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forging a connection between America’s industrial past and the innovations of today

September 23, 2016/in Affiliates in the News, Uncategorized, You Heard It Here First /by Elizabeth Bugbee

The National Museum of Industrial History opened its doors on August 2, 2016. The Smithsonian’s very first Affiliate, the NMIH “forges connections between America’s industrial past and the innovations of today by educating the public and inspiring the visionaries of tomorrow” said NMIH Director, Amy Hollander. PBS39 recently aired this video showing the opening of the museum.

The story on NMIH runs from 11:13-19:29.

affiliates in the news- end of summer edition

August 26, 2016/in Affiliates in the News, General, Uncategorized, You Heard It Here First /by Elizabeth Bugbee

Congrats to these Affiliates making news! If you have a clipping that highlights a collaboration with the Smithsonian or with a fellow Affiliate, or a clipping that demonstrates leadership in education, innovation, and arts/culture/history/science you’d like to have considered for the Affiliate blog, please contact Elizabeth Bugbee

Birthplace of Country Music Museum (Bristol, VA)
Eric Paslay, Tracy Lawrence Help CMA Songwriters Series Branch Out
New Orleans and Bristol, Virginia, are the latest cities added to the traveling show
On September 8th, country legend Tracy Lawrence along with hit writers Barry Dean (“Pontoon,” “God’s Will”) and Luke Laird (“Last Name,” “Hillbilly Bone”) will perform at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, in Bristol, Virginia. The Songwriters Series show is part of several days of events in Bristol leading up to a highly anticipated college football rivalry game between the Virginia Tech Hokies and the Tennessee Volunteers.

College Park Aviation Museum director with a guest reading a personal mail call letter at the Mail Call opening reception.

College Park Aviation Museum (College Park, MD)
New College Park Aviation Museum exhibit showcases history, importance of military mail
“The whole premise of the exhibit is how mail has always been so important to soldiers whether it was back in the Civil War up to present day. This exhibit in particular is loaded with fantastic images,” College Park Aviation Museum Director, Andrea Cochrane Tracey, said. “There are fantastic photographs from as early as the Civil War up to the 2000s and the Iraq War. There is also audio people can listen to, to hear people’s stories. There are flip cards that people can explore different aspects of mail and how it gets delivered. So it’s really a nice mix of great visual stimulation and the text.”

Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum (Ashland, NE)
SAC Aerospace Museum opens new Children’s Learning Center
Designed from “best practices” for STEM learning and innovation in consultation with Smithsonian Institution’s Spark Lab at the American History Museum and Omaha’s Heartland Scenic Studio, the center follows a kinesthetic approach to learning rather than lecture and demonstration.

Western Science Center (Hemet, CA)
Smithsonian exhibit comes to Western Science Center
The exhibit, entitled “H2O Today,” is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibit Service (SITES). The Western Science Center is a Smithsonian affiliate.

Dr. Bernard K. Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory of Anthropology at Virginia Commonwealth University, uses a 3D scanner to digitize Max the mastodon at the Western Science Center in Hemet, CA. Thursday, August 4, 2016.
FRANK BELLINO, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Museum inspired by water to highlight the resource’s growing value
Indirectly borne from man’s need for safe drinking water, the Western Science Center will host a Smithsonian exhibit on the importance of water for the next three months.

Max the mastodon being digitized into 3-D at Western Science Center
“One of the goals of 3D scanning is to make objects available all over the world,” Means said. “You can go into schools and do public outreach. You can also teach with them.” . Means was at the Western Science Center through a grant from Smithsonian Affiliations.

Mennello Museum of American Art (Orlando, FL)
Things are popping at the Mennello Museum
The museum, in Orlando’s Loch Haven Park north of downtown, is bursting with pop-art pieces on loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. Among the 37 prints on view are works by Andy Warhol, Robert Indiana, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist and other top-tier names of the pop-art world.

