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101 .S6635 1999 MSRLSI
Annals of the
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National Collections Program
Smithsonian Institution Archives
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Institution
Annals of the
Smithsonian Institution 1999
Natio ee llections Program Smithsonian In stitutio n Archives Washi ington, D.C.
The Annals were copyedited and proofread by Chester Zhivanos. Princeton Editorial Associates, Inc., Scottsdale, Arizona, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, assembled and typeset the material. Complete volume printed by Colonial Printing,
Richmond, Virginia. The contents of the Aznals were produced from electronic files provided by the museums, offices, and research institutes of the Smithsonian.
Contents
MAR 0.7 2005
Smithsonian Institution 4 Statement by the Secretary 6 Report of the Board of Regents 9 Report of the Provost 11
Reports of the Museums and Research Institutes 14
Reports of Education, Museum, and Scholarly Services 42
Report of the Under Secretary 51
Reports of the Administrative Offices 53 Report of Development and Membership 66 Contributing Members 70
Donors 85
Chronology 132
Academic, Research Training, and Internship Appointments 137
Award Activity 207,
Publications of the Smithsonian Institution Press 218
Publications of the Staff 220
The Smithsonian Institution and Its Subsidiaries, September 30, 1999 280
Members of the Smithsonian Councils, Boards, and Commissions, September 30, 1999 303
Visits to the Smithsonian Institution Museums and Galleries 309
Reports of Affiliated Organizations 310
Financial Report 314
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution was created by act of Congress in 1846 in accordance with the terms of the will of James Smithson of England, who in 1826 bequeathed his property to the United States of America “to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establish- ment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.” After receiving the property and accepting the trust, Congress vested responsibility for administering the trust in the Smithsonian Board of Regents.
Board of Regents and Secretary
September 30, 1999
Board of Regents
William H. Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States, Chancellor, ex officio
Albert Gore Jr., Vice-President of the United States, ex officio
Thad Cochran, Senator from Mississippi
Bill Frist, Senator from Tennessee
Daniel P. Moynihan, Senator from New York
Sam Johnson, Representative from Texas
Robert T. Matsui, Representative from California
Ralph Regula, Representative from Ohio
Howard H. Baker Jr., Citizen of the District of Columbia
Barber B. Conable Jr., Citizen of New York
Anne d’Harnoncourt, Citizen of Pennsylvania
Hanna H. Gray, Citizen of Illinois
Manuel L. Ibdfiez, Citizen of Texas
Homer A. Neal, Citizen of Michigan
Frank A. Shrontz, Citizen of Washington Wesley S. Williams Jr., Citizen of the District of Columbia
The Secretary
I. Michael Heyman, Secretary
Constance Berry Newman, Under Secretary
J. Dennis O'Connor, Provost
Gary M. Beer, Chief Executive Officer, Smithsonian Business Ventures
Thomas D. Blair, Inspector General
Robert V. Hanle, Executive Director for Development
Donald L. Hardy, Director of Government Relations
James M. Hobbins, Executive Assistant to the Secretary
John E. Huerta, General Counsel
David J. Umansky, Director of Communications
L. Carole Wharton, Director of the Office of Planning, Management, and Budget
Smithsonian National Board
September 30, 1999
Current Members
Hon. Frank Weil, Chairman Hon. Max Berry, Vice-Chair Mrs. Carolyn S. Blount
Mr. L. H. “Hacker” Caldwell Mr. Peter R. Coneway
Mr. Thomas E. Congdon Mr. Frank A. Daniels Jr.
Mr. Archie W. Dunham
Dr. Sylvia A. Earle
Mrs. Jane B. Eisner
Mrs. Patricia Frost
Ms. Nely Galan
Mr. Bert Getz
Mr. Stephen Hamblett Mr. Frederic C. Hamilton Mr. Paul Hertelendy
Mr. Robert L. James
Mrs. Dona Kendall
Mrs. Marie L. Knowles Hon. Marc E. Leland
Mrs. Elizabeth S. MacMillan Mr. John D. Macomber Mrs. Holly Madigan
Mrs. Millicent Mailliard, ex officio Mr. Michael McBride Mrs. Nan Tucker McEvoy Mr. Kenneth B. Miller Hon. Norman Y. Mineta Mr. Thomas D. Mullins Mr. Henry R. Mufioz II Ms. Nancy Brown Negley Mr. John M. Nelson
Mrs. Mary Ourisman
Mr. James Patton
Mr. Heinz C. Prechter
Smithsonian Institution
Mr. Thomas F. Pyle Jr. Baron Eric de Rothschild Mr. A. R. Sanchez
Mr. David M. Silfen
Mr. Kenneth L. Smith Mr. Kelso Sutton
Mr. Jackson Tai
Mr. Anthony Welters Mr. Daniel Yohannes Honorary Members
Mr. Robert McC. Adams Mr. William S. Anderson Mr. Richard P. Cooley Mr. Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Mr. Charles D. Dickey Jr. Mr. Alfred C. Glassell Jr. Mr. James M. Kemper Jr. Mrs. Jean B. Mahoney Hon. George C. McGhee Justice Sandra D. O’Connor Mr. S. Dillon Ripley
Mr. Francis C. Rooney Jr. Mr. Wilbur L. Ross Jr. Mr. Lloyd G. Schermer Mrs. Gay F. Wray
Statement by the Secretary
I. Michael Heyman
Museums and the New Millennium
In the last five years, from 1994 to 1999, I have had the Opportunity to report to you on the many ways that the Smithsonian serves the nation. Last year, for example, I took up the theme of the Smithsonian’s extensive commitment to the increase of knowledge through scientific research and scholarship in the humanities. This, my final report to you as Secretary, is an attempt to share my view of the Smithsonian's significant role as a family of great museums. In some ways, what has happened to museums in our society in the decades since the end of World War II is nothing less than miracu- lous. And there is no better way to understand these changes than to look at our remarkable Smithsonian Institution.
When we organized our 150th anniversary celebration, which I described in my 1996 report, researchers went back to the hundred-year commemoration, in 1946, and discov- ered to our collective amazement that the entire staff of the Smithsonian was then about 400 people and the number of museums, incorporating various kinds of collections and stretching various definitions, was four. Fifty years later, the staff had grown to roughly 6,500 and the number of muse- ums to 16 and research institutes to five. In 1946, our museums recorded more than 2 million visits. At last count, that figure was more than 28 million. By any standard, that’s amazing growth.
This expansion reflects the vitality of the American museum community in general. There are more than 8,300 museums listed in the Official Museum Directory, which some actually consider an undercount. According to the summer 1999 issue of Daedalus, the journal of the American Acad- emy of Arts and Sciences, when statistics were last reported in a 1989 study called Museums Count, “only 4 percent [of America’s museums] were founded before 1900. Three- quarters have been founded since 1950 and 40 percent since 1970.” In the last two years of this waning century, Daedalus
reports, it is estimated that 150 museums will be built or significantly expanded.
The Smithsonian is a part of this forward momentum.
At the end of September 1999, I had the pleasure of break- ing ground with Native Americans from all regions for the National Museum of the American Indian to be built in the shadow of the Capitol on the last available site on the National Mall. My successor as Secretary, Larry Small, will have the pleasure of presiding over another great occasion one day, the opening of the enormous extension to the National Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport outside Washington, D.C. Clearly, museums count more than ever before, in every meaning of the word.
But why?
Let me make a few guesses.
At one level, the explosive growth of museums may sim- ply have a great deal to do with the growth in prosperity, in the desire for meaningful leisure activities, and in the expan- sion of our college-educated population, all of which have marked the postwar decades. At the Smithsonian, we have particularly benefited from the growth in national confi- dence in the era some have called the American Century.
At least four of our Smithsonian museums—the National Museum of American History, the National Museum of American Art, the National Portrait Gallery, and, above all, the National Air and Space Museum—burst forth out of that need to represent our national pride. Other museums around the country have come to express civic, regional, community, and ethnic pride in the same spirit.
As a corollary, I suspect museums have come to be places of validation in a society that has seen the erosion of many social institutions traditionally representing trust and au- thority. While religion and family retain their strong foundations for many Americans, other Americans are expe- riencing uncertainty and drift. Museums have always been places where society asserts that certain things are impor-
Statement by the Secretary Uf
tant. But increasingly, all of society, not just traditional elites, look to museums and similar organizations to recog- nize values, to represent permanence in a changing world, and in general just to sort out what matters.
This process has proven particularly vitalizing for many of America’s ethnic communities. The Museum of African American History in Detroit has become a crucial institu- tion in the life of its community. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has pioneered a way to sort out one of the darkest chapters in human existence, not only for the Jewish community but for the nation as a whole. And the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles has defined for its community and the world at large the nature of the Japanese American experience.
Many in the museum world are embracing a new notion of public service that is proactive. Increasingly the argument is being made that museums must demonstrate their useful- ness to their communities. It is no longer enough to simply represent the good and the beautiful. In a speech earlier this year, my Smithsonian colleague, Stephen Weil, imagined at least some of the goals museums must aspire to:
Museums can provide forms of public service that are all but infinite in their variety. Museums can inspire indi- vidual achievement in the arts and in science, they can serve to strengthen family and other personal ties, they can help communities to achieve and maintain social stability, they can act as advocates or play the role of mediator, they can inspire respect for the natural envi- ronment, they can generate self-respect and mutual respect, they can provide safe environments for self- exploration and ever so much more.
Seeing museums as not only passive environments for in- spiration but actual problem solvers for American society is a new and exciting approach. Sometimes the goals are quite targeted. I noticed recently, for example, that the Drug Enforcement Administration has just created what amounts to a museum on addiction to show the terrible costs of a national blight and the strategies used to combat it.
But goals for museums can be very broad in scope as well. My own hope for the Smithsonian, and particularly for its National Museum of American History, is that it can play some part in healing some of the fractures in our social frame- work, in creating an inclusive sense of national identity in the new century. That may, in fact, be our most important task.
I had the opportunity to make this point in the presence of President and Mrs. Clinton at a ceremony launching our effort to conserve the Star-Spangled Banner:
We at the Smithsonian recognize our roles as custo- dians of our most loved national treasures. But we see as an extension of that responsibility our obligation to provide a national place where the many communities of America can learn about each other and honor each other’s past and present. We are bound together as a people not in uniformity but in shared hope and, if we get it right, mutual respect.
There is one sphere of public service for which the value of museums is just beginning to be understood—that of public education. We understand, of course, that museums have long had an important role in what is called informal educa- tion. They are, after all, places to discover and to learn about the world. But the emerging museum of the future, which takes its educational responsibilities seriously, will find itself more and more a full participant in classroom education. As I described in my 1997 report, this responsibility goes be- yond the important task of providing materials that are useful to teachers. The Smithsonian, as I mentioned, in the fall of 1996 forged a partnership with the District of Colum- bia Public Schools to establish two Museum Magnet Schools, one elementary and one middle school. Students in these schools collect, study, and interpret objects to learn science, art, and geography, among other subjects. Like the curators they resemble, the young people conduct research and then choose ways to communicate their discoveries to others.
Often it is the private sector that has shown us how to rein- vent our educational involvement. I am particularly intrigued by the recent partnership between our National Museum of Natural History and Voyager Expanded Learning, Inc., to create after-school and summer programs that enrich and en- liven the educational experience. A particular favorite of mine is the four-week Smithsonian T-Rex program that involves such hands-on experience as the casting of dinosaur teeth to separate fact from fantasy under the guidance of scientists.
Equally exciting is our own Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center for preschoolers. Immersed in object-based education, these three- and four-year-olds are exceeding expected achievement in all areas. Two thirds of the center’s preschool- ers score in the 99th percentile in nationally normed science tests upon completion of the program. That’s exciting by any standards and gives museums the hope of making a difference in ways we did not even suspect a decade ago.
That’s the good news. But we need also to examine the challenges and uncertainties that museums face in the future. Challenges, of course, can lead to opportunities for reinven- tion, but we have to be aware of them and intelligent in our response.
Because museums have so many responsibilities and are the focus of so many expectations, the pressures on staff and directors to clarify what it is they do and how to manage and increase their resources are growing at an incredible rate. We used to think of the ideal director of a museum as a profes- sional risen from the ranks of one of its key scholarly fields, but now directors must deal with issues of management, fund-raising, and political interaction unimaginable in qui- eter days. Take the questions of corporate sponsorship or the launching of business ventures. Each entails risks to an insti- tution that values its integrity, but the risks can be handled, I think, and are outweighed by benefits. Taking on these new challenges represents a new way of thinking that incorporates ideas of true partnership with the private sector, involving strategies for using the marketplace without going down pathways that conflict or seem to conflict with our mission.
There’s another challenge to be met, one that also creates its fair share of worry among my colleagues. It is the increasing
8 Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999
competition for the public’s attention from the many dimen- sions of entertainment available on television or movie screens, in the great theme parks, and even in the retail universe repre- sented by Niketown or the Hard Rock Cafés around the nation and the world. A recent article in the Harvard Business Review has created a sensation in both the museum and the re- tail worlds by heralding the arrival of what the two authors call “the experience economy.” Cultural institutions must in- creasingly appeal to an audience making choices among a variety of experiences and must learn not only to recognize this role but also explicitly to define what is unique and valu- able in the educational and aesthetic experiences they offer.
I am one who believes that cultural institutions have a re- sponsibility to engage actively with the popular culture while not confusing our purposes with those of the commer- cial world. One of my initiatives that has surprised a number of traditionalists has been to open a discussion with Holly- wood about possible partnerships in the creation of what I would call a quality brand in films, television, and possibly even theatrical performance. At the moment, I am opti- mistic that we can create programs with both educational and entertainment value.
We have curators working on Mel Gibson’s next film, an American Revolutionary epic, Te Patriot, now in produc- tion. We are also planning three films for television on the African American experience, with some of the best actors, producers, and directors in Hollywood. Museums can and must have influence far beyond their buildings.
Less surprising but equally important is my commitment and that of my colleagues in other museums to use the atest technologies to make available what we have to offer in new ways to audiences throughout the nation and the world. One of my first statements as Secretary was to announce my hope to create an electronic Smithsonian, and I have seen our Web site become one of the most visited cultural sites in the world. We are committed to digitizing millions of our objects in order to guarantee universal access to our collections, only 3, to 4 percent of which we can actually display.
But digitization is, of course, just the beginning. We can all foresee a future when not only flat images but the full three dimensions of objects can be easily communicated elec- tronically so they can be explored in all their wonderful complexity. We have already experimented at the Smithson- ian with a CD-ROM that effectively uses impressive 3D technology. We will also, Iam convinced, one day have cura- tors able to create cyber-exhibitions that use the unique properties of that medium to connect objects to contexts in space and time. Imagine, if you will, an object in our collec- tion of Native American artifacts returned visually to the world that created it hundreds of years ago, or a natural ob- ject morphed back to its place of origin in the natural world.
The challenge here, of course, is not of imagination; we can meet that. The challenge that must be solved is re- sources. It is expensive to do what we must do electronically.
And it is not only the electronic world that will test our resources. Where will we find the funds to collect and con- serve those millions of objects in our care? None of them are getting any newer. And what of the buildings to house
them? The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian requires, in addition to the museum we are building on the National Mall and the exhibition facility in New York, a large, separate resource center to house more than a million objects in ways that respect their preservation needs on the one hand and their many uses on the other. And to mention another problem, where do you put a jumbo jet or new spacecraft models? One of those could fill up an entire wing of the National Air and Space Museum on the Mall. So we build bigger and bigger facilities for them.
The issue of the economics of museum creation and preser- vation opens up a host of related issues as we contemplate our future as valued social institutions. How do we judge our usefulness, our reason to exist? When we are asked if we are well run, what do we say? What is our standard and process of accountability? These, as Steve Weil argues, are not a mat- ter of insisting that museums look like the commercial world but only that they more clearly articulate their own goals and their basis for evaluating whether they are meeting them.
I found the summer 1999 issue of Daedalus devoted to the subject of museums to be fascinating precisely because it re- vealed that museums are just now beginning to ask tough definitional and structural questions about themselves, much as has already happened in other contexts in the modern world. Think, for example, of the realignment of the infor- mation and global economy or of the continual reinvention of both our political parties.
One writer wondered whether to be called a museum a place had principally to house and display objects. Another wondered whether museums really do “shape anyone’s val- ues, validate anyone’s identity, impose any lasting sense of order.” And another asked museums to add to their curator- ial expertise “collaboration with filmmakers, game creators, artists, poets, storytellers.”
There was another challenge to traditional ways of think- ing in Daedalus that I found particularly telling. Many museums, historically, have been quite territorial in their view of their responsibilities, more competitive than coopera- tive in the building and sharing of their collections. One of the Smithsonian’s initiatives in the last five years that am most proud of is our Affiliations Program, which establishes partnerships with museums and planned museums through- out the country, making available to them Smithsonian collections and expertise. One example, and in fact the first of our arrangements, has been the cooperation of our National Museum of American History with a group in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to create in the former steel mills a place to ex- hibit America’s industrial history. Objects too big to display in the American History Museum will now take their place in the telling of one of our nation’s great stories.
These are the best and worst of times for museums. They are attracting enormous public attention; they are broaden- ing the range of what they do; they are groaning under the weight of expectations and resource shortfalls; they are stir- ring and complaining and aspiring and competing and sometimes ducking for cover. At the height of their popular- ity, they are wondering what they are.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
Report of the Board of Regents
This year, the Board of Regents welcomed two new members, Representatives Ralph Regula and Robert T. Matsui, who filled vacancies created by the departures of Representatives Bob Livingston and Esteban E. Torres. At year’s end, Louis V. Gerstner Jr. resigned from the Board of Regents. Regents Barber B. Conable Jr., Hanna H. Gray, and Wesley S. Williams Jr. were appointed for successive statutory terms.
At the Regents’ January 25, 1999, meeting, Secretary I. Michael Heyman announced his decision to retire at the end of the year. A Search Committee was formed under the cochairmanship of Howard H. Baker Jr. and Wesley Williams, with Hanna Gray, Barber Conable, Anne d’Harnon- court, and Manuel L. Ibdfiez. Smithsonian National Board Chair Frank A. Weil served in a nonvoting capacity. During the winter and early spring, the committee advertised the position widely, sought nominations through extensive corre- spondence and personal contacts, and consulted with staff and trusted advisers. At the May 10, 1999, meeting of the board, the committee discussed with the Regents a proposed list of qualities to be sought in an 11th Secretary and presented the leading possibilities among a group of 250 names. At the Sep- tember 13, 1999, Regents’ meeting, after some 13 interviews and exhaustive reference checks, the committee unanimously recommended Lawrence M. Small, president and chief operat- ing officer of Fannie Mae, electing him to:serve as Secretary effective January 23, 2000.
With assistance from the Secretary and their ad hoc Com- mittee on Facilities, chaired by Wesley Williams, the Regents approved the Smithsonian’s acquisition of property near the Old Patent Office Building. The site selected, the Victor Building, will house the programs and offices cur- rently encroaching on public space in the Patent Office Building. It will also allow the Institution to relocate most offices from leased space. The Victor Building appears to of- fer the Smithsonian space at a significant savings over the long term. The Secretary and his staff will be raising funds to make this acquisition affordable.
The Board of Regents authorized the establishment of Smithsonian Business Ventures. Pursuant to the recommen- dations of the Regents’ ad hoc Committee on Business chaired by Senator Baker, Smithsonian Business Ventures is a separate entity under the direction of its board and chief executive officer and the oversight of the Secretary and the Regents. Robert W. Fri, Thomas M. Kenney, Constance Berry Newman, M. Ronald Ruskin, Robert J. Thomas, and Anthony Welters were appointed by the Regents to the Business Ventures Board, and Chief Executive Officer Gary M. Beer serves as an ex officio member.
The Regents consulted with the Secretary throughout the year on progress toward a major national fund-raising campaign. It was particularly gratifying to see the Smithson- ian National Board’s Campaign Committee contributing to this year’s substantial progress. During the course of the year, the Regents approved budget requests for fiscal years 2000 and 2001 and established the following endowment funds: the Edna E. Blum Endowment for general purposes of the Institution; the Krieg Drawings and Prints Endowment at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum; the Karl Hagan Fund for the National Air and Space Museum; and the National Zoo Endowment.
The Regents were pleased to confer on Professor Ikuo Hirayama membership in the Order of James Smithson in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the Freer Gallery of Art. The Regents also voted to present Samuel P. Langley Medals to Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael Collins in commemora- tion of their pioneering mission to the Moon.
Much of the Regents’ work between meetings was ac- complished by their standing committees, including the Ex- ecutive Committee, the Nominating Committee, the Audit and Review Committee, the Investment Policy Committee, and the Personnel Committee. As the year drew to a close, the Regents considered the complexities of the Smithsonian’s financial management and decided to establish a new ad hoc
10 Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999
Committee on Financial Affairs to recommend to the board the appropriate roles and responsibilities of a standing com- mittee on finance.
The Regents established a National Board for the Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives and an Advisory Council of the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. They expanded the Board of Trustees of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden as authorized by the Omnibus Appropriations Act for fiscal year 1999. The Regents were mindful of the diligence of many Smithsonian advisory boards. In recognition of the importance of these contributions, the Regents made the following appointments and reappointments: Siddharth Bhansali, Elizabeth Moynihan, and Michael Sonnenreich to the Visiting Committee of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery; Elizabeth Ernst Meyer and Frank Pearl to the Visiting Committee of the Freer Gallery of Art; Elliot Lawrence, Brian S. Leyden, and Frieda Rosenthal to the Commission of the National Museum of African Art; Jorge Batista, William Drenttel, Joanne duPont Foster, Elaine La Roche, Jeffrey T. Leeds, Nancy Marks, Kenneth Miller, and Arthur Ross to the Board of Trustees of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum; Bernadette Berger, Ann Cousins, Ruth Sulzberger Holmberg, Jestis Moroles, David M. Silfen, and Carole Slavin to the Commission of the National Museum of American Art; Anne B. Baddour, Eugene A. Cernan, Frank A. Daniels Jr., Stanley Hiller, Thomas G. Pownall, Allen E. Puckett, Richard T. Schlosberg II, and Patty Wagstaff to the National Air and Space Museum’s Dulles Center National Board; Paul K. Dayton, Henry L. Diamond, Charles McC. Mathias, and William R. Sweeney Jr. to the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Advisory Board; Jane Beck, Pat Jasper, Barbara Kirshenblatt- Gimblett, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Gilbert Sprauve, Jack Tchen, and Ricardo Trimillos to the Advisory Council of the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage; Anita DeFrantz, David M. Fields, and Donald Lubin to the National Museum of American History Board; Paula Apsell, Isabella Cunningham, Thomas Eisner, William Ellis, James McClure, Robin Martin, James Patton, Desiree Rogers, and Howard Williams to the National Museum of Natural History Board; Susan Hager, Michael Hayman, Norman Mineta, Beth Stevens, Richard Thornell, and Kathleen Wagner to the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Advisory Board; Richard E. Gray, John B. Henry, and Margery F. Masinter to the Smithsonian Institution Libraries Board; Eloise Cobell, Vine Deloria, Peter Johnson, Loretta Kaufman, Henrietta Mann, and Ofelia Zepeda to the Board of Trustees of the National Museum of the American Indian; Wilson Hulme II, Myron Kaller, Barbara R. Mueller, Betsy Towle, and Irwin Weinberg to the Council of Philatelists of
the National Postal Museum; Rudy Beserra, Gilberto Cardenas, Jestis Chavarria, Miriam Cruz, Roberto Cruz, Olga Garcia, Sandra Guzman, Gema Hernandez, Abel Lépez, Monica Lozano, Edward James Olmos, H. R. Bert Pefia, Ricardo Romo, Esteban E. Torres, Carlos Tortolero, Joseph Wiscovitch, Raul Yzaguirre, Fernando Zazueta, and Teresa Zubizarreta to the Smithsonian National Board for Latino Initiatives; and Laura Lee Blanton, L. H. “Hacker” Caldwell, Frank A. Daniels Jr., Fredric C. Hamilton, Norman Y. Mineta, Henry R. Mufioz HI, Nancy Brown Negley, Mary Ourisman, James Patton, Thomas F. Pyle Jr., Eric de Rothschild, A. R. Sanchez, and Jackson Tai to the Smithsonian National Board.
