1970s America: disco dancing and inflation, protests and bell bottoms, gas shortages and suburban sprawl.  At a time when war and scandal wore on the national psyche, a burgeoning movement to protect our natural environment was gaining force. 

In 1971, inspired by the Farm Security Administration’s photography project of the 1930s and 40s, the newly established U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched the DOCUMERICA Photography Project to document environmental troubles and triumphs across the country.  About 70 photographers, including Flip Schulke, John Corn, Danny Lyon, and John H. White, were urged to capture “the human connection” to the environment, from small towns in coal country to urban streetscapes.  What emerged was a moving and textured portrait of America.  Capturing a rapidly changing world with surprising resonances to the present, DOCUMERICA culls some of the most striking photographs from a trove of thousands.

This unique exhibition is a collaboration between SITES and the National Archives and Records Administration which now holds the original DOCUMERICA photographic materials. You can browse through thousands of DOCUMERICA images on their website and Flickr.

90 color photographs, text panels, labels, and video
$7,000 per 10-week slot plus outgoing shipping
Approximately 350 running feet
Moderate security
Tour begins: As early as February 2015
Contact: Minnie Russell, 202.633.3160


Patios, Pools, and the Invention of the American Backyard

Benton Garden in Phoenix, Arizona, circa 1950. Archives of American Gardens

Benton Garden in Phoenix, Arizona, circa 1950. Archives of American Gardens

The suburban backyard is so familiar it feels like a permanent fixture of American life.  But it’s actually an invention of the 1950s that grew up along with the Baby Boomers. Produced in partnership with the Smithsonian Archives of American Gardens, Patios, Pools, and the Invention of the American Backyard is a fun, retro look at the concept of “outdoor living” that was created in post-World War II America.  From the mid-century rise of the suburbs and changes in home design to the popularity of DIY,  barbecues, and tiki parties, the exhibition explores trends in society that were reflected in the typical American backyard.  Topics include post-war garden design such as the Western, New Canaan, and Japanese styles, and the role of female landscape architects and tastemakers.  Patios, Pools, and the Invention of the American Backyard documents the new technologies and materials that led to inexpensive home pools and aluminum patio furniture, as well as the use of chemicals such as DDT and the resulting nascent environmental movement.  From Levittown to Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, don’t miss your chance as an Affiliate to reminisce about the American backyard.

Six double-sided, freestanding structures with reproductions of garden designs, vintage photographs, advertisement art, and text
$5,500 per 10-week slot plus outgoing shipping
1,000-1,500 square feet
Limited security
Tour begins:  March 21, 2015
Contact:  Ed Liskey, 202.633.3142

 

Beyond Bollywood:  Indian Americans Shape the Nation

A celebration of Hindu marriage vows renewal. Photo: Preston Merchant.

A celebration of Hindu marriage vows renewal. Photo: Preston Merchant.

 From builders of the first railroads in the American West to leaders of the digital economy, immigrants from the subcontinent of India and their descendants have made deep and lasting contributions to the American story.  Beyond Bollywood:  Indian Americans Shape the Nation, created in collaboration with the Smithsonian’s Asian Pacific American Center, explores the Indian American experience and this community’s vital political, professional, and cultural contributions to American life.  Weaving together stories of individual achievement and collective struggle, the exhibition uses photography, vibrant color and design, narrative prose, and engaging interactives, to tell this uniquely American story.  Beyond Bollywood is an inspirational look at the history and contributions of this community that merges India and America.  This exhibition tour is a wonderful opportunity for SI Affiliates to educate, honor, and engage this burgeoning population across the country!

 24 wall-hung panels with text, photographs, charts, maps and graphics; display thalis; audio station; videos on DVD; traveling trunk
$2,400 per 10-week slot plus outgoing shipping
150 running feet
Limited security
Tour begins:  May 2, 2015
Contact:  Ed Liskey, 202.633.3142

 
We hope you’ll take advantage of these early-bird notices only for Smithsonian Affiliates- another benefit of your being a partner to the Smithsonian!

National Youth Summit: Freedom Summer

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UPDATE: DOWNLOAD TEACHER RESOURCES FOR THE PROGRAM!

UPDATE! DEADLINE TO APPLY IS OCTOBER 15, 2013

Freedom Summer: National Youth Summit
freedomsummerA collaborative program at the National Museum of American History and Smithsonian Affiliates

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (NMAH) announces the next grant opportunity for its popular National Youth Summit series. Smithsonian Affiliates are invited to apply to join the conversation during Freedom Summer on February 5, 2014.

Nearly 50 years ago, college students from across the country came together in Mississippi for a large scale, grassroots education and voter registration project known as Freedom Summer. Working in collaboration with PBS’s AMERICAN EXPERIENCE series and through the Smithsonian Affiliate network, NMAH will engage young people with the powerful story of this campaign in the strategies of the civil rights movement and their lessons for modern day activism.

Eight (8) Affiliates will be awarded $3,000* for implementation of a Regional Youth Summit.

To qualify, your organization must agree to the terms in the Expectation Form which include:

  • Maintain or have partnerships with local school districts to organize a regional conversation at the Affiliate organization in conjunction with the national webcast.
  • Have a facility which can host a discussion immediately following the webcast to include students and Freedom Summer movement veterans and scholars.
  • Have the technical capacity to watch the live webcast of the National Youth Summit at the Affiliate organization.

Freedom Summer: National Youth Summit
Students across the country will join together for a virtual National Youth Summit on Freedom Summer and civic engagement. At the NMAH in Washington, D.C., or at a location in Mississippi, civil rights activists and scholars will participate in a panel discussion about the 1964 youth-led effort to end the political disenfranchisement of African Americans in the Deep South, and discuss the role of young people in shaping America’s past and future. Students will be invited to submit questions for the panel online.  Participating students will be encouraged to think of themselves as makers of history and asked to consider their ability to be active and engaged citizens. The National Youth Summit webcast will be preserved on the NMAH website, enabling students and teachers to continue to explore this important topic.

Regional Youth Summit at Affiliate organizations
Over the past fourteen years, the Smithsonian has reached audiences nationwide through its partnership with more than 175 Affiliate museums and educational and cultural institutions. Eight (8) Smithsonian Affiliates will work with their local high schools to organize a Regional Youth Summit in conjunction with the webcast of the National Youth Summit. Immediately following a live viewing of the National Youth Summit webcast, the Affiliate organization will host a discussion between Freedom Summer movement veterans, scholars, and young people. In preparation, participating schools will receive screening copies of The American Experience film Freedom Summer, as well as a Conversation Kit to support classroom discussion and to encourage students to use the lessons of history to make a more humane future.

How to apply: (Note:Applying for the grant is not mandatory to participate in the program. Affiliates are encouraged to include the event in their programming even if a grant is not received)

  1. Fill out the Application Form
  2. Sign the Expectation Form
  3. Freedom Summer FAQs

Questions? Contact Aaron Glavas, Smithsonian Affiliations National Outreach Manager or Elizabeth Bugbee, Smithsonian Affiliations External Affairs Coordinator.

**Final award based on proposed itemized budget.