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While survivors of the January earthquakes in Haiti were still searching the rubble for the bodies of loved ones, Buffalo Bill Historical Center conservator Beverly Perkins was picking through the ruins for the treasures of Haitian culture…READ MORE
Photo courtesy Beverly Perkins, Buffalo Bill Historical Center.
Smithsonian Affiliates across the country are bringing Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) exhibitions to their communties this fall. From Maryland to California, there’s a SITES exhibition in your neighborhood. Here’s what’s opening at an Affiliate this fall:
Children doing difficult jobs, such as those at this mill, led to calls for reform in the 20th century. Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration
This exhibition reveals the effects of industrialization, urbanization, immigration, labor unrest, wars, and economic depression on ordinary working Americans, whether they toiled in a coal mine, on a tractor, at a typewriter, or on an assembly line. Spanning the years 1857-1987, the exhibition’s 86 black-and-white and color photographs document, in rich visual detail, American workplaces, work clothing, working conditions, and workplace conflicts. They also reflect a workforce shaped by immigration and ethnicity, slavery and racial segregation, wage labor and technology, gender roles and class, as well as by the American ideals of freedom and equality.
October 2, 2010- January 2, 2011 Dixon Historic Center (Dixon, Illinois) Lasting Light: 125 Years of Grand Canyon Photography
Toroweap overlook in morning light. Photo by Jack Dykinga.
SITES and the Grand Canyon Association present a collection of 60 framed photographs of this unique natural wonder. Covering nearly 125 years of photographic history, the exhibition includes images of early photographers dangling from cables to get the perfect shot, their cumbersome camera equipment balanced precariously on their shoulders. More modern images are bold and dramatic, revealing the canyon’s capricious weather, its flora and fauna, waterfalls and wading pools, and awesome cliffs and rock formations.
Navajo code talkers Private First Class Preston Toledo (left) and his cousin Private First Class Frank Toledo, 1943. Courtesy U.S. Marine Corps.
When the United States issued the call to arms in World Wars I and II, American Indians answered as warriors. Some men discovered that words—in their Native languages—would be their most valued weapons. This exhibition tells the remarkable story of Indian soldiers from more than a dozen tribes who used their Native languages in the service of the U.S. military. Developed with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, this inspiring exhibition was made possible in part thanks to the generous support of Elizabeth Hunter Solomon. Additional support has been provided by the Smithsonian Women’s Committee and the AMB Foundation.
Born into slavery, Harriet Tubman escaped in 1849—and immediately vowed to lead her family and other enslaved black people to freedom. During the Civil War, she became the first woman to command a military raid. She also worked for the Union Army as a nurse and a spy. Library of Congress.
Much of our national memory of the civil rights movement is embodied by male figureheads whose visibility in boycotts, legal proceedings, and mass demonstrations dominated newspaper and television coverage in the 1950s and ’60s. Missing from that picture is a group of extraordinary women who, while less prominent in the media, shaped much of the spirit and substance of civil rights in America, just as their mothers and grandmothers had done for decades. Freedom’s Sisters, a collaboration between SITES and Cincinnati Museum Center, brings to life 20 African American women, from key 19th-century historical figures to contemporary leaders, who have fought for equality for all Americans.
November 20, 2010- January 30, 2011 Sonoma County Museum (Santa Rosa, California) Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program, 1942-1964
Braceros contributions to communities in Mexico and the U.S. have had a lasting impact on the political, economic, social, and cultural landscapes of both nations.Photo by Leonard Nadel/National Museum of American History.
Begun in 1942 as a temporary war measure to address labor needs in agriculture and the railroads, the bracero program eventually became the largest guest worker program in U.S. history. Bittersweet Harvest, a moving new bilingual exhibition organized by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and circulated by SITES, examines the experiences of bracero workers and their families, providing rich insight into Mexican American history and historical background to today’s debates on guest worker programs.
And don’t forget these SITES exhibitions already on view at Affiliates:
Lasting Light: 125 Years of Grand Canyon Photography, on view at Durham Museum (Omaha, Nebraska) through September 12, 2010.
Special thanks to Beverly N. Perkins, conservator at Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming, for this guest post.
