Tag Archive for: smithsonian affiliates

Affiliates in the news- November 2013

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Congrats to these Affiliates making news! Each month we highlight Affiliate-Smithsonian and Affiliate-Affiliate collaborations making headlines.  If you have a clipping highlighting a collaboration with the Smithsonian or with a fellow Affiliate you’d like to have considered for the Affiliate blog, please contact Elizabeth Bugbee.

Oklahoma History Center (Oklahoma City, OK)
Smithsonian grant funds living Asian-American project at Oklahoma History Center
The Oklahoma History Center is one of a handful of museums across the nation that received a grant from the Smithsonian Institution to educate middle school students about Asian-American history. The $2,500 grant helped start an oral history program titled “Young Historians, Living Histories” that will allow history center staff to teach students how to reach out to Asian-Americans, interview them on camera and submit the video to the Smithsonian website.

Ellen Noel Art Museum (Odessa, Texas)
Ellen Noel Museum launches 3-D printing studio
In 2005, George Jacob was the project director for a Smithsonian exhibit called “Ray Charles: The Genius.” “When I worked on that exhibit, that was the first time I had really given much thought to how the visually impaired learn about art,” Jacob said. “It made me realize that there is nothing really tactile to help teach the visually impaired.” Jacob is now the executive director of the Ellen Noel Art Museum in Odessa, and he hasn’t forgotten about the challenges facing those without sight. In fact, it’s the driving motivation behind the museum’s newest pieces of cutting edge equipment: 3-D printers.

Buffalo Bill Center of the West (Cody, Wyoming)
Mother of all Swiss Army knives,’ this 19th century multi-tool has it all, including a .22 revolver
Owned by the Smithsonian Institution and displayed at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Wyoming, this clever contraption would have made any cowboy the king of the corral.

Western Reserve Historical Society (Cleveland, Ohio)
AIHP- Oral History Project , Training in progress!!
Selected Students to work on the AIHP and WRHS – oral History Project with a grant from the Smithsonian

"Apollo 8 Coming Home" by Robert T. McCall is part of "Paintings of the Space Age" Smithsonian exhibit at the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, FL on Wednesday October 9, 2013.

“Apollo 8 Coming Home” by Robert T. McCall is part of “Paintings of the Space Age” Smithsonian exhibit at the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, FL on Wednesday October 9, 2013.

Polk Museum of Art (Lakeland, Fla.)
Polk Museum Showcases Paintings from Smithsonian
A partnership between the Polk Museum of Art and the Smithsonian is bringing back the thrill of the United States’ unprecedented early space exploration through “Paintings of the Space Age,” on exhibit through Dec. 7 in the museum’s Dorothy Jenkins Gallery. The exhibition’s opening coincides with NASA’s 55th anniversary occurring this month.

Buffalo Bill Center of the West (Cody, WY), High Museum of Art (Atlanta, GA), Booth Western Art Museum (Cartersville, GA)
From Wyoming to Cartersville: ‘Today’s West!’ exhibit kicks off during Southeastern Cowboy Festival & Symposium
“To help bolster its audience during the winter months, the Buffalo Bill Center’s Western art collection is traveling east. Split between a pair of concurrently running exhibitions at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and Cartersville’s Booth Western Art Museum, the Wyoming museum’s artwork will enable patrons to view the development and progression of this artistic field. . For those seeking a more immersive study of “Today’s West!” four art lectures will be centered on the exhibit and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West Friday in the Booth Theatre: . “Advance Work: Art and Advertising in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” by Michelle Anne Delaney, director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Consortium for Understanding the American Experience…”

Museum of the Rockies (Bozeman, MT)
My T. Rex Is Bigger Than Yours
National Fossil Day, an annual celebration of all things fossil, has come around again. But not everyone is jubilant. As the government shutdown ticks on–with debate fossilized, you might say–a mighty Cretaceous carnivore has been left in limbo on the day it was supposed to be acclaimed. There is no joy in Washington, D.C., for mighty T. rex has struck out. The dinosaur in question, fondly known as the Wankel rex, was due to arrive today, shipped off from the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana, for a ceremonial greeting at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. That warm welcome is delayed until the spring.