Buffalo Bill Center of the West (Cody, WY)
Lost worlds of Wyoming discussed
Reconstructing lost worlds in the Big Horn Basin is the focus of a new book by authors Kirk Johnson and Will Clyde. The two authors were the featured speakers for the Lunchtime Expedition Series at the Draper Natural History Museum. The lecture took place at the Coe Auditorium in the Buffalo Bill Center of the West on July 28.

The Arab American National Museum aims to share the stories of its diverse population.
COURTESY OF THE ARAB AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM

Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, MI)
RADIO INTERVIEW Arab American museum places community’s stories into greater national narrative
Located in Dearborn, the museum opened in 2005, and although it has only been around for little more than a decade, it has been chosen as an affiliate of the Smithsonian.

POV: Defining ‘the Arab’ The intersection of black, Arab and Muslim
For more information, I encourage you to visit the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn (arabamericanmuseum.org), an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, for stories that beautifully weave together the relationships between the Dearborn and Detroit communities.

Virginia Museum of Natural History (Martinsville, VA)
A new dinosaur heading this way
The skeleton has a bit of history behind it, arriving at the Smithsonian in 1917. At that time, it was only the second full size Stegosaurus on display anywhere in the world. It was a cast mold, made from the original bones. Understandably, the original bones aren’t on display, due to their age. In 2003, it came to light that the original casting effort made a few mistakes, when it came to the creature’s structure, so it was recast.

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (Champaign, IL)
La Pelota Is More Than A Ball Game
While we acknowledge achievement at the professional level, let us also continue to learn more about and celebrate baseball in our local communities–from San Juan to San Bernardino–and its role in narrating our valiant and vibrant history of cultural negotiation, struggle and achievement.

Visitors at the Senator John Heinz History Center.

Senator John Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, PA)
Clemente autograph, Carnegie artifact among appraised items at event
Manda Kowalczyk from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Postal Museum and representatives of the history center’s new Museum Conservation Center also were on hand with tips about historical preservation of antiques and collectibles.

Smithsonian Learning Labs delivers the world’s archives to local classrooms
Allegheny County was lucky enough to participate in the public beta launch of the platform for the 2015-2016 school year, when 15 local high schools gained access to an electronic database of images from everything the Smithsonian has digitized – more than 1.4 million multimedia resources and growing. With Pittsburgh’s rising fame as a center for technological innovation, and Smithsonian affiliate Heinz History Center located in the Strip District, Allegheny County is an ideal place to research the Learning Lab’s functionality, says Ashley Naranjo, Smithsonian learning initiatives specialist.

National Museum of Industrial History (Bethlehem, PA)
Paying Homage to the Building of America at the National Museum of Industrial History
The first of four galleries, Machinery Hall, is the strongest, with a panoply of machines, many on loan from the Smithsonian, representing the Centennial Exposition.

Arts Around Town: America’s industrial heritage proudly told at new museum in Bethlehem
A Smithsonian affiliate, the National Museum of Industrial History is dedicated to preserving America’s rich industrial heritage. The structure, a restored 40,000-square-foot, 100-year-old former Bethlehem Steel facility, sits on the largest private Brownfield in America.

Industrial museum opens in old Pa. steel plant
Among the benefits of the affiliation are sharing agreements with all 19 Smithsonian museums, which enables exhibition of objects from the national museum collection as well as providing outlets for the industry museum’s objects to be shown outside of Pennsylvania

National Museum of Industrial History. Photo courtesy of the museum.

Museum of Industrial History just needed a push
Much of that excitement was spurred by the museum’s association with the Smithsonian Institution, which shared large exhibits from Machinery Hall at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Even scaled back, the museum offers an impressive look back at the tools and machines – some of them huge – that helped generations of inventors, entrepreneurs and workers solve problems and create a wide variety of products.

