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April 30, 2013
May is a busy time in Affiliateland!
CALIFORNIA
The Japanese American National Museum will open SITES’ American Heroes: Japanese American WWII Nisei Soldiers and the Congressional Gold Medal, 5.4. The museum will also host the National Portrait Gallery’s traveling exhibition Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits in Los Angeles, 5.11.
 Detail of a historic firearm to be displayed in Cody, Wyoming. WYOMING
64 artifacts from the National Museum of American History’s firearm collection go on display at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, 5.4.
FLORIDA
The Polk Museum of Art will host the Mayfaire Arts Festival. Beverly K. Cox, formerly Exhibits Coordinator for the National Portrait Gallery, will serve as the jurist for the museum’s annual two-day arts festival in Lakeland, 5.10.
St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum will host a public program on the Art of Boatbuilding, featuring curator Douglas Herman from the National Museum of the American Indian. He will present a public demonstration on boatbuilding by Pacific Islanders in St. Augustine, 5.18.
NORTH CAROLINA
The Schiele Museum of Natural History and Lynn Planetarium will open an exhibition entitled Mammal Safari, featuring 25 mounted specimens on loan from the National Museum of Natural History, in Gastonia, 5.18.
MARYLAND
College Park Aviation Museum will host their second Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos workshop in College Park, 5.19.
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum hosts a reception for all Affiliate staff during the American Alliance of Museums annual meeting in Baltimore, 5.21.
 Native skateboard culture is headed to Connecticut CONNECTICUT
The Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center hosts SITES’s Ramp it Up: Skateboard Culture in Native America in Mashantucket, 5.25.
TEXAS
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History is hosting SITES’ Elvis at 21, featuring 40 Smithsonian artifacts in Fort Worth, 5.23.
MAINE
Abbe Museum opens SITES’ IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas, in Bar Harbor 5.23.
March 25, 2013
 Kiki Smith, Banshee Pearls, 1991, 12 prints, lithograph with aluminum leaf additions on handmade Japanese paper. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Lichtenberg Family Foundation, © 1991 Kiki Smith/ ULAE PUERTO RICO
Educators from the National Postal Museum lead workshops on designing educational materials for exhibitions and for different audiences at the Museo y Centro de Estudios Humanísticos in Gurabo, 4.5-6.
FLORIDA
The Naples Museum of Art opens the Multiplicity exhibition, featuring 83 works from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s collections (including the one to the right!) in Naples, 4.6.
MARYLAND
Rebecca Trautmann, National Museum of the American Indian curator, will serve as a juror for the upcoming Elements in Balance exhibition at Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center in Solomon, 4.8.
NORTH CAROLINA
The North Carolina Museum of History will be loaning objects to the Smithsonian American Art Museum/Renwick Gallery for the Thomas Day: Master Craftsman and Free Man of Color exhibition, opening in Washington, D.C. on 4.12.
CALIFORNIA
Staff from the National Museum of Natural History will present workshops and lectures sponsored by the Riverside Metropolitan Museum as part of Smithsonian Week in Riverside, 4.23-25.
TEXAS
The City of Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department will announce their affiliation in Austin, 4.24.
January 30, 2013
Do you operate an education center at your museum, or thinking about it? Join us at the Affiliations National Conference on June 10-12 to meet colleagues who are opening or running new spaces for learning on the Smithsonian campus. Through tours of these spaces, frank discussions with colleagues, exchanging resources and research, and hands-on activities, discover and share what makes an education center such a vital place in a museum.
Affiliations staff is currently working with the following museums to feature their education spaces:
- The National Museum of Natural History will be opening Q?RIUS in 2013, a new interactive 10,000 square foot programming space. Q?RIUS will have access to a 20,000 specimen collection representing all departments of the museum, innovative programming and distance learning opportunities.
- The National Museum of the American Indian’s imagiNATIONS activity center invites families to explore how Native peoples have adapted to natural environments with innovation. Visitors can explore different kinds of transportation (snowshoes and skateboards), homes (tipis, adobes, igloos), hands-on activities (basket-weaving, Native percussion), and more.
- The National Museum of American History is undergoing a major renovation that will result in new education spaces when they reopen in 2015. Affiliates can talk to the staff about their planning and prototyping process, the “Object Project” and demonstration spaces, and explore possible collaboration opportunities.
- The National Air and Space Museum’s Moving Beyond Earth gallery is an immersive space that puts visitors “in orbit.” Affiliates can enter their Shuttle mock-up to learn about life in orbit (including the space toilet), or play the interactive SpaceFlight Academy, a group quiz that tests flight readiness.
- The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden’s very popular ARTLAB+ is a digital media studio for
 teens. Staff will share how they provide access to professional technology and art, coupled with mentorship, to develop a community of young creators and innovators.
Come to the Affiliations National Conference in Washington, D.C., on June 10-12, and bring your own experiences with education spaces to share with Smithsonian and Affiliate colleagues in these hands-on tours. See you there!
The Smithsonian Affiliations National Conference is for current Affiliates only. If you are interested in becoming an Affiliate, please contact Elizabeth Bugbee for more information.