‘old betsy’ makes multi-generational connections in Peoria

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Special thanks to Monica Reardon, Smithsonian Affiliations summer intern, for authoring the 2013 Smithsonian #MuseumDayLive! blog series.

The Peoria Riverfront Museum, located in Peoria, Illinois, focuses on interdisciplinary learning, ranging from art to science to history and then some.  The space includes a planetarium, a sculpture garden, art studios, gallery spaces, and more.  The museum even has a “Green Tour,” which showcases the museum’s sustainable aspects.  Most importantly, it plays a role in the community it is in.

"Old Betsy" at the Peoria Riverfront Museum.

“Old Betsy” at the Peoria Riverfront Museum.

In fact, this Affiliate found a piece of its own community’s history at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.  “Old Betsy,” a 1931 prototype of the first diesel engine mass-produced by Caterpillar, Inc. was brought back to Peoria.  The engine is now an iconic object in the museum’s display of local history, and in the telling of the story of local manufacturing and innovation.  On loan to the museum since 2012, visitors during Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day Live! can get a close-up look at the 3,500 pound “Old Betsy,” officially called Caterpillar Diesel Engine No. 1.

“Probably the most rewarding aspect of having “Old Betsy,” as the engine prototype has long been known, on display at Peoria Riverfront Museum is the reaction of retired Caterpillar, Inc. employees who see it. .They immediately comment on their memories of the engine when it was displayed at Cat” noted Kristan H. McKinsey, Curator at Peoria Riverfront Museum.  These memories can lead to “multi-generational conversations about a myriad of topics such as farming, invention, Caterpillar and this community.”

She adds “I hope that visitors might understand that museums play many roles in society, and “Old Betsy” demonstrates several of them.”

Is the Smithsonian in your neighborhood? Find out which other Affiliates are participating in #MuseumDayLive on September 28, 2013, here.

Check out a video from a local Peoria news station on the arrival of “Old Betsy” here- Historic piece comes to museum

Installing Old Betsy

“Old Betsy” arrives at the Peoria Riverfront Museum.

Small artifacts, big impact at the National Museum of American Jewish History

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Special thanks to Monica Reardon, Smithsonian Affiliations summer intern, for authoring the 2013 Smithsonian #MuseumDayLive! blog series.

An Affiliate since 2001, the National Museum of American Jewish History was established in 1976 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  The museum explores and interprets the American Jewish experience through exhibitions and public programs.  It tells the stories of Jews who migrated to America from around the world, eventually becoming today’s Jewish Americans.

Albert Einstein's Pipe. Photo courtesy National Museum of American History.

Albert Einstein’s Pipe. Photo courtesy National Museum of American History.

During Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day Live! this year, visitors can explore artifacts on loan from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, such as Albert Einstein’s pipe and a vial of Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine.  The artifacts have been on view since November 2010; both installed in the museum’s Only in America® Gallery/Hall of Fame.

Only in America® is an innovative combination of multimedia, original artifacts and interactive experiences.  It illustrates the choices, challenges and opportunities of eighteen Jewish Americans, which include Albert Einstein and Jonas Salk.  Ivy Weingram, associate curator, points out

“visitors to Only in America® have the opportunity to explore both the personal and professional sides of our honorees.  Some are represented through the iconic objects of their careers–Salk’s vaccine, Spielberg’s camera, Berlin’s piano–and others, like Einstein’s pipe, lend a personal touch to an otherwise monumental figure.”

Polio Vaccine Vial. Photo courtesy National Museum of American History.

Polio Vaccine Vial. Photo courtesy National Museum of American History.

Her favorite artifact of the exhibition would have to be the vial of polio vaccine.  “It is one of the smallest artifacts in the exhibition, but its impact is undoubtedly among the greatest. I always think about that as I pass it in the gallery–how tiny and easily overlooked it is, but where would the world be without it?”

Weingram would love for visitors to be able to make connections between their own lives and the achievements and contributions of the 18 individuals.  “The laws of our land, the songwriting that has influenced generations of American music, over a century of innovations in American Judaism, game-changing sports heroes, scientific discovery–all are represented in Only in America®. Where do you feel their impact? How have they affected the way you live your life every day? How do you perpetuate their legacy?”