Long-Delayed Pa. Industrial Museum Finally Set to Open
After nearly two decades of delay that prompted a grand jury investigation, the National Museum of Industrial History in eastern Pennsylvania is slated to open its doors on August 2, reports the Allentown, Pa., Morning Call. The long-anticipated, Smithsonian-affiliated facility will tell the story of America’s industrial revolution with hundreds of exhibits in a 40,000-square-foot former steel plant in Bethlehem, Pa.

Museum of Industrial History open in August
The long-anticipated National Museum of Industrial History – a project so beset by delays that a grand jury investigated why – finally has an opening date.

Industrial museum opening to public after nearly 20 years in the making
It is the first Smithsonian Affiliate museum, and museum President and CEO Amy Hollander says in the release that it will serve as an inspiration to visitors. “We look forward to inspiring tomorrow’s inventors and achievers, educating audiences about the transformation of America from an agrarian society to an industrial giant, and working with public, private, and non-profit partners to attract visitors to explore local and national industrial roots,” she says.

Delayed for years, Bethlehem’s National Museum of Industrial History set for Aug. 2 grand opening
The Smithsonian-affiliated museum will offer hundreds of exhibits that tell the story of the industrial revolution in America. “We look forward to inspiring tomorrow’s inventors and achievers, educating audiences about the transformation of America from an agrarian society to an industrial giant, and working with public, private and nonprofit partners to attract visitors to explore local and national industrial roots,” museum President and CEO Amy Hollander said

Model train enthusiast keeps Bethlehem Steel exhibit on track
The museum, nearly 20 years in the making, will tell the story of how industrialization changed America. The exhibits will include those on loan from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History as well as artifacts – many local – dedicated to the silk, propane and steelmaking industries.

New history museum to unveil propane industry exhibit
The Smithsonian-affiliated National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem, Pa., will debut a permanent propane exhibit when it opens in August.

UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures (Texas)
Former African-American League baseball players share stories
The sports curator of the Smithsonian African-American Cultural and History Museum, as well as the director of the Center for Negro League Baseball Research were also a part of the event.

Historic Annapolis (Maryland)
Comcast Newsmakers video
Historic Annapolis is proud to announce its new designation as a Smithsonian Affiliate. Founded in 1996, Smithsonian Affiliations creates partnerships between the Smithsonian Institution and cultural organizations and museums in order to facilitate educational collaborations, traveling exhibitions, and the loan of historical artifacts.

Museum of Design Atlanta (Georgia)
Museum Of Design Atlanta Opens ‘User-Centered Design’ Exhibits
“Designers have always been aware of their users,” said Museum of Design Atlanta’s executive director Laura Flusche. “But with the rise of design thinking and the emphasis on user interfaces, designers are more and more aware of finding out what the challenges their users are facing. And, that doesn’t ever mean one type of user or one class of users.”

Museum offers ‘out of this world’ photography camp (VIDEO)
Museum of Design Atlanta is offering several half and full-day summer camps for children ages five to fourteen, including one unique camp devoted to Astrophotography. MODA partnered with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics program (Youth Capturing the Colorful Cosmos) to bring the camp here, and it gives campers access to Harvard’s telescopes and space images.

Coming up in affiliateland: June 2016

May 30, 2016/in enewsletter feature, General, Road Reports, Uncategorized, You Heard It Here First /by Elizabeth Bugbee

Texas
The SITES exhibition Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program, 1942-1964 opens at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, part of the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, 6.4.

South Dakota
“Smithsonian Saturday” moves to Sunday for this online program at the South Dakota State Historical Society. The rebroadcast will feature the life of Hank Aaron, originally broadcast by the Smithsonian Channel, 6.5.

Roy Lichtenstein, Sweet Dreams, Baby!, from the portfolio, 11 Pop Artists, Volume III, 1965, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Philip Morris Incorporated, copyright Estate of Roy Lichtenstein.

Florida
A selection of 37 prints from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s permanent collection are included in the Pop Art Prints exhibition at the Mennello Museum of American Art, opening 6.10.

