Tag Archive for: african american museum in philadelphia

kudos affiliates! february 2011

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Affiliates start the new year off right with news of support.  Nice going!

Jack S. Parker, a former Vice Chairman of the General Electric Company, made a legacy gift to the Heard Museum’s (Phoenix, Arizona) endowment through the Maie Bartlett Heard Society, the Heard’s planned giving program. Parker’s gift included a $1 million cash annuity and a $1.6 million American Indian art collection bequest. The Heard Museum also received another significant gift with the donation of the Santa Fe Collection of Navajo Rugs from Dr. Charles and Linda Rimmer. The 77 Navajo textiles, created in the late 20th century, represent many styles hand woven by some of the most accomplished Navajo weavers.

Two Manitowoc couples and maritime enthusiasts donated $10,000 for the installation of three vintage MK-14 World War II torpedoes on the USS Cobia docked at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum (Manitowoc, Wisconsin). The project is part of the ongoing restoration of the Cobia, a restored WWII submarine on display.

The Telluride Foundation awarded $15,000 to the Pinhead Institute (Telluride, Colorado) to support its science-based educational programming.

The Miami Science Museum was awarded a $75,000 grant by Chase to implement the Girls SPICE (Science Program Inspiring Creative Exhibits) project. The grant will allow the Museum to work with Charles R. Drew Middle School’s Visual and Performing Arts Magnet Program to implement an afterschool and summer program targeted to female students in grades 7-8.

The Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art (Elmhurst, Illinois) has received a $150,000 state grant to use for capital expenses related to the project to renovate and improve its Rock and Mineral Experience exhibit, which focuses on the earth sciences, lapidary arts and science.

The Citizens Bank Foundation announced a donation of $25,000 to the African American Museum in Philadelphia to underwrite the museum’s commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on January 17. The foundation grant will provide free admission to the museum, as well as special events, including the Citizens Bank Scavenger Hunt for Heritage designed to help children learn about the museum and African American history.

affiliates in the news

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Congratulations to these Affiliates making headlines this week! 

Conner Prairie received the National Medal for Museum Service, a top honor for museums and libraries. (Photo Courtesy Conner Prairie)

Conner Prairie (Fishers, Indiana)
Top museum honor goes to Conner Prairie. READ MORE 

Miami Science Museum (Miami, Florida)
MiaSci receives girls’ education grant. READ MORE 

African American Museum in Philadelphia (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Citizens Bank Foundation donates $25,000, sponsors free Community Day at the African American Museum. READ MORE 

National Museum of American Jewish History (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
A Museum Taken on Faith. READ MORE
Here’s how to navigate Philly’s newest addition. READ MORE

Montana Historical Society (Helena, Montana)
Montana Historical Society keeps accreditation. READ MORE

U.S. Space and Rocket Center (Huntsville, Alabama)
Bobby’s Bama: U.S. Space And Rocket Center. READ MORE

kudos, affiliates! june 2010

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Despite the economy, there are many bright spots to celebrate in Affiliateland this month.  Great job everyone!

The Leo Baeck Institute (LBI) at the Center for Jewish History (New York City) recently signed an agreement with the German Foreign Ministry, to receive $3 million over 2010 – 2013 for “New Acquisitions Preservation Project”, allowing for the cataloging of significant new historical material pertaining to the survivor population of refugees from Nazi Germany.

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (Cincinnati) will have a new gallery housing a permanent exhibit on contemporary slavery, thanks to a generous gift from Lois and Richard Rosenthal. The new gallery space, comprising approximately 3,000 square feet, will open as the “Lois and Richard Rosenthal Gallery of Contemporary Slavery” in October and will feature the “Invisible: Slavery Today” exhibit on modern forms of slavery — the first of its kind in the world.

The PNC Foundation has awarded the African American Museum (Philadelphia), $75,000 to support Lens Legacy, a video project seeking to record personal stories.

Heritage Preservation announced the Atomic Testing Museum (Las Vegas) has been chosen to participate in Institute of Museum and Library Services’ Collections Assessment Program for 2010.  The program assists museums by providing funds for specialists to identify the conservation needs of their collections and recommend ways to correctly improve collections conditions.

The Montana Historical Society (Helena) has been selected to receive a “Connecting to Collections Statewide Planning” grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.  The $40,000 grant is designed to assess the status of cultural heritage collections in the state and develop recommendations to ensure the ongoing preservation of these collections. 

The Michigan State University Museum (East Lansing) and Arizona State Museum (Tucson) are two of 33 museums nationally to receive a 2010 Conservation Project Support grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The MSU Museum receives a $149,316 grant to purchase and install “space-saver” (high-density) storage units and supplies for newly acquired collections, which include textiles and masks, as well as accompanying letters and documentation. Arizona State Museum receives $147,043 to treat 700 archaeological and ethnological ceramic vessels from its Southwest collections.

Conner Prairie (Fishers, Indiana) received the 2010 Pinnacle Award for the program “1859 Balloon Voyage Exhibit Launch” from the Hoosier Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) recognizing Indiana’s best and brightest communicators for work completed in 2009.