Is the Smithsonian in your neighborhood? Find out which other Affiliates are participating in #MuseumDayLive on September 28, 2013, here.

Swingin’ with the Smithsonian in Daytona Beach

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15038_10151615476644102_362315537_nSpecial thanks to Monica Reardon, Smithsonian Affiliations summer intern, for authoring the 2013 #MuseumDayLive! Affiliate blog series.

The Museum of Arts & Sciences (MOAS) is a science and history museum located in Daytona Beach, Florida.  This Affiliate’s collections showcase a multitude of topics, which include Coca-Cola® memorabilia, paintings of Florida, a giant ground sloth skeleton, celestial charts, and more.  Not to mention a planetarium, an open storage building, and two off-site exhibit areas.  The Museum, since joining Affiliations in 2000, has featured a variety of Smithsonian objects, exhibitions, and programs.

In that spirit, MOAS will be welcoming speakers, musicians and affiliates of the Smithsonian Institution to Daytona Beach for its 3rd Annual Septembers with the Smithsonian series of events. Beginning September 6th, MOAS will be featuring an exhibition as well as special speakers from the Smithsonian Institution and other Smithsonian Affiliates.

“Septembers with the Smithsonian was created to share the benefits of our Smithsonian Affiliation with our community,” stated MOAS Executive Director, Andrew Sandall. “It’s a chance for us to show the diversity of the subject matter museums preserve. Any form of art, either physical or performed, has influenced people’s lives and made them who they are today – the same pieces have different meanings and interpretations for each of us and become part of us.”

A fellow Smithsonian Affiliate museum, the Orange County Regional History Center, has generously loaned the artworks in Highwaymen: African-American Folk Artists of Florida which will be on exhibition through the Fall. On September 12, visitors can explore Florida’s marine environments at the Smithsonian Marine Station with Dr. Valerie Paul, Director of the Smithsonian Marine Station at Ft. Pierce. In addition, Underwater Archaeologist Chuck Meide, from the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum–another Smithsonian Affiliate– will talk about the British Revolutionary Warship, the “Storm Wreck” on September 18. Other speakers will present topics such as archeology, biology and paleobiology, some of which will be highlighted in the Museum’s Natural History Festival on September 21st.

969531_10151615475654102_177155945_nOn September 28th from 7-9pm, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra (SJMO) will perform “Swingin’ with the Smithsonian,” featuring vocalist Lena Seikaly. The SJMO will perform selections from the Ella Fitzgerald song book. A special matinee concert for children, “Swingin’ with the Smithsonian Junior” has been added to the concert schedule this year, and will take place Saturday, September 28th from 2-3pm at MOAS.

“Septembers with the Smithsonian was created to share the benefits of our Smithsonian Affiliation with our community. We are looking forward to each of this year’s exciting events at MOAS,” stated MOAS Executive Director, Andrew Sandall.

This year, Smithsonian Museum Day Live! is September 28th. Visitors who present the Museum Day Live! ticket will gain free entrance for two at participating venues for one day only. One ticket is permitted per household, per email address. This ticket is not valid for “Swingin’ with the Smithsonian” or “Swingin’ with the Smithsonian Junior” concerts. This project received financial assistance from VISIT FLORIDA. Exhibits and dates subject to change.

Is the Smithsonian in your neighborhood? Find out which other Affiliates are participating in #MuseumDayLive on September 28, 2013, here.

 

 

Plimoth Plantation creates mishoon for Smithsonian museum

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On September 6, 2013, Plimoth Plantation (Plymouth, Mass.) will donate a mishoon to the National Museum of the American Indian. Created this past spring by the Wampanoag Indigenous Program (WIP) at Plimoth Plantation, members of the WIP will present the mishoon and accompanying paddles to NMAI in a special gift ceremony at the museum’s Cultural Resources Center in Suitland, Maryland.

“As a museum dedicated to the history and culture of Native American communities, we’re delighted to welcome a creation like this one that represents a living tradition among the Wampanoag,” says Kevin Gover (Pawnee) Director, National Museum of the American Indian.

