Tag Archive for: smithsonian institution

affiliates in the news: week of September 13

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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 30

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Congratulations to these Affiliates making headlines this week!

Center for the History of Psychology (Akron, Ohio) 

Image courtesy Smithsonian Affiliations.

UA’s high-minded gallery opens: Home movie starring Freud, doll used in aggression study are among items on display in psychology history center. READ MORE 

The new Center for the History of Psychology opens Monday at the University of Akron. READ MORE 

VIDEO- UA opens its Center for the History of Psychology. READ MORE 

  

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (Birmingham, Alabama)

“Let Your Motto Be Resistance” Opens August 28, 2010 at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
 

VIDEOS- “Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits” exhibition opens at Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. READ MORE. and MORE 

BLOG- Birmingham Civil Rights Institute prepares for Smithsonian exhibit (with video). READ MORE 

International Museum of the Horse (Lexington, Kentucky)  

 
 
 
 

Image courtesy International Museum of the Horse.

The skeleton of famous race horse “Lexington” was returned to his birthplace Tuesday

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Lexington has returned to Lexington. READ MORE 

More than one hundred years after his death, a legendary horse is back in Lexington, Kentucky. READ MORE 

Buffalo Bill Historical Center (Cody, Wyoming) 

While survivors of the January earthquakes in Haiti were still searching the rubble for the bodies of loved ones, Buffalo Bill Historical Center conservator Beverly Perkins was picking through the ruins for the treasures of Haitian culture. READ MORE

Photo courtesy Beverly Perkins, Buffalo Bill Historical Center.

Smithsonian Affiliate staff member helps in Haiti recovery project

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Special thanks to Beverly N. Perkins, conservator at Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming, for this guest post. 

AIC-CERT members, Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough and Under Secretary for History, Art and Culture, Richard Kurin, the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, and CRCH members meeting to discuss recovery projects. Photo by Beverly Perkins.

Three American Institute for Conservation-Collections Emergency Response Team (AIC-CERT) members were asked to join the Smithsonian Haiti Cultural Recovery Project on July 4th, 2010.  Beverly Perkins, Karen Pavelka, and David Goist spent some time with the staff of the Centre de Sauvetage de Biens Culturels(CRCH) helping to set up the CRCH labs so that they can be used for conservation treatments and to train Haitians in the recovery of cultural collections.  Under the supervision of Project Manager, Stephanie Hornbeck, the visiting conservators also carried out conservation projects and helped to guide tours of the labs.  

Conservation projects at work in the lab. Photo by Beverly Perkins.

A project I worked on involved conserving ceramics and building elements as they began to come in to the lab from various sites in Haiti.  Some of the ceramics had been clumsily reassembled at some point in their past, prior to being brought to the conservation center.  One group ceramics from a nativity scene were considered to be more decorative than historical, and so the losses were filled and shaped to replicate the pieces that had been lost.  These new elements were then toned with paints to make the ceramic appear to be whole again.  All of the treatments are documented with written notes and photographs so that in the future our work may be easily distinguished from the original ceramic.

Richard Kurin and guests at a reception at the President and Mrs. Preval's home. Photo by Beverly Perkins.

Also during our stay, the United States President’s Committee for the Arts and Humanities visited Haiti, along with dignitaries from the Smithsonian and The Broadway League. The meetings held with Haitian cultural leaders helped to strengthen the determination to salvage cultural collections and train Haitians in that salvage effort.  The visiting dignitaries, AIC-CERT volunteers, and the staff of the CRCH were treated to an evening of Haitian song and dance at President and Mrs. Preval’s lovely home. 

The ten days I spent away from the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, a Smithsonian Affiliate, were donated in the spirit of good will from the Museum’s board and staff and the people of Cody, Wyoming to the people of Haiti.  Upon my return from Haiti, the Museum’s director, Bruce Eldredge asked how we could further be of assistance to the people of Haiti.  He developed a plan to offer training for one or two Haitians in the conservation laboratory of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. He further offered to provide support following those months of training.

This project is in the process of being formed, and so the story continues…

Devastation to a cathedral in Haiti. Photo by Beverly Perkins.

affiliates in the news: week of July 5

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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” project…Read 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 predator…Read More

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