Kudos, Affiliates! May 2010

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Great news from Affiliateland… way to go!

 

Michigan State University Museum (East Lansing, Michigan) will be a partner in the Biocomputational Evolution in Action Consortium (BEACON). A partnership between five U.S. universities, BEACON will be a five-year, $25 million research center exploring the intersection of computer and biological sciences, with a focus on the processes and results of evolution. The MSU Museum will assist in delivering educational outreach programs for schools and the general public through exhibits and virtual outreach (teleconferencing) programs.

 

The Putnam Museum (Davenport, Iowa) has reached an agreement with the city of Davenport through a real estate deal to receive $995,000 over three years. The money will be used for ongoing operating expenses.

 

Hy-Vee Inc. has made a $100,000 contribution to the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium (Dubuque, Iowa) to help fund the museum’s new Great Rivers Center. Hy-Vee’s gift will be used to fund the Water Cycle exhibit in the Great River Center’s RiverWORKS Gallery, an interactive museum-within-a-museum for children and families.

The Ford Foundation’s new Supporting Diverse Art Spaces initiative is giving $250,000 to the Wing Luke Asian Museum (Seattle, Washington), the country’s only pan-Asian-American museum, for marketing, a website upgrade, music events and other activities. The Foundation believes its initiative will revitalize local economies by promoting strong cultural environments, noting that support for the arts is even more vital in the current economic downturn.

For the first time, the Center for Jewish History (New York, New York) was awarded a grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities through its Fellowship Programs at Independent Research Institutions initiative to support fellowships devoted to advanced study and research in the humanities. The Center was awarded $169,200 to support (over three years) 12-month fellowships for distinguished scholars in Jewish studies.

 The African American Museum in Philadelphia (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) has been awarded a $150,000 grant from Save America’s Treasures to preserve its extensive photographic and film-based collections of several hundred thousand items.  The funds will enable the Museum to purchase new collections management software and provide internet access to a portion of the collection.  Greater access will also promote cooperation and collaboration with other museums, scholars and researchers.

 

Well done!  Do you have an accomplishment to share?  Leave a comment and let us know.

how will you commemorate the Civil War’s 150th anniversary?

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cwdrummer

Winslow Homer's 1862 Study of a Drummer, in the collection of the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

Here at Affiliations, we’ve been hearing about all kinds of plans to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.   Thinking about borrowing artifacts?  Looking for a speaker for a conference or public program?  Wonder what kinds of exhibitions other museums are organizing?   Here’s what we’ve heard so far from inside the Smithsonian and around the Affiliate network.

 

For the Smithsonian, the best and first stop to view the vast and manifold collections on this topic is the Civil War@Smithsonian website.  There, artifacts from several Smithsonian museums are grouped under such topics as Slavery & Abolition, Soldiering, Life & Culture, Leaders and Abraham Lincoln, among others.  (The site even talks about the various ways that the Smithsonian itself was involved in the Civil War.) 

 

And speaking of Lincoln, you’ll find a treasure trove of resources (and possible speakers) at the Lincoln Online Conference site, sponsored by the Center for Education and Museum Studies.   Here, Smithsonian scholars discuss a wide range of issues related to our 16th President from Lincoln’s Air Force to Mathew Brady’s photographs. 

 

For even more ideas on programming or group tour itineraries, turn to the Smithsonian Associates’ Civil War Studies site.  You can also sign up here for the Civil War Studies enewsletter for up-to-date program information and original essays exploring all facets of the War.  Want to hear about the largest stash of money ever discovered?   Invite American History numismatics curator Richard Doty to talk to your audiences about confederate currency, and show a few examples from our collection.

 

If you’re an art museum, don’t despair – you might be interested in what the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum is planning to commemorate the War.  Better Angels of Our Nature: Art During the Civil War and Reconstruction will examine the impact of the Civil War and its aftermath on visual arts in America.   Information on commemorative exhibitions at the Portrait Gallery will be posted soon so watch out for that.

 

And how about in Affiliateland?  Many Affiliates are already planning commemorations of their own.  Here are some of the plans we’ve heard about so far:

 

–          the Frazier International History Museum (Louisville, KY) is planning a Civil War symposium, update to its permanent exhibition, & a traveling show called My Brother My Enemy

–          the American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar (Richmond, VA) is partnering with the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (Alabama) on a 2011 Civil War Conference

–          the American Textile History Museum (Lowell, MA) is organizing a traveling exhibition on Civil War textiles

–          the Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, PA) will be one of three sites to host a major Civil War exhibition and will produce two publications on photography and the role of African Americans in the Civil War, as part of PA 150,  a major statewide commemoration  

–          the African American Museum in Philadelphia (PA) has already opened the Audacious Freedoms exhibition which explores the Underground Railroad, African American soldiers in the Civil War, and other topics

–          B & O Museum (Baltimore, MD) is planning a Civil War Railroading exhibition and symposium.

 

What are you planning?  Leave us a comment and let us know.

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