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Romare Bearden, Bopping at Birdland (Stomp Time), from the Jazz Series. 1979. Smithsonian American Art Museum

Romare Bearden, Bopping at Birdland (Stomp Time), from the Jazz Series, 1979. Smithsonian American Art Museum

Imagine you’re a curator at the American Jazz Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate in Kansas City, Missouri.  You’re putting together a future exhibit and trying to find objects to include that are both new and fresh while complementing your collections.  How do you begin to explore what the Smithsonian might possibly have to contribute to this project?   Instead of having to search each individual collection at the Smithsonian you can now utilize the Collections Search Center where over 2 million object records from across the Smithsonian are catalogued.

A quick search on “Jazz” yields over 1,600 documents throughout the Smithsonian.  Perhaps you’re looking for something artistic, like any of Romare Beardon’s Jazz Series paintings, housed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  Maybe you’re looking for some classic photographs of Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, or Ornette Coleman which can be found in the National Portrait Gallery.   The Postal Museum’s collection of stamps may lead you to illustrate how jazz is commemorated in this country through the issue of stamps depicting famous jazz musicians like Ella Fitzgerald or Duke Ellington.  Even the collections of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries could lead you to some materials on the life of jazz legend Nina Simone.  One of the best aspects of this search capability is that it may lead you to museums you might not have thought would have jazz-related collections.   For example, the Hirshhorn Museum’s collections focus on modern and contemporary art and sculpture, but there you find a fantastic portrait of Big Joe Turner, a blues singer from Kansas City.

Within minutes of searching the Smithsonian’s vast collections utilizing this one-stop searching environment, you have found sculptures, paintings, drawings, photographs, interviews, sound recordings, sheet music, stamps, medals, letters and correspondence – all pertaining to jazz and legendary jazz performers.

So… try it out!  And let us know what you find.

Included in the Collections Search Center are records from the following Smithsonian units:

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
National Air and Space Museum
National Museum of American Indian
National Museum of Natural History
National Portrait Gallery
National Postal Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Archives of American Art
Archives of American Gardens
Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives
Human Studies Film Archives
National Anthropological Archives
Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies
Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Smithsonian Institution Archives
Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory – Chandra X-ray Observatory

Thanks to Christopher Teed, Program Coordinator at the Visitor Information Center in the Smithsonian Castle for this guest post.

your exhibit here

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Anacostia Community Museum

Anacostia Community Museum

The Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum would like to host a traveling exhibition from May through August 7, 2011, to accommodate an exhibition space of 2,500 square feet.

The exhibition should address contemporary community issues in the urban setting and include engagement of a local community in its development. The content may address any of the following:  neighborhood histories; family histories and family life; the built environment and community development; cultural encounters and demographic changes; craft and creativity in community life; leisure and recreation; spirituality, worship and religion in community life; cultural and ethnic encounters; impact of globalization on communities and neighborhoods.

Please contact Sharon Reinckens at reinckenss@si.edu or 202-633-4838 for further information.

affiliates in the news: week of jan 18

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Congratulations to these Affiliates making headlines this week!

ARIZONA
Arizona State Museum (Tucson)
Hopi lecturer illuminates culture

CALIFORNIA
Wing Luke Asian Museum (Los Angeles)
4Culture funds local heritage and cultural facilities projects 

381 Days: The Montgomery Bus Boycott Story

381 Days: The Montgomery Bus Boycott Story. Photo by Don Cravens; courtesy Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

San Diego Natural History Museum
San Diego’s Natural History Museum recieves LEED certification

GEORGIA
High Museum of Art (Atlanta)
5 Ga. Art Museums Form Partnership
Georgia Art Museums Collaborate to Share Resources and Collections Across the State

MASSACHUSETTS
Plimoth Plantation (Plymouth)
Recycling at Plimoth Plantation

PENNSYLVANIA
The African American Museum in Philadelphia
“381 Days: The Montgomery Bus Boycott Story” donated to the African American Museum in Philadelphia

National Civil War Museum Curator, Brett Kelley

National Civil War Museum Curator, Brett Kelley

National Civil War Museum (Harrisburg)
Man Lives Civil War Style

TEXAS
Institute of Texan Cultures (San Antonio)
Institute takes a look at ‘Race’

VIRGINIA
Birthplace of Country Music Alliance (Bristol)
Federal Funding Aids Birthplace of Country Music Alliance Center
$2.5 million allocated for Birthplace of Country Music Alliance museum/performance center

Together Again: The Smithsonian and the Putnam museum

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Announcing Their Affiliation, January 21, 2010

Through our new partnership, we join forces to preserve the evidence of our world and the world of those who came before, in order to educate, inspire, and help us make informed decisions about our future. 