AIC-CERT members, Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough and Under Secretary for History, Art and Culture, Richard Kurin, the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, and CRCH members meeting to discuss recovery projects. Photo by Beverly Perkins.
Three American Institute for Conservation-Collections Emergency Response Team (AIC-CERT) members were asked to join the Smithsonian Haiti Cultural Recovery Project on July 4th, 2010. Beverly Perkins, Karen Pavelka, and David Goist spent some time with the staff of the Centre de Sauvetage de Biens Culturels(CRCH) helping to set up the CRCH labs so that they can be used for conservation treatments and to train Haitians in the recovery of cultural collections. Under the supervision of Project Manager, Stephanie Hornbeck, the visiting conservators also carried out conservation projects and helped to guide tours of the labs.
Conservation projects at work in the lab. Photo by Beverly Perkins.
A project I worked on involved conserving ceramics and building elements as they began to come in to the lab from various sites in Haiti. Some of the ceramics had been clumsily reassembled at some point in their past, prior to being brought to the conservation center. One group ceramics from a nativity scene were considered to be more decorative than historical, and so the losses were filled and shaped to replicate the pieces that had been lost. These new elements were then toned with paints to make the ceramic appear to be whole again. All of the treatments are documented with written notes and photographs so that in the future our work may be easily distinguished from the original ceramic.
Richard Kurin and guests at a reception at the President and Mrs. Preval's home. Photo by Beverly Perkins.
Also during our stay, the United States President’s Committee for the Arts and Humanities visited Haiti, along with dignitaries from the Smithsonian and The Broadway League. The meetings held with Haitian cultural leaders helped to strengthen the determination to salvage cultural collections and train Haitians in that salvage effort. The visiting dignitaries, AIC-CERT volunteers, and the staff of the CRCH were treated to an evening of Haitian song and dance at President and Mrs. Preval’s lovely home.
The ten days I spent away from the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, a Smithsonian Affiliate, were donated in the spirit of good will from the Museum’s board and staff and the people of Cody, Wyoming to the people of Haiti. Upon my return from Haiti, the Museum’s director, Bruce Eldredge asked how we could further be of assistance to the people of Haiti. He developed a plan to offer training for one or two Haitians in the conservation laboratory of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. He further offered to provide support following those months of training.
This project is in the process of being formed, and so the story continues…
Devastation to a cathedral in Haiti. Photo by Beverly Perkins.
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The original Kermit the Frog arrived at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History (NMAH) yesterday. Kermit made his television debut in 1955 as part of a local Washington D.C. television show created by Jim Henson called “Sam and Friends.” Henson’s widow, Jane Henson, donated the original Kermit along with the other puppets from the show. The original Kermit isn’t as green as younger Muppet fans may remember and was fashioned by Henson using his mother’s discarded winter coat. The collection will go on exhibit sometime in November.
Visitors to the Orange County Regional History Center meet Kermit face-to-face in the SITES exhibition "Jim Henson's Fantastic World."
Affiliates across the nation have collaborated with the Smithsonian to showcase Jim Henson’s characters, whether through a SITES exhibition or through individual artifact loans. Here are some highlights of Muppet sightings in Affiliate-land:
Oscar the Grouch at the Flushing Council for Culture and the Arts.
The Kermit the Frog that is already in NMAH’s collection was first loaned in 1979, in celebration of Sesame Street’s 10th anniversary. In 1994, Jim Henson Productions designated Kermit as a gift, making him a permanent fixture in NMAH’s performance collections. In 2005, NMAH loaned him to The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium (Dubuque, Iowa) to be included in their exhibition Toadally Frogs!
Oscar the Grouch and five additional puppets, also on loan from NMAH, made an appearance at Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts(Flushing, New York) in 2006 in their exhibition With or Without Strings.
Through the Affiliations network, communities across the country have had the opportunity to experience Jim Henson’s lovable characters in their neighborhoods. You can read more about Kermit’s new home at NMAH here:
Smithsonian merchandise corner at the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, PA.