South Carolina
The National Museum of Natural History loaned a meteorite to the Museum of York County to be included in its exhibition Dinosaur Revolution Maze, on view beginning 6.11.

Idaho
Last chance to see Titanoboa: Monster Snake at the Idaho Museum of Natural History, through 6.12.

New York
The Smithsonian Associates presents a New York City tour featuring the Museum of American Finance and its exhibition Worth Its Weight: Gold from the Ground Up, which includes artifacts from the Smithsonian and three Smithsonian Affiliates, 6.17.

Ellen Feingold, curator at the National Museum of American History, brings her expertise to the Museum of American Finance for a lecture on The Value of Money, 6.23.

North Carolina
The Schiele Museum of Natural History will partner with its local YMCA to host middle school students for the third installment of the astrophotography program, Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 6.20.

Maryland
Under Secretary, Richard Kurin, joins Smithsonian Affiliations Director, Harold Closter, to announce the new affiliation of Historic Annapolis. Dr. Kurin will also speak about the Hope Diamond following the affiliation announcement ceremony, 6.22.

Connecticut
Mystic Seaport concludes its Stars of the Smithsonian series with The Art of Oceanic Navigation and Land Finding lecture featuring Douglas Herman, Senior Geographer at the National Museum of the American Indian, 6.23.

Illinois
Harold Closter will visit the DuSable Museum of African American History, to announce its new affiliation with the Smithsonian, 6.25.

Beautiful Users is organized by the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

Georgia
Beautiful Users, a traveling exhibit from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, features nearly 100 objects that illustrate the evolution of “user-centered design,” at the Museum of Design Atlanta, 6.26.

Affiliates in the news: June edition

May 29, 2016/in Affiliates in the News, General, Uncategorized /by Elizabeth Bugbee

Mercer Museum and Fonthill Castle President and Executive Director Douglas Dolan; Director of Smithsonian Affiliations Harold Closter and Mercer Museum and Fonthill Castle Board of Trustees Chair John Augenblick show off the certificate that states the museum and the castle are now Smithsonian Institution Affiliates during a gathering at the Mercer Museum in Doylestown on Thursday, May 19, 2016. Photo by Christian Menno, Staff

Mercer Museum & Fonthill Castle (Doylestown, PA)
Doylestown museums now Smithsonian affiliates
The museum – which is celebrating its 100th year since first opening its doors in Doylestown – is now a Smithsonian Institution Affiliate along with Fonthill Castle.

2 Bucks County museums named Smithsonian affiliates
The Mercer Museum and its Fonthill Castle in Doylestown, Pa., have been named Smithsonian Institution affiliates, making the institutions two of only about 210 Smithsonian affiliates across the United States.

Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor (Honolulu, HI)
Interview: National Youth Summit at the Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor VIDEO
The Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor is participating in a National Youth Summit. The discussion will focus on Japanese American Incarceration in World War Two. We talked with Shauna Tonkin, she is the Director of Education at the Pacific Aviation Museum.

Museum to participate in youth summit
Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor is one of four Smithsonian affiliate organizations hosting a regional youth summit, and is partnering locally with the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii to host a panel discussion with scholars, family members of those incarcerated at Honouliuli Internment Camp, and Hawaii’s youth.

Hawaii News Now – KGMB and KHNL

A Muslim American child reads a letter from a Japanese internment camp victim, with Rep. Mike Honda. (Courtesy of Frank Chi)

Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, CA)
The Smithsonian asked Muslim American children to read Japanese internment-camp letters
In the 1940s, as Japanese American families were being rounded up and sent into years of imprisonment, a librarian in San Diego named Clara Breed gave children paper and ink and stamps. She told them to write to her, and she sent them books and letters. Chi came across the collection of letters on the Japanese American National Museum’s website. The museum, in Downtown L.A., houses the collection in an archive.

