The Smithsonian and the National Endowment for the Humanities examine the legacy of the Dust Bowl era through current issues of drought, agricultural sustainability and global food security during a live, interactive discussion with experts. The program will be webcast from the museum to Youth Town Halls at locations across the nation Oct. 17 at 1 p.m. EDT.
In the 1930s, severe drought and extensive farming caused widespread agricultural damage, crop failure and human misery across the Great Plains. Called the “Dust Bowl” because of the immense dust storms created as the dry soil blew away in large, dark clouds, it is considered one of the worst ecological disasters in American history. Millions of acres of farmland were damaged and hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes. Many migrated to California and other western states where the economic conditions during the Great Depression were often no better than those they had left.
The Oct. 17 discussion in Washington, D.C., taking place in the Warner Bros. Theater at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, will be joined by audiences at nine Smithsonian Affiliate museums and the National Steinbeck Center, which will also host regional Youth Town Halls. Participants at the regional Town Hall sites will prerecord questions on video to be played during the live National Youth Summit webcast. The Youth Town Halls will take place at:
The live webcast is available to educators and students through free registration atamericanhistory.si.edu/nys.
The National Youth Summit brings middle and high school students together with scholars, teachers, policy experts, witnesses to history and activists in a national conversation about important events in America’s past that have relevance to the nation’s present and future. The program is an ongoing collaboration between the National Museum of American History, the National Endowment for the Humanities, PBS and museums across the United States in the Smithsonian Affiliations network.
The summit will include segments from award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns’ forthcoming film The Dust Bowland a panel discussion, moderated by Huffington Post science editor Cara Santa Maria, and featuring: Ken Burns, Dust Bowl survivor Cal Crabill, U.S. Department of Agriculture ecologist Debra Peters, fifth-generation farmer Roy Bardole from Rippey, Iowa, and farmer and founder of Anson Mills, Glenn Roberts. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack will welcome the audience through a video statement. Panelists will take questions from students participating in the summit, and offer their own perspectives on what history can teach people about their relationship with the environment.
Programming for the National Youth Summit on the Dust Bowl is produced by the National Museum of American History and the National Endowment for the Humanities in partnership with Smithsonian Affiliations and PBS/WETA.
Smithsonian Affiliations collaborates with museums and educational organizations to share the Smithsonian with people in their own communities and create lasting experiences that broaden perspectives on science, history, world cultures and the arts. More information about Smithsonian Affiliations is available here.
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency created in 1965. It is one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States. NEH grants typically go to cultural institutions, such as museums, archives, libraries, colleges, universities, public television and radio stations, and to individual scholars. For more information on the NEH, visit http://www.neh.gov/.
The National Museum of American History collects, preserves and displays American heritage in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific and military history. To learn more about the museum, check americanhistory.si.edu. For Smithsonian information, the public may call (202) 633-1000.
OHIO
The Springfield Museum of Art will host an opening event for the Jack Earl: A Modern Master-A Retrospective exhibition featuring loans from the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Springfield, 10.3.
Harold Closter will attend the Ohio Historical Society’s Affiliations Announcement in Columbus, 10.30.
LOUISIANA
The Ogden Museum of Southern Art will host an opening for Art for Art’s Sake exhibition featuring loans from the National Postal Museum. Linda Edquist, conservator, will attend the opening in New Orleans, 10.6.
PENNSYLVANIA
The Senator John Heinz History Center will host an opening for Gridiron Glory: Best of the Pro Football Hall of Fame exhibition featuring loans from the National Museum of American History in Pittsburgh, 10.6.
The Historic Bethlehem Partnership will host Richard Kurin, Smithsonian Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture, for a lecture program and book signing in Bethlehem, 10.14.
ILLINOIS
The Lakeview Museum of Arts & Sciences will open their new facility, the Peoria Riverfront Museum. Harold Closter and Aaron Glavas from Smithsonian Affiliations will be in attendance in Peoria, 10.11.
WASHINGTON
The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture will host the National Museum of American History’s Buffalo Bills’ Wild West Warriors exhibition in Spokane, 10.17.