Staff Milestones
The Smithsonian suffered a huge loss this year with the death of Donald D. Engen from a tragic accident in his sail plane over Nevada in July. In three short years, Engen be- came a much loved and admired director of the National Air and Space Museum, the capstone to his marvelous career in naval aviation, air safety, and the Federal Aviation Adminis- tration. His most memorable contribution, his passion for and advancement of the Dulles Center, will long be remem- bered. Thankfully, Deputy Director Donald S. Lopez again stepped in as acting director of the museum.
The Institution proudly welcomed Gary M. Beer to the new position of chief executive officer of Smithsonian Busi- ness Ventures. Beer brings vast experience to the challenges of ensuring that this new organization succeeds to the benefit of the entire Institution. Edward Knapp was recruited as the new comptroller, George Van Dyke was tapped to be chief of information technology operations, and Peter Cannell was ap- pointed director of the Smithsonian Institution Press.
The Secretary's Gold Medal for Exceptional Service was presented to Irwin Shapiro for his outstanding work at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and to Derrick Ross for his outstanding work at the Office of Physical Plant. Both received their medals from the Secretary on June 15, 1999, at the Smithsonian’s first Day of Excellence celebration.
The ongoing contributions of countless additional em- ployees and volunteers deserve recognition as well. Public servants—from custodians to curators, astrophysicists to ac- countants, and engineers to public information officers— are the real backbone of the Smithsonian. As the Institution prepares for the new millennium, all Smithsonian supporters have reason to be grateful to this cadre who will chart its course and determine its destiny.
Report of the Provost
J. Dennis O’Connor
Extending the Smithsonian’s Reach
Each year, the reports from the Smithsonian’s museums and research institutes present an evolving portrait of an Institu- tion dedicated to its traditional mission—the increase and diffusion of knowledge—and committed to engaging and serving a broad audience. Those complementary emphases are especially apparent this year. On the one hand, the Smithsonian’s fundamental activities—research, education, and stewardship of the national collections—seem more im- pressive than ever in their scope and substance. On the other hand, the Institution is actively looking for ways to broaden access to its extraordinary resources and intensify its already significant presence in the worlds of the sciences, art, and the humanities. As the Smithsonian maintains a focus on ex- cellence in activities of collection and research, we are simultaneously turning outward, seeking greater public en- gagement in all that we have to offer.
From the Smithsonian’s base in Washington, to a barrier reef in the Caribbean, to the far reaches of the cosmos, the Institution’s cutting-edge research continues to break new ground. So, too, does our commitment to make research re- sources and research findings widely available. Here in Washington, the Smithsonian has acquired the Victor Building, which will be home to staff offices for the Na- tional Museum of American Art, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Archives of American Art, as well as a planned Center for American Art. This major research facil- ity will welcome scholars and the interested public who want to study research materials and curatorial records re- lated to the history of American art. On Carrie Bow Cay in Belize, the National Museum of Natural History this year dedicated its rebuilt field station, which is considered one of the world’s leading facilities for the study of coral reefs. Re- search from this remote one-acre island contributes to our understanding of the diverse and fragile barrier reef ecosys-
tem, and ultimately to its preservation. The images of cos- mic phenomena now being returned from the powerful Chandra X-ray Observatory are amazing even to scientists at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, home of Chandra’s flight operations control center. Anyone with In- ternet access can examine a changing selection of these images on the project’s Web site, accessible from the Smith- sonian’s home page.
There is no question that electronic access is revolutioniz- ing the way the Smithsonian does business. By sharing resources through the Web or cable networks, we are extend- ing our service in ways that were unimaginable only a few years ago. The online publication of digital editions of rare books, for instance, brings illustrated volumes from the Smithsonian Institution Libraries’ collection to a worldwide audience while reducing the handling of fragile materials. The Libraries’ Web site is a fast-growing “electronic library” that attracts everyone from curious youngsters to advanced scholars. Elsewhere in the Institution, electronic education initiatives are helping us reach more students and teachers than ever. As an example, this year students in more than 6,500 middle schools participated via cable broadcast in a program on the African American inventor Lewis Latimer, developed by the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the National Mu- seum of American History.
The Smithsonian’s capacity for research and public educa- tion is linked to stewardship of the national collections, which require effective management, careful preservation, and continued development. This year, for example, the Star- Spangled Banner Preservation Project in the National Museum of American History invited the public to observe and learn about the complex conservation of this national icon, while every Smithsonian museum added objects to their collections, opening exciting possibilities for research, exhibitions, and education.
12 Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999
Across the Institution, there are many more examples of an outward focus. The Smithsonian Affiliations Program has initiated innovative collaborations with museums in com- munities around the country, sharing both objects and expertise. Through a variety of activities, we are dedicated to making the art, history, and culture of Latino, Asian Pacific American, and African American communities an integral part of the Institution. And the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service continues its 47-year tradition of taking the Smithsonian on the road to every state.
If the reports on the following pages leave a collective im- pression, it is that the boundaries that once defined the Institution are disappearing. Americans who once knew us best as buildings on the National Mall can now add another dimension to their direct experience with museum objects and exhibitions. They can see Smithsonian artifacts in their hometown museums, browse our Web site for virtual exhibi- tions and nuggets of information, or take electronic field trips without leaving their classrooms. Research by Smith- sonian scientists contributes to major advances in nearly every discipline, including medicine, marine biology, and the conservation of endangered species. With fewer limita- tions of place and time, we have extraordinary potential to extend the boundaries of knowledge, while at the same time reaching out to engage more and more people in what the Smithsonian offers.
An Anniversary Acquisition for the Hirshhorn
Acquired and installed in summer 1999, Are Years What? (for Marianne Moore), 1967, a monumental steel sculpture
by American artist Mark di Suvero (b. 1933), rises dramati- cally some 40 feet from a street-level section of the Hirshhorn Museum's Sculpture Garden. This to-ton compo- sition of industrial I-beams—with a suspended, moving
V element—epitomizes di Suvero’s gift for communicating human fragility in intractable, industrial materials. The title refers to a short poem celebrating life, by the American writer Marianne Moore (1887-1972).
Are Years What? (for Marianne Moore), considered one of the artist’s greatest works, strengthens the Hirshhorn’s im- pressive collection of monumental sculptures and was a fitting addition to the collection as the museum celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1999. Consistently included in retro- spectives of di Suvero’s work, it was most recently seen in a citywide installation in Paris in 1997.
The sculpture was acquired in part through the Joseph H. Hirshhorn Purchase Fund and in part as a gift of the Insti- tute of Scrap Recycling Industries, by exchange.
Visibility for American Art
The National Museum of American Art may be closed offi- cially for a three-year renovation beginning in January 2000, but a program of major national touring exhibitions will keep the museum, and American art, very much in the pub- lic eye. This year, the museum concluded an arrangement with The Principal Financial Group for a marketing spon-
sorship worth $3.75 million. The campaign is timed to coin- cide with “Treasures to Go,” eight thematic exhibitions of masterworks from the museum’s collections that will tour the country during the renovation of the Old Patent Office Building. Public relations and marketing initiativés will in- clude advertising, media appearances, cable television programs, special events, and travel to the cities hosting the exhibitions.
The paintings and sculptures in “Treasures to Go” cover eight themes from the eighteenth century through the present: Young America, Lure of the West, American Im- pressionism, The Gilded Age, Scenes of American Life, Modernism and Abstraction, Contemporary Folk Art, and Arte Latino. The exhibitions are traveling to more than 70 museums.
The Principal Financial Group began supporting the arts in the 1930s to promote cultural awareness, reach diverse audiences, and foster creative thinking among employees through participation in the arts.
Preservation on Display
In a custom-designed laboratory at the National Museum of American History, a team of conservators is engaged in the painstaking process of saving the Star-Spangled Banner. But this is no ordinary object and no ordinary museum preserva- tion project. While conservators work from a mobile platform six inches above the flag, visitors watch intently through a floor-to-ceiling glass wall. An interactive exhibi- tion, “Preserving the Star-Spangled Banner: The Flag that Inspired the National Anthem,” explains the flag’s history and describes the treatment process. As the museum stabi- lizes the condition of this national icon—damaged by time and exposure to the elements—visitors are learning about a fascinating process that usually goes on behind the scenes.
Designing a conservation facility suitable for the 1,020- square-foot banner presented unusual challenges. The flag rests on a large table, with the work platform spanning its width. Low-level ambient lighting and a specially designed heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system protect the flag from harmful ultraviolet light, contaminants, and tem- perature and humidity fluctuations.
During the treatment phase of the project, conservators will carefully vacuum the flag and then clean it using chemi- cal solvents and detergents. Stitch by stitch, they will remove a linen lining added in 1914. A new support will stabilize the flag when it is returned to exhibition in 2002.
The Star-Spangled Banner Preservation Project is made possible with major support of $10 million from Polo Ralph Lauren. Generous support and significant leadership are also provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts, the U.S. Congress, the White House Millennium Council, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and Save America’s Treasures at the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
At the end of the fiscal year, the museum was preparing to launch a special feature on its Web site devoted to the Star- Spangled Banner and the preservation project (http://americanhistory.si.edu/ssb/). A book by museum his-
Report of the Provost 13
torian Lonn Taylor, based on research carried out as part of the project, will be published by the museum and Harry N. Abrams, Inc., in the spring of 2000.
Galapagos Behind the Scenes
A Smithsonian marine biologist’s scientific explorations, undersea and on land, are revealed in realistic detail in Gala- pagos, a spectacular 3D IMAX® film produced for the National Museum of Natural History’s new Johnson The- ater. The 40-minute film follows Carole Baldwin on her first research trip to the Galapagos Islands, the isolated, geologi- cally young archipelago 600 miles west of South America on the equator, studied by Charles Darwin in the 1830s. Bald- win is the human lead in the film, but she shares the screen with a cast of blue-footed boobies, sea lions, moray eels, hammerhead sharks, and other wild residents of this Ecuado- rian national park.
Galapagos wildlife are unusually tame, and Baldwin fre- quently found herself inches away from creatures that live nowhere else on Earth, among them giant tortoises and ma- rine iguanas. The highlight of the expedition was diving at depths of up to 3,000 feet in the Johnson Sea-Link sub- mersible. Many of the species collected on the expedition came from the little-explored realm between 400 and 1,000 feet. Batfish that stride across the ocean bottom on leglike fins, viper fish equipped with formidably long fangs, and other odd creatures were brought back for the museum’s pre- served fish collection, the largest in the world.
While Galapagos tours IMAX® theaters around the world, Baldwin will be working at the museum to describe several new species collected in the islands, including a new kind of cat shark and a new sea bass. She will also be identi- fying scores of larval fish—one of her research interests—brought back from the expedition.
The museum’s partners in the Galapagos project were Imax Corp., the National Science Foundation, and Mandalay Media Arts. America Online is sponsoring the film’s interna- tional tour. Discovery Communications, Inc., is the principal sponsor of the 80,000-square-foot, $40.6 million Discovery Center, which houses the Johnson Theater, a café, and a mu- seum shop.
“Posted Aboard RMS Titanic”
The drama of the sinking of the RMS Titanic played out over just a few hours, yet this tragic event has captivated our
imaginations for decades. What few realize is that the Titanic
was more than the largest and most luxurious vessel of her time. She also was an “RMS”—a Royal Mail Ship. Using ar- tifacts recovered at sea nearly nine decades ago, “Posted Aboard RMS Titanic,” an exhibition at the National Postal Museum, examines the tragedy from this previously over- looked perspective.
The sinking of the Titanic cost the lives of five valiant postal workers who struggled in vain to save the mailbags in the ship’s final hours. American sea post clerks John Starr March, Oscar Scott Woody, and William Logan Gwinn, along with their two British colleagues, postal workers James Bertram Williamson and John Richard Jago Smith, were last seen by Albert Thessinger, a steward aboard the Titanic who survived the sinking. Thessinger was briefly pressed into service to help the five clerks move mailbags, but he gave up on this seemingly suicidal task when the water in the mailroom rose to waist height. Thessinger later recalled, “I urged them to leave their work. They shook their heads and continued at their work.” Despite the clerks’ valiant effort, none of the mail was saved. Video film footage shown in the exhibition reveals that the mailbags remain within the sunken liner.
“Posted Aboard RMS Titanic,” which opened on Septem- ber 17, 1999, and continues until June 12, 2000, was made possible by generous gifts from Dr. Jeanette Cantrell Rudy, the James E. Pehta Foundation, the Atlantic Envelope Com- pany, the American Postal Workers Union, the AFL-CIO, and the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Hus- bandry.
An Earth-Bound Innovation from SAO
The development of low-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) by Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) sci- entists was cited by the American Institute of Physics as one of the outstanding developments in physics in 1998. A typi- cal MRI device uses a huge, high-field magnet to polarize hydrogen nuclei inside water molecules in the human body. The spinning molecules produce radio signals that can im- age most organs in great detail—to detect tumors, for example. SAO researchers use lasers to increase the nuclear spin-polarization of inert gases like helium, enabling MRI of the inhaled gas in the lung, the sinuses, and other body cavi- ties where MRI has been ineffective. This new biomedical imaging technique, a spin-off of research in atomic physics, is only about five years old. Already, doctors are using laser- polarized gas MRI to diagnose and plan treatment for people with lung diseases, such as emphysema and asthma.
The SAO innovation, developed in cooperation with the Massachusetts General Hospital, uses small, low-field mag- nets for MRI of laser-polarized gas. It promises much simpler, less intimidating, and lower-cost MRI units in hos- pital settings, as well as portable instruments that can be used in remote, cramped environments, such as space vehi- cles. Recently, SAO scientists have begun to apply laser-polarized gas MRI in other fields, such as probing the porous structure of rocks that may hold oil, natural gas, and subterranean water. These innovations demonstrate the vital synergy between basic science and practical applications, and the important role SAO plays in making these connections.
Reports of the Museums and Research Institutes
Office of the Provost
J. Dennis O’Connor, Provost
The Provost serves as the Smithsonian's chief programs offi- cer, providing leadership and integrated oversight for all of the Institution's program activities carried out in the muse- ums, research institutes, and education and scholarly service units. The Provost reviews and evaluates the management of programs in research, exhibitions, and education outreach in the sciences, arts, and humanities; provides operational facil- itation to the program units; maintains close working relationships with directors and their boards and commis- sions; and assists the units in undertaking collaborative initiatives.
The Accessibility Program collaborates with all Smithson- ian organizations to ensure that current and planned programs, exhibitions, and facilities are fully accessible to staff and visitors with disabilities. The Scientific Diving Pro- gram oversees all diving activities conducted under the auspices of the Institution, including establishing safety standards and providing training and certification.
The Institutional Studies Office produces analyses of in- ternal Smithsonian data, and conducts studies of visitors, exhibitions, and activities for administrators, curators, and program staff. Important secondary products are long-term databases and an increasing body of scientific knowledge about Smithsonian visitors and their experiences.
The Provost is responsible for managing the new Affilia- tions Program, which enables qualified museums across the country to receive long-term loans of Smithsonian collec- tions. He oversees the Institute for Conservation Biology which was established to improve coordination among the Institution’s existing conservation biology programs, en- hance their effectiveness, and increase efforts to obtain private and government funding for related research. The
Office is also responsible for coordinating and facilitating Latino and Asian Pacific American initiatives.
Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture
Steven Cameron Newsome, Director
It was the Year of Spirituality for the Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture. To explore the rich African American tradition of worship, praise, and keeping faith at the center of life and commu- nity, in-house historians and curators created exhibitions, workshops, lectures, and a series of music, dance, and theater performances.
Building on the momentum created by the exhibition “Speak to My Heart: Communities of Faith and Contempo- rary African American Life,” the museum produced and released its first compact disc recording, Praise the Lord! Gospel Music in Washington, D.C. Project coordinators se- lected eight vocal ensembles and 15 songs to display the creative and spiritual continuity that runs from traditional hymns through the rousing rhythm and blues now standard in contemporary gospel. Bi//board magazine called the Smithsonian Folkways release “indispensable to aficionados and a perfect starting place for anyone just discovering the rich heritage of gospel music.”
With the exhibition “Locating the Spirit: Religion and Spirituality in African American Art,” the museum showed how art gives a clear voice to complex and personal expres- sions of faith. Curator Deborah Willis assembled some 115 paintings, photographs, sculptures, and textile pieces to spotlight the impact of more than 70 African American artists, including Henry Ossawa Tanner, William H. John-
Reports of the Museums and Research Institutes 15
son, Sister Gertrude Morgan, Romare Bearden, Chester Hig- gins Jr., and David C. Driskell.
“Locating the Spirit” inspired and served as the backdrop for the roth annual James A. Porter Colloquium on African American Art and Spirituality. The museum collaborated with the Howard University Department of Art to bring 700 participants to a three-day symposium featuring lecture- demonstrations by some of the nation’s major artists and art scholars. Among the presenters were 20 artists whose work was exhibited in “Locating the Spirit.” Named for James A. Porter (1905-70), a former chair of the Howard art depart- ment who produced the nation’s first in-depth scholarship in African American art history, the Porter Colloquium is now an annual feature of the museum’s educational programming.
The museum also made a deeper and more intense exami- nation of the art and cultural issues of Africa. In its first collaboration with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Per- forming Arts, the museum organized an exhibition distilling more than a century’s worth of photographs taken by artists born and based in Africa. “Revue Noire: Africa by Africans” explored diverse esthetics and techniques from a wide range of places and photographers, created a fresh view of the African family, and presented studio portraiture rarely seen in the United States.
In a first-time collaboration with the National Museum of African Art, the Anacostia Museum and Center helped pres- ent “Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity.” For its part of the two-sited exhibition, the museum examined how Africa’s most popular textile art has become a vital part of contemporary life in America, used in worship services, formal ceremonies, and home decor.
February's Black History Month observances got an un- usual launch as a crowd of about 16,000 turned out for the debut of the Capital Children’s Carnival. With a challenging Black History Month Quiz as the centerpiece—featuring the D.C. delegate to the House of Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton as quiz master—the day’s events included hands-on arts and crafts, storytelling, folk dancing from Africa, the Caribbean, and South America, and a carnival pa- rade with participants wearing the masks and costumes they made that day.
Archives of American Art
Richard J. Wattenmaker, Director
The Archives of American Art (AAA) is the world’s largest repository of primary source documentation about the his- tory of visual arts and culture in America. For more than 45 years, the Archives has collected, preserved, and made avail- able for study such diverse materials as letters and diaries of artists and crafts people; manuscripts of critics and scholars; records of art museums, galleries, and schools; photographs; works of art on paper; and recorded oral and video inter- views. More than 14 million documents comprise an indispensable resource for researchers, who, in addition to
consulting original papers at the Washington, D.C: head- quarters, may access selected holdings on microfilm worldwide through interlibrary loan or at Archives centers in Washington, New York, and San Marino, California, and affiliated research facilities in Boston and San Francisco. The Archives also provides Internet access to its resources and services through its Web site and on-line catalog.
The Archives of American Art collects, preserves, and makes available for study the records, original papers, photo- graphs, diaries, and oral history interviews of artists, crafts persons, collectors, dealers, critics, museums, and other arts institutions. In FY 1999, AAA continued to meet its goal of increasing accessibility to the collections through a variety of means, including the processing of papers, the publication of finding aids, the display of original documents in exhibi- tions, Web site enhancement, and other forms of outreach.
Because of the ongoing renovation of the Patent Office Building, AAA relocated its Washington offices to The Aerospace Center, one block from the National Mall. Large, climate-controlled processing rooms facilitate the processing of archival documents. The consolidation of Interlibrary Loan with the rest of Reference Services has enhanced serv- ices to researchers worldwide.
Research
In FY 1999, AAA continued to employ technology to in- crease access for its Internet users. Among the enhancements was “A Preliminary Guide to Resources on Asian American Artists at the Archives of American Art.” The guide, pre- sented in conjunction with Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, provides documents and photographs on-line. A published guide comparable to those already published by the Archives for the papers of African American and Latino artists 1s 1n preparation.
The Archives is currently engaged in a pilot project em- ploying encoded archival description (EAD) to encode 50 of its finding aids. EAD is a digital format that will make the finding aids accessible to researchers worldwide on the Web. A researcher can search encoded finding aids individually or in combination with the growing number of similarly en- coded finding aids contributed by other archival repositories throughout the world. Once encoded in EAD, the finding aids will be contributed to the Research Libraries Group (RLG) Archival Resources, providing even greater accessibil- ity to the Archives’ rich holdings.
Collections Acquisitions
In FY 1999, the Archives made significant additions to its holdings of over 14 million documents. Among these was the final installment of the papers of Marcel Breuer (1902-1981), comprising financial records and personal and professional correspondence with his colleagues from the Bauhaus, including Walter Gropius, Herbert Bayer, and Josef Albers. AAA also acquired the complete records of the Byron Gallery, 1960-1971, which specialized in Sur- realist masters (Ernst, Matta, Magritte) and younger Pop,
16 Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999
Op, Conceptual, and Minimal artists. Other new acquisi- tions include the Thomas Craven (1919-1975) papers, the papers of New England artist Marion Huse (1896-1967), an addition to the John Steuart Curry (1897-1946) papers, the Stephen Etnier (1903-1984) papers, the Gifford Beal (1879-1956) papers, and the papers of Mildred Baker (1905-1999), which document her work on the Federal Art Project from 1935 to 1943. Also in FY 1999, AAA col- lected the Kate Steinitz (1889-1975) papers, additions to the Beatrice Wood (1893-1998) papers, and papers of Ab- bott Handerson Thayer (1849-1921), who corresponded with numerous contemporaries, including Samuel Clemens, Daniel Chester French, William James, N.C. Wyeth, and others. Also noteworthy were the latest additions to the Philip Pearlstein (b. 1924) papers from 1991 to 1996, as well as the latest installment of the Robert Rosenblum (b. 1927) papers.
Funds from the then Institution-wide program for Latino programming enabled the Archives to complete its Puerto Rican Art Documentation Project, including a com- prehensive survey of art-related material in Puerto Rico and a survey of Puerto Rican art-related primary source mate- rial in New York City. Also funded by the Latino Pool Allocation was the Cuban-American Oral History Inter- view Project, which funded the transcribing and final editing phase of oral history interviews of ten prominent Cuban-American artists in Miami. The transcripts were made available on-line through the Archives’ Web site in October 1999. Funding also supported the Chicano Art Documentation Project, with oral histories being con- ducted with artists in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Also under way is the publication of a revised, expanded research guide to the papers of Latino and Latin American artists in the Archives.