So what is a mishoon?  During the 17th century, the mishoon–a traditional Native American canoe–was the most common boat in North American waters. A typical 17th-century mishoon was created from a giant tree and capable of carrying 40 men. The mishoon being accepted into the NMAI collection isn’t quite that large–it’s 16 feet long and can fit up to 3 people–but it was created in the traditional way.

Photo courtesy Plimoth Plantation.

Photo courtesy Plimoth Plantation.

Daruis Coombs with tree that will become mishoon

Photo courtesy Plimoth Plantation.

So how does one create a mishoon? Picking the tree is the first step of course. With the help of Gurney’s Lumber Yard in Freetown, Massachusetts, WIP selected a white pine. The tree was burned down by wrapping clay around the trunk and burning the roots. It was then brought to Plimoth Plantation’s Wampanoag Homesite, where the log was worked with fire. By burning into the widest point of the tree a natural keel is created, where the bottom of the boat is thicker than its sides. Historically, mishoons were burned 24 hours a day, since the longer the fire was maintained the hotter it would get. Typically, it would take about 10-12 days for mishoons to be created in the 17th century. Although this seems like a long time, trees during this period were typically over 150 feet tall and 6 feet wide, capable of creating the mishoons that could carry 40 men.

“It’s an honor that the Smithsonian will accept it, and we enjoy doing new work–it keeps the job challenging,” said Darius Coombs, Associate Director of the Wampanoag Indigenous Program. “It has been a fun and educational experience. The mishoon is an invaluable piece that will add depth to the Smithsonian’s already rich representation of Northeast Native life.”

Smithsonian Affiliations and NMAI will be tweeting live on September 6 as the #mishoon enters the collection. Follow @SIAffiliates, @SmithsonianNMAI, and @Plimoth and check out our Flickr group for photos from the event.

Mishoonash in the Eel River next to Plimoth Plantation’s Wampanoag Homesite. Photo courtesy Smithsonian Affiliations.

Mishoonash in the Eel River next to Plimoth Plantation’s Wampanoag Homesite. Photo courtesy Smithsonian Affiliations.

Plimoth Plantation has received some amazing press coverage of the donation. Check it out below:

https://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130905/NEWS/309050323

https://www.therepublic.com/view/story/7432b135bbb744ff90f829a97a073bc5/MA–Wampanoag-Canoe-Smithsonian

https://www.enterprisenews.com/news/x1281953326/Plimoth-Plantation-makes-replica-of-Native-American-canoe-for-Smithsonian

https://www.patriotledger.com/topstories/x1281953326/Plimoth-Plantation-makes-replica-of-Native-American-canoe-for-Smithsonian

https://www.wickedlocal.com/plymouth/news/x1843580627/PLIMOTH-PLANTATION-Mishoon-accepted-by-Smithsonian-National-Museum-of-the-American-Indian

https://plymouth.patch.com/groups/around-town/p/smithsonian-accepts-dugout-canoe-from-plimoth-plantation

https://www.pr-inside.com/smithsonian-s-national-museum-of-r3786683.htm

https://www.wbur.org/2013/09/03/wampanoag-canoe-smithsonian

https://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2013/09/02/wampanoag-canoe-headed-the-smithsonian/kNmhDOOWTQnB2VkOQmMiUO/story.html?rss_id=Top+Stories

https://ww.abc6.com/story/23319713/wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-smithsonian

https://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/09/wampanoag_canoe_headed_to_the_smithsonian

https://www.dailyjournal.net/view/story/7432b135bbb744ff90f829a97a073bc5/MA–Wampanoag-Canoe-Smithsonian/#.UiX9idIp8to

https://www.eagletribune.com/boston/x335461568/Wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-Smithsonian

https://www.myfoxboston.com/story/23319713/wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-smithsonian

https://www.necn.com/09/02/13/Wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-Smithsonia/landing.html?&apID=7432b135bbb744ff90f829a97a073bc5

https://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-Smithsonian-4781724.php

https://www.telegram.com/article/20130902/APN/309029676

https://www.news10.com/story/23319713/wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-smithsonian

https://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/20130902/APN/1309020791

https://www.cbs3springfield.com/story/23319713/wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-smithsonian

https://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20130902/APN/1309020791