Looking for another way to promote your Smithsonian affiliation? Offer Smithsonian souvenir merchandise in your museum shops and retail stores. Several Affiliates have designed displays of Smithsonian products featuring the Smithsonian magazine, souvenir products and Smithsonian Affiliate Membership information.
Smithsonian souvenir keychain.
Smithsonian logo merchandise is available exclusively to Affiliates at wholesale prices. These items can be purchased directly from Smithsonian Affiliations in any quantity. Put key chains, souvenir spoons, lapel pins, mugs and magnets in your museum stores. Give them as corporate gifts or membership incentives.
Beth Ziebarth, Director of the Smithsonian Accessibility Program, discusses Universal Design principles with museum peers.
The museum profession is well-acquainted with requirements in the Americans with Disabilities Act - for ramps, accessible restrooms, and other physical infrastructure needs - but how about for exhibitions and public programs?
This will be a topic of discussion in an upcoming webinar entitled Universal Design: Beyond the Americans with Disabilities Act on Wednesday, October 27. In a unique onsite-online learning model, Affiliations has teamed up with the American Association of Museums(AAM) to offer opportunites for museum professionals around the country to come together to experience the webinar. 25 Affiliates(in 21 states and Puerto Rico) will serve as “host sites”for their peers to network, watch the webinar together, and engage in moderated discussions about the specific implications of universal design for their museums and communities.
“Planning a program using a universal design perspective is different from designing a program for the deaf, for example,” says Beth Ziebarth, Director of the Smithsonian’s Accessibility Program, and main webinar presenter. Most simply, universal design is human-centered design, a user-friendly approach to the design of environments that are accessible to people of any culture, age, size, weight, race, gender and ability. Designing with such an approach is not only beneficial for people with disabilities, but for multi-generational families, pregnant women, the elderly and more. The webinar will explore integrating universal design into exhibitions and public programs; engaging your local disability community to inform program designs; and developing resources to share across a community’s cultural organizations.
We saw the power of this shared learning approach first-hand. In March 2009, Beth led a training seminar for cultural leaders in Pittsburgh at the Heinz History Center. About 60 professionals from the city’s museums, historical societies, theaters, operas, art galleries and more, spent a morning discussing their particular accessibility issues. By sharing successes and challenges, they were able to brainstorm collaborative and cost-saving possibilities for solutions – i.e., sharing the costs of an LED reader or mobile assistive-listening device, to make it more affordable for several organizations. Since then, the participants have created an accessibility task force that meets quarterly in an effort to make Pittsburgh’s cultural attractions even more accessible to everyone.
AAM is the perfect partner to help take the Pittsburgh example to a national scale. Their popular, high-quality professional development webinar series reaches thousands of museum professionals each year. Together, we can deliver Smithsonian expertise to a broad audience of museum peers and disability advocates throughout the country. We are all very grateful to the Smithsonian Women’s Committee for funding this collaboration experiment.
So head to your local Affiliate this fall and join the conversation!
Affiliate host sites:
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Birmingham, AL
Arizona State Museum, Tuscon, AZ
San Diego Air & Space Museum, San Diego, CA
Riverside Metropolitan Museum, Riverside, CA
History Colorado, Denver, CO
Frost Art Museum, Miami, FL
Orange County Regional History Center, Orlando, FL
Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta, GA
Conner Prairie, Fishers, IN
Frazier International History Museum, Louisville, KY
National World War II Museum, New Orleans, LA
Lowell National Historical Park, Lowell, MA
Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Baltimore, MD
North Carolina Museum of History, Raleigh, NC
Atomic Testing Museum, Las Vegas, NV
Yeshiva University Museum, New York, NY
Archives of the History of American Psychology, Akron, OH
Oklahoma Museum of History, Oklahoma City, OK
Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR
Culture and Heritage Museums, Rock Hill, SC
The Women’s Museum, Dallas, TX
Institute of Texan Cultures, San Antonio, TX
Virginia Museum of Natural History, Martinsville, VA
Museum of History & Industry, Seattle, WA
There are two ways to register: 1) Contact affiliates@si.edu or visit the Affiliations website to get a list of contacts at each Affiliate host site. Register directly with them to attend at their site, and receive a discounted registration fee of $15.