Collections Management
AAA made significant progress in its goal to increase acces- sibility to collections with several processing projects. Among these were the papers of Cuban art historian Giulio V. Blanc (d. 1995), dating from 1923 to 1995, which are particularly valuable for the extensive artists files of both major and lesser known contemporary Cuban artists. The Archives also processed the records of the American Federa- tion of Arts, dating from AFA’s founding in 1909 through 1993. The collection is particularly valuable for its docu- mentation of twentieth-century American art history and the wealth of information about the numerous programs and ex- hibitions supported and implemented by the AFA to promote the study of contemporary American art. AAA is publishing a finding aid to this collection, as well as a find- ing aid to the Downtown Gallery papers, which the Archives has recently processed and microfilmed. The Downtown Gallery specialized in contemporary American art as well as pioneering in the field of American folk art, and its founder, Edith Halpert (1900-1970), was deeply involved in foster- ing the efforts of African American artists to gain recognition of their work.
Publications and Outreach
The Archives of American Art Journal publishes scholarly articles showcasing AAA's collections, as well as book re- views and reports on recent important acquisitions. In FY 1999, AAA presented the exhibit “In Sight: Portraits of Folk Artists by Chuck Rosenak.” The show, comprised of photo- graphs and selected documents from the folk art collectors Chuck and Jan Rosenak, included objects from the Smith- sonian American Art Museum’s Rosenak Collection that complemented the Archives’ documents. The Rosenaks had previously donated to the Archives their extensive research files, including letters, more than a thousand photographs of folk artists, printed material, and tape-recorded interviews. “In Sight” afforded an excellent opportunity for the Archives to reach a broad audience of folk art afficionados and to make contacts that may lead to acquisitions of additional papers. An on-line version of the show is found on the Archives Web site. The Archives also presented the exhibit “Eyre de Lanux: Designs of a Muse,” chronicling the life and works of little-known American artist Eyre de Lanux (1894-1996), whose papers span 80 years and highlight her friendships with Picasso, Brancusi, and Louis Aragon.
The Archives manages an active program of outgoing loans to museums and other scholarly institutions, and con- tinues its tradition of providing educational opportunities to an ethnically diverse population through internships and fellowships.
Non-appropriated Resources
Trust funds provide partial support for Archives operations as well as financing a variety of projects and programs. In FY 1999, grants from The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc., and the Getty Grant Program enabled AAA to fund the processing of several major collections. Throughout the year, donors made numerous gifts toward the matching of a $500,000 challenge grant from The Brown Foundation, Inc., to endow Archives’ publications. Among these was a $100,000 gift from The Beinecke Foundation, Inc., and a gift totaling $50,000 from Agnes Gund, former President of the Board of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, which will also be used to support Archives’ operations. In addition, the Archives received a gift of $12,000 from the Gerta Charita- ble Trust for the processing, microfilming, and publication of a finding aid to the Marcel Breuer papers.
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Milo C. Beach, Director
With the organization and presentation of the splendid exhi- bition “Devi: The Great Goddess” at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the galleries concluded two years of anniversary cele- brations—the Sackler Gallery’s roth in 1997 and the 75th
Reports of the Museums and Research Institutes 4
anniversary of the Freer Gallery of Art, which began in 1998 and concluded this year.
In 1996 the galleries could not have predicted the benefits that would emerge from these observances. The anniversaries and accompanying publicity brought unprecedented and continuing public attention to the galleries. Increased no- tices attracted new circles of visitors, scholars, friends, and supporters. Now acknowledged together as the national mu- seum of Asian art, the Freer and Sackler galleries with their separate yet complementary collections are increasingly known and appreciated as an exceptional international re- source for scholarship, publication, and exhibition.
Recognition also took the form of magnificent gifts of art. The Dr. Paul Singer Collection of Chinese Art of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, was a joint gift of the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Paul Singer, the AMS Foundation for Arts, Sciences, and Humanities, and the Children of Arthur M. Sackler. The collection includes some 5,000 works—in jade, bronze, ceramic, ivory, wood and other materials—dating from the fourth millennium B.C. to the twentieth century.
Of particular interest is a group of objects that Dr. Singer assembled from the state of Chu in southern China. Archaeo- logical discoveries have given the formerly obscure Chu culture new status as one of the most exciting research topics in the field of ancient Chinese art history. Thomas Lawton, director emeritus, is spearheading the effort to publish and exhibit this extraordinary collection.
Three important awards brought recognition to friends of the galleries this year. Ikuo Hirayama, president of the Japan Art Institute, Tokyo, was inducted into the Order of James Smithson for his contributions totaling $11 million to the Freer and Sackler galleries. The Order of James Smithson is the highest honor the Smithsonian Institution can bestow. Professor Hirayama’s induction ceremony was capped by an- nouncement of his gift of $2.5 million to fund a major program for the care of Japanese painting in the galleries’ department of conservation and scientific research.
The second award, the Charles Lang Freer Medal, was pre- sented to Sherman Lee for his lifelong commitment to connoisseurship. Dr. Lee has enriched the studies in a wide range of artistic traditions in Asian countries: Buddhist art, Chinese painting, and the arts of Japan, India, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayan kingdoms, among others. The im- pact of his extensive publications has been augmented and broadened by frequent, often ground-breaking exhibitions and by a dazzling series of acquisitions he has made for vari- ous museums. Intended to honor a scholar of truly extraordinary distinction, the Freer Medal celebrates Dr. Lee's career and extraordinary achievements.
The third award, the biennial Shimada Prize for distin- guished scholarship in the history of Asian art, was presented to the Japanese art historian Toshie Kihara, who is also an official of Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. Kihara was selected from a group of 21 nominees for her two-volume treatise on the Japanese painter Kano Tan’yu (1602-1674), whom art historians regard as the most signif- icant painter of the early Edo period (1615-1716). Kihara’s
publication in Japanese—Yubi no tankya: Kano Tan’yn ron (The Search for Profound Delicacy: the Art Of Kano Tany’yn), (Osaka, Japan, Osaka Daigaku Shuppanki, 1998)—is the first critical scholarly work to interpret Tany yu’s major contributions to the history of art in Japan. The award car- ries a $10,000 prize and is presented jointly by the Freer and Sackler galleries and the Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art in Kyoto, Japan, for the best research publica- tion in the field.
Development Activities
Support for the galleries acquisitions and programs has grown tremendously through our 300-member group, Friends of the Freer and Sackler Galleries. In fiscal year 1999 there was a 17 percent growth in membership, and approximately $329,000 was raised from Friends memberships, an increase of 20 per- cent over fiscal year 1998. The galleries are grateful to the Friends for their immense generosity to the Friends Purchase Fund, which in 1999 enabled the museum to purchase two works of art at the April 17, 1999, annual dinner: Bhairava, a fifteenth—sixteenth century Nepalese gilt copper repousseé sculpture and The Five Sacred Festivals, a set of hanging scrolls by Ikeda Koson, painted in ink and color on silk, ca. 1830. Additionally, special contributions to the fund from members and participants on the Friends spring trip to Iran added a third object to the permanent collections: a blue-and-white ceramic plate, which is from the Timurid dynasty (ca. second half of the fifteenth century) and associated with the city of Nishapur in northeastern Iran.
Exhibitions
Anniversary festivities came to a festive climax with the six- month run of the exhibition and associated activities for “Devi: The Great Goddess,” March 28—September 6, 1999. Devi, as she is commonly known in South Asia, is among the three most important deities of Hinduism, and yet this year’s exhibition was the first major museum exploration of her role and her many manifestations. Complementing the galleries’ strong holdings in Indian paintings, the works bor- rowed for this exhibition from collections in Europe and the United States included a wealth of sculpture. Images of the goddess came from many regions of South Asia and richly represented the diversity of her forms and identities.
Several other Sackler exhibitions this year offered richly varied stylistic and thematic interpretations of the land, peoples, and monuments of South Asia. Visitors had oppor- tunities to compare the work by both indigenous artists and foreigners recording their impressions of the land. One exhi- bition, “The Jesuits and the Grand Mughal: Renaissance Art at the Imperial Court of India 1580-1630,” September 27, 1998—April 4, 1999, for example, examined the enduring ef- fects of cultural exchange between Jesuit missionaries from Europe and the Mughal emperors of northern India. Another small exhibition, April 25—July 18, 1999, focused on the work of a single Indian artist, Nainsukh of Guler (ca. 17 10— 1778). Because many of Nainsukh’s paintings were created
18 Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999
for a single royal patron, the exhibition gave an absorbing look at life in one particular Rajput court.
“Yoshida Hiroshi: Japanese Prints of India and Southeast Asia,” August t—October 17, 1999, featured color wood- block images by the Japanese artist Yoshida based on his travels in 1930. Another exhibition, “Behind the Himalayas: Paintings of Mustang,” presented 19 watercolors by the Aus- tralian architect Robert Powell showing the stunning architecture and desolate landscape of the region of Nepal known as Mustang.
Celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Freer Gallery culminated in a splendid dinner and preview of the exhibi- tion “Beyond the Legacy: Anniversary Acquisitions for the Freer Gallery of Art” for donors and patrons on October 2, 1998.
The Freer anniversary exhibition presented the results of a four-year campaign to acquire works of Asian art, and it in- cluded more than 100 works selected from among many fine gifts and supported purchases. “Asia in Museums: New Per- spectives,” an international symposium to mark the anniversary, was made possible by a generous grant from the Ellen Bayard Weedon Foundation.
Complementing the anniversary show at the Freer were important presentations from the collection. These exhibi- tions brought attention to the work of directors and curators, past and present, in carefully enlarging the size and scope of the gallery’s holdings over the past three quarters of a century.
For the first time since it was purchased for the Freer in 1931, A Breath of Spring, the eight-and-a-half-meter-long Chinese handscroll dated 1360, was exhibited in its entirety. The scroll is among the most famous Chinese paintings in the Freer collection and the only known work by the Daoist recluse Zou Fulei. It has inspired poetry by distinguished writers from Yang Weizhen (1296-1370), considered one of the greatest poets of the Yuan dynasty, to the celebrated Canadian Michael Ondaatje, author of The English Patient. Yang wrote his poem directly on the scroll, which was joined by colophons, or commentaries, by other Chinese literati and a later owner.
“Whistler and the Hadens,” including some of the artist’s earliest etchings, was a small exhibition of American expatri- ate James McNeill Whistler's (1834-1903) prints and drawings. Whistler was regarded in his lifetime as the most accomplished etcher since Rembrandt and among the great- est printmakers in the history of Western art. The prints in this show were made during his initially friendly but ill- fated association with his brother-in-law, Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910).
Public Programs
While the galleries’ staff planned many of this year’s pro- grams to complement the exhibition “Devi: The Great Goddess,” it also offered performances, films, and demon- strations from a variety of cultures. The galleries’ feature film offerings, for example, included our first surveys of the cinema from Vietnam and Turkey, plus a series of 11 recent
films of the Arab world. The third festival of Iranian films focused on the 30-year career of director Dariush Mehrjui, including his 1998 film, The Pear Tree. The fifth annual “Made in Hong Kong” series included eight Washington premieres and prompted a cover story and five-page spread on Hong Kong cinema in the “Weekend” section of the Washington Post. “Women in Indian Cinema,” a program of 14 art films and documentaries featured the premiere of Prakash Jha’s “Death Sentence.” Finally, the Freer launched its first look at the globally popular genre of Japanese ani- mation, including the Washington premiere of the blockbuster Princess Mononoke.
The Asian performing arts series focused on women in South Asia, with such prominent dancers as Mallika Sarabhai and Alarmel Valli; classical vocalists Abida Parveen and Veena Sahasrabuddhe, and pop singer Najma.
The galleries’ exploration of contemporary Asian music included Jason Hwang and the Far East Side Band from New York; the Japanese shakuhachi (bamboo flute) artist Teruhisa Fukuda; and the Indian fusion ensemble, Facing East. To close the year, the galleries presented Shinto music, dance, and ritual from the Kasuga Taisha, one of Japan’s old- est and most prestigious shrines in Nara.
ImaginAsia, the galleries’ hands-on art education program for children and families, continued to draw enthusiastic crowds year-round, with even larger numbers in the summer, as late afternoon to early evening sessions were a hit with families during “Art Night on the Mall.”
Experimentation marked many of this season’s offerings, which included a new format of music and conversation by performers. Highlights were an appearance by cellist Yo-Yo Ma and composer Bright Sheng, who demonstrated and dis- cussed the incorporation of folk and traditional Asian music into such contemporary works as Bright Sheng’s new compo- sition for solo cello. Another concert discussion featuring oud player Simon Shaheen, lutanist Ronn McFarlane, and pipa player Wu Man, centered on the evolution of their three related instruments in different societies along the Silk Road and in Europe.
Experimentation and tradition was also apparent in the Bill and Mary Meyer Concert Series this season. In “New Music from China,” composer Zhou Long led two groups, Music from China and the New Music Consort, in a per- formance featuring the reconstruction of a composition discovered in the Buddhist caves at Dunhuang, China, and a performance of his own work, “Tales from the Cave.” Sharing the program was “The Points,” a prizewinning work by the prominent female composer Chen Yi. Other concerts in- cluded performances by Musicians from Marlboro I, IJ, and IH; the Shanghai Quartet; Angela Hewitt, piano; Paul Neubauer, viola; and the Guilford Ensemble.
Gallery shop sales increased by 4 percent during 1999 to the highest level ever achieved. This success has been accom- plished by providing merchandise that ties directly into our collections and exhibitions, providing outstanding customer service, advertising to broaden our market in conjunction with public affairs, and by sponsoring various gallery and product-related events. The gallery shops sponsored 10 read-
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ings by authors of new books related to the galleries’ collec- tions. Among the writers was Michael Ondaatje, who read from Handwriting, his new book of poetry. These efforts re- sulted in the shops’ important contribution to the cost of museum programs and acquisitions of art.
Research
This year’s scholarly investigations emphasized collaboration and preparation for the many exhibitions planned for the next few years. Kenneth Myers, assistant curator of Ameri- can art in the Freer, and Martha Smith, the galleries’ paper conservator, have continued the research connection between the Freer and the University of Glasgow, Scotland. The Freer and the university together house the world’s largest collec- tions of art, papers, correspondence, and memorabilia by or relating to James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903). Through a formalized “Scheme of Association,” the institutions pro- mote and support scholarly research about Whistler and his period. The project is centered in Glasgow and overseen by Nigel Thorpe, director of the Center for Whistler Studies at the university.
With a wealth of Chinese objects coming to the galleries as gifts and purchases during the recent anniversary obser- vances and several important exhibitions in the planning stages, there is much activity among the galleries’ scholars of Chinese art. Jenny So, curator of ancient Chinese art, is working on an important research volume about the jades in the collections of the Freer and Sackler. Joseph Chang, asso- ciate curator, is preparing a catalogue of the Freer collection of Chinese painting and calligraphy from the Song and Yuan dynasties. Both catalogues have received multiyear support from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation. Dr. Chang is writing two additional exhibition catalogues, the first on later Chinese calligraphy from the gift of Robert H. Ellsworth, and a second on the painting and calligraphy of Bada Shanren. Stephen D. Allee is translating poetry and prose texts for Dr. Chang’s publications and also working on a book to introduce children to Chinese painting. Jan Stuart, assistant Curator, received a grant from the Smithsonian’s Collections-Based Research Program for research for her forthcoming exhibition, “Worshiping the Ancestors: Chinese Commemorative Portraits in Late Imperial China.” Prepara- tion for the exhibition also took her to Korea and China under a grant from the Smithsonian’s Research Opportuni- ties Fund.
Louise A. Cort, curator for ceramics, is working on a cata- logue of the Freer’s collection of Japanese ceramics from Kyoto and Kyushu and collaborating with Jan Stuart on a publication about the Freer’s Chinese celadons. She is contin- uing her annotated translation of the diary of Japanese potter Morita Kyuemon and working on a book about India enti- tled Temple Potters Of Puri.
Vidya Dehejia is producing a volume, India through the Lens, Photography 1840-1911, to accompany her exhibition of the same name that is scheduled to open in November 2000. At the same time, Dr. Dehejia is conducting research for a book and exhibition of south Indian bronzes of the
Chola dynasty made between the ninth and thirteenth cen- turies. She is also preparing a publication about India for a series entitled “The Sources of Art History” being produced by Harvey Miller Publishers.
Massumeh Farhad, associate curator of Islamic art, has been pursuing ongoing research concerning later painting of the Safavid dynasty (1501-1732) and its patronage, on the Shahnama (The King’s Book of Kings), and on the Falnama (Book of Omens). Ann Gunter, associate curator of Ancient Near Eastern art, continued her study of the Hauge gift of ancient Iranian ceramics, as well as her work on two books, Defining Cultural Boundaries in the Eastern Mediterranean, ca. 1000-600 B.C., and Charles Lang Freer and Egypt.
Jane Norman, exhibitions conservator, is continuing her studies of the physical properties of Japanese and Chinese lacquer.
Members of the department of conservation and scientific research continue technical studies on Asian metalwork (Paul Jett); Chinese jades (Janet G. Douglas); papers used by Whistler and Indian (Martha Smith), gilded bronzes (Blythe McCarthy, principal investigator, with funding from the Na- tional Park Service); Japanese raku ceramics (McCarthy); and the structures of East Asian paintings John Winter with Marco Leona and Jennifer Giaccai in a project funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation). Dr. Winter is also working on a related book, East Asian Paintings: Their Materials, Struc- tures, Techniques, and Deterioration Mechanisms.
Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (formerly, Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies)
Richard Kurin, Director
At the January, 1999, meeting, the Smithsonian Institution Board of Regents endorsed our change of name to the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, from the previous Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies, thus leaving us better equipped to do our job. “Cultural heritage” resonates much better with all sorts of community-based groups, both in the United States and around the world, interested in the study, presentation, and conservation of their cultures. “Folklife” still allows people to locate us conceptually as a unit dedicated to living people and grassroots, vernacular traditions. We have become concerned with the training of community scholars, leading to several programs, and we recognize the need to help train students from the academy for public cultural work and have begun a graduate course in the subject with the George Washington University. More recently, we have been exploring issues of cultural heritage policy.
As an example of these outreach efforts, the Center and Children’s Television Workshop (CTW) cosponsored a half- day symposium at the National Museum of American History that examined the 30-year history of diversity and multicultural programming on “Sesame Street,” the longest-
20 Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999
running television series in the world. Several cast characters presented a sketch about diversity to children from the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center and the adult audi- ence from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Reading Is Fundamental, Congressional offices, and media representa- tives, among others. The Center’s cosponsorship of the symposium was based on shared values around diversity and multiculturalism and the important implications of the CTW “Sesame Street” model for the development of cultural heritage policies in other media, cultural, and educational institutions.
In January, the Center hosted a forum for the Smithsonian Congress of Scholars on our varied involvement in cultural research as public scholarship. Staff members presented case studies on the questions and hypotheses that are the starting points for our research, our methodologies, and the intellec- tual, programmatic, and policy/applied implications of our work. The case studies provided an introduction to discus- sion with colleagues in research positions throughout the Smithsonian on issues such as the nature of humanities ver- sus physical sciences research, and the value of research collaborations with community-based cultural workers and educators.
These collaborations can be seen in many recent Smith- sonian Folkways projects. Praise the Lord! Gospel Music in Washington, D.C., is the product of a collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution’s Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture, and provides the au- dio background to the exhibition, “Speak To My Heart: Communities of Faith and Contemporary African American Life.” The two CD set, The Mississippi: River of Song involved collaboration with Smithsonian Productions and other indi- viduals and organizations, and became a companion to the public radio and television documentary series, book, home video, and Web site with educator’s guide. And Taquachito Nights: Conjunto Music from South Texas was recorded from live performances at the 1998 Conjunto Festival in San Ben- ito, Texas, and was produced in collaboration with the Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center and in conjunction with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
Jointly developed by the Center and the Smithsonian In- stitution Traveling Exhibition Service, the exhibition “Creativity and Resistance: Maroon Cultures in the Ameri- cas” opened in March at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. The exhibition highlights the cul- tural traditions and historical documentation of the Maroon experience as expressed through the voices of contemporary Maroon peoples of Jamaica, French Guyana, Suriname, and the Seminole community along the U.S.-Mexico border. On June 20, the day following the traditional Juneteenth cele- bration of the abolition of slavery in Texas, members of the Texas Seminole Maroon community traveled to San Antonio for the opening of the exhibition at the Institute for Texas Culture. The show continues to travel to sites throughout the United States.
Collaborations continued with the Center’s cohosting with UNESCO a working conference entitled, “A Global Assessment of the 1989 Recommendation on the Safeguard-
ing of Traditional Culture and Folklore: Local Empowerment and International Cooperation.” This conference was the cul- mination of a decade-long UNESCO initiative aimed at deepening awareness of and commitment to cultural expres- sions—sometimes referred to as intangible cultural heritage—that incorporate folklore, popular culture, and grassroots expressions. Over 35 conference attendees, 30 ob- servers, and some 20 Smithsonian and UNESCO staff members focused on the 1989 Recommendation in light of the profound sociopolitical and technological changes that have occurred in the ensuing decade and the way these have influenced, and been influenced by, traditional cultures. Over the course of the conference, working groups concen- trated on three areas: legal protection; national cultural policy; and the relationship between traditional cultures and a variety of current environmental and sociopolitical issues. These issues included cultural identity, gender, sustainable development, globalization, peaceful coexistence of ethnic groups, conflict prevention, youth cultures, and the impact of new information technologies. Smithsonian and UNESCO staff realized a shared goal of having community practition- ers and leaders sit together with academics and representatives of governments and philanthropic institu- tions. This succeeded in strengthening the original intent of the 1989 Recommendation by reforumulating it as an Ac- tion Plan and expanding its vision in significant ways, among them: focusing institutional protection not only on folklore items but on the practitioners themselves and on the processes through which they nurture and develop their her- itage; assisting communities in locally based measures to protect and safeguard their own traditions with the support of national, regional, and international bodies; and develop- ing the protection of traditional cultural practitioners and practices within a framework of international standards of human rights.
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival once again was the venue where long-term collaborations with governments, regional organizations, local communities, and individual participants came together to present varied grassroots tradi- tions. The New Hampshire program was organized around four theme areas: “Home, Town & Community,” “Ingenuity & Enterprise,” “Seasonal Work & Recreation,” and “Farm, Forest, Mountain & Sea.” Added to this was a lively musical component and several special events, which contributed to the presentation of a microcosm of New Hampshire folklife. Some of the special events included a barn raising by the New Hampshire Timber Framers Association and Benson- wood, an Old Home Day celebration with one of the state’s oldest community bands and a fireman’s muster, and Franco- American Day that acknowledged the importance of French-Canadian traditions in shaping the state’s history and present-day character. The program was produced with the New Hampshire Commission on the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and its nonprofit affiliate Celebrate New Hampshire Culture in partnership with the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, Department of Cultural Resources.