Space Center Houston (Houston, TX)
Sky-high ambition: : Greenfield native reflects on his path to becoming Space Center Houston CEO
The job comes at a particularly exciting time, Harris said, as NASA continues to pursue its vision of humans on Mars within the next several decades. “The other side of the coin here, too, is our nation faces a real crisis in science learning,” he said. “We have a whole generation of baby boomers who have worked in science careers that are retiring, and we do not have an adequate number of people in the pipeline to fill those positions.” A critical part of the space center’s infrastructure, he said, is to inform, engage and motivate young people’s interest in the STEM fields through outreach and education – skills that run thick in Harris’ blood.

Senator John Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, PA)
NEXT Up: Andy Masich
I’m looking forward to a call with John Gray from the Smithsonian to discuss the American History 101 initiative, designed to help improve all Americans’ basic knowledge of history and civics. The History Center is proud of our Smithsonian affiliation–we’re “the Smithsonian’s home in Pittsburgh.”

The National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem opened its doors May 5, 2016, for a sneak peek at its collection. Planned since 1997, the museum is scheduled to open in the summer in a former Bethlehem Steel Corp. building. It features many items on loan from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. Photo Sue Beyer for lehighvalleylive.com

National Museum of Industrial History (Bethlehem, PA)
Time to close one chapter of history in Bethlehem | Editorial
“We’re really trying to showcase the stories of people,” Hollander said, adding that the nation’s industrial heft will be displayed through the efforts of laborers, innovators and entrepreneurs, connecting the past with the future of industry and innovation. And thanks to the museum’s affiliation with the Smithsonian Institution, the grand opening will also showcase pieces from the Smithsonian Institution’s 1876 Centennial exhibit.

1st look: Sneak peek at National Museum of Industrial History (PHOTOS)
When the museum opens, the public will again have a chance to see pieces from the Smithsonian Institute’s 1976 bicentennial exhibit, which was a recreation of the original 1876 centennial exhibit. The museum is affiliated with the Smithsonian and exhibits are on loan from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

VIDEO- Sneak peek: National Museum of Industrial History gives tour to history buffs
The museum has artifacts donated and lent by companies and community groups all over the Lehigh Valley. It features the Smithsonian National Museum of American History’s collection of 19th-century machines representative of those at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, an event often regarded as the United States’ coming out party as an industrial powerhouse.

Polk Museum of Art (Lakeland, FL)
Judge looks forward to Mayfaire return: Maria del Carmen Cossu selected
Cossu said she was chosen to be judge by the Mayfaire coordinators Brenda Friedman and Maya Beck partly because of her work – the Smithsonian Institution and the Polk Museum of Art being a Smithsonian affiliate. She is the sole judge of the event.

Hagley Museum and Library (Wilmington, DE)
Hagley Museum Displaying Large Collection of Patent Models
Hagley Museum and Library now has the world’s largest private collection of patent models, second only to that of the Smithsonian Institution, after it acquired more than 4,000 models from the Rothschild Collection

Denver Art Museum (Denver, CO)
Star Wars invades Denver at art museum May the Fourth kickoff event
Dozens clad in intergalactic costumes gathered outside the Denver Art Museum on Wednesday to celebrate the ticket sales kickoff of the upcoming ” Star Wars and the Power of Costume” exhibit.

May the 4th be with you
Star Warsâ„¢ and the Power of Costume will open Nov. 13, 2016 at the Denver Art Museum. The exhibition will showcase more than 60 iconic costumes from the films and examine the captivating process of costume design. It was developed by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in partnership with the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art and in consultation with Lucasfilm Ltd.

Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum (Bisbee, AZ)
Bisbee tops list of top historic towns
Bisbee’s appeal lies in its Victorian architecture, pretty scenery and laid-back vibe, and the Smithsonian-affiliated Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum does an excellent job of recounting the town’s colorful history

Museum of American Finance (New York, NY)
Museum of American Finance Founder Makes Final Visionary Gift to Institution
Wall Street veteran John E. Herzog has announced a final $5 million gift to the Museum of American Finance, the New York institution he founded more than 25 years ago. Herzog established the Museum in response to the Crash of ’87 and has been the institution’s largest donor ever since.

Museum of American Finance founder donates $5 million to cause
John E. Herzog, founder of the Smithsonian Institution-affiliated Museum of American Finance, will be feted May 17 for his recent $5 million contribution to carry on the finance museum’s mission.

Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum

Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts (Alta Loma, CA)
Famous for His Rocking Chair, Sam Maloof Made Furniture That Had Soul
Curator Atkinson points out that “Maloof’s elegant curves just grow and bend as his designs mature.” A good example of this can be seen in the Smithsonian chair, on which the rockers curve slightly downward at the back ends. While this has a safety purpose, preventing a too-energetic sitter from falling over backwards, the curve adds to the chair’s elegance. Robyn Kennedy (no relation to any of the Kennedys previously mentioned), chief administrator at the American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery, points out that the “way Maloof sculpts his elements gives even practical features an aesthetic feel.”

South Dakota State Historical Society (Pierre, SD)
SD History Conference in Pierre focuses on food, including beer and ice cream
The idea of the heritage of food in the state, said keynote speaker Susan Evans McClure, is that since most people eat from time to time, looking at food is a good way to look at the wider history of any culture, or people or state. McClure is director of the Smithsonian Food History Programs at the National Museum of History and she spoke Friday.

The Rockwell Museum (Corning, NY)
Reimagining the Rockwell Museum in Corning
A newly established affiliation with the Smithsonian Institution will help the Rockwell bring new pieces and exhibits to Corning. The Rockwell Museum is the only Smithsonian-affiliated museum in upstate New York.

Museum of the Rockies (Bozeman, MT)
Retiring Jack Horner celebrated at Museum of the Rockies
The Museum of the Rockies was just a small building back in 1982 when then-director Mick Hager hired Horner. .Horner’s summer digs in Montana’s badlands filled the museum with the world’s largest collections of Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops fossils. The nearly complete Wankel T-rex he dug up in 1988, renamed the nation’s T-rex, will be the centerpiece of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History when it opens in 2019.

National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium (Dubuque, IA)
Milwaukee zoo official to take over Dubuque’s River Museum
The National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium and Dubuque County Historical Society announced Dr. Robert Davis will take over as President and CEO on Jun. 6. . Additionally, Davis has been a. a Smithsonian faculty fellowship recipient, Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoological Park/Department of Animal Health/ Reproductive Physiology Program.

Affiliates in the news: May edition

April 27, 2016/in Affiliates in the News, enewsletter feature, General, Uncategorized /by Elizabeth Bugbee

The musicians Terri Davis, left, and Bill Saxton at the opening of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. Credit Yana Paskova for The New York Times

National Jazz Museum in Harlem (New York, NY)
National Jazz Museum in Harlem reopens in new location
On the very same day that the United States Postal Service held a ceremony in Newark, New Jersey, to celebrate the new Sarah Vaughn postage stamp, Harold Closter, Director of Smithsonian Affiliations, told a funny anecdote about his contribution to the history of jazz. Addressing the audience at the opening night of The National Jazz Museum in Harlem’s new location, Closter joked that his contribution to jazz history was the time he was tasked with carrying the train of “the Divine One’s” (as Vaughn was known) dress onstage once.

The National Jazz Museum in Harlem Finds a Permanent Home
The museum found its footing, in incremental steps, under the executive leadership of Loren Schoenberg. A veteran saxophonist, pianist, educator and historian, Mr. Schoenberg brought an air of authority to the museum, while strengthening its bonds with the jazz public and institutions like the Smithsonian.