WISCONSIN
Smithsonian Affiliations National Outreach Manager Aaron Glavas will attend the Milwaukee County Historical Society’s Affiliations Announcement in Milwaukee, 10.18.
FLORIDA The Museum of Arts & Sciences will host Richard Kurin, Smithsonian Undersecretary for History, Art, and Culture, for a book talk in Daytona Beach, 10.20.
The Polk Art Museum will be hosting the National Portrait Gallery’s exhibition In Vibrant Color: Vintage Celebrity Portraits from the Harry Warnecke Studio in Lakeland, 10.27.
ARIZONA
The Heard Museum will host SITES’ Native Words, Native Warriors in Phoenix, 10.27.
CALIFORNIA
Smithsonian Affiliations’ External Affairs Coordinator Elizabeth Bugbee will attend the Western Museum Association’s Conference in Palm Springs, 10.21-24.
GEORGIA
Curator Michelle Delaney from the National Museum of American History will serve on a panel presentation at the Booth Western Art Museum’s Annual Cowboy Festival in Cartersville, 10.26.
A life-size wax figure of George Washington appears in the “Discover the Real George Washington: New Views from Mount Vernon” exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh, N.C. By The Associated Press
North Carolina Museum of History(Raleigh, NC) There’s the George Washington made famous in the Gilbert Stuart portrait found in many elementary schools and, in engraved fashion, on the $1-dollar bill: a severe man, whose severity is accentuated by thin, taut lips…READ MORE
Smithsonian Cup goes on display at Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art in Elmhurst, Illinois. The cup was designed by Gianmaria Buccellati and donated to the National museum of Natural History in 2000. The cup is only on view at the museum until October 10, 2010.
Durham Museum (Omaha, NE) Be one of the first to see Dig It! The Secrets of Soil created by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History…READ MORE Get the dirt on something we just can’t live without…READ MORE
International Storytelling Center(Jonesborough, TN)
The world’s premier storytellers will take the stage in Jonesborough the weekend of Oct. 1-3, 2010, as Tennessee’s oldest town plays host to the 38th annual National Storytelling Festival…READ MORE
“Dig It! The Secrets of Soil” opens at the Durham Museum on October 2.
PANAMA:
The Museo del Canal Interoceánico de Panamá will open Panamanian Passages, an exhibit developed in collaboration with the Smithsonian Latino Center and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, in Panama City, 10.1.
from SITES' Lasting Light exhibition. Photo by Gary Ladd.
ARIZONA:
National Museum of American History Curator Larry Bird lectures on WWII posters at Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum, in Bisbee, 10.02.
ILLINOIS:
SITES’ Lasting Light: 125 Years of Grand Canyon Photography, opens at the Dixon Historic Center in Dixon, 10.02.
A teaspoon of farm soil contains up to 1 billion bacteria in more than 4,000 species. From Dig It!
NEBRASKA:
National Museum of Natural History’s Dig It! The Secrets of Soil, opens at the Durham Museum in Omaha, 10.02.
The Durham Museum welcomes educators presenting lessons from Dig It! and Lincoln at Smithsonian Teachers Night in Omaha, 10.08.
NEW YORK:
The Museum of American Finance will display an 18-karat gold gem studded Monopoly board on loan from the National Museum of Natural History in New York, 10.15.
The Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute will display the Ten Thousand Springs Pavilion at the Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts in Flushing, 10.16.
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Miami Science Museum, Smithsonian Affiliations, and ASTC will host GirlsRISE, a three-day science institute in Washington DC, 10.20-23.
GEORGIA:
National Museum of American History Curator Shannon Perich speaks about Western imagery in photography at the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, 10.22.
CONNECTICUT:
SITES’ Native Words, Native Warriors opens at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum in Mashantucket, 10.23.
Portrait of Ella Baker, freedom sister. Photo by Charmian Reading.
Congratulations to these Affiliates making headlines this week!
RUSS KENDALL | BELLINGHAM HERALD - Curtis Mahle, left, exhibit preparator and Scott Wallin, exhibition designer, hang one of the 55 pieces of art loaned to Whatcom Museum by the Smithsonian that make up the exhibition "1934: A New Deal for Artists."