The Romanian program was the culmination of American scholars working with colleagues from the Romanian Cul-
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tural Foundation, ASTRA Museum, the University of Bucharest, the Peasant Museum, Aid to Artisans, the Gov- ernment of Romania, and other institutions to develop the idea of “gateways to Romania” as an organizing concept for the Festival program. The Festival offered metaphoric access to everyday life, ritual, and knowledge of and about Roma- nia; and literal access as skilled carpenters and woodworkers from the Maramure6 region erected traditional gateways on the National Mall. The carpenters also demonstrated their skills of traditional basilica building, pointing to the impor- tance of the sacred and ritual arts in Romanian life, along with icon painters, carvers, and egg decorators. Music and dance groups from Moldavia, Transylvania, and Wallachia performed a range of rural celebratory traditions. And a vari- ety of craftspeople including weavers and potters demonstrated the arts of everyday life in various regional styles. The program was inevitably an interesting mixture of grassroots, popular, and official genres.
The South Africa Festival program “Crafting the Eco- nomic Renaissance of the Rainbow Nation” presented over 100 craftspeople, music and dance performers from each of the nine provinces. Text panels described the cultural and linguistic diversity of each province and its natural resources, provided overview of how traditional artisans and provincial and national government representatives work to craft cul- tural policy, public aesthetics, and sustainable employment and cultural enterprises based on the diversity of grassroots cultural communities throughout the nation. Participants and officials discussed various topics with visitors—culture and protest, and contemporary issues of traditional culture and economic development—at the shebeen, a reproduction of the matchbox-like family houses that met the need for social centers under the racially restrictive social codes of the for- mer apartheid system. The program was produced with the collaboration and support of the South African Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology and the National Arts Council.
The Fifth Annual Ralph Rinzler Memorial Concert fea- tured two bands from recent immigrant groups, the Yuri Yunakov Band and Ensemble Tereza. The Yuri Yunakov Band played music from Bulgaria and the Republic of Mace- donia that is known for its haunting melodies, dense ornamentation, and complex rhythms. The contemporary style is known as wedding music, because it most often ac- companies dancing at life-cycle celebrations such as weddings and baptisms. The program featured instrumental music from various regions of Bulgaria and a Rom (Gypsy) repertoire. This repertoire is currently popular in the Bronx community of Roma from Macedonia, which dates from the 1960s. Ensemble Tereza performed Mountain Jewish music by recent immigrants from the eastern Caucasus, in particu- lar Azerbaijan and Dagestan to New York. Lead singer Tereza Elizarova sang in a variety of languages including Djuburi, Azeri, Turkish, Persian, traditional Hebrew, and nowadays Arabic and modern Hebrew. Dance styles include the energetic Caucasian men’s dances, as well as the stately circle dances and Turkish/Persian-style solo dancing most of- ten performed by women.
And in another collaboration, a conjunto concert and dance party was produced with the National Museum of American History’s “Encuentros” program. This program marked the release of the Smithsonian Folkways recording Taquachito Nights: Conjunto Music from South Texas, produced in partnership with the Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Cen- ter of San Benito, Texas.
This year’s Festival also hosted two teacher seminars, the annual five-day course “Bringing Folklife into the Class- room,” cosponsored with the Smithsonian Office of Education, and a special three-day intensive seminar organ- ized for 30 New Hampshire teacher-fellows chosen to develop a folklife curriculum for their state through the New Hampshire program cosponsor, Celebrate New Hampshire Culture, under a grant from the National School to Work initiative. Both seminars used the Festival as a context in which teachers could develop techniques and skills in the use of multicultural resources that could enhance their classroom teaching. Teachers in the seminars shared stores about their own family and community traditions, met with curators for a behind-the-scenes look at how Festival programs are put together, and engaged with traditional artists from New Hampshire, Romania, and South Africa.
Through these collaborations and others, we continue to work with colleagues around the nation and the world in helping cultural communities flourish in ways that enhance their own well-being and also contribute to the larger hu- man family.
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
James T. Demetrion, Director
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Smithson- ian Institution’s museum for modern and contemporary art, is committed to increasing the awareness and understanding of art through acquisitions, exhibitions and publications, re- search activities, public programs, and the presentation of the collection in its galleries and outdoor exhibition spaces. The museum provides a public facility for the exhibition, study, and preservation of nineteenth- and twentieth-century art while presenting a spectrum of contemporary work.
The museum, which opened to the public in October 1974, spent much of the year generating celebratory exhibi- tions, programs, and activities in anticipation of the 25th-anniversary month of October 1999. On February 24 the third-floor collection galleries, which had been closed for renovations for more than six months, reopened with new car- pets, a far more effective lighting system, and, in several areas, reconfigured walls and platforms. At the heart of the anniver- sary “makeover” was a complete rethinking, on the part of the curators, of how to tell the story of modern art using the Hir- shhorn’s unusually broad and often surprising collection.
“The Hirshhorn Collection at 25: Celebrating Modern Art,” as the reinstallation was titled, was a team effort led by
22 Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999
Neal Benezra, the Hirshhorn’s Assistant Director for Art and Public Programs, with Judith Zilczer, Curator of Paintings, and Valerie Fletcher, Curator of Sculpture. Energized by the new, mostly smaller spaces, up-to-date halogen lights, and many reframed or newly conserved objects, the curators went far in aiming for thought-provoking, revelatory combina- tions. Mixing Americans and Europeans, the famous and not so famous, and diverse styles and media, “The Hirshhorn Collection at 25” presented a roughly chronological proces- sion of some 135 objects. Some of the more striking juxtapositions included Edward Hopper’s lonely urban- dwellers with Elie Nadelman’s attenuated carved-wood figures, both projecting a kind of pared-down, stark human- ity for Depression-era America, and sculptures by Henry Moore and Alexander Archipenko employing taut string, re- vealing the influence of technology on modern sculpture despite, in the case of Moore, the influence of nature. Among other artists represented were Anni Albers, Constantin Bran- cusi, Daniel Baranoff-Rossiné, Jean Dubuffet, Alexandra Exter, Man Ray, Clyfford Still, Peter Voulkos, and Charmian von Wiegand. A similar redesign in the sculpture ambulato- ries also underscored stylistic affinities and crosscurrents.
“The Hirshhorn Collection at 25” was well received by the press, prompting a Washington Post critic to write, “The collection has never looked better. . . . Old favorites . . . have begun to sing again, [and diverse artists} seem very much at- tuned here.” The reviewer concluded that an installation designed to “prod viewers to look anew at the museum's best-known works, as well as at others rarely seen” could only create a successful experience and the Hirshhorn’s new look was proof positive of its emergence over 25 years as “a vital and respected national museum of modern and contem- porary art.”
Commemorations of the museum’s anniversary continued in April. First, the Hirshhorn’s genesis as a public museum based on private philanthropy was underscored in a small show that ran from April 7 to May 9. Titled “Faces of Friendship: The Art-World Circle of Joseph and Olga Hir- shhorn in Documentary Photographs,” the show featured 51 photographs from an archival collection donated to the museum by Olga Hirshhorn, the founding donor’s widow. The exhibition presented a multitude of camera-made im- ages, many personally inscribed to the collector, of such well-known personalities of public life and international art of the 1950s to 1970s as Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson, Chief Justice Abe Fortas, Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley, British art histo- rian and TV host Sir Kenneth Clark, art dealers Sidney Janis of New York and Daniel Kahnweiler of Paris, painters Pablo Picasso and Georgia O'Keeffe, sculptors Alberto Giacometti and Alexander Calder, and numerous younger artists. This revealing collection of mementoes started after Olga Hirshhorn, seeking to surprise her husband with a holiday gift of an inscribed photo from one artist-friend, expanded the idea and urged virtually all of the benefactor’s intimates and associates to pay their respects with images of themselves.
The month of April was also highlighted by “Hirshhorn Open House: Celebrating 25 Years,” featuring a full after- noon on April 25 of hands-on art-making activities for families, several storytelling sessions, musical selections by the Ambassador String Quartet, and a gallery talk on the ghostly figurative works of Portuguese artist Juliao Sar- mento in the Directions Gallery. Director James T. Demetrion capped off the day with a lecture reflecting on the quarter-century evolution of the Hirshhorn collection.
Plans proceeded, meanwhile, for October 1999's anniver- sary exhibition, “Regarding Beauty: A View of the Late Twentieth Century,” and the fund-raising gala, also that month. The exhibition’s co-organizers Neal Benezra and Olga M. Viso, Associate Curator, finalized the loans of 88 works to be assembled from more than 55 international lenders, and worked painstakingly with the Exhibits Depart- ment’s Edward Schiesser to reconfigure second-floor galleries to accommodate several room-sized installations, a “Media Arts” theater, and other custom designs to be integrated into the show.
Financial support received from numerous entities re- flected a general increase in fund-raising initiatives at the Hirshhorn. A 1999 sampling includes the Luso-American Development Foundation (in support of the Julido Sarmento exhibition); Vivian and Elliot I. Pollock (in support of the “Young at Art” programs); and the Canadian Embassy, Pro Helvetia Arts Council of Switzerland, and the Institute for Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany (in sup- port of the “Regarding Beauty” exhibition). The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., Peter Norton Family Foundation, and Lannan Foundation have repeatedly supported Hirshhorn projects, as have numerous generous individuals both on and off the Board of Trustees. Benefac- tors for the 25th-anniversary fund-raising gala included Merrill Lynch, Janine and J. Tomilson Hill, Robert Lehrman, Mary and John Pappajohn, and Mitchell Rales.
The museum’s Board of Trustees experienced renewed en- ergy and vigor following congressional approval, endorsed by the Regents, to expand from ten to up to 25 members. The Board was also saddened by the deaths of cherished longtime members and former Chairmen Sydney Lewis on March 12 in Richmond, Virginia, and Jerome Greene on May 27 in New York. Both individuals received broad recognition for their national work as patrons and collectors. John Pappa- john of Des Moines, Iowa, joined the Board in May, and Anthony T. Podesta of Washington, D.C., became a member of the Committee on Collections.
Acquisitions this year were highlighted by Are Years What? (for Marianne Moore), 1967, by American artist Mark di Suvero (b. 1933), adding new strength to the museum's collection of monumental steel sculpture. Rising diagonally some 40 feet from a street-level section of the Sculpture Gar- den, this red composition of industrial I-beams—with a suspended, moving V element—epitomizes di Suvero’s gift at communicating human fragility in intractable, industrial materials. It was installed on the street-level plot of the Sculpture Garden in mid-August. Among other important
Reports of the Museums and Research Institutes 23
acquisitions for the year were several that kept the museum collection current with recent examples of contemporary art: Luc Tuymans’s Passe-Partout, 1998, an oil painting; Juliao Sarmento’s Licking the Milk Off Her Finger, 1998, a rare sculp- ture by this artist included as part of his “Directions” show; Charles Simonds’s Rock Flower, 1986, a clay sculpture; Katharina Fritsch’s Display Stand with Madonnas, 1987-89, a sculpture; and Stereoscope, 1999, a film with several related drawings by William Kentridge.
The Hirshhorn’s large solo shows during the year featured two American painters of the same generation—one realist and one abstract—each of whom holds a significant position of influence in contemporary art. “Chuck Close,” on tour from the Museum of Modern Art in New York, was launched on October 15 with a filled-to-capacity lecture by the artist, a depicter of monumental faces who has gained a wide following among the general public and art world. Re- ceiving wide recognition in the Washington press, the Close show also brought attention to a wheelchair-bound artist whose partial paralysis since 1988 has not stopped him from continuing to develop a distinctly engaging style of demate- rializing rectangles that come to life as giant faces—and penetrating character studies—when viewed from afar. The Close show was followed by “Brice Marden, Work of the 1990s: Paintings, Drawings, and Prints,” touring from the Dallas Museum of Art, which opened on May 27. Marden’s sensuous and colorful linear abstractions, which show the in- fluence of Jackson Pollock as well as aspects of East Asian art, encompasses calligraphic “Cold Mountain” and other evocative images that stand as testament to the dynamic per- sistence of abstraction today. Although representing nearly opposite ends of painting’s spectrum, the exhibitions gener- ated strong followings and solid attendance.
Reflecting a general trend at the Smithsonian, the breadth and focus of education programs expanded. Department head Linda Powell’s staff introduced a “Young Artist” pro- gram for school groups, “Art Explorers” workshops for adults, the “Improv Art” on-site family workshop, a series of gallery tours by Washington area artists, and a “Poetry Slam” competition for local poets held outdoors on the Plaza. As with last year, the public participated in writers’ workshops, workshops for teachers, meet-the-artist gallery talks for exhibitions, First Friday gallery talks by staff, and New Voices gallery talks by local graduate students in art history. Art Night on the Mall, a four-museum program of late Thursday hours during summer, again combined per- formances of Latin music outdoors with free films and gallery talks and tours.
“Directions” shows this year, showcasing new visions by two important emerging artists from abroad, featured a suite of just-completed narrative figures by Portuguese painter Julido Sarmento (b. 1948), opening February 3 with a pre- view attended by Portuguese Ambassador Fernando Guimaraes, and Noli Me Tangere, 1998, a two-sided, floor-to- ceiling video projection of a colossal figure by British artist Sam Taylor-Wood, the first solo show in an American mu- seum for this young internationally known British artist.
National Air and Space Museum
Donald S. Lopez, Acting Director
Fiscal Year 1999 brought many changes to the National Air and Space Museum. Most significantly, on July 13, 1999, Admiral Donald D. Engen, who had been director of the museum since July 1, 1996, was killed in a motorized glider accident. Donald S. Lopez, deputy director of the museum, was named acting director. Three months after Admiral En- gen’s death, his dream of an aviation and space center at Washington Dulles International Airport was given a tremendous boost when Steven F. Udvar-Hazy pledged $60 million toward the project. It was the single largest cash gift in the Smithsonian's 154-year history.
During the fiscal year, the museum celebrated several his- toric events. On October 29, 1998, when STS 95 was launched with former senator John Glenn on board, the Mu- seum set up several HDTV monitors allowing hundreds of visitors to watch the event live via the newest broadcast technology. The museum also hosted a series of events to cel- ebrate the 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.
In fiscal year 1999, the total number of visitors to the museum since its July 1976 opening exceeded 200,000,000. Renovation of the building continued, with emphasis on minimizing disruption to museum visitors.
Significant acquisitions to the museum included the 20,000-pound Spacelab module. On October 3, 1998, it ar- rived for storage at Washington Dulles International Airport, where it will remain until it goes on display at the Dulles center. The gondola of Breitling Orbiter 3, which completed the first nonstop balloon flight around the world, went on display in the museum’s Milestones of Flight gallery in September 1999.
The museum received a “Save America’s Treasures” grant (a joint congressionally funded program of the White House Millennium Council and the National Historic Trust) to pre- serve “threatened objects of the Apollo era.” A special environmentally controlled storage facility was constructed at the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration and Storage Fa- cility, and work was begun to stabilize all of the flown lunar spacesuits in the national collection and to research and pub- lish authoritative guidelines for their safe storage and display. These guidelines will also form the basis for spacesuit storage and display at the new center at Dulles. The balance of the Save America’s Treasures grant is being earmarked to support the restoration of the giant Saturn V rocket located at the NASA-Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
During fiscal year 1999, the site design for the new cen- ter at Dulles was completed. The site work will be provided by the Commonwealth of Virginia as a contribution to the project.
Collections and Research
The three scholarly divisions at the National Air and Space Museum, the Division of Aeronautics, the Division of Space
24 Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999
History, and the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies (CEPS), continued their work in scientific and historical re- search, collecting significant artifacts, and developing exhibitions related to all aspects of aviation and space flight.
The Smithsonian Institution History of Aviation series was replaced by the Smithsonian Institution History of Avia- tion and Spaceflight series. Allan A. Needell, chair of the Division of Space History, and Dominick A. Pisano, chair of the Division of Aeronautics, serve as series editors.
Senior Aeronautics Curator Tom Crouch’s book Aiming for the Stars: The Dreamers and Doers of the Space Age was pub- lished by Smithsonian Institution Press, and Rick Leyes’s The History of North American Small Gas Turbine Aircraft En- gines was published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
CEPS continued an active research program in planetary and terrestrial geology and geophysics using remote sensing data from Earth-orbiting satellites and manned and un- manned space missions. The scope of research activities in fiscal year 1999 included work on Mercury, Venus, the Moon, and Mars, and corresponding field studies in terres- trial analog regions. CEPS staff study a variety of geophysical processes, such as volcanism, floods, cratering, tectonics, and sand movement. Of particular interest are studies of past and present Mars climate, using data from ac- tive spacecraft such as the Mars Global Surveyor. CEPS staff are also involved in mission design and landing site selection for future Mars exploration. Many of the terrestrial studies also address topics of current concern for global climate change.
In addition to the Spacelab and Breitling Orbiter 3, major items added to the collection in fiscal year 1999 included a full-scale engineering prototype of Mars Pathfinder, the flown Faint Object Spectrograph from the Hubble Space Telescope, and a digital camera carried by former senator John Glenn on his recent space shuttle mission. Fiscal year 1999 saw the beginning of a major shift toward preparing the collections for the move to the planned center at Dulles. The Collections Division entered into a partnership with Rolls Royce NA to assist in creating the Rolls-Royce Avia- tion Heritage Trophy competition. NASM authored an Aircraft Restoration Judging Guideline and assisted in the actual judging of the aircraft in the highly successful inau- gural competition.
Several long-term projects to complete environmental control systems in storage buildings at the Garber Facility were completed. This allowed the Collections Processing Unit to complete inventories of the objects stored in these particular buildings and accomplish major strides in the project to barcode the objects. The Restoration/Preservation Unit of the Collections Division began the shift from major restoration projects to preparing artifacts to be moved to the center at Dulles. Major restoration work on the Soviet SA-2 missile transporter, the Aichi Seiran, and Nieuport 28 was completed. The exterior of the aft fuselage of the Boeing B- 29 Enola Gay was polished. In addition, work on one of the first projects being prepared for the move to the center at Dulles, the Soviet MiG-15, was begun.
The Business Aviation exhibition was removed from Gallery 104 in the NASM West End. The Beech King Air was lowered, and it and the Cessna Citation were then disas- sembled, mounted on stands, and prepared for transport.
The Henri Keyser-Andre conservation intern for 1999 ac- complished a conservation project on the Mars Viking Lander and a badly corroded navigational sextant that had been discovered during an earlier collections inventory.
As of January 1, 1999, the museum’s new collections in- formation system, The Museum System (TMS) was fully operational. After rigorous testing, existing collections data were migrated into the new system, and a new decentralized method of inputting object information was adopted. Cura- tors and Collections staff now share the responsibility for entering data and for ensuring their accuracy and complete- ness. When the data were converted, TMS contained basic accession records for 32,635 objects. Due to limits of the for- mer CIS system, few of these object records had significant contextual information and none had images. During fiscal year 1999 a coordinated program was initiated to close a backlog of uncatalogued objects and add historical informa- tion and other context to TMS object records in place. By the end of fiscal year 1999, TMS contained over 40,000 records and nearly 20,000 images. Approximately 13,000 object records had had basic historical information added as well, significantly exceeding the performance goals origi- nally set for the transition program.
The Archives Division began reviewing its database sys- tems with the intent of replacing its DOS-based software with a Windows compatible system. Near the end of the year, software, which will be tested in FY 2000, was se- lected. The museum also became a member of SIRIS (Smithsonian Institution Research and Information System). The new software and SIRIS will enhance the museum’s abil- ity to manage collections and to make those collections available to the staff and the public.
Processing of the Aircraft Technical Files, consisting of over 400 cubic feet of reports, photographs, and publications about heavier-than-air flight from its beginning to the pres- ent, was completed.
Exhibits and Public Service
The pace of exhibit work for the center at Dulles remained brisk. Accomplishments in fiscal year 1999 included the completion of prototype display cases and exhibit stations, graphic design for signage, the design of the donor recogni- tion wall and information desk, and a 3-D model of the major artifact placement layout.
In October 1998 a new planetarium show, “And a Star to Steer Her By,” opened in the Planetarium. It explores the tools humans have used, from stars to satellites, to meet the challenge of navigation. Complementing the planetarium show is “GPS: A New Constellation,” a new exhibit that ex- plores the Global Positioning System.
Two temporary exhibits were added to the Space Race gallery in June. “The Soviet Challenge in Space: Illustrating the Threat” is a display of 12 paintings created for the De-
Reports of the Museums and Research Institutes 25
fense Intelligence Agency to illustrate Soviet weapons sys- tems and advanced technology during the Cold War. The other exhibit is on the Faint Object Spectrograph. In time for the anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing in July, a visitor-operated video camera was placed in the Museum’s lunar module so visitors could look around inside the craft.
Planning and development work continued on several other major projects. In fiscal year 1999 the label script and much of the exhibition design was completed for “Explore the Uni- verse,” a major new permanent exhibition scheduled to open in September 2001, as well as the design for the revised Air Transportation hall, scheduled for completion in 2002. The planning document for “Dream to Fly,” a future exhibition on African Americans and aviation, was also completed. Planning and development of Up, Up, and Away, a new IMAX film on vertical flight, continued this year as well.
Maintenance of older exhibits and refurbishment of public spaces in the museum were given high priority. Maintenance work this year included a complete redo of the aging Dou- glas World Cruiser exhibit in the Pioneers of Flight gallery, and upgrades to several other galleries. Also completed this year was a major expansion and redesign of the Museum Shop.
In addition, planning is under way for a new Exploring the Planets gallery. And in fiscal year 1999, major upgrades to the Looking at Earth gallery, including replacement of large photomurals, oblique air photos, and transparencies in the “What’s New” section, were begun. Upgrades to the Ex- ploring the Planets gallery replaced outdated material on observational tools, asteroids, Mercury, and Mars.
Through the Regional Planetary Image Facility (RPIF), CEPS continued its mandate to NASA-funded investigators, other interested researchers, and the general public by pro- viding access to catalogued collections of imaging data from all American spacecraft missions. RPIF staff conducted tours through the facility for visiting groups ranging from two to 40 people. The data manager also continued development of a Hypercard guide to facility holdings, accessed by our users through a dedicated RPIF computer workstation.
The Public Services Division recruited and trained 35 new docents. In addition, in-service training for new and experi- enced docents was held monthly. The Education Unit conducted ten teacher workshops, which reached 227 teach- ers. Education also produced 51 programs for families and the general public, which reached more than 3,100 visitors and produced seven school programs for five different schools, in which 370 students participated. They also sup- ported the Challenger Center's production of 11 Family Science Night events, in which approximately 3,300 people participated. The annual Internship Program supported 13 students (June 1 to August 6, 1999).
Live demonstrations and other related activities compris- ing some 1,171 programs for 91,673 visitors to the How Things Fly gallery were implemented. The Explainers Pro- gram trained and worked with 32 student Explainers. In the How Things Fly Gallery attendance usually exceeded 10 percent of museum attendance. In the How Things Fly Visi- tor Center, volunteers assisted 27,646 visitors.
The Educational Services Center also distributed more than 60,000 copies of publications and responded to 3,090 mail in- quiries from teachers, students, and the general public.
National Museum of African Art
Roslyn A. Walker, Director
The National Museum of African Art celebrates the rich visual traditions and extraordinarily diverse cultures of Africa and fosters an appreciation of African art and civiliza- tions through its collections, exhibitions, research, and public programs.
Acquisitions
Among the most significant art works acquired by the mu- seum in the past year were a rare set of polychromed wooden panels carved in high relief from the Nkanu peoples of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a 92-pound D’mba mask from the Baga peoples of Guinea, one of the largest masks in all of Africa. The mask was donated to the museum by internationally known contemporary artist Armand Ar- man and his wife Corice, a fashion consultant and business manager. An important donation of 14 traditional sculptures from central and eastern Africa, the gift of New York busi- nessman Lawrence Gussman, fills gaps in the museum’s collection. These sculptures were showcased at the museum.
