Tag Archive for: Smithsonian Affiliate

September 25 is Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day

Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day

On Saturday, September 25, 2010, Smithsonian Affiliates across the country will participate in the sixth annual Museum Day, presented by Toyota on behalf of the redesigned 2011 Avalon.  More than 90 Smithsonian Affiliates will open their doors free of charge to all visitors who download the Museum Day Ticket from Smithsonian.com. Find a participating Affiliate in your neighborhood! 

And check out the Around the Mall blog to learn where you can find Smithsonian artifacts at an Affiliate near you during Museum Day.

Here’s a sample of what a few Affiliates are doing to bring the Smithsonian to their neighborhoods on Museum Day: 

Greensboro Historical Museum (Greensboro, North Carolina) will host The Smithsonian Associates Discovery Theater’s traveling show, African Roots, Latino Soul, a vibrant play that explores what it means to grow up in the American melting pot. Filled with laughs and surprises, and written with the Young Playwrights’ Theater, the play is a look into the triumphs of today’s multicultural kids. There will be two performances at the museum on Museum Day. The performance will highlight their new permanent exhibition, Voices of a City, which emphasizes the expression of voice and their multicultural local story.  

Rayna Green, curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History (NMAH), will give a series of talks at two Affiliates over the weekend. At The Silo at Hunt Hill Farm Trust (New Milford, Connecticut) on Friday, September 24, she’ll discuss her experiences as co-curator of the Julia Child exhibition at NMAH, followed by a reception featuring some of Child’s favorite desserts, prepared by The Silo Cooking School. Next, Rayna travels to The Long Island Museum of American Art, History & Carriages (Stony Brook, New York) for an evening “Dinner with Julia” event on Saturday, September 25. She’ll speak about Julia Child’s Kitchen at the Smithsonian and its acquisition.  On Sunday, September 26, to complement their exhibition of America’s Kitchens, organized by the New England Historical Association, she’ll discuss her experience with the Smithsonian’s Julia’s Kitchen exhibition during a public lecture on the social history of kitchens. 

Virginia Museum of Natural History (Martinsville, Virginia) will be presenting a series of special Smithsonian films in the Walker Lecture Hall on Museum Day. The programs to be shown are part of the Stories from the Vaults series presented by Smithsonian Networks. In the series, host Tom Cavanagh (“Ed”) takes you on an entertaining insider’s tour of the private rooms, high-tech vaults, and cutting edge labs of the Smithsonian Institution, revealing some of the amazing artifacts and rarely seen treasures that visitors can’t see. 

Spacecraft Model

Challenger Space Center (Peoria, Arizona) opens their new exhibition, An Astronaut’s Life: Articles Flown In Space, including 23 items on loan from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Nineteen of the artifacts have flown in space on Gemini 8, Skylab 2, and several STS (Shuttle) missions. The artifacts tell the story of how astronauts live in space. Included are personal hygiene items such as a Gemini Survival Kit, a washcloth from the first Space Shuttle, STS-1 Columbia, clothing and bio-belt worn on Skylab 2 by astronaut Paul Weitz, space food from STS-27 Atlantis, and an actual heat shield fragment from Gemini 8 which carried astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott into orbit on March 16, 1966.  Photo: Spacecraft Model, Gemini. Courtesy National Air & Space Museum. Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Museum Day 2010 is poised to be the largest to date, outdoing last year’s record-breaking event.  Over 300,000 museum-goers and 1,300 venues in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico participated in Museum Day 2009. Last year, two million visitors logged on to Museum Day’s website to learn more about the program.

affiliates in the news: week of September 13

Congratulations to these Affiliates making headlines this week! 

RUSS KENDALL | BELLINGHAM HERALD - Curtis Mahle, left, exhibit preparator and Scott Wallin, exhibition designer, hang one of the 55 pieces of art loaned to Whatcom Museum by the Smithsonian that make up the exhibition "1934: A New Deal for Artists."