National Jazz Museum in Harlem(New York, NY) Breaking News from the 30’s Jazz World- Loren Schoenberg of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem joined us to discuss the newly uncovered “Savory Collection”…READ MORE
Durham Museum(Omaha, NE) Get the “Dirt” on Soil this Fall at Omaha’s Durham Museum…READ MORE
Julia Child's kitchen kitchen at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Behring Center.
Hunt Hill Farm Trust(New Milford, CT) Bon Appétit! Julia Child’s Kitchen Topic of Silo Talk- The great Julia Child (1912-2004) will forever be remembered for introducing French cuisine and cooking techniques to the mainstream American public…READ MORE
Congratulations to these Affiliates making headlines!
Anniston Museum of Natural History (Anniston, AL) This fall, the museum complex, which includes the Berman Museum of World History, will begin building and landscaping Anniston’s first botanical gardens on the site of Lenlock Community Center, once it closes…READ MORE
Louisiana State Exhibit Museum (Shreveport, LA) Waddell takes over today as executive director of the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum. He replaces the popular Forrest Dunn, who retired at the end of June…READ MORE
National Civil War Museum (Harrisburg, PA) Just across the wide Susquehanna River from Pennsylvania’s capital lies the point marking the northernmost advance of the Confederate army…READ MORE
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (Birmingham, AL) With a gleam in his eye and all the ebullience of a youth discovering new-found treasures, Lawrence J. Pijeaux Jr., stepped spryly through the exhibition space last week at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute…READ MORE
Durham Museum (Omaha, NE) There are more living creatures in a shovel-full of soil than human beings on the planet, yet more is known about the dark side of the moon than about soil. These are just a couple of the fascinating facts visitors can learn from the new temporary exhibition Dig It! The Secrets of Soil, which will be on display at The Durham Museum in Omaha, NE, from October 2 to December 26, 2010…READ MORE
It’s August! Here are a few things you can see at a Smithsonian Affiliate in your neighborhood this month:
Alabama Let Your Motto Be Resistance, a Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) exhibition, opens at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute(Birmingham) on August 28.
Anacostia's (then Uniontown) Birney Public School children lined up with a teacher behind the Kennebec Ice horse-drawn wagon as the ice man shows them large chunk of ice suspended by tongs. Photograph by Frances Benjamin Johnston, Courtesy of the Library of Congress, circa 1899
District of Columbia The Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum’s exhibition East of the River is on view at the Historical Society of Washington, D.C.until January 2011.
Kentucky Opening this month at the Headley-Whitney Museum(Lexington) is The Horse in Decorative Arts, including artifacts from the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Museum of American History, on view through December 2010.
A visitor to the "Native Words, Native Warriors" exhibit at Montana Historical Society. Photo courtesy Montana Office of Governor Brian Schweitzer
Montana Montana Historical Society(Helena)- Native Words, Native Warriors. This exhibition organized in collaboration with the National Museum of the American Indian will travel to Native American reservations across Montana through December.
Nebraska Lasting Light: 125 Years of Grand Canyon Photography is on view until September 2010 at the Durham Museum(Omaha), organized for travel by SITES.
Toroweap overlook in morning light. Part of the exhibition "Lasting Light: 125 Years of Grand Canyon Photography" at the Durham Museum. Photo by Jack Dykinga
Pennsylvania The Senator John Heinz History Center(Pittsburgh) welcomes Smithsonian conservator Don Williams for their Hidden Treasures event on August 29.
Texas Twenty black and white photographs from the National Air and Space Museum are featured in the exhibition Dreams of Flight: A Journey through Air and Space at The Women’s Museum: An Institute for the Future(Dallas) through October 2010.
Wyoming Last chance to see Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Warriors: Photographs by Gertrude Käsebier at Buffalo Bill Historical Center (Cody). On view until August 8, the exhibition includes photographs from the Photographic History Collection in the National Museum of American History.
Click hereto find a Smithsonian Affiliate in your neighborhood!