In addition, the museum’s Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives acquired three important collections: The Kyriazis Photographic Collection of images of activities and places in Ethiopia taken from 1950 through 1970, The Robert and Nancy Nooter Ethiopian Collection of images of activities and places in Ethiopia taken in 1988, and The Leon de Sous- berghe Collection of images of the Pende peoples in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, taken from 1955 through 1957.
Exhibitions
The first level of the National Museum of African Art houses several permanent exhibitions drawing on the museum’s col- lection: “Images of Power and Identity,” “The Art of the Personal Object,” and “The Ancient West African City of Benin, A.D. 1300-1897.” In addition, in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the museum offers “The Ancient Nubian City of Kerma, 2500-1500 B.C.,” a loan exhibition of works from the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, featuring objects from Kerma, an an- cient Nubian city that was located on the Nile River. The exhibition was organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and its Department of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian and Near Eastern Art; all objects are from the Harvard Uni- versity-Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Expedition.
Also located on the first level is the Sylvia H. Williams Gallery, which was the location of “South Africa,
26 Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999
1936-1949: Photographs by Constance Stuart Larrabee,” and “Claiming Art/Reclaiming Space: Post-Apartheid Art from South Africa.”
The first level also houses the Point of View Gallery that presents small temporary exhibitions that focus on specific themes or objects. On view were “African Forms in the Fur- niture of Pierre Legrain,” “Sokari Douglas Camp: Church Ede, A Tribute to Her Father,” and “Hats Off: A Salute to African Headwear.” Also featured on the first level was “New Acquisitions: Gifts from the Lawrence Gussman Collection.”
The museum hosted, in its large second-level gallery, “Baule: African Art/Western Eyes.” In addition, the gallery was the site of one component of the exhibition “Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity,” a unique collaboration between two Smithsonian museums, the National Museum of African Art and the Anacostia Mu- seum and Center for African American History and Culture. The two-sited exhibition offered visitors not only a glimpse into the history and meaning of the colorful African textile, but provided both programming and interactive activities that engaged diverse audiences. School groups and teachers from hundreds of schools took advantage of related program- ming including exhibition tours, weaving demonstrations by master weavers from Ghana, and teacher workshops.
Four large cast concrete screens by Nigerian artist Adebesi Akanj, donated to the museum in 1994 by Mr. and Mrs. Waldemar A. Nielsen, were restored by the museum’s con- servation department. The screens will be featured in an exhibition on several artists from the important Oshogbo art movement in southwestern Nigeria.
The museum’s educational offerings, which spring from the permanent collections and special exhibitions, provide audiences with provocative and insightful views of the world of African art. An array of tours, workshops, and focus pro- grams gave students of all ages their first encounters with real works of African art.
Highlights included a family day on the arts and culture of Ghana with food, music, song, dance procession, games, demonstrations, and storytelling; and a conservation clinic open to the public in which conservation staff advised visi- tors on the proper care of their collections. A South African film series that accompanied the “Claiming Art/Reclaiming Space” exhibition attracted standing-room-only audiences.
The museum’s extended summer hours drew hundreds of visitors on Thursday nights as part of “Art Night on the Mall.” Youngsters made colorful hats and then showed them off as they paraded to the exhibition “Hats Off!: A Salute to African Headwear,” while art lovers had the opportunity to talk with South African artist Rudzani Nemasetoni. In addi- tion, the museum’s entrance pavilion filled with the sounds of musicians from Cameroon and South Africa.
In addition, workshops and demonstrations by practicing artists engaged attentive audiences eager to meet and talk with African artists. For example, Nigerian artist Sokari Douglas Camp conducted a two-day workshop for teachers in which participants created sculptures from ordinary mate- rials and Pamela Botchway of Ghana taught visitors how to tie their own African headwraps in a public demonstration.
The museum also continues to make itself accessible to people with special needs. Tours for hard-of-hearing visitors were made possible through a portable FM Assistive Listen- ing System. This system also allowed hard-of-hearing visitors to participate in educational programs in the workshop and lecture hall. Sign language interpreters for deaf visitors were available upon request for all museum programs.
Publications
Throughout the year, the museum published informational materials to accompany exhibitions.
Photographic Archives and Library
The museum continues to be a leading research and reference center for the visual arts of Africa. The Warren M. Robbins Library, a branch of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, contains more than 20,000 volumes on African art and ma- terial culture. The Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives specializes in the collection and preservation of visual mate- rials on African art, culture, and the environment.
National Museum of American Art (Smithsonian American Art Museum)
Elizabeth Broun, Director
The 1999 fiscal year was significant for award-winning exhi- bitions and on-line technology, accompanied by advances in education, research, and intern programs. Planning contin- ued for the upcoming renovation of the Old Patent Office Building, with discussions focusing on gallery allocations between SAAM and NPG. The roof replacement project pro- ceeded with some delays, preventing the reopening of the Lincoln Gallery before the year 2000. By the end of the year, the skylights in the gallery and along the South Wing had been replaced and judged a great success.
Having consulted with the Smithsonian Secretary, Provost, General Counsel, and other officials, the National Museum of American Art decided to begin using the name Smithson- ian American Art Museum for all exhibitions, loans, and other activities, effective January 2000. This change was recom- mended by the museum’s Commission in order to link the museum more closely to the Smithsonian, shorten the name, and avoid confusion arising from the term “National.” If the new designation proves effective, the Smithsonian will seek formal approval from the Congress for the change.
The SAAM Collections Committee approved the purchase of Horace Pippin’s O/d Black Joe, which will enhance the mu- seum’s exceptional and growing collection of African American art.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum presented two complementary exhibitions that examined the California Gold Rush in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the discovery of gold in California. “The Art of the Gold Rush” featured
Reports of the Museums and Research Institutes 27
paintings, watercolors, and drawings from the 1850s, and the nostalgic views created a generation later. The museum was the only East Coast venue for this exhibition. “Silver & Gold: Photographs of the Gold Rush” featured rare daguerreotypes documenting this exciting time in American history.
“Picturing Old New England: Image and Memory” opened on April 2 and “Abbott Thayer: The Nature of Art’ opened on April 22. Both are major loan exhibitions organ- ized by SAAM curators William Truettner and Richard Murray, respectively. A catalogue to accompany the exhibi- tion “Picturing Old New England” was coauthored by curators William Truettner and Roger Stein, along with three guest contributors, and copublished with Yale Univer- sity Press. Tipper Gore, wife of Vice President Al Gore, was the Honorary Patron for the Thayer exhibition.
“Edward Hopper: The Watercolors,” jointly organized by SAAM and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Art in Al- abama, opened on October 22 to great reviews and large audiences. Commissioners Hugh Halff, Jr., Melvin Lenkin, and Peter Lunder contributed to make the exhibition possi- ble. This was the final exhibition before the museum closed for renovations. “Edward Hopper: The Watercolors,” by Vir- ginia Mecklenburg, curator at SAAM, was copublished with W.W. Norton under a favorable contractual arrangement. The museum shop sold out of its initial order on the first weekend of the exhibition. A year 2000 wall calendar was produced for the show in cooperation with Universe Pub- lishing. In addition, the New Media staff at the museum produced an extensive Web site called “An Edward Hopper Scrapbook” to complement the exhibition and offer a glimpse into Hopper’s life, his friends and the paintings that have fascinated art lovers worldwide ever since Hopper first came to prominence during the mid 1920s.
The installation of “David Beck: LOpéra,” a miniature opera house with 207 automated hand-carved figures, was adroitly handled despite unusual challenges. The Education office arranged for special docents to be in attendance, to
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protect, explain, and operate this small wonder. For the first time, music was included in an exhibition installation.
“Daniel Brush: Gold without Boundaries” won the Smith- sonian Exhibition Award for Best Design—justly recognizing this show as the most handsome produced at the Smithsonian (at its Renwick Gallery) during the past 18 months. “Glass! Glorious Glass!” continued drawing unusu- ally strong attendance, accompanied by strong publicity.
On March 19, the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum opened two exhibitions: “Shaker: Furnishings for the Simple Life,” an exhibition drawn from Commissioner Ken Hakuta’s extensive collection of Shaker artifacts and “Dominic Di Mare: A Retrospective,” a touring exhibition of fiber sculptures by Dominic Di Mare from the Palo Alto Arts Center.
A Memorandum of Agreement with the James Renwick Alliance, signed in March, was implemented with a pledge of $110,000 in support for fiscal year 2000 for the Renwick Gallery. Curator-in-Charge Ken Trapp received a two-year $68,000 grant from the Smithsonian's Scholarly Studies Pro- gram to conduct research on American Naval Presentation
Silver, which is expected to be the subject of a major book and exhibition.
The Museum’s On-line Reference Desk, now renamed Ask Joan of Art, received a 1998 Exemplary Service Award at a Harvard University conference called “Reference in the New Millennium.” This on-line reference service is a high priority for fund-raising for the museum.
In its continuing quest to provide on-line resources, the museum signed an interagency agreement with the National Endowment for the Arts that will provide $430,000 over the next two years for digitizing 50,000 slides of works by 5,000 artists in the NEA’s Visual Artists Fellowship Pro- gram from 1967 to 1995. The NEA Artists Archive will be hosted on the museum’s Web site.
The Web site, redesigned and launched in January, won an award as “Best Museum Research Site” at the 1999 Museums and the Web conference in New Orleans in March. Depth of research information—a testament to the museum’s long tra- dition of developing research resources—was cited by the judges. The New Media staff, working with the publications staff who handle fulfillment, introduced the capacity to process credit card payments on the Web site. Books and other products can now be purchased on-line with a credit card.
The museum's Registrar’s Office successfully booked 60 venues for the extensive national tour planned for the reno- vation period, tentatively titled “Treasures to Go,” scheduled to run from January 2000 through 2002. The Development office signed a marketing sponsorship contract totaling $3.75 million with the Principal Financial Group of Des Moines. The sponsorship firm IMG of New York was also signed to help with the project, which will include media appearances, cable television specials, advertising, national media placement, advertorials, product licensing, and special events. Five national public relations companies were inter- viewed for the publicity aspect of the Principal Financial Group component of the contract, and a selection was for- warded to the Contracting Office for approval.
The education department continued breaking new ground by hosting artists’ lectures including talks by Jesus Morales, Hung Liu, Robert Cottingham with Chuck Close, Malcah Zeldis, and David Beck. “The NMAA Educational Resources Guide for Teachers” was mailed to 3,500 teachers, and the tour booklet “Explore the National Museum of American Art” was republished. A number of partnerships helped raise funds for education programs at the museum, including the Prince George’s County Schools for a “Reading Through Art” kindergarten program and the Fairfax County Public Schools for a K-12 Arts Curriculum ($40,000 awarded by the NEA), and the Cafritz Foundation to de- velop teacher enrichment programs.
National Museum of American History
Spencer R. Crew, Director
The National Museum of America History dedicates its col- lections and scholarship to inspiring a broader understanding
28 Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999
of our nation and its many peoples. The museum creates learning opportunities, stimulates imaginations, and presents challenging ideas about our nation’s past through publica- tions, family programs, electronic outreach and distance learning, community-based collaborations, and affiliations. In FY 1999, the museum acquired 5,712 objects, bringing the total number of the collection to 3.1 million and had a budget of $32.96 million. The annual visitation was 5.6 million.
The museum continued its exploration of “What is Amer- ican Identity?” by relaying the histories of individuals and groups who have made America what it is today. “American Identity,” the organizing theme of the museum, brings to- gether many of the activities—from exhibits, programs, symposiums, and collecting, into a framework concerned with what it means to be an American.
The museum’s premier symbol of American Identity, the Star-Spangled Banner, was the centerpiece of activity in 1999. On December 1, 1998, the three-story-high flag was removed from its current display and laid flat on a platform in Flag Hall. It was thoroughly examined and conservators began to devise a full treatment plan. The Star-Spangled Banner was then carefully rolled and crated in January and moved into the specially constructed conservation lab near Flag Hall on the museum’s second floor. This lab, with its floor to ceiling windows, provides the public with their clos- est look ever at the flag, which is carefully unrolled a few feet (and sometimes inches) at a time on an immense alu- minum table. Conservators reach the flag by sitting or lying on a 35-foot-wide moveable gantry platform that is sus- pended above the flag. During the treatment phase of the Star-Spangled Banner Preservation Project, conservators will carefully vacuum the flag and then clean it using chemical solvents and detergents. Stitch by stitch, they will remove a linen lining added in 1914. The laboratory and the accom- panying exhibition, “Preserving the Star-Spangled Banner: The Flag that Inspired the National Anthem,” which ex- plains the flag’s history and describes the treatment process, opened to the public in May 1999. The Star-Spangled Ban- ner Preservation Project is made possible with major support from Polo Ralph Lauren. Generous support and significant leadership are also provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts, the U.S. Congress, the White House Millennium Council, and Save America’s Treasures at the National Trust for His- toric Preservation. The History Channel broadcast an original one-hour documentary about the Star-Spangled Banner and the preservation project on December 3, 1998, and with the museum's Education staff, developed a com- panion teacher's manual, “Save Our History: Teaching the Star-Spangled Banner.”
“Communities in a Changing Nation” offered another perspective on American Identity by exploring the promise and reality of life in the 1800s through the experiences of three different communities: factory owners and workers in Bridgeport, Connecticut; Jewish immigrants in Cincinnati, Ohio; and African Americans in the South Carolina low country. Subtitled “The Promise of t9th-Century America,” it opened in February 1999.
On July 29, 1999, “Photographing History: Fred J. Ma- roon and the Nixon Years, 1970-1974” opened, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the end of the Nixon Adminis- ration. It featured 120 of Fred J. Maroon’s photographs, which document President Nixon’s years in the White House. This exhibit has been added to the museum’s Web site as a virtual exhibit, complete with textual narrative and audio recordings. Several programs were held with the ex- hibit, including a Smithsonian Associates discussion and signing of his 1999 coauthored book, The Nixon Years, 1969-1974: White House to Watergate, and a gallery talk hosted by Maroon and the exhibition curator.
The exhibition year began daringly with “Evel Knievel: Happy Landings.” Evel Knievel’s helmet and white leather jumpsuit and other memorabilia were installed alongside his Harley Davidson motorcycle in the museum's Road Trans- portation Hall. The museum hosted “Closings: the Life and Death of an American Factory,” a documentary photography show from the North Carolina Museum of Art, examining one photographer's view of the last days of a North Carolina factory. The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service premiered “Americanos: Latino Life in the United States” at the museum in spring of 1999. This exhibit pre- sented 120 photographs displaying the breadth and variety of the Latino experience.
“A Visual Journey: The Lisa Law Photographs,” presented one woman’s view of the sweeping cultural changes of the 1960s, as well as their origins and results. Lisa Law docu- mented daily life, and the larger cultural and political events during this era, from the psychedelic music scene of San Francisco and Los Angeles to the spiritual and family-ori- ented world of commune life in New Mexico and Woodstock.
Showcase exhibitions included “Santo Pinhole: A Saint for Photography,” which examined a tribute to Ansel Adams by New Mexican artist Elizabeth Kay. “Feather Trade” cele- brated the centenary of American conservation with a look at the fad for feathered hats, hunting and collecting, and the beginning of the Audubon and conservation movement at the turn of the last century. “History in the News” case ex- hibits, spotlighting noteworthy or anniversary-related collections, included “Transistors: 50 Years Old” and a case entitled “Duke Ellington and the Smithsonian” as part of the Ellington centennial celebration.
The museum produced a wide variety of public programs, tours, outreach and educational programs, and hands-on learning opportunities. “Encuentros: Latino America at the Smithsonian” is a series of public programs that reflect the rich and distinctive contributions of Latinos to the history of the United States. In 1999, “Encuentros” programs included Puerto Rican guitarist Yomo Toro, a re-creating of the Car- naval de Ponce from Puerto Rico, the Ehecatl Aztec Dancers, Mexican-American performing artist Guillermo Gomez- Pefia, Ehecatl Aztec Dancers, painter and storyteller Carmen Lomas Garza, Washington’s own Latin American chamber choir Coral Cantigas, and the contemporary Chicano play The Last Angry Brown Hat. In addition, there were also fam-
Reports of the Museums and Research Institutes 29
ily workshops on santos and masking traditions, and a schol- arly conference on the “Legacies of 1898.”
For the 1999 centennial of Duke Ellington’s birth, the museum took a leadership role in the celebration. The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra led with “Duke Ellington: A Centennial Tribute,” a nationwide concert tour. It touched down in Washington, D.C., in February for the Duke Ellington rooth Birthday Celebration at the Kennedy Center, and in April presented Ellington’s three rarely per- formed sacred concerts at the Washington National Cathedral. In July, the orchestra embarked on its first-ever world tour, “Duke Ellington Cotton Club Revue,” visiting 14 cities and headlining in Canada, Europe, and the Middle East. The Program in African-American Culture continued its initiative to extend the Ellington Collection to teachers and students in Washington, D.C. On Ellington’s birth date, April 29, the museum and students from Washington, D.C., were linked via satellite with students in Kansas City, Mis- souri, and Cleveland, Ohio, for a distance learning experience that included live performances, lectures, and Ellington family guests. In addition, the museum hosted the Ellington Youth Festival, which included poetry readings and an art show. One of the key additions to the museum’s collection was the acquisition of archival material including music, correspondence, photographs, and newspaper articles relating to the activities of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, along with a Wurlitzer electronic piano and cigarette case owned and used by Ellington.
The Program in African-American Culture launched the multiyear series “African-Americans at the Millennium: From Middle Passage to Cyberspace.” The focus of PAAC’s annual conference was the Middle Passage, the second leg of the Atlantic slave trade triangle. This is a story of pain, sur- vival, and transformation—a historic episode that transformed millions of people from Africans to African- Americans and gave rise to the construction of a social category called race.
The Chamber Music Program hosted its season series of concerts for Washington, D.C., audiences. The centerpiece of the program, the Axelrod Quartet, traveled with the Stradi- varius quartet of instruments from the museum’s collections, performing on these masterpieces in Fort Worth, Texas, and Toronto, Canada.
Always a high point of the year, the museum’s annual “Holiday Celebration” drew more than 100,000 visitors in three days in December. Audiences sampled, participated in, and learned about the diverse ways American communities celebrate the holiday season through music, crafts, dance, and food.
FY 1999 saw the beginning of two new education pro- grams developed by the Education and Visitor Services Department. In collaboration with the District of Columbia Public Libraries and Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), the mu- seum launched a multiyear literacy and history education project called “The Story in History.” As part of the project, ten classes of fourth graders from metro area “at-risk” schools came to visit the museum’s Hands on History Room
(HOHR) twice. Each student had the opportunity to select three thematically related books to keep. In June, the chil- dren returned to the museum with their families for the culminating event of The Story In History, the Family Literacy Festival. This after-hours event featured award-winning au- thors reading from their books, storytellers, and related hands-on museum activities. Five hundred children, their families, and teachers attended. The second new program, “OurStory,” addresses the museum’s commitment to better serve families and children. Each program invites families to explore America’s past through museum objects, literature, and hands-on activities.
The annual Kids Learning History Conference took place at American History in April, cosponsored by the National History Alliance and the National Council for History Edu- cation. More than 275 teachers and museum educators attended workshops and seminars designed to help them bring innovative educational practices into their classrooms and local museums.
“Disability and the Practice of Public History” was an interdisciplinary conference for disability scholars, public history and museum professionals, exhibit developers, and activists on integrating ideas about people with disabilities into history content, beyond issues of access.
The museum Web site (http://americanhistory.si.edu) continues to expand and better serve our audiences. This year was a blockbuster for virtual exhibitions such as “Edison After 40,” “A Visual Journey: Photographs by Lisa Law,” “The Feather Trade,” and “Photographing History: Fred J. Maroon and the Nixon Years.” Other new sites focused on collections (“Parthian Coins” and the “Ellington Archive Virtual Tour and Program”) and events (“Encuentros,” the “Disability and the Practice of Public History” Conference, and the “Duke Ellington Anniversary Site,” which was nom- inated for a Smithsonian Institution Exhibition Award.
This year, the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation kicked off its 1999-2000 theme, “Invention at Play,” an exploration of the creative role of play in the in- ventive process and the importance of invention in American toys, games, and sports. The annual showcase exhibition, “Sporting Invention,” featured Howard Head’s skis and tennis rackets, along with a prototype of a snowboard accessi- ble to individuals with physical disabilities. To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Lewis Latimer, the Center commis- sioned the Brewery Troupe to create a puppet play about this African American inventor's life. “Lewis Latimer: Renais- sance Man” was performed at the museum in 1998 for school and family audiences, and in March 1999 a taped broadcast of the show aired in more than 6,000 schools nationwide. The puppets, depicting Lewis Latimer, Frederick Douglass, and Thomas Edison, are now part of the museum’s collection.
The Center’s ongoing program “Innovative Lives” intro- duces middle schoolers to living inventors. In 1999, Ann Moore, inventor of the Snugli baby carrier, and Newman Darby, inventor of the sport of windsurfing, came to the museum. To encourage use of invention and support research on invention, in 1999 the Center initiated the “Travel to
30 Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999
Collections Awards Program,” which offers transportation awards for scholars to come and study at the museum.
The Affiliations Program gained momentum. In 1999, the museum had a total of 21 affiliate relationships with muse- ums nationwide. Of those, eight active affiliations involve more than 350 loaned objects, with ro other affiliations in the planning stages. The largest and most active affiliate in 1999 was The National Museum of Industrial History (NMIH), a new museum that will be located at the former Bethlehem Steel Corporation mill in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. In 1999, American History dismantled its “1876: A Centennial Cele- bration” from the Arts and Industries Building after a 23-year run and sent it to Bethlehem. In addition, an American His- tory team shipped 100 artifacts weighing more than 50 tons from the Arts and Industries Building to Bethlehem. That in- cluded the “Great Locomotive Switch”: a Smithsonian rigging crew and two contracted rigging crews, with curatorial assis- tance from American History’s train experts, moved three Smithsonian locomotives to new homes. The Jupiter was moved into the railroad hall at American History. The Olo- mana and the 11-ton Pioneer of 1851 went to Bethlehem on long-term loan to the new museum, along with items such as an 1875 Otis elevator, steam engines, a tractor, machine tools, telegraphy equipment, and a windmill.
Other Allifiations involved with American History in- cluded the Chabot Observatory in Oakland, California. Eight objects, including six telescopes, from American His- tory’s physical science collection are going on long-term loan to the state-of-the-art observatory and planetarium. Origins, a museum and cultural center in Arlington, Texas, received items from American History’s sports history collection last year for installation at the Legends of the Game Museum in Rangers Stadium. The B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, and American History are exploring collaborative research, exhibit, and educational programs. The first tangi- ble step occurred in 1999, when American History lent the museum a nineteenth-century B&O signage drum that was used on a B&O caboose.
National Museum of the American Indian
W. Richard West, Director
The National Museum of the American Indian, established in 1989 by Public Law ror-185, is a hemispheric institution of living cultures dedicated to the preservation, study, and exhibition of the historic and contemporary life, languages, literature, history, and arts of Native Peoples. The museum also is dedicated to supporting and perpetuating contempo- rary Native cultures and communities.