Whatcom Museum of History and Art (Bellingham, WA)
First Smithsonian exhibit at Whatcom Museum showcases Depression-era art. READ MORE

National Jazz Museum in Harlem (New York, NY)
Breaking News from the 30’s Jazz World- Loren Schoenberg of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem joined us to discuss the newly uncovered “Savory Collection”. READ MORE

Durham Museum (Omaha, NE)
Get the “Dirt” on Soil this Fall at Omaha’s Durham Museum. READ MORE

The Museum of Flight (Seattle, WA)
Checking Out the Museum of Flight in Seattle. READ MORE 

Anniston Museum of Natural History (Anniston, AL)
‘I’m never bored’: Naturalist Dan Spaulding always has an interesting chore or mission. READ MORE

Julia's kitchen

Julia Child's kitchen kitchen at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Behring Center.

Hunt Hill Farm Trust (New Milford, CT)
Bon Appétit! Julia Child’s Kitchen Topic of Silo Talk- The great Julia Child (1912-2004) will forever be remembered for introducing French cuisine and cooking techniques to the mainstream American public…READ MORE

affiliates in the news: week of August 9

Congratulations to these Affiliates making headlines this week!

The Air Zoo (Portage, MI)
Imagine a multi-sensory atmosphere which is like ‘no place else on earth,’ totally unique and wonderful. That is perhaps the best way to describe the amazing Air Zoo aviation history museum in Portage, Michigan, USA. READ MORE

 

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History (Albuquerque, NM)
The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History has exhibits that cover everything from medicine to Cold War pop culture to the science and history of the atom. But on the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombings that ended World War II, it’s the weapons that draw the crowds. READ MORE (photo courtesy of the Museum of Nuclear Science & History)

Frazier Museum of International History (Lexington, KY)
David Kerr of Bowling Green, a graduate student in history at WKU, is participating in the Smithsonian Affiliations Intern Partnership Program during the summer of 2010. READ MORE

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., meets with Western Kentucky University student David Kerr last week in his office at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. READ MORE

Arizona Historical Society (Tucson, AZ)
One of Arizona’s educational gems is about to become a piece of history. READ MORE

 

Snug Harbor Cultural Center (Staten Island, NY)
More than a dozen bosses have presided over the Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden in its 35-year history but none has had the breadth of experience the new interim chief executive officer has. READ MORE

 

Heard Museum (Phoenix, AZ)
Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust announced 11 Arts Restructuring and Transformation Fund (ART Fund) grants, totaling $1.2 million. READ MORE

 

Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, CA)
Bruce Kaji, the founding president of the Japanese American National Museum,. was born in Boyle Heights, was attending Roosevelt High School when World War II began. He, his family and thousands of people of Japanese ancestry were forcibly removed by the U.S. Government and unconstitutionally incarcerated in domestic concentration camps. READ MORE

affiliates in the news: week of July 5

Congratulations to these Smithsonian Affiliates making headlines this week!

Louisiana State Exhibit Museum (Shreveport, LA)
The Louisiana State Exhibit Museum could have become a dusty cultural backwater in the shade of the occasional State Fair Ferris wheel, a place toured only by the occasional class of schoolchildren. But Forrest Dunn had a grander mission in mind… Read More 

Georgia Aquarium has four whale sharks, two males and two females.

Georgia Aquarium(Atlanta, GA)
Scientists at the Georgia Aquarium and Emory University are teaming up to produce the first genome of the whale shark, bidding to catalogue the DNA of a fish that long has puzzled researchers…Read More

 

Photo by NASA Goddard Photo and Video

Museum of Flight (Seattle, WA)
As one of a dozen major museums across the country vying for the opportunity to house one of three space shuttles that NASA is putting out to pasture, the Museum of Flight is sprucing up the place to bolster their claim…Read More

Buffalo Bill Historical Center (Cody, W)
The Buffalo Bill Historical Center has been awarded $200,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities for its “Papers of William F. Cody” projectRead More

Lateral views of fragmentary specimens of Earth's oldest bryozoan. Photo courtesy of NYS Museum

New York State Museum (Albany, NY)
New York State Paleontologist Dr. Ed Landing is the lead author of an article published in the June issue of “Geology” that provides the first definitive proof that all major animal groups with internal and external skeletons appeared in the Cambrian geological period…Read More

Museum of the Rockies (Bozeman, MT)
Tooth marks found on the humerus of a plant-eating dinosaur found in Mongolia shows that a large tyrannosaur deftly removed the meat from the 0.9-metre-long bone, yet the rest of the skeleton showed no sign it had been attacked by a predatorRead More

affiliates in the news!

Congratulations to these Affiliates making headlines this week!