The Smithsonian Institution and the Putnam Museum of History and Natural Science in Davenport, Iowa, both emerged in the mid-nineteenth century for similar reasons — the quest for knowledge about the natural world and the desire to make this new knowledge available to people of all financial means.  Davenport’s illustrious group of scientists was well known in the nation’s capital.  Charles C. Parry, one of the leading figures at the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences, conducted botanical research at the Smithsonian between 1869-1871.  J. D. Putnam, another prominent scientist from Davenport was, in the words of Smithsonian Secretary Spencer F. Baird, “a devoted friend and conscientious collaborator.”

Plains tradition winter count on calf skin, 1798- 1922

Plains tradition winter count on calf skin, 1798- 1922

The objects from the Putnam’s collection placed on display for the Affiliations Announcement  — slave yoke, Plains Indian winter count, frontier quilt, Lincoln political banner, Lincoln’s signed pardon of Sioux Warriors, plant specimens collected and classified by 19th-century women scientists of Davenport, Japanese Friendship Doll, Bix Biederbeck’s cornet, and meteorite — demonstrate the shared goals and common bonds that have long prevailed between our organizations. Like the Smithsonian’s collections, these objects reflect the depth and importance of the Putnam’s collections as well as the breadth of its interests.  Also, like the Smithsonian’s collections, these objects pose big questions for which there are not always easy answers.  Meteorites challenge us to understand the nature of the universe; slave shackles challenge us to understand the nature of humanity. 

Proudfoot Memento Mori/Signature Quilt Top, 1847-1856

Proudfoot Memento Mori/Signature Quilt Top, 1847-1856

All of these objects speak of the complexity of our world and humankind’s struggle to survive, adapt, and transcend.  And while these objects may have specific significance to Iowa and the Midwest, they are also, in spirit, part of the larger national collections housed at the Smithsonian.  Together they tell the incredible story of our nation and our people — a story of continuity and change, of tradition and innovation, of conflict and cooperation, and of triumph over adversity.

Detail of Proudfoot quilt

Detail of Proudfoot quilt

The Smithsonian congratulates the Putnam Museum of History and Natural Science on its many accomplishments and well-deserved reputation, and looks forward to a long and productive partnership together.

All photos courtesy Putnam Museum

affiliates in the news: week of jan 11

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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Champaign, Illinois)
A massive star is born: Time-lapse movie shows that massive stars form like their smaller siblings

National Civil War Museum (Harrisburg, PA)
Museum curator to experience life of Civil War soldier

Institute of Texan Cultures (San Antonio, TX)
Institute of Texan Cultures Formalizes Partnership with Smithsonian Institution
Institute of Texan Cultures links up with Smithsonian
UTSA museum to become Smithsonian affiliate

Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science (Tallahassee, FL)
Tallahassee Hosts Four Centuries of African American Art and History
Brogan expands access with technology

Historic Bethlehem Partnership (Bethlehem, PA)
Merchants, event organizers report an upturn in holiday activity in Bethlehem over the previous year

Rubin Museum of Art (New York, NY)
The cosmos cycles on…
Visions of the Cosmos, Rubin Museum of Art, New York

North Carolina Museum of History (Raleigh, NC)
SECU grants $500k to North Carolina Museum of History

Miami Science Museum (Miami, FL)
MetLife Foundation Announces More Than $1,000,000 in Grants to Five Nationally-Recognized Science Museums to Engage Youth in Scientific Learning and Discovery

affiliates in the news: week of jan 4

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Congratulations to these Affiliates making headlines this week! (Cartersville, GA)
World Premiere Museum Art Exhibition in Atlanta Area

Booth Western Art Museum

The Air Zoo (Portage, MI)
Air Zoo continues offering free admission in 2010
Air Zoo to continue offering free admission in 2010

North Carolina Transportation Museum (Spencer, NC)
N.C. Transportation Museum ready for next chapter

New York State Museum (Albany, NY)
Eastern coyotes have a touch of wolf in them

Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, CA)
Japanese American National Museum to Celebrate 25th Anniversary in 2010

National Civil War Museum (Harrisburg, PA)
One-man Union army to guard museum