Three days of events from September 26 to 28 celebrated key museum achievements as the National Museum of the American Indian also marked its first decade. The public opening of the Cultural Resources Center on September 26;
delivery of a seminal speech titled “Against All Odds” by NMAI Director W. Richard West to the national press corps about the purpose of the museum on September 27; and on September 28, a ground-breaking ceremony for the National Mall museum. The ground-breaking ceremony was covered by media from throughout the world and captured front- page attention in the Washington Post and the New York Times.
More than 1,500 museum members and others toured the new Cultural Resources Center (CRC) in Suitland, Mary- land, which eventually will house the museum’s entire 800,000-object collection. The collection is being moved from the Research Branch in the Bronx, New York. The CRC now serves as a research, study, and educational facility. At the Cultural Resources Center, which reflects Native design concepts and orientation thanks to extensive tribal consultations, indoor and outdoor ceremonial areas are avail- able to tribal delegations. There tribal elders and others can perform ceremonies and rituals with objects from the collec- tion connected to their tribes. NMAI Native artist fellows, Native interns, scholars, and researchers are other primary users of the Cultural Resources Center. Since its founding in 1989, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) has worked closely and collaboratively with tribes throughout the Western Hemisphere. The museum’s world-renowned collection has been available to tribes for inspection and ceremonial use. During these visits, tribal representatives have assisted the museum in identifying objects and explaining their traditional uses.
The museum’s Community Services Department works regularly with tribes throughout the hemisphere in cultural exchanges, workshops, and other programs. For example, a daylong workshop was held by the NMAI in Sonoma County, California, to introduce a new generation of basket weavers from Pomoan tribes to a sedge and willow gathering area that was not known to them. As development erases tra- ditional gathering areas for basket-making materials, connecting weavers to previously unknown sites helps to perpetuate their art and craft. The workshop was held in conjunction with an NMAI exhibition “Pomo Indian Basket Weavers, Their Baskets and the Art Market.” Pomo weavers, storytellers, dancers, and others tribal members participated in the exhibition programming and traveled to New York from California.
In the past year, NMAI’s interdisciplinary research has been focused in Peru and Mexico and the North American Plains, Southeast, and Southwest. Current research with and for indigenous communities is creating the inaugural exhibi- tions for the museum on the National Mall, which will encompass the worldview and philosophies, histories, and vi- talities of indigenous peoples.
NMAT’s curatorial staff is working collaboratively with the Seminole Tribe of Florida, Eastern Band of Cherokees of North Carolina, Oglala Lakota of South Dakota, and Quechua of Peru on the first several of approximately 40 tribal consultations that will be the basis of tribally curated exhibitions at the Mall museum. Tribes will also select ob- jects from the NMAI collection to represent their cultures in
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three planned exhibitions: “Our Universes,” “Our Peoples,” and “Our Lives.”
A December 2, 1999, gala for the benefit of the endow- ment fund of the museum’s George Gustav Heye Center endowment for the museum was held at the Pierre Hotel in New York City and resulted in a net profit of $1.2 million. U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye, NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, Ted Turner, Jane Fonda, and others helped to lead the event for the NMAI.
A new NMAI four-color 32-page quarterly publication named American Indian was developed during 1999 to replace the NMAT's use of Native Peoples magazine as well as the Run- ner and Quarterly Calendar. American Indian will be sent to all NMAI members beginning in January with a winter issue. The publication will focus the museum’s mission-driven work throughout the hemisphere and will present NMAI members with an insider's view of the museum. The publica- tion also will raise awareness of our development needs, as well as the progress of the Mall museum construction and programs and exhibitions at the GGHC.
Design and construction of the NMAI Mall museum was assumed by the Smithsonian in 1999. Assisting the Smith- sonian are Polshek Partnership, Tobey + Davis, joint venture architects; Johnpaul Jones (Cherokee/Choctaw), design con- sultant; Lou Weller (Caddo/Cherokee), design consultant; EDAW, landscape architects; Severud Associates, structural engineers; Cosentini Associates, mechanical/electrical engi- neers; Donna House (Navajo/Oneida), ethnobotanist landscape consultant; and Ramona Sakiestewa (Hopi), inte- rior design consultant.
National Museum of Natural History
Robert W. Fri, Director
The National Museum of Natural History enhances the un- derstanding of the natural world and humanity’s place in it. The museum’s researchers study natural and cultural diver- sity by collecting and identifying specimens of nature and human invention, establishing relationships among them, and explaining the underlying processes that generate, shape, and sustain their diversity. The close linkage among research, outreach, and collections stewardship is a hallmark of the museum, lending perspective and authenticity to its research and authority to its outreach.
With the opening of the Samuel C. Johnson Theater and the completion of work on the film Galapagos in 1999, the museum embraced a vivid and accessible new medium for presenting the diversity, complexity, and value of the natural world. The Johnson Theater and the other facilities in the new Discovery Center—the Atrium Café and the Museum Shops—promise to make the museum an even more reward- ing place to visit.
New initiatives and technologies are making the mu- seum the hub of a national network for science education.
Through live satellite links to the museum’s Electronic Classroom, students and teachers take part in electronic field trips and research presentations conducted by Museum staff. Each participating school receives an “expe- dition kit” so that during the broadcast students can conduct an experiment while watching the demonstration at the museum.
Conrad Labandeira and Peter Wilf of the Paleobiology Department reported in the journal Science on their study of insect damage on fossil plant assemblages in southwestern Wyoming. Their research demonstrated that insect herbi- vores responded by increased levels of herbivory and in the variety of damage types on host-plant species. Focusing on an interval of time from the Late Paleocene to Early Eocene (from 56 to 53 million years ago) that is associated with the greatest rise in global temperatures during the past 65 mil- lion years, they documented the first evidence in the fossil record of a long-term insect herbivore response to a major temperature shift.
Tim McCoy of the Department of Mineral Sciences has been investigating how lava flows solidify on the surface of Mars by studying the Martian meteorite Zagami from the Smithsonian meteorite collection. The presence of different rock layers in this meteorite, one of only 13 known to come from Mars, suggests that lava flows may break up over long cooling periods, a common process that future Mars explor- ers (robots and humans) might encounter.
The museum received an unprecedented four-year grant from the National Science Foundation to support 13 biology, geology, and anthropology students in the museum's Re- search Training Program. Each summer, the program offers 24 to 28 undergraduate students from around the world an opportunity to explore their research interests under the di- rection of museum scientists.
Working with private-sector partners Scansite 3D, Stein- bichler, and Virtual Surfaces, Inc., the museum’s Department of Paleobiology and Morphometrics Lab are producing a vir- tual Triceratops that can be examined and manipulated by computer. At the same time, scientists and conservators are restoring the original fossil Triceratops and making molds that will be used to cast Triceratops models for display and study at other institutions.
“Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People,” the first American exhibition exploring the 10,000-year-old culture of the native people of northern Japan, opened April 30, 1999. Produced by the museum’s Arctic Studies Center, the exhibi- tion and book of the same name were made possible in part by the generous financial assistance of the Nippon Founda- tion, Japan-United States Friendship Commission, and Japan Foundation.
The National Anthropological Archives received a grant from Save America’s Treasures, a partnership of the White House Millennium Council and the National Trust for His- toric Preservation, to preserve and make accessible a collection of 20,000 nineteenth-century Native American drawings. The drawings record their makers’ lives and their experience of western expansion.
32 Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999
National Portrait Gallery
Alan Fern, Director
The National Portrait Gallery is dedicated to the exhibition and study of portraits of people who have made significant contributions to American history and culture and to the study of the artists who created such portraiture. It collects, documents, and preserves portraits in all media as both his- torical and artistic artifacts.
An important exhibition exploring the world of science in the years surrounding the Revolutionary War—’Franklin & His Friends: Portraying the Man of Science in Eighteenth- Century America’—was organized by Brandon Brame Fortune, Assistant Curator of Painting and Sculpture, and Deborah J. Warner, Curator, Division of Science, Medicine, and Society, NMAH. Other exhibitions presented included “Theodore Roosevelt: Icon of the American Century,” “Philippe Halsman: A Retrospective,” “Paul Robeson: Artist and Citizen,” “George and Martha Washington: Portraits from the Presidential Years,” “Hans Namuth: Portraits,” “Picturing Hemingway: A Writer in His Time,” “Edward Sorel: Unau- thorized Portraits,” and “A Durable Memento: Portraits by Augustus Washington, African American Daguerreotypist.”
Major acquisitions included a bequest of the painting of Thomas Jefferson by Mather Brown. Gifts included portraits of Lafayette attributed to Pierre-Paul Prud’hon, General George S. Patton Jr. by Boleslaw Czedekowski, Henry James by Ellen Emmet Rand, Richard Watson Gilder by Cecilia Beaux, Washington Irving by Charles Loring Elliott, draw- ings of Edna Ferber, Gordon Bunshaft, David Sarnoff and William Paley by Louis Bouché, and Jamie Wyeth by Andy Warhol. Purchases included a donative purchase of 25 pho- tographs by Philippe Halsman, a full-length portrait of John F. Kennedy by Elaine de Kooning, a silhouette of Rufus King attributed to William Bache, and an oil sketch of Mike Mansfield by Aaron Shikler. A photograph of Rosa Parks by Ida Berman was acquired, along with photographs of Mo- hammed Ali, Malcolm X, and Stokely Carmichael by Gordon Parks, Ernest Hemingway by Yousuf Karsh, and a daguerreotype of Lemuel Shaw by Southworth & Hawes.
On January 9, 2000, the Gallery will close its doors to the public for approximately three years while the Old Patent Office Building, which houses the museum, undergoes a ma- jor renovation. Four new exhibitions drawn from more than 18,000 images in the Portrait Gallery’s collection and four shows previously exhibited in Washington will travel throughout the United States and to Japan and Europe while the museum is closed. The new exhibitions include a major group of portraits of the U.S. presidents based on the mu- seum’s renowned Hall of Presidents; 75 paintings spanning more than two centuries, including works by the most im- portant portrait artists the nation has produced; a wide-ranging group of 60 photographs of notable American women of the twentieth century portrayed by the preemi- nent photographers of our time; and a collection of extraordinary portrait drawings beginning with a luminous watercolor self-portrait by Mary Cassatt.
The Director's Circle, the first formal group of individual donors, was successfully created to bring a broad range of supporters together in an organized manner to support the Gallery's programs. In addition, an NPG Council is being planned to broaden the base of support by opening doors to foundations, corporations, and individuals on a national and international basis. The Gallery appreciates the funds it re- ceived this year from the Smithsonian’s Center for Latino Initiatives, Educational Outreach Fund, Scholarly Studies Program, and the Special Exhibitions Fund; American Her- itage Magazine, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, The J. Paul Getty Trust, Home Box Office, J.M. Kaplan Fund, Thomasville Furniture Industries, Inc., the Washington Post, the Washington Times, and WBIG-FM.
The Education Department received a major grant to de- velop, implement, and evaluate an expanded menu of outreach programs for our Washington, D.C., metropolitan area and national audiences. A series of 48 living history per- formances drew a combined audience of 3,230, and Hispanic Heritage Month programs featured a series of panel discus- sions and a series of U.S.-made Latino films, shorts, and documentaries. Close to 3,000 visitors enjoyed the varied sounds of July’s Courtyard Concert series, “The Age of Elvis: The Roots of Rock & Roll.” Visits to NPG’s award-winning Web site averaged approximately 180,000 per month. More than 4,000 digital images now accompany records on the newly implemented Collections Information System with various scanning projects in progress.
The Charles Willson Peale Family Papers submitted final page proofs and index to Yale University Press for volume 5 of the Selected Papers of Charles Willson Peale and His Family, The Autobiography of Charles Willson Peale. Publication is scheduled for spring 2000. Plans for volumes 6 and 7, to be comprised of selected letters and documents from the chil- dren of James and Charles Willson Peale, have been approved by the Advisory Board.
National Postal Museum
James H. Bruns, Director
The National Postal Museum, through its collection and li- brary, is dedicated to the preservation, study, and presentation of postal history and philately. The museum uses research, ex- hibits, education, and public programs to make this rich history available to a wide and diverse audience.
Remembering a Titanic Year
Since opening its doors in July 1993, the National Postal Museum has continued to work vigorously to improve its ex- hibits, exploring new, innovative methods for interpretation. The museum prides itself on its development of engaging and informative public programs, and interactive digital ex- hibitions for the Internet to expand the scope and reach of our exhibitions. The National Postal Museum regularly par-
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ticipates in both national and international philatelic and postal events. In Fiscal Year 1999, the staff of the National Postal Museum combined the energies and talents of its en- tire staff for a yearlong series of events, exhibitions, public programs, and on-line exhibits dedicated to telling the pow- erful story of the RMS Titanic. The official name of the great ship that could not be sunk was Royal Mail Ship Titanic. The great disaster claimed the lives of five sea post clerks as well as six million pieces of mail. Fiscal Year 1999 was truly a Ti- tanic year for the National Postal Museum.
The National Postal Museum was invited to exhibit “Posted Aboard RMS Titanic” at two venues in Melbourne, Australia from March through June 1999. “Posted Aboard RMS Titanic” marked the museum’s first traveling exhibi- tion and was seen by more than 250,000 visitors in Melbourne as part of the “Melbourne 99” international phil- atelic exposition. The exhibition was later installed in the Postmaster’s Gallery at the Australia Post in Melbourne. In May, “Posted Aboard RMS Titanic” was featured in San An- tonio, Texas, at the National Postal Forum in conjunction with the American Postal Workers Union.
Following these events, the museum installed and opened the complete “Posted Aboard RMS Titanic” at the National Postal Museum on September 17, 1999. The expanded exhi- bition featured large-scale murals of the ship, an exploration of sea post mail service, and paintings of the five sea post clerks who perished while attempting to save Titanic’s mail. The highlights of the exhibition were the extraordinary ob- jects removed from the bodies of the clerks recovered at sea. These included Oscar Scott Woody’s keys to Titanic’s mail room and John Starr March’s gold pocket watch eerily stopped at 1:27.
“Posted Aboard RMS Titanic’ was kicked off with a spec- tacular gala event with the museum’s supporters, leaders of the mailing industry, and leaders from the U.S. Postal Ser- vice. Educational and public programs, an interactive digital exhibition, and special tours carried this important story to an exceptionally broad audience. The exhibition is expected to travel to Smithsonian Affiliate museums in the future.
In addition to the concentrated effort on the Titanic exhi- bitions, the National Postal Museum installed three other major exhibitions. On October 6, 1998, “As Precious As Gold,” documenting the role of the Post Office during the 1896 Alaskan gold rush opened to the public. Immediately following this, “Mayhem by Mail,” exploring the world of postal inspectors and crime in the mail opened on October 16. Finally, in January, “Down With the Frauds!,” featuring a rare collection of revenue stamps used to regulate adulter- ated foods opened in the museum’s Rarities Gallery.
Collection Management
The 13-million-object collection of the National Postal Mu- seum is selectively expanded each fiscal year. In accordance with the collecting policy, the museum acquires rare or sig- nificant United States and international philatelic and postal history objects and routine amounts of U.S. stamp material from the U.S. Postal Service, Bureau of Engraving and Print-
ing, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In Fiscal Year 1999 the museum acquired a rare example of the first adhesive postage stamp on cover (the 1831 Greek 40-lepta charity tax or postage due issue). And special emphasis was placed on obtaining Titanic-related material for the exhibition “Posted Aboard RMS Titanic.”
Collection Management’s agenda targets every aspect of object care: research, retrieval, and distribution of object-re- lated data and images; object storage, shipping, and accountability; preservation and treatment; and observance of the legalities of custodianship over acquisitions and loans. Continued goals of the department are the greater accounta- bility, utilization and visibility, and better long-term care of the collection.
In Fiscal Year 1999 the museum began its first coopera- tive project with a Smithsonian Affiliate, The Women’s Museum: An Institute for the Future, located in Dallas, Texas. Staff worked with contracted facilitators to select mu- seum objects suitable for that museum’s inaugural exhibition.
More specialized collections became the focus of cata- loging and rehousing efforts. Work continued on rehousing the extensive U.S. certified plate proof collection. And with financial support from the Center for Latino Initiatives, early Honduran airmail proofs and overprinted postage stamps were linked to accession records, described and archivally housed for future research use. Specialized collections of mid-nineteenth to early twentieth-century Salvadoran phila- telic objects were also professionally conserved and archivally rehoused.
With a commitment to expanding and better utilizing object information, the Collection Management Department contracted for the installation of the relational database, The Museum System (edition 9.1). This system of related infor- mation modules will allow multiple users to access, update, and create information about every aspect of object and ob- ject-related activities. It also promises a future for public accessibility. Approximately 60,000 records were converted to Access format for final conversion into TMS records.
The lengthy assessment and stocking of the U.S. stamp collection continued. This project, which ultimately intends to build complete Master, Reference, and Exhibit collec- tions, has a short-term goal of producing a new U.S. stamp exhibit. In this period, one quarter of the exhibit material was assembled.
Department staff led a museum committee to assess the need for collections supplementary to the Registered Collec- tion and to create standards and definitions for their management. An eight-page draft, completed by Collection Management staff, proposed definitions and policies to address educational collections, exhibit props and nonacces- sioned collections. This draft will be attached to the museum’s revised Collection Management policy.
Education Department
The Education Department successfully attracted larger numbers of visitors to our public programs, to hands-on days
34 Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999
in the Discovery Center, and to our curricula publications than ever before. We reached out to two traditionally under- served constituent groups: pre-kindergarten students and the self-guided visitor. For pre-kindergarten children (ages 2—4), we developed a fanciful story-tour entitled “Let’s Deliver Mail.” Using a felt storyboard, students follow the mail de- livery adventures of three characters (a Little Letter, a Pretty Postcard, and a Big Package). They learn about a letter car- rier’s job, don mailbags to pick up and deliver mail to Owney the Dog in the museum’s atrium. To serve self- guided visitors, we created colorful, laminated self-guides that craftily invite the visitor to learn in every gallery.
The Education Department's other highlights for the year included continuing docent training classes who in turn, conducted literally thousands of tours for the public. The Education Department developed and hosted more than 20 engaging and interactive programs and lectures for visitors covering a wide range of postal history and philately. A new style of hands-on Discovery Center day was created with monthly themes, drawing an average of 50 visitors each two- hour session. Among the many public program offerings of the Education Department were a lecture and slide presenta- tion about the “Letters of Van Gogh” in January and the “Boys and Girls Club Absolutely Incredible Kids Day” in March where visitors wrote letters to homeless children that were particularly touching.
The Graceful Envelope Contest enjoyed another successful year with Nature as the contest theme for Fiscal Year 1999. Seventy-five winning envelopes were selected from the en- tries and displayed in a special exhibition from May to October. Similarly, the second Folk Art Mailbox Contest at- tracted many entries with photographs of five winning mailboxes displayed in the museum.
The Education Department continued its strong outreach efforts by distributing the “Classroom in a Can Lesson One: Cuneiform” to more than 1,000 Title 1 schools nationwide. In addition, the demand for Education Department publica- tions remained constant. The Education Department distributed 1,603 Postal Pack for Elementary Students, 542 Pen Friends, 611 Secondary School Postal Packs, and 1,000 Letters From Home publications.
National Zoological Park
Michael H. Robinson, Director
The mission of the National Zoo, established by Congress in 1889 as a Smithsonian bureau, is to encourage the advance- ment of science and the education and recreation of the people. The Zoo is carrying its founders’ visions into the new Millennium and positioning itself to respond to the looming biodiversity crisis.
When Director Michael Robinson arrived in 1984, he en- visioned transforming the Zoo into a “biopark,” where basic biology and conservation concepts could be explained by drawing examples from the best elements of zoos, botanic
gardens, and natural history museums. He also saw an op- portunity to cross-reference other Smithsonian museums where exhibits relate to themes one might encounter at the Zoo. Now, Robinson’s concept is embodied in many popular exhibits, including the recently opened American Prairie.
American Prairie Exhibit Opens
American Prairie, located along Olmsted Walk, opened on July 8. Two bison, numerous prairie dogs, and native plants introduce the prairie’s delicate ecological system. Reflecting the prairie theme, the bison shelter is reminiscent of the Great Plain’s sod-roofed barns.
Montali Research
An article by Dr. Richard Montali, chief of the National Zoo's pathology department, and Dr. Laura Richman, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, was published in the February 19, 1999, issue of Scvence. The article explained how the death of Kumari, the National Zoo's Asian elephant calf, led them to discover two new herpesviruses believed responsible for at least ten Asian and African elephant calves’ deaths in North America since 1983. It also points to solutions for successfully treating calves that contract the viruses. Thanks to Montali’s and Richman’s work, veterinarians successfully treated a similar infection using the drug famciclovir on a calf at a zoo in Springfield, Missouri.
Frog Fungus Identified
The Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation published a re- port by Don Nichols, NZP pathologist, describing an unusual skin disease he first observed in 1991 in a research colony of California toads. Nichols later found similar cases in two of the Zoo’s White's tree frogs and an ornate horned frog. He has also seen the disease in many of the Zoo’s young poi- son arrow frogs and in wild frogs from Arizona to Quebec.
Joyce Longcore, a world expert on fungi, identified the unique organism causing the disease as an aquatic fungus in the phylum Chytridiomycetes—the only fungus group that produces spores with flagella. In Mycologia, Longcore and Nichols named this new genus and species Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.
Nichols is now certain that the organism is responsible for the disease. He and Zoo biologist Elaine Lamirande note that fungal spores are attracted to keratin, present in frog skin and in the mouth of tadpoles, and that the fungal cul- tures prefer temperatures below 26° C. Nichols and Lamirande hope these clues will help develop techniques to combat the disease.
ELIPSE
The Zoo and its Conservation and Research Center, along with the National Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, have collabo- rated with the Institute for Conservation Biology to bring the Smithsonian's resources to the Miami Latino community.
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Steven Monfort directs the effort, known as ELIPSE (Envi- ronmental Latino Initiative Promoting Science Education).
This project has forged a network between Smithsonian researchers and several Southern Florida organizations—the Zoological Society of Florida, the Miami Museum of Science and the Miami-Dade County Public School system.
Hsing-Hsing’s Health
Hsing-Hsing, the Zoo's giant panda, experienced serious health problems during the spring. For several years he re- sponded to treatment for arthritis, but this spring, he experienced lethargy and appetite loss. When veterinarians anaesthetized him, the exam revealed incurable progressive kidney dysfunction. Hsing has responded to medication, but his long-term prognosis is not good.
Panda Negotiations
Ben Beck, Devra Kleiman, and Lisa Stevens, three Zoo staffers with long-term panda involvement, traveled to China in late June to discuss details of an agreement that might bring new pandas to the Zoo. Zoo staff hope the Chi- nese will consider the Zoo’s proposal because of its contributions to medical, behavioral, nutritional, and demo- graphic wild panda studies. As of late August, the request is still under negotiation.
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Irwin I. Shapiro, Director
Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the scientific staff at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) carries out a wide variety of research programs in astronomy and astrophysics, Earth and space science, and science education in close collaboration with the Harvard College Observatory (HCO). The combined staff now numbers nearly 300 scientists, with many holding joint appoint- ments. Together, the two observatories form the Harvard- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) to coordinate related activities under a single director.