Buffalo Bill Historical Center (Cody, WY)
As many as 38 Wyoming cultural and heritage projects and sponsoring organizations will benefit from $542,017 in grant awards from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund…MORE

Birthplace of Country Music Alliance (Bristol, TN)
… the Tennessee Arts Commission announced its grant recipients for fiscal 2010-11…MORE

Heard Museum (Phoenix, AZ)
…there are a number of locations around the country that look to preserve these for future generations. One of these is the Heard Museum of Native Cultures and Art in Phoenix, Arizona…MORE

Louisiana State Exhibit Museum (Shreveport, LA)
State Rep. Wayne Waddell will take the helm as director of Louisiana State Exhibit Museum on Aug. 2… MORE
Director retires
Museum Director Retires

National Museum of Dentistry (Baltimore, MD)
…The annual celebration honors supporters and friends who help the Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate, in its mission to celebrate the history the dentistry and to raise awareness of the importance of good oral health in a healthy life…MORE

 

Exterior of the new $40 million expansion of the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque.

The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium(Dubuque, IA)
…”Dubuque’s already on the map,” said Jerry Enzler, executive director of the facility, “but this really puts us on the global map”…MORE
River museum gets bigger, better

American Jazz Museum (Kansas City, MO)
Greg Carroll is CEO of the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City. In collaboration with the Consulate of Mexico in Kansas City and the Mattie Rhodes Center, the museum is holding an exhibition of large-scale photographs and artifacts that reveals cultural connections between Africa and Latin America…MORE

The Center for Jewish History
(New York, NY)
The Center for Jewish History, dedicated to the preservation and presentation of Jewish history, culture and experience across countries and generations, has received an $860,092 grant from the Leon Levy Foundation…MORE

Ellen Noël Art Museum
(Odessa , TX)
The Ellen Noël Art Museum has been accepted as an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution…MORE

Agua Caliente Cultural Museum (Palm Springs, CA)
Since the 1970s, the Agua Caliente Band and the city have been partners in the economic development of Palm Springs…also is the site of the future Agua Caliente Cultural Museum…MORE

flying toward success: a collaborative approach to designing 1859 balloon voyage at conner prairie

Thanks to Conner Prairie’s General Manager for Experience Delivery, David Allison,  for this guest post.  

Winner, 2009 Pinnacle Award for “Best Of Show” for the 1859 Balloon Voyage Exhibit Launch.

The biggest news at Conner Prairie Interactive History Park north of Indianapolis in the last year was the debut of our new 1859 Balloon Voyage experience. This project has been highly successful and highly popular for our guests. We had over 21,000 people fly to 400 feet in our balloon last year as we told the story of John Wise’s airmail journey through interactive exhibits and engaging storytelling. As project manager for the contenballoont and operations of the balloon, people often ask me how we were able to blend the modern balloon experience with the unique Indiana story of the first airmail flight. As we delved deeper into John Wise’s story, we realized that we were going to need to consult with experts in the field of aviation history. One of our first official meetings about the balloon project involved the world’s authority on the history of ballooning in America- Dr. Tom Crouch, the chief curator of aeronautics at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington. His expertise helped to guide the stories that we told through our exhibits to keep us firmly “grounded” in the history of aviation. Additionally, he explained to us how America’s fascination with flight in the 19th century led to the excitement surrounding John Wise’s flight from Lafayette, IN, in 1859. 

balloon2

Tom Crouch then joined us for the debut of the exhibit in June as a keynote speaker. Our on-going relationship with Dr. Crouch (and the Smithsonian network of museums in general through our new Smithsonian Affiliation) led us to finding out about an annual Air and Space Museum conference that is held in Washington DC. This year, myself (Dave Allison, General Manager for Experience Delivery) and BJ Sullivan (Chief Pilot for 1859 Balloon Voyage) attended the Mutual Concerns conference in DC in late March to share with other Air and Space Museum professionals from around the country how Conner Prairie designed and developed our cutting-edge fusion ofballoon3 a modern-day thrill ride (the balloon) with an age-old historical story about Indiana’s past. This nexus of an exciting experience grounded in the reality of a unique Indiana story is the heart of Conner Prairie’s mission to “inspire curiosity and foster learning about Indiana’s past by providing engaging, individualized and unique experiences”.

Photos courtesy Conner Prairie.