Saint Louis Science Center (St. Louis, MO)
Saint Louis Science Center selected as Smithsonian Institution Affiliate
“We are very pleased to join the ranks of some very distinguished organizations and institutions across the country,” said Bert Vescolani, president and CEO of the Saint Louis Science Center. “Having the opportunity to share Smithsonian artifacts, including space capsules, aircraft and rare minerals with our visitors will help to spark interest and excitement in science and the important role it plays in our lives.”

Mid-America Science Museum (Hot Springs, AR)
Mid-America Science Museum wins prestigious national award
Mid-America Science Museum in Hot Springs has landed the Institute for Museum and Library Services National Medal for Community Service. The award stands out as only 10 museums and libraries around the country are awarded it each year.

Visitors at “The Art of Video Games” exhibition. Photo courtesy Frost Art Museum.

Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum (Miami, FL)
Remember ‘Pac-Man’? Museum exhibit has fun with classic video games
From “Pitfall!” and “Space Invaders” to “Super Mario Brothers,” the collection celebrates the artistic and creative factors involved in creating the games’ virtual landscapes and moving images.

1960s Living Room at the Senator John Heinz History Center. (Photo: Rachellynn Schoen)

Senator John Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, PA)
Playing With the Past
There were many other surprises in this exhibit of nearly 500 favorites developed in partnership with the Minnesota Historical Society. For those of you who destroyed or failed to hold on to your childhood treasures, the 8,000 square-foot exhibit may well be worth the trip to Pittsburgh. Your head will be swiveling as Mr. Potato Head, Gumby, Barbie, and action figures from three decades vie for your attention.

National Inventors Hall of Fame
The Greatest Celebration Of American Innovation Inspiring The Future And Honoring The Past
The National Inventors Hall of Fame and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will host the Greatest Celebration of American Innovation May 4-5. The two-day event will include the Induction of 16 innovation trailblazers into the Hall of Fame [at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery] and the unveiling of the expanded National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum.

DuSable Museum of African American History (Chicago, IL)
DuSable Museum named as Smithsonian Institution affiliate
Chicago’s DuSable Museum of African American History has been granted affiliation status by the Smithsonian Institution. The distinction, announced Thursday, gives the museum access to Smithsonian artifacts and traveling exhibits. The DuSable is the second Chicago facility to receive Smithsonian Affiliate status, joining the Adler Planetarium.

YWCA Bristol TechGYRLS: Radio Stars at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum

April 18, 2016/in General, Uncategorized /by Elizabeth Bugbee

Special thanks to Rene Rodgers, curator of exhibits and publications at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, Virginia, for this guest post.

As a new museum, this past September was the Birthplace of Country Music Museum‘s first time participating in Smithsonian magazine’s Museum Day Live! So we were excited when a special Museum Day Live! event was planned for March 12, 2016. Having been open for a year and a half, we were ready to make something special of this special day.

Being held during Women’s History Month, this year’s Museum Day Live! was focused on encouraging all people – and particularly women and girls of color – to explore our nation’s museums and cultural institutions. We wanted to see new visitors come through our doors for this March event – and we did! We saw around 340 visitors bearing their free admission ticket, many of whom had never been to the museum before, along with several dedicated volunteers and members.

More importantly, we wanted to create a learning opportunity at the museum for underserved girls within our community. Therefore, in keeping with this year’s theme, we partnered with the YWCA Bristol TechGYRLS, a local afterschool program based on a STEM-focused curriculum and geared towards supporting girls aged 9–15 who would otherwise have limited access to and experience with technology.

We decided that a fun focus for this partnership would be helping the TechGYRLS to create a special radio program for WBCM, our in-museum working radio station. To prepare for their radio debut, the girls toured the museum in early February, exploring the exhibits to find topics to cover in their radio program. They also got the chance to record a “radio drop,” or teaser, to promote the show. With very little rehearsal, the girls nailed their radio drop – they were complete naturals!