Research is organized in seven divisions, with an addi- tional department devoted to science education. And, while both observatories retain their separate identities, the com- bined CfA staff actively cooperates, conducting programs of study among the following divisions and department: Atomic and Molecular Physics, High Energy Astrophysics, Optical and Infrared Astronomy, Planetary Sciences, Radio and Geoastronomy, Solar and Stellar Physics, Theoretical As- trophysics, and Science Education.
Facilities
Observational facilities include the multipurpose Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO) on Mt. Hopkins in Arizona and the Oak Ridge Observatory in Massachusetts.
The major instrument on Mt. Hopkins is the multiple mir- ror telescope (MMT), operated jointly with the University of Arizona. Also located at the FLWO are a 10-m-diameter re- flector to detect gamma rays, a 1.2-m imaging optical/infrared telescope, and a 1.5-m spectroscopic tele- scope; it also houses a 1.3-m optical telescope, operated by the University of Massachusetts and other partners, and an optical and infrared interferometer (IOTA), built in collabo- ration with the universities of Massachusetts and Wyoming and MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory.
Major support facilities in Cambridge include a panoply of computers connected by a local area network, a central en- gineering department, a machine shop, a large astronomical library, design and drafting capability, and in-house printing and publishing services.
Special laboratories are maintained for the petrologic and mineralogic studies of meteorites and lunar samples, for the spectroscopy of atoms and molecules, and for the develop- ment of instrumentation, including advanced electronic detectors and atomic maser clocks. Major research endeavors include the development of a Submillimeter Array (SMA) (a joint project with the Institute of Astronomy and Astro- physics of Taiwan’s Academia Sinica) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and the conversion of the MMT to a single-mirror telescope 6.5 m in diameter.
SAO instrumentation is also operating in space. For exam- ple, the ultraviolet coronagraph spectrometer (UVCS) conducts ongoing studies of the Sun’s corona, one of a suite of experiments aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observa- tory (SOHO) spacecraft launched in 1995. In addition, development of new instrumentation for other space mis- sions led to two successful launches during the year—the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) in Decem- ber and, in July, a similar successful launch and deployment of the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Further, the Science Education Department conducts sev- eral programs designed to improve the teaching of precollege science and mathematics, partly through the use of examples from astronomy. These programs include the de- velopment of curriculum materials and videos, and the training of precollege educators.
Numerous facilities serving the general astronomical com- munity are located at the CfA in Cambridge as well. The Institute for Theoretical Atomic and Molecular Physics, es- tablished in 1988 to attact and encourage talented graduate students to enter this field, emphasizes study of fundamental questions in atomic and molecular physics. Other services include the International Astronomical Union’s Central Bu- reau for Astronomical Telegrams and the Minor Planet Center, both of which disseminate information on astronom- ical discoveries worldwide. The gateway for SIMBAD, an international astronomical computer database, is also located at the Cambridge site, as is Harvard’s extensive collection of astronomical photographic plates, the largest in the world. In addition, on behalf of NASA, SAO operates the astro- physics data system (ADS), as well as the flight control center for AXAF and the AXAF Science Center—now re- named the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Chandra
36 Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999
X-ray Center, respectively. And, SAO continues to provide guest observer facilities for investigators using the Roentgen X-ray satellite (ROSAT), a joint venture of Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Research Highlights
The Chandra X-ray Observatory, one of NASA's “Great Ob- servatories” and a landmark U.S. mission, was successfully deployed from the Space Shuttle in July 1999. SAO played a lead role in designing Chandra, and operates it from the Chandra Operations Control Center in Cambridge. Chandra has been orbiting Earth and is sending back a steady stream of spectacular X-ray images. SAO is also the site of the Chandra Observatory Science Center, which coordinates re- search of the space observatory, and receives and archives its data for the world’s astronomical community.
The Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite, designed by SAO for NASA, was launched from a Pegasus-XL vehicle on December 5, 1998, and began its routine operations. SWAS is the first spaceborne observatory to operate at sub- millimeter wavelengths and has been giving astronomers new clues to some old cosmic mysteries, including how stars—and their accompanying planets—are born. For exam- ple, SWAS discovered that large amounts of water seem to pervade the interstellar medium, with particularly copious amounts in the huge molecular clouds thought to be the in- cubators of newborn stars. By contrast, SWAS has so far failed to detect molecular oxygen in those same interstellar clouds.
SAO continued its leadership in solar studies in 1999. For nearly four decades, solar scientists have been puzzled by the fact that the high-speed portion of the solar wind travels twice as fast as predicted by theory, with some particles reaching velocities of 2 million miles per hour as they stream out of the Sun and wash over the entire solar system. Now, observations made with instruments built by SAO and flown aboard NASA's Spartan 201 spacecraft and the international Solar and Heliospheric Observatory have revealed a surpris- ing explanation for this mystery: Magnetic waves propel the particles through the corona like surfboarders riding the crests of a cosmic sea. The Sun’s outermost atmosphere, or corona, is an extremely tenuous, electrically charged gas that is seen from Earth only during a total eclipse of the Sun by the Moon, when it appears as a shimmering white veil sur- rounding the black lunar disk. Using ultraviolet coronagraph spectrometers on Spartan and SOHO to create artificial eclipses, SAO scientists detected rapidly vibrating magnetic fields within the corona that form magnetic waves that, in turn, seem to accelerate the solar wind. The electri- cal charges of the solar-wind particles, or ions, force them to spiral around the invisible magnetic lines. When the lines vibrate, as they do in a magnetic wave, the spiraling ions are accelerated out and away from the Sun. Indeed, SAO scien- tists believe there are magnetic waves in the corona with many different “wiggling periods,” or frequencies. Thus, these waves can accelerate various solar-wind particles at dif- ferent rates. For example, SAO researchers found,
surprisingly, that the heavier oxygen ions actually move faster than the lighter hydrogen ions.
The popular image of nascent planetary systems as thin, spinning pancakes of cosmic dust and debris may be changed by a new computer model that shows such disks are trans- formed into distinct rings once Pluto-like bodies form. By analyzing Hubble Space Telescope images of a suspected young planetary system recently discovered around the star HR 4796A, SAO scientists and their colleagues produced a computer model that suggests that rings around new plane- tary systems are common features. Indeed, the well-known Kuiper Belt of asteroids in our own solar system may be the residual remains of such a ring.
Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives
Refugio |. Rochin, Director
The Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives, established in 1998, has as its mission to advance knowledge and under- standing of Latino contributions to U.S. history, culture, and society. In January 1999, the Board of Regents approved the establishment of the Smithsonian National Board for Latino Initiatives. In September 1999, the Regents approved the first members of the board, including representation from the academic, corporate, mass media, public, and nonprofit sectors. The board will provide advice, support, and expert- ise on Latino history, culture, art, and science and help develop the financial base for Latino initiatives at the Insti- tution. National interest in Smithsonian programs on Latinos is strong, and opportunities for expanding activities on Latinos are improving. Staff at the center increased from four to nine to bolster the center’s capacity for outreach, fund raising, training, Web site development, and research. During its inaugural year, the center promoted dialogues with Latino-related museums, cultural centers, and academic programs throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. Partners in programming included the Smithsonian’s affilia- tions programs in San Antonio, San Jose, and Miami, as well as the Inter-University Program for Latino Research (IUPLR), a national consortium of Latino studies centers. The center's summer workshop and research fellowships brought 20 schol- ars to the Smithsonian to work on projects and to learn from Smithsonian curators, researchers, and project managers. The center joined with the Argentine Embassy to honor Argentine archaeologist Alberto Rex Gonzales for his eminent contribu- tions in natural history. He received the Smithsonian Bicen- tennial Medal from Secretary I. Michael Heyman. The center’s director received the Partnership Award from the Hispanic Caucus of the American Association for Higher Education. The center developed its Web site (www.si.edu/latino) with national links to major programs for research, educa- tion, and museum studies. The purpose of the Web site is to make available and known the riches of Latino history and culture and to advance communication, collaboration,
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and network building among organizations serving Latino communities.
The Latino Initiatives Fund, administered by the center, contributed to more than 45 projects within the Smithson- ian. Among them were “Arriba! The History of Aviation in Latin America” at the National Air and Space Museum; a photography exhibition on Los Angeles Latino communities, “El Nuevo Mundo/The New World,” at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum; and studies of Latino musicians and writers, business entrepreneurs, and religious image carvers (santeros) at the National Museum of American His- tory. The National Museum of American History, National Museum of Natural History, National Portrait Gallery, and National Zoo received funds to develop educational pro- grams for Latino youth and communities. Several cultural events by Latino artists, educators, and performers were part of the outreach.
The Latino music tradition is a major concern of the cen- ter and the core of a long-term initiative including exhibits, performances, and research. In 1999, the center and The Smithsonian Associates cosponsored “Musica de las Améri- cas,” an acclaimed series of performances and scholarly panels exploring the influence of Latin music on the musical and cultural heritage of the United States.
With the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, the center produced the widely acclaimed exhibition “Americanos: Latino Life in the United States,” which will travel through the United States until 2003. In partnership with Time Warner, an exhibition sponsor, the center has de- veloped a visitor brochure and a related poster exhibit for schools.
Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education
Lambertus van Zelst, Director
The Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Educa- tion (SCMRE) is the Smithsonian’s specialized facility dedicated to research and training in the area of conserva- tion, analysis, and technical study of museum collections and related materials. Conservation and preservation research seeks to increase our understanding of the mechanisms that affect the preservation of materials in museum collections, in order to formulate improved exhibit, storage, and other use conditions, as well as to develop, test, and improve treat- ment technology. In collections-based research, objects from museum collections and related materials are studied to in- crease their contextual information value and address questions in archaeology, art history, etc. Several of these re- search programs are conducted in collaboration with other institutions, notably the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, and the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
The international collaborative research program on the applications of these techniques in Latin American archaeol-
ogy, coordinated by SCMRE and sponsored by the interna- tional Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), concluded its second year with a successful workshop in Cuzco (Peru). SCMRE also cosponsored the Conference on Modern Trends in Acti- vation Analysis hosted by the National Institute for Standards and Technology.
Research continued on historic and prehistoric technolo- gies, on the preservation of natural history collections and the potential to recover molecular information from such collections, and on the mechanical and chemical properties of a wide variety of materials in museum collections and their implications on the preservation of objects in such col- lections.
This year, SCMRE and Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California, agreed to develop joint programs in re- search, education, and outreach focused on the history of the California missions and aiming specifically at a Hispanic American audience. Initial research will examine production and distribution of ceramics at the California missions, and is intended to result in a variety of educational offerings, in- cluding exhibit programs and curriculum units for secondary schools.
SCMRE continued a series of education and outreach ac- tivities based on technical information obtained from studies of santos, objects of veneration art specific to the Hispanic American cultural traditions. This year the laboratory organ- ized the exhibit “A Closer Look at Santos/Una Mirada mas Profunda a los Santos,” which had its first showing at the de Saisset Museum in Santa Clara, California. This bilingual ex- hibit, centered around four santos from the de Saisset Museum and the National Museum of American History, fo- cused on aspects of materials and techniques and the scientific methodologies employed in the technical studies.
Continuing the offerings of its Research Libraries and Archives Conservation Training (RELACT) program, SCMRE this year organized, hosted, and conducted, in col- laboration with the International Centre for the Study of the Conservation and the Restoration of Cultural Property (IC- CROM), an intergovernmental organization based in Rome, Italy, a six-week international course on Preservation Princi- ples for Paper-based Collections. This course, attended by 11 professionals from archives in countries in Africa, Asia, Aus- tralia, and Europe, integrated technical and managerial issues involved in the preservation and use of archival collec- tions. An innovative, Web-based curriculum designed for this course will remain available and accessible for profes- sionals worldwide, and serve in future offerings of similar courses in various regions in the western hemisphere.
SCMRE'’s Archaeological Conservation Training Program continued to serve an audience of conservation professionals, archaeologists and museum collection care staff. A number of conservators and conservation students received practical training experiences at archaeological sites in Harappa (Pak- istan), Copaén (Honduras), and Aguateca (Guatemala). At the same time, archaeologists and archaeology students active in field schools at these sites, as well as local professionals in the cultural sector, received training in conservation and preservation principles for archaeological materials during
38 Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999
excavation and subsequent laboratory processing and storage, through demonstrations, workshops, and lectures.
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Ross Simons, Director
The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) is a major international research and education center dedi- cated to understanding the ecological dynamics and human impacts in land/sea interactions of the coastal zone. SERC carries out research from Prince William Sound, Alaska, to the Antarctic Ocean; and from the farmlands of the Chesa- peake Bay watershed to the Mangroves of Central America.
SERC scientists recently published a series of journal arti- cles on a 25-year study of stream discharges of materials from the Rhode River watershed. The studies, begun by Dr. David Correll, revealed in unprecedented detail the relation- ships between stream discharges and precipitation. Storms had an especially big effect on particulate materials in stream water. The establishment of a beaver dam on one watershed led to significant retention of nutrients. Unexpected long- term declines in discharges of silicate may reduce the growth of silicate-dependent phytoplankton, which help support the food chain in the Rhode River and Chesapeake Bay.
Drs. Gallegos, Jordan, and Neale received a three-year, $510,181 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) to become a pilot site in a network of long-term, intensively monitored coastal index sites. The Coastal Intensive Site Network (CISNet) is part of Phase II of U.S. EPA’s Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP). CISNet is being established to provide a network of “outdoor laboratories” at which research and monitoring will be conducted to establish linkages between observed changes in environmental stressors and concomi- tant changes in ecological resources. The grant will allow SERC scientists to supplement ongoing measurements of nutrient fluxes from the watershed with new instrumenta- tion to monitor estuarine optical properties, namely spectral absorption and scattering coefficients. Research to interpret the monitored data will focus on three areas: (1) research to interpret estuarine optical properties in terms of the concen- trations of water quality parameters that are indicative of eutrophication and sediment pollution; (2) manipulative ex- periments to establish the response of i” sztw concentrations of water quality parameters to inputs of nutrients (both watershed discharge and atmospheric deposition) and partic- ulate matter on event to interannual time-scales; (3) process level research to examine the effects of solar UV (and espe- cially UV-B) radiation on nearshore plankton communities, as influenced by estuarine optical properties. The research is expected improve the environmental decision-making process, by establishing comparative mechanisms by which nutrient inputs by watershed discharge and precipitation af- fect trophic structure of an estuary, resulting in measurable
and interpretable variations in estuarine optical properties on multiple time-scales.
One SERC program investigates the harmful effects of so- lar UV-B radiation, which is intensifying worldwide. Dr. Patrick Neale and his colleagues showed that UV-B absorb- ing pigments in a common form of Chesapeake Bay algae (dinoflagellates) protect against damage to photosynthesis. This finding resolved a controversy about whether such “sunscreens” really protect single-celled organisms only a few thousandths of an inch in diameter. New SERC studies in the Chesapeake Bay, Gulf of Mexico and the Southern Ocean near Antarctica investigate effects of UV-B on the growth of aquatic bacteria. Such effects may influence global nutrient cycles.
Another SERC program examines the effects of global in- creases in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Dr. Bert Drake led the ongoing, long-term study of a scrub-oak forest at the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge on Cape Canaveral, Florida. The research showed that the effects of the severe drought during 1998 were to some extent mitigated by increasing at- mospheric carbon dioxide. Scrub oak exposed to a level of carbon dioxide that we expect to occur during the next cen- tury used water more efficiently and therefore continued to grow even at the height of the drought. In contrast, oaks ex- posed to normal ambient carbon dioxide were so severely stressed that their abilities to assimilate atmospheric carbon dioxide and to grow were severely repressed. These results confirm that at least some effects of rising atmospheric car- bon dioxide have a positive effect on native species plant species.
SERC researchers directed by Dr. Jess Parker completed a 10-year study of development in local forests using an exten- sive network of plots in forests of different ages. The results show how forests change over time in structure, growth, and diversity. The way a patch of vegetation changes when left alone is an important component of how entire landscapes change—the other dominant component is change caused by external events, such as the disturbance by human modifica- tions, by natural disasters, and by pests. One SERC forest was mapped in particularly great detail. A large cadre of vol- unteers helped map the large, canopy trees in a 43-hectare (107-acre) area around SERC's forest research tower. The de- tailed study provides insight on the main factors controlling how trees are distributed within the main type of forest in the SERC vicinity: the tolerance of moisture and shade and the effects of past human modifications to the land.
Parker has also extended his forest studies to include a broad survey of light transmittance patterns measured in tropical, subtropical, western conifer, and eastern deciduous forest canopies. This survey is showing the importance of de- velopmental stage, forest type, and disturbance on how light is distributed in forests, and will likely have some implica- tions for forest management.
Future studies of forests will be aided by SERC's recent development of a portable laser system for sensing forest canopy structure. The prototype system has been deployed both from the ground, carried by a person on a backpack, and from the air, supported by a helicopter. Such a system
Reports of the Museums and Research Institutes 39
has a potentially wide application in forest survey, experi- mentation, and management.
SERC's studies of forest ecology also extend to understory plants. One such plant, is Arisaema, commonly known in the United States as Jack-in-the-pulpit, a genus of woodland herbs common to the forests of both eastern North America and Japan. Each species is dioecious (with separate male and female plants), but individual plants experience sex changes during its growth process. Their vase-like flowers are used extensively by many species of insects, including herbivores, predators, parasites, fungivores, and detritivores. Recent studies by Dr. Ilka Feller have revealed similar patterns of sex-biased herbivory and community structure in North America and Japan. This study helps to understand how nat- ural communities of organisms are organized and what factors control plant-animal interactions.
Another plant ecology study at SERC focused on orchids. Orchids are the most diverse family of flowering plants on Earth, and many species, particularly species of terrestrial habitats such as forests, bogs, and fens, have become endan- gered because of human activities. Development of restoration plans for threatened and endangered terrestrial orchids requires an understanding of the ecological relation- ships that exist between the orchids and the mycorrhizal fungi that they host. Particularly important is an under- standing of the relationships between mycorrhiza and orchid seeds and seedlings, life history stages, which are difficult to study in nature. SERC scientists had previously developed a technique to study the germination of orchid seeds in na- ture. More recently they have used isolation techniques to develop a large collection of orchid mycorrhiza for use in lab- oratory and field experiments. Dr. Dennis Whigham of SERC and collaborators from Denmark, Oregon State Uni- versity, and York University in the United Kingdom have recently used molecular, morphological, and physiological techniques to determine that most of the terrestrial orchids that they are studying host several different mycorrhiza. Seeds of several of the orchid species being studied germi- nate without orchid mycorrhiza, but they germinate faster when mycorrhiza are present. Seeds of other orchids will not germinate at all unless they are exposed to very specific or- chid mycorrhiza. Perhaps most importantly, SERC researchers have demonstrated that orchid seedlings need to become infected with mycorrhiza very soon after germina- tion in order for them to survive and grow. They are also finding that the spatial distribution of orchid mycorrhiza in nature is highly variable at very small scales. These results suggest that restoration plans, to be successful, will require a much greater understanding of the habitat requirements of orchid mycorrhiza. The SERC research to date has revealed for the first time the high level of complexity that exists be- tween terrestrial orchids, their mycorrhiza, and the environments where both occur.
SERC's Invasion Biology Program, directed by Dr. Gre- gory Ruiz, continues to be the nation’s leading center for research and analysis of biological invasions in coastal marine ecosystems. Currently, the transport of ballast water in com- mercial ships is the most important mechanism of species
introduction in the coastal zone, because it moves large numbers of planktonic larvae and micro-organisms from port to port across oceans. SERC is the home of the National Bal- last Water Information Clearinghouse, which is developing a database of ballast water released by all ships arriving from foreign ports to all U.S. ports. The database will be used to determine patterns of ballast water delivery and compared to biological invasions in U.S. coastal waters. During the past year, SERC scientists completed an analysis of the history of biological invasions of Chesapeake Bay, providing the most detailed summary of introduced species for any region in the world. SERC experiments aboard oil tankers headed for Port Valdez, Alaska, tested ways to rid ballast water of potentially invasive species transported on ships.
This year there was a big success story for SERC exemplify- ing public-private partnership. Major corporate support was received from the Mills Corporation for SERC’s outreach ac- tivities. Donations from the Mills Corporation supported SERC's first traveling school exhibition, “Tales of the Blue Crab.” The exhibition illustrates the ecology of the blue crab and is directly tied to national science curriculum standards. The innovative exhibition was dedicated at a gala ceremony and reception held at the Institutions Arts and Industries Building in Washington. Smithsonian Provost Dennis O’Con- nor, SERC Director Ross Simons, and Victoria Jenkins of the Mills Corporation, corporate underwriter of the exhibition, addressed specially invited guests, who included members of the U.S. Congress and their staffs and Smithsonian benefac- tors. The exhibition will begin traveling to schools throughout the mid-Atlantic region in the fall of 1999.
The Mills Corporation also provided support for SERC’s public lecture series “An Ecological History of the Chesa- peake Bay.” This well-attended lecture series featured both SERC's PI’s and guest speakers who provided attendees a wealth of knowledge regarding the complex interrelation of cultural and scientific history on one of America’s most im- portant and cherished waterways.
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Ira Rubinoff, Director
During FY 1999, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Insti- tute (STRI) hosted more than 500 visiting scientists and students who joined the STRI scientific staff of 33 in their efforts to enrich our knowledge about tropical environments, biologically the richest on our planet.
Several STRI staff scientists, visiting researchers, and stu- dents initiated research programs at STRI’s Bocas del Toro field station in Isla Colon on the Caribbean coast of Panama that was opened in FY 1998. STRI staff scientists Nancy Knowlton and Hector Guzman are conducting research on corals, Penelope Barnes is studying sea grasses and mollusks, and Candy Feller and Catherine Lovelock from the Smith- sonian Environmental Research Center are studying mangroves. Anthony Coates and Jeremy Jackson, STRI
40 Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999
scientists, are continuing their work on the Panama Paleon- tology Project, which studies the 20-million-year history of the ecological and evolutionary consequences of the rise and closing of the Isthmus of Panama.
At another research site in Panama at Sardinilla, Colon, engineers from the Brookhaven National Laboratories of the Department of Energy, who participate in a collaborative project with STRI, McGill University, the University of Panama, and the Universidad Catélica Santa Maria La An- tigua, set up the equipment and conducted successfully the first test run of the FACE project (Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment project) ring. The equipment, used for the first time in the tropics, was tested to determine how it re- sponded to Panama’s wet and dry season conditions. The FACE project aims to understand the consequences of future emissions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, particularly on the regeneration of forest. Due to the high costs of carbon dioxide that are released to simulate future emission levels, the continuation of this project will depend on securing funds for its future operation.
At Panama's Metropolitan Natural Park, visiting scien- tists Stephen Mulkey, Kaoru Kitajima, and Eric Graham, from the University of Florida, with Joseph Wright of the STRI staff used the canopy access system to study the effects of the atmospheric phenomenon of “La Nifia” on tropical for- est. As part of this experiment, they installed high-intensity lamps on the crowns of two trees to augment sunlight dur- ing cloudy and rainy periods. Their preliminary results indicated that tropical trees may be light-limited during part of the year. This would suggest that the increase in cloud coverage produced by La Nifia could potentially have an impact on the carbon dioxide uptake of tropical forest.
