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March 12, 2010
Congratulations to these Affiliates making headlines this week!
Morris Museum of Art (Augusta, GA)
Much-Anticipated Reopening of the Morris Museum of Art
Morris Museum of Art holds grand reopening
Arab American National Museum(Dearborn, MI)
Dearborn: Discover a Muslim welcome
California Science Center (Los Angeles, CA)
California Science Center Opens New Ecosystems Experience
Agua Caliente Cultural Museum (Palm Springs, CA)
Native American film fest on tap
Historical Society of Washington, D.C.
Portrait Gallery Recalls Neighborhood Progress
March 5, 2010
February 26, 2010
Ogden Museum of Southern Art (New Orleans, LA)
Ogden Museum of Southern Art Announces Staff Changes
 An original set of Washington’s teeth, made of ivory, human teeth, and animal teeth. Senator John Heinz History Center(Pittsburgh, PA)
Meet the first president at History Center exhibit
‘Mount Vernon’ display offers view of George Washington’s life
Exhibit takes on myths about the father of our nation
Buffalo Bill Historical Center (Cody, WY)
Cody museum shifts to greener operations
Virginia Museum of Natural History (Martinsville, VA)
New director at VMNH will work to keep things fresh
Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center(Mashantucket, CT)
After 3 years of Pequot War research, it’s time to dig
Snug Harbor Cultural Center (Staten Island, NY)
Links to Abraham Lincoln
Snug Harbor head Frances Paulo Huber to step down
Chabot Space and Science Center (Oakland, CA)
Explore the universe at Chabot Space and Science Center
 Curator Brett Kelley on picket duty at the National Civil War Museum National Civil War Museum(Harrisburg, PA)
Museum curator relieved of Civil War picket duty
Re-enactor endured real trials for Civil War museum
A fuzzy picture: U.S. jobs projections for curators leave museum directors scratching their heads
Rubin Museum of Art (New York, NY)
New York’s famed Rubin Museum exhibiting Hindu artifacts
Museum of Latin American Art (Long Beach, CA)
See the world in California’s Long Beach
Discovery Science Center (Santa Ana ,CA)
Feed your brain at the Discovery Science Center
February 23, 2010
Way to go Affiliates!
Smithsonian Affiliations received $9,100 from the Smithsonian Women’s Committee to support a “blended learning” webinar on Universal Design in collaboration with the American Association of Museums.
Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center (Hutchinson, Kansas) received a grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce’s Travel and Tourism Division. The $60,600 grant will help leverage an additional $208,020, to develop the center’s new interactive exhibit “Investigate Space”, moving audiences from the past to the future of space exploration.
Strategic Air and Space Museum (Ashland, Nebraska) was awarded a $200,000 Community Block Grant from Cass County to begin renovation projects at the museum.
The Getty Foundation has awarded a $3.1 million grant to support a massive, Southern California-wide series of exhibitions. The money is going to 26 regional institutions including the Museum of Latin American Art (Long Beach, California) to support their roles in the program that celebrates 30 “thematically linked” exhibitions — that showcase postwar art in Southern California.
The Burton D. Morgan Foundation announced that the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation (Akron, Ohio) has been awarded $25,000 towards the development of a new national Camp Invention flagship curriculum aimed at engaging children in entrepreneurship as well as innovation.
The Exelon Foundation donated $250,000 to the African American Museum in Philadelphia (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) to support educational outreach and audience development, including the creation of study guides and brochures, staffing costs, and exhibitions.
February 22, 2010
 Five fossil human skulls show how the shape of the face and braincase of early humans changed over the past 2.5 million years. How do you define human?! Coinciding with the 100th anniversary of its official opening on the Mall, the National Museum of Natural History plans to open a new Hall of Human Origins based on decades of cutting-edge research by Smithsonian scientists. Part of its broader “Human Origins: What Does it Mean to be Human?” initiative, the Hall transports visitors through a dramatic time tunnel depicting human life and environments over the past 6 million years. The epic story of human evolution is told through the drama of climate change, and shows how survival and extinction have characterized our ancient human past.
Forensically reconstructed faces of early humans, a display of more than 75 skulls, and an interactive 6 million-year-old family tree are highlights in the Hall. Can’t visit? Not to worry. The Museum and National Geographic are publishing a book, What Does It Mean to be Human?; PBS will air a three-part series later in the year entitled, “Becoming Human: Unearthing Our Earliest Ancestors;” and the Museum will completely reproduce the exhibition through the Blue Mars virtual world website.
As always, scholars, research and related collections are available to Affiliates for public or school programs, exhibitions, or however you spin your own human story. Interested in collaborating? Contact your outreach manager at affiliates@si.edu.
So come by this spring to meet your ancient ancestors. And be sure to wish them a happy birthday.
February 19, 2010
Smithsonian Affiliations created the SmithsonianNeighbor YouTube channel in July 2009 with the goal of bringing more awareness to Smithsonian Affiliates across the country. We started with a few Affiliate videos that we had on hand, not having a clue about what was going to happen.
One of the earliest videos we posted came from the National Museum of American Jewish History (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) called Its Your Story. It’s a simple, elegant video about the American Jewish experience and a promotional piece for the opening of the museum in November 2010. We posted the video October 30, 2009 and, at first, saw a few hundred hits which we were ecstatic about. And then something happened. The magic of social networking? Strategic viral marketing? Yes to both! All of a sudden, NMAJH’s video was viewed 25,000 times, then 75,000 times and now, three months after it was posted, their video has reached almost 200,000 viewers. And that’s not all! Not only were people positively commenting, but one commenter even wanted to know who to contact at NMAJH to donate to the opening!
And we have more success stories. Senator John Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) sent us 250 Years of Pittsburgh Innovation. It was viewed more than 20,000 in two months. Conner Prairie’s (Fishers, Indiana) video History Rising: Conner Prairie’s Balloon Adventure was viewed almost 2000 times in about a month. And the Arab American National Museum’s (Dearborn, Michigan) short video tour has been viewed 1500 times. We are on to something!
How can you get involved? Send us your videos! We’d love to spread the word about what Smithsonian Affiliates are up to. Send us videos about any significant openings or re-openings; extraordinary programs, events, and exhibitions. Have an interview with a curator who you think other Affiliates could learn from? Send it to us! Have a traveling exhibition that other Affiliates could take advantage of? Send that too! And of course, any videos highlighting Smithsonian collaborations are always welcome! Help us help you reach even more people.
Send DVDs to the attention of your National Outreach Manager:
Smithsonian Affiliations
MRC 942 PO Box 37012
Washington, DC 20013-7012
-or for FedEx deliveries-
Smithsonian Affiliations
470 L’Enfant Plaza SW
Suite 7400
Washington, DC 20024
February 12, 2010
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