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-Smithsonian-4781724.php

https://www.the-dispatch.com/article/20130902/APN/1309020791

https://www.wtnh.com/news/massachusetts/ap-massachusetts/wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-smithsonian_70775095

https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-Smithsonian-4781724.php

https://www.houmatoday.com/article/20130902/APN/1309020791

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-Smithsonian-4781724.php

https://www.sportballa.com/2013/09/indigenous-peoples/canoe-headed-wampanoag-smithsonian

https://www.chron.com/news/article/Wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-Smithsonian-4781724.php

https://www.dailycomet.com/article/20130902/APN/1309020791

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-Smithsonian-4781724.php

https://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20130902/APN/1309020791

https://www.theledger.com/article/20130902/APN/1309020791

https://www.gainesville.com/article/20130902/APN/1309020791

https://ewallstreeter.com/wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-smithsonian-37

https://www.roonte.com/www/wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-smithsonian

https://boston.cityandpress.com/node/6741978

https://news.silobreaker.com/wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-smithsonian-5_2267076475486208002

https://www.connectednews.com/news/massachusetts/boston/wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-smithsonian/

https://www.tribtown.com/view/story/7432b135bbb744ff90f829a97a073bc5/MA–Wampanoag-Canoe-Smithsonian

https://www.sport-telegram.com/wampanoag-canoe-headed-smithsonian-necn/

https://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130902/APN/1309020791

https://www.masslive.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/wampanoag-canoe-headed-to-the-smithsonian/7432b135bbb744ff90f829a97a073bc5

engineering ingenuity at the buffalo bill center of the west

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Special thanks to Monica Reardon, Smithsonian Affiliations summer intern, for authoring the 2013 #MuseumDayLive! Affiliate blog series.

Patent model, Smith & Wesson Magazine Lever Action Pistol. AF*251055. Image provided by Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

Patent model, Smith & Wesson Magazine Lever Action Pistol. AF*251055. Image provided by Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

The Buffalo Bill Center of the West had its start as a log building in Cody, Wyoming, resembling Buffalo Bill’s TE Ranch house.  Mary Jester Allen intended the museum to be a national shrine and memorial to her uncle, William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, and to the early pioneers of the American West.  The collections grew and so did the Museum, with the intent of preserving and conveying the “Spirit of the American West.”  

The Center has participated in Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day Live! since becoming a Smithsonian Affiliate in 2008. On view at the Cody Firearms Museum in time for Museum Day Live! this year are 64 unique firearms from the National Firearms Collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.  The exhibit is divided between patent firearms (the prototype design submitted by firearms inventors), firearms with interesting provenance, and international firearms with gorgeous embellishments.  The collection includes a Smith and Wesson Lever Action Patent Model and a Colt Patent.

The Smith and Wesson Lever Action Patent Model was the first lever action prototype firearm designed by Smith and Wesson.  Smith and Wesson’s original company, The Volcanic Repeating Arms Co. was actually named after the nickname for the pistol, the Volcanic pistol. However, this patent did not bring them financial success and they sold the rights to a shirt manufacturer named Oliver Winchester. Winchester would go on to use this patent; his lever action rifles becoming synonymous with the American West.

Revolver, patent model. Colt Paterson Revolver. AF*251084. Image provided by Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

Revolver, patent model. Colt Paterson Revolver. AF*251084. Image provided by Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

The Colt Patent is connected to Samuel Colt, another name famous in the American West, particularly for revolvers.  Colt’s revolver is the first successful percussion firearm ever patented.  The design from this model would go on to be the production type Colt Paterson.  As noted by Ashley Hlebinsky,Firearms Curatorial Resident, “You pretty much cannot see a Western film without seeing a variation of a Colt Revolver and a Winchester Lever Action.”

Hlebinsky would like visitors “to not only see some amazing firearms and representations of engineering ingenuity, but to understand the people who made the firearms and who owned and used them.”  She hopes that the “artifacts are able to convey a story about the people involved in the process – from the trial and error methods of the patent process (some patent models were never produced, while others became infamous) to the experiences of those who owned the guns.”

Is the Smithsonian in your neighborhood? Find out which other Affiliates are participating in #MuseumDayLive on September 28, 2013, here.