STRI fellows Cameron Currie and Ulrich Muller with Ted R. Schultz, a curator of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and researchers at the University of Toronto advanced our knowledge of the evolution of the mu- tually beneficial relationship between ants of the genus Attini and the fungus they cultivate as their sole food source. Their findings demonstrate that this relationship is extraor- dinarily complex and could be quite recent: Ants can acquire a new fungus from the wild or from different ant groups. They also discovered a highly specialized fungus that can at- tack the ants’ fungal gardens, and another mutually beneficial relationship between the ants and actinomycete bacteria, which help maintain the ants’ garden suitable for their fungal crop. This research was highlighted in the New York Times Science Section on August 3, 1999.
During FY 1999 STRI scientists, visitors, and students published the results of their studies in 203 scholarly publi- cations. This included books such as Tropical Forest Ecology: A View from Barro Colorado (Oxford University Press: 1999) by staff scientist Egbert G. Leigh, Jr.; A Paleobiotic Survey of Caribbean Faunas from the Neogene Isthmus of Panama (Allen Press: 1999), a collection of papers edited by visiting scien- tist Laurel S. Collins and Anthony G. Coates, STRI; and Peces del Pacifico Tropical Oriental (1998) by Gerard R. Allen and STRI scientist D. Ross Robertson, a Spanish translation
of a guide of Pacific fishes from the Gulf of California to the Galapagos, supported by a grant to STRI from the Smith- sonian’s W. Atherton Seidell Endowment Fund. STRI-affiliated authors published three papers in Sczence and two in Nature and contributed to the diffusion of scientific knowledge through the publication of a bilingual guide (Spanish-English) on The Amphibians of Barro Colorado Nature Monument, Soberania National Park and Adjacent Areas (1999) by Roberto D. Ibafiez, A. Stanley Rand, and César A. Jaramillo. This guide is also accompanied by STRIs first CD, which includes frog vocalizations produced by the same authors, in conjunction with Michael J. Ryan, visiting scien- tist from the University of Texas at Austin. Another major publication aimed at non-scientific audiences produced this year was La Cuenca del Canal: Deforestacién, Urbanizacion y Contaminacion, edited by Stanley Heckadon-Moreno, Roberto D. Ibafiez, and Richard Condit (STRI: 1999). This publica- tion was the summary of a three-year environmental monitoring study of the Panama Canal Watershed, con- ducted by STRI, affiliated with Panama’s National Environmental Authority (ANAM), and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID).
Another major accomplishment of the year was STRI’s signing the five-year agreement with Panama's National En- vironmental Authority (ANAM) that permits STRI-affiliated scientists to carry out a project designed to link conservation of Panamanian biodiversity with bio- prospecting for novel products for medicine and agriculture. This project, which will be conducted jointly with laborato- ries at the University of Panama and Panama’s Ministry of Health, developed from basic information on tropical forest trees and insects produced by studies at STRI’s field station on Barro Colorado Island. Funding for the project was pro- vided by the National Institutes of Health through a competitive grant process of the International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups (ICBG) program.
In addition to providing opportunities for research in the tropics, STRI promotes training in its research areas. During FY 1999, STRI hosted two undergraduate field programs, with Princeton and McGill Universities, as well as held its annual field course for University of Panama students from July 18 to 26 at STRI Gigante Peninsula, a part of the Barro Colorado Nature Monument. For the first time this year, STRI cosponsored a six-week intensive eco-tourism guide training course with the local tourism industry and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Many STRI scien- tists participated along with international and local instructors in this course from April 19 through May 28, which responded to Panama’s Tourism, Conservation and Research (TCR) Action Plan, designed to develop a sustain- able tourism industry.
STRI continued its outreach efforts in FY 1999, with the presentation of the traveling exhibition “Our Reefs: Caribbean Connections” in Belize, City, Belize, during the month of November. STRI’s exhibition “Parting the Green Curtain,” which explains how the isthmus of Panama and STRI research has contributed to the development of tropi-
Reports of the Museums and Research Institutes 4]
cal biology, was on view at the Costa Rican National Mu- seum in June 1999.
STRI's major administrative accomplishment in FY 1999 was the designation in 1998 of six transition committees inte- grated by 34 STRI employees to handle diverse aspects of the changes in STRI’s employment systems and administration procedures that were necessary to comply with the Panaman- ian legislation when the Panama Canal Treaties ended on December 31, 1999. The committees included a transitions committee, procedures, policies and operations committee, human resources committee, human relations committee, communications committee, and evaluations committee. This effort was directed by Leonor Motta, executive officer; An- thony Coates, deputy director; and Monica Alvarado, transition coordinator. Several activities for STRI employees were organized by the Human Relations committee through the year, which included a column on employee accomplish- ments in the STRI newsletter, a series of talks on STRI work and activities at Culebra Exhibits Center, Cerro Juan Diaz, and a trip on the STRI research vessel, the R.V. Urraca.
After successfully leading the STRI transition process, Leonor G. Motta retired on August 31 as STRI’s executive officer, after being at this position for 15 years. Natacha Chandler was hired in July 1999 as STRI's new in-house attorney. Eileen Jones, associate director for grants and ad- ministration for the STRI development office in Washington, D.C., retired in January 1999. One of STRI’s first staff scientists, Neal G. Smith, who had come to work as a biologist for the Canal Zone Biological Area in 1963, retired in December 1998 and was appointed scientist emeritus in January 1999. Staff scientist Robin Foster re- signed to accept an endowed, full-time position at the Field Museum in Chicago. He will continue affiliated as a re- search associate, collaborating with STRI’s Center for Tropical Forest Science. I. Fang Sun, professor at Tunghai University in Taiwan, was selected as the Asia Program Coordinator for STRI’s Center for Tropical Science. On Sep- tember 30, 1999, STRI had 192 employees, who actively contributed to its mission of conducting and facilitating tropical research.
Reports of Education, Museum, and Scholarly Services
National Science Resources Center
Douglas M. Lapp
The National Science Resources Center (NSRC), established in 1985 and operated jointly by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Academies (including the National Acad- emy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council), works to improve science education in the nation’s elementary and secondary schools. In addition to developing science ma- terials for classroom use, the NSRC collects and disseminates information about exemplary science teaching resources and sponsors outreach activities to help school districts develop, implement, and sustain inquiry-centered science programs.
The NSRC’s reform strategy begins with the assumption that informed leadership at all levels is critical in developing and implementing a new vision for science education reform. The NSRC conducts leadership development institutes to help identify and develop effective leaders within school dis- tricts and their local communities. It also provides ongoing technical assistance to catalyze and maintain science educa- tion reform efforts.
The NSRC’s mission is to—
¢ Develop effective teaching materials for precollege science education.
¢ Collect and disseminate information on science teaching resources.
¢ Develop informed leaders to spearhead local, regional, and state science education reform efforts.
¢ Provide technical assistance to help school systems im- prove their science programs.
¢ Create networks of individuals and organizations that will promote the exchange of knowledge and experience useful to the improvement of science education.
During fiscal year 1999 the NSRC focused mainly on science curriculum development and outreach efforts. In the area of curriculum development, work on the first four mod- ules in the Science and Technology Concepts for Middle Schools (STC/MS) curriculum reached completion. These modules are unique in they have undergone an extensive, two-year research and development process. Nineteen sites were involved in the national field testing of these modules during the past year. The feedback from the teachers, stu- dents, parents, and technical reviewers provided direction for the curriculum developers to refine these materials and ready them for commercial use.
Also in the area of curriculum development, the NSRC published the final STC Discovery Decks. These are illus- trated sets of resource cards that expand on the Science and Technology for Children (STC) elementary units for fourth through sixth grade. Their completion brought to a close the STC elementary curriculum project.
Second, the NSRC’s Leadership and Assistance for Science Education Reform (LASER) initiative made significant con- tributions to helping school districts reform their K-8 science programs. As one of the National Science Foundation’s three Science Education Implementation and Dissemination Cen- ters, LASER is a huge outreach initiative. During the past year, 375 school districts participated in 18 LASER events in the eight LASER regions across the country.
Third, the NSRC’s Information Dissemination division provided unique electronic tools to help these projects meet their goals. For instance, staff set up a password- protected, Internet-based bulletin board to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas by the STC/MS field-test teachers. Information Dissemination staff also began work ona LASER Implementation Guide, following a national survey of school districts participating in NSRC science education reform ef- forts, to provide LASER participants with information on how to implement an effective science education program.
Reports of Education, Museum, and Scholarly Services 43
Office of Exhibits Central
Michael Headley, Director
The Office of Exhibits Central (OEC) is one of the Smithson- ian’s largest and most comprehensive exhibit producers, providing high-quality products and services to nearly every museum, research institute, and office at the Institu- tion. This year, OEC performed consulting, design, editing, graphics, modelmaking, fabrication, object handling, crat- ing, and installation and deinstallation services for more than two dozen Smithsonian clients and affiliates. Assisting staff in the execution of these responsibilities is OEC’s Ad- ministrative Unit, which offers management oversight and administrative and computer support.
Consultation
Consulting services are a growing and important component of OEC’s work. Sharing their expertise with Smithsonian clients, Smithsonian Affiliates, and outside organizations, OEC staff have helped define the content, execution, and even feasibility of several proposed exhibitions over the past year. Among these are “Mammals on the Move” for the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH); “Looking Both Ways: Heritage and Identity for the Alutiiq People” for NMNH'’s Arctic Studies Center; “Piano 300” for the National Museum of American History (NMAH) and Inter- national Gallery (IG); “Make the Dirt Fly: Building the Panama Canal” for Smithsonian Institution Libraries (SIL); “Corridos sin fronteras: A New World Ballad Tradition,” “Hannelore Baron: Works from 1969-1987,” and “Explor- ing Garden Transformations, 1900-2000” for the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES); and a planned exhibition at Wyoming’s Cheyenne Cultural Center, a Smithsonian Affiliate.
Design, Editing, and Graphics
Among the SITES exhibition projects in which the Design, Editing, and Graphics Unit participated are “On Miniature Wings: Model Aircraft from the National Air and Space Museum,” “Creativity and Resistance: Maroon Cultures in the Americas,” “This Land Is Your Land: The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie,” and the refurbishment of “Full Deck Art Quilt,” “Barn Again,” and “Women in Flight.” The Unit also worked on “Microbes: Invisible Invaders, Amazing Allies” for IG; and “Vanishing Amphibians” (Spanish-language version) for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI).
Staff prepared presentation sketches for a proposed new exhibit on farming at the National Zoo, and provided edit- ing services associated with the refurbishment of the Star- Spangled Banner for NMAH.
The Unit provided long-term design consultation for Smithsonian senior management. Working with SI organiza- tions and an outside architecture-engineering team, an OEC-designer-led team developed interior and exterior sig- nage for the Arts and Industries Building. The Unit also
implemented a donation box program for the National Air and Space Museum (NASM). The Unit furthered Secretary Heyman’s Web site and digitization initiatives by offering consulting, editing, or content development expertise on several projects, including a proposed Web site for The Mil- lennium Project, which would have demonstrated the range of the Smithsonian’s holdings using the latest technologies; “Digilab: Digitizing at the Smithsonian,” an NMAH exhibi- tion that opened in fall 1999; and a series of building evaluation reports posted on the SI intranet (Prism) for the Office of Physical Plant.
Modelmaking
OECs Modelmaking Unit continued its work on the life-size recreation of an Ainu traditional house (chise) and several fig- ures for the “Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People” exhibition at NMNH. The renovation of the Rotunda was another high- profile NMNH project with the Unit’s work comprising a new elephant diorama, taxidermy support, specimen collec- tion from the African savanna, and sculpted bronze identification medallions for species and objects included in the diorama. “Communities in a Changing Nation: The Promise of 19th-Century America,” a new permanent exhi- bition at NMAH, was a third major project, requiring mannequins, diorama work, and the creation of artificial fruits and vegetables.
During the year, the Modelmaking Unit also was respon- sible for design and fabrication of art deco metalwork for “The Jazz Age in Paris, 1914-1940,” a SITES exhibition; recreated animals for a 505-million-year-old scene in the Canadian Rockies for “The Burgess Shale: Evolution’s Big Bang,” also for SITES; a full-size replica of the Good Broth- ers’ “Guff,” the world’s first successful radio-controlled flying model, for “On Miniature Wings: Model Aircraft from the National Air and Space Museum”; 16 painted-foam microcrobe “critters” for “Microbes: Invisible Invaders, Amazing Allies”; and full-size interactives recreating the keys, striking mechanisms, and strings for the harpsichord, clavichord, and four pianos featured in “Piano 300.”
Fabrication
The Fabrication Unit’s skilled craftspeople provided compre- hensive services encompassing fine cabinetry, crating, object handling and packing, and exhibition installation and de- installation. Highlights of its work this year included ex- hibit vitrines for “Instrument of Change: James Schoppert Retrospective,” which opened at the George Gustav Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI); extensive casework for “This Land Is Your Land: The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie” and “Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People”; construction of the OEC-designed VIARC information desk at the Arts and Industries Build- ing; installation of “Microbes: Invisible Invaders, Amazing Allies”; and faux finishing for a peddler’s house and a South- ern market in the “Communities for a Changing Nation” exhibition at NMAH.
44 Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999
Miscellaneous Services
The Unit also provided various “spot services,” including signage for the Smithsonian Craft Show, new donor plaques for the James Smithsonian Society, custom lettering for a historic aircraft undergoing renovation at NASM’s Garber facility, redesign of the Unsung Hero employee pin, kiosks for the Horticulture Services Division display at the Atlanta and Newport, Rhode Island, flower shows, and support serv- ices and signage for the new Affiliations program’s annual Roundtable.
Outreach and Training
Modelmaking staff conducted a Summer Workshop for Teachers organized by the Smithsonian Office of Education and provided training in mold making of crabs for the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.
Office of Fellowships and Grants
Roberta W. Rubinoff, Director
Support from the Office of Fellowships and Grants enhances the quality, quantity, and diversity of research conducted at the Smithsonian. Each year, nearly 800 students and scholars come from universities, museums, and research institutes throughout the United States and abroad to use the Institu- tion’s collections and facilities. The office manages centralized competitive internship and fellowship programs, as well as competitive grant programs that support Smith- sonian staff research. This office also administers all stipend appointments offered by the Institution.
Eighty-four awards were offered to graduate students, pre- doctoral students, and postdoctoral and senior scholars through the Smithsonian Fellowship Program. The individ- uals conducted independent research in fields actively pursued by the Institution, utilizing the collections and fa- cilities. Through the office’s minority internship programs, 38 students came to study and participate in ongoing re- search or other museum-related activities. Fourty-six grants were made through the office’s competitive grant programs for Smithsonian staff.
Among this year’s fellowship recipients are Jorge Duany of the University of Puerto Rico and Mark Farris from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Dr. Duany’s research focused on the construction and representation of cultural identities in Puerto Rico and the diaspora, working at the National Museum of American History with Marvette Perez, curator in the Divison of Cultural History. He was a senior fellow in the Latino Studies Fellowship Program, which broadens and increases the body of Latino-related re- search. Mark Ferris was a Smithsonian Institution Predoctoral Fellow at the National Museum of American History with Lonn Taylor. His research explored the histori- cal and symbolic significance of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” This work will expand the understanding of national iden-
tity and the evolution of patriotism in the United States as reflected in the debates that raged over the national anthem.
Through the Scholarly Studies Program, Christraud Geary, curator of the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at the National Museum of African Art, is leading a project which looks at the representation of African art in modernist photography. This research will increase the understanding of the relationship of Primitivism to that of modern art.
Office of International Relations
Francine C. Berkowitz, Director
As the Smithsonian’s liaison with individuals and institu- tions abroad, as well as with international organizations and government foreign affairs agencies, the Office of Interna- tional Relations (OIR) fosters the Institution’s position as a global center for research and education.
This year, OIR staff represented the Smithsonian or the scholarly community in a number of official meetings and consultations, including State Department and U.S. Infor- mation Agency discussions about changes in the rules governing cultural exchange with Cuba; a World Bank- Organization of American States symposium on the preser- vation of cultural heritage in Latin America; and meetings of the Inter-American Biodiversity Informatics Network. The office was also involved in visits to Washington by scientific, cultural affairs, or museum officials from Belize, Burma, Bangladesh, Colombia, Costa Rica, Germany, Haiti, Iran, Luxembourg, and Peru.
The office coordinated an Institution-wide project to de- velop an exhibition and symposium commemorating the bicentenary of Felipe Poey in early 2000. This pioneering Cuban biologist, an early friend and correspondent of the Smithsonian, was one of the first naturalists to develop a concept of biodiversity.
Foreign officials who visited the Smithsonian this year included the president of Colombia, the queen of Jordan, the president of Ecuador, the first lady of China, the queen of Bhutan, and the president of Panama. For the visit of Cuba’s vice-minister of culture, OIR organized a briefing by representatives of 25 Smithsonian units. OIR handles arrangements for visits such as these and serves as internal adviser on foreign affairs and the Smithsonian’s interests abroad. In cooperation with the State Department and Smithsonian staff, OIR also organizes briefings on environ- mental affairs for newly confirmed ambassadors before they take up their posts abroad.
Office of Sponsored Projects
Ardelle G. Foss, CRA, Director
The Office of Sponsored Projects served Smithsonian researchers and scholars by supporting the work of approxi-
Reports of Education, Museum, and Scholarly Services 45
mately 167 principal investigators by submitting 258 new proposals valued at $85.3 million and by negotiating and accepting for the Institution 211 grant and contract awards valued at $40.4 million.
Asian Pacific American Studies Program
Franklin Odo, Director
The APA Program seeks to integrate Asian Pacific American contributions to U.S. history, culture, art, and society through Smithsonian collections, research, exhibitions, and programs. It also serves as the principal portal through which the extremely diverse Asian Pacific American commu- nities can provide input into the Institution. During FY 1999, the Asian Pacific American Studies Program made great strides in establishing itself in the Asian Pacific Amer- ican communities in the Washington, D.C., area and nationally.
The Program’s most significant achievement with the local community was the mounting of the exhibition, “From Bento to Mixed Plate: Americans of Japanese Ancestry in Multicultural Hawai'i.” The APA Studies Program part- nered with the Los Angeles-based Japanese American National Museum to bring this traveling exhibition to the Arts and Industries Building for six months. To bring the exhibition to life, the APA Studies Program worked closely with local community groups to recruit over 100 volunteer gallery guides and artists to demonstrate art forms reflecting Hawaii’s multicultural heritage. Gallery guides provided visitors with a memorable experience by sharing their per- sonal stories about multicultural Hawaii. On Saturdays, visitors participated in crafts such as raku pottery, origami, and lauhala leaf weaving.
This exhibition made an impressive impact on the Wash- ington, D.C., Asian Pacific American community and greatly benefited visitors. Between May 23 and August 15, Bento gallery guides logged more than 1,400 volunteer hours. During the summer months (June, July, and Au- gust), more than 700 visitors participated in weekend arts demonstrations.
On the national front, the APA Studies Program worked with Asian Pacific American leaders around the country to identify priorities for a strategic plan. More than 45 scholars, directors of arts organizations, and civic leaders participated in the process. Inviting these opinion leaders into our strate- gic planning process not only familiarized them with the breadth of Smithsonian’s activities, but also helped make Smithsonian more relevant to their communities around the country.
APA Director, Franklin Odo, made regular site visits to centers of APA communities including Seattle, Washington, northern and southern California, New York City, and Hawaii in order to inform leaders, groups, and potential donors of the opportunities unfolding for partnerships and affiliations.
Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center
Sharon Shaffer, Executive Director
The Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center (SEEC) is a unique museum-based child development center, preschool, and kindergarten that takes advantage of the Smithsonian's invaluable resources. SEEC provides a model, high-quality educational program for young children in Smithsonian facilities and advances educational opportunities for all chil- dren by sharing its expertise on a national level, furthering the Smithsonian’s educational mandate. The program serves 125 children at three Smithsonian sites and has more than 30 staff members.
This year, SEEC reached a new five-year agreement out- lining its relationship with the Smithsonian. SEEC’s board of directors issued a new strategic plan, A Design for Our Future, which outlines growth in financial planning, diver- sity, educational outreach, curriculum, and the SEEC- Smithsonian partnership.
SEEC advances its outreach mission through twice-yearly seminars for teachers and museum professionals from around the country and through partnerships with museums and educational institutions. Several schools and federal agency child-care centers currently license the SEEC curriculum, including a cluster of five preschools and several cultural institutions in Cleveland.
This year, Secretary I. Michael Heyman presented SEEC’s founding executive director, Sharon Shaffer, with the Secre- tary’s Gold Medal for Exceptional Service to the Institution, the first such award ever given to a Smithsonian educator.
Smithsonian Affiliations
]. Michael Carrigan, Director
The Smithsonian Institution Affiliations Program is an inno- vative, collections-based outreach initiative that shares Smithsonian collections, staff expertise, and programmatic resources with communities nationwide. Affiliations offer museums an opportunity for long-term artifact loans and stimulate strong collaborations that can sustain other pro- grams. More than 20 organizations currently participate in the program.
At the first annual Affiliations Program Roundtable, di- rectors and staff members of affiliating museums learned more about the Smithsonian and addressed issues specific to their ongoing projects. This well-attended two-day confer- ence was a positive forum for assessing projects, exchanging experiences, providing feedback, and generating networks among the affiliates.
In the past year, seven organizations have fully imple- mented their affiliations with the long-term loans of objects from the national collections: B&O Railroad Museum (Balti- more, Maryland), Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum (Bisbee, Arizona), Kansas Cosmosphere (Hutchinson,
46 Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999
Kansas), Mexican Heritage Plaza (San Jose, California), Mi- ami Museum of Science (Miami, Florida), National Museum of Industrial History (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania), and San Carlos Institute (Key West, Florida). These additions bring the total number of implemented affiliations to nine.
The program welcomed six new participants during fiscal year 1999: B&O Railroad Museum, Florida International Museum (St. Petersburg, Florida), McAllen International Museum (McAllen, Texas), San Carlos Institute, Storytelling Foundation International (Jonesborough, Tennessee), and The Women’s Museum: An Institute for the Future (Dallas, Texas).
As an extension of their affiliations projects, the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum and Centro Alameda (San Antonio, Texas) each had interns working in Smithsonian of- fices during the summer. The Affiliations Program office also oversaw one fellowship this year.
Smithsonian Institution Archives
Edie Hedlin, Director
Improving internal systems and promoting outreach were the major goals in 1999 for Smithsonian Institution Archives. The National Collections Program (NCP) made significant progress in coordinating the Institution’s revision of SDGoo: Collections Management Policy by securing the Board of Regents approval of “Smithsonian Collections Man- agement Guidelines.” The Archives Division began a multi-year project to implement a new system for describing its holdings. By adopting a method of using contextual de- scriptions, known as agency histories, combined with content descriptions of series of records, SIA will provide re- searchers with improved access to the hundreds of collections in its care.
The Electronic Records Program within the Technical Services Division developed advice for Smithsonian Institu- tion staff that was placed on the Smithsonian’s Intranet PRISM to assist them in managing their e-mail messages as the Institution upgraded its e-mail system. In response to perceived problems with insect infestations, the Preservation Team developed an integrated pest management program. The Joseph Henry Papers project entered into the Model Editions Partnership, a cooperative effort by documentary editing projects and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission to establish standards for efficient coding procedures for electronic publications.
A major effort to convert individual databases tracking various aspects of archival processes commenced in 1999. Staff from both the Archives Division and the Technical Ser- vices Division defined the fields required by the various activities and began the design of the Collections Manage- ment System. The ultimate goal is to incorporate all of this information into an integrated database that can share com- mon information across archival functions.