Using the ideas they had gathered from their tour, the TechGYRLS then worked directly with museum and radio staff to develop their script and create a lively complementary playlist of songs from Orthophonic Joy: The 1927 Bristol Sessions Revisited. They also got the chance to learn more about how a radio station works and how to put together a radio program from our radio staff.

For their Museum Day Live! radio program, we decided on three main spoken segments:

Telling radio listeners about the YWCA Bristol TechGYRLS program and how being a TechGYRL will impact their future
Talking about which exhibits they enjoyed during their tour of the museum
Picking one subject in the museum that particularly interested them and doing a feature on it

After a bit of tweaking and some rehearsal time, the TechGYRLS came back to the museum a few days before Museum Day Live! to pre-record their show. Their interviews were filled with energy and enthusiasm. They described how their visit to the museum showed them how important the Bristol Sessions were in American music history and that the old-time music playing in our exhibits made them want to dance! And they shared the many ways the YWCA Bristol TechGYRLS program impacts their lives, with one student saying that it “teaches you to include everyone no matter how different…and that just because you aren’t a man, doesn’t mean you can’t grow up and be what you want to be.” Wisdom out of the mouths of babes!

When March 12 finally arrived, we were excited – and so were the girls. YWCA Bristol brought several of them to the museum an hour or so before their radio broadcast, giving them plenty of time to explore the museum further and take a peek at our new special exhibit “Made in Tennessee: Manufacturing Milestones.” A few parents came along too, and we heard that a couple of families were ready to listen together at home to the show on WBCM. While the show was broadcasting on the radio, we streamed it into the museum’s performance theater, inviting our museum visitors to come in and listen as part of their Museum Day Live! experience.

Seeing the girls faces as they listened to themselves on the radio, seeing them really realize that listeners throughout Bristol (and possibly across the world!) were hearing their ideas and thoughts, was amazing. The TechGYRLS shared their time and energy with us, they gave voice to their lives and experiences, and the result was one of the most fulfilling and proudest moments we’ve had at the museum so far.

Tonja Leonard, Director of TechGYRLS, emphasized how important it is to provide the girls with experiences and opportunities to see technology as part of their everyday lives. She noted that this experience brought huge value to the TechGYRLS program – it not only provided a wonderful learning experience for the girls but also helped to broaden their perspectives and further their educational values, giving them an opportunity that was not possible through the school system. Tonja added, “this opportunity certainly empowered our TechGYRLS.”

We also got to hear directly from the girls about their experience at the museum and on the radio (along with a lovely thank you card, signed by all of them!):

Holly: “It was really amazing to know that the songs I picked were going to be on the radio. I really enjoyed learning the history behind the music and all about the radio and how the broadcast is done.”
Michaela: “It was really fun to have the experience to get to work with the technology in the radio booth. I learned a lot from the museum and learning about classic country music.”
Allie: “As a future engineer, it’s important to learn about technology in other fields. While at the museum I learned that technology-based equipment is a fun necessity.”
Jayda: “I liked learning about the Carter Family and the Carter scratch [Maybelle Carter’s well-known and influential guitar-playing technique]. The karaoke booth [Sing-Along Station in the Making Music area of the exhibits] was also very fun because we got to sing different types of music and learn about the instruments that were used.”

Hearing the impact this partnership – inspired by Museum Day Live! – had on the TechGYRLS has been incredibly moving. But the things we gained from this experience were just as positive: the use of our radio station as a wonderful community learning tool; the ability to share our museum with young girls and get their feedback in a direct and meaningful manner; the possibilities for further partnerships and outreach programs in the future; and the way a program like this, written and produced by local youth, took our museum and its mission further into our community – to name just a few.

March’s Museum Day Live! was a huge success for us – and an amazing experience. Most importantly, it had as significant an impact on us as it did on the TechGYRLS, and for that we couldn’t be more grateful.

All photographs courtesy Birthplace of Country Music Museum.