December 20, 2012
But it’s warm at these Affiliates! While you’re on winter break, check out the Smithsonian in your neighborhood:
The Smithsonian Community Coral Reef is on view at the Putnam Museum in Davenport, Iowa. The coral reef, composed of thousands of crocheted natural forms, creates a version of the Great Barrier Reef with loopy “kelps,” fringed “anemones,” crenellated “sea slugs,” and curlicue “corals.” On loan from the National Museum of Natural History.
 Photo credit: Putnam Museum Imagine you too are standing on a sun-dappled lawn picking wildflowers just like the figure in Dear Fay, one of several painted ceramic sculptures on loan to the Springfield Museum of Art in Springfield, Ohio, for their exhibition Jack Earl: A Modern Master- A Retrospective. On loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, through January 6, 2013.
 Photo credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum Native Words, Native Warriors 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. On view at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, through March 2013. Organized for travel by the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Service.
 Courtesy U.S. Marine Corps Sick of dreary white, winter days? Head to the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, Florida, for Vibrant Color: Vintage Celebrity Portraits from the Harry Warnecke Studio, a collection of color photographs of celebrities who rose to fame at a time when color photography was in its infancy. Organized by the National Portrait Gallery, the exhibition is on view until January 12, 2013.
 Photo credit: Harry Warnecke Studio for The Daily News/National Portrait Gallery While you’re in Florida, stop by the Frost Art Museum in Miami. On view until January 13, 2013 is Reflections Across Time: Seminole Portraits, a collaboration with fellow Affiliate Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum in Clewiston, Florida. Showing more than 150 years of portraits of Seminole leaders and tribal members, the exhibition features works of art from the National Museum of the American Indian, National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
 Photo credit: Frost Art Museum In 1898, New York photographer Gertrude Käsebier watched the grand parade of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, on its way to Madison Square Garden. Inspired by what she saw, she photographed the Lakota (Sioux) travelling with the show in her 5th Ave studio. The result was a set of prints that are among the most compelling of Käsebier’s celebrated body of work. See Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Warriors: Photographs by Gertrude Käsebier at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, Washington, through February 9, 2013. On loan from the National Museum of American History and includes artifacts from fellow Affiliate, Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming.
 Photo credit: Dean Davis Photography Mittens, boots, puffy jacket and scarf may work in our winter weather, but imagine what astronauts had to prepare for when venturing into space! Suited for Space, an exhibition from the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Service and the National Air and Space Museum, explores the evolution of spacesuit development from the first quarter of the 20th century until the dawn of the shuttle era. On view at the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts, until March 3, 2013.
 Phot credit:Sun/Bob Whitaker Is the Smithsonian in YOUR neighborhood? Find an Affiliate here.
September 27, 2012
By Cara Seitchek, Writer, Smithsonian Affiliations. Part of our Seriously Amazing Affiliates blog series.
 Russell in the field with other Citizen Scientists. Photo courtesy Danielle Leland, riverside Metropolitan Museum. “The only single unambiguous personal record of a scientist’s research is in his field book. They can contain stories of life and death that are fascinating,” said Rusty Russell, collections manager for the U.S. National Herbarium located in the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH).
On most days, Russell is surrounded by the quiet of the Herbarium and many shelves of dried plant specimens that record centuries of expeditions around the world. In his 30+ years working for the Department of Botany, Russell has brought order and innovation to these collections – creating a bar coding system, scanning specimens into a digital library, and placing botanists’ field books online.
For eight years, Russell has been bringing his encyclopedic knowledge of plants to Smithsonian Affiliate Riverside Metropolitan Museum (RMM), creating citizen science programs that take residents into the field and help them build their own collections of indigenous plants.
“Our citizen science weeks came about in an interesting way,” said James Bryant, RMM curator and a former student of Russell’s. “I discovered some specimens in our collections that had been collected by Edmund Jaeger, who also collected for the Smithsonian. When I contacted Rusty, he pulled the NMNH specimens and we started talking about the history of the mountains in this area and how they had been affected by climate change.”
 Russell works in the field to bring Citizen Science Week to Riverside, California. Photo courtesy Danielle Leland, Riverside Metropolitan Museum. The challenge of exploring an area that had not been studied for 70 years intrigued both men and soon, Russell was leading a team to explore the Santa Rosa – San Jacinto Mountains slopes that Jaeger had studied. This initial field trip grew into a larger program that brings California residents into the field to make their own observations and field notes. Every spring, Russell travels back to Riverside to lead a week-long citizen science program.
In one program, the week focused on wildflowers and how floral areas transition to the nearby desert. Activities included short hikes, making pressed flowers, workshops, and lectures, all designed to increase citizen awareness and appreciation of the region’s environments.
Russell’s visits to Riverside have increased the community’s awareness of the importance of their environment. The City of Riverside is now planning a city-wide citizen science project for its open spaces and was just awarded a California State Parks grant for $780,000 to build a nature center that will be the base for even more citizen science projects. “Rusty’s prominence in the field and our relationship with the Smithsonian contributed to Riverside receiving the grant,” said Bryant. “Citizen Science Week has been a catalyst for many spinoffs.”
These spinoffs include an invitation for Bryant and Russell to speak at a conference at the California Academy of Sciences, which is exploring how to create a state-wide citizen science program. The University of California, Riverside provides scholars and experts to serve as the research arm of the citizen science efforts, while nearby Redlands company ESRI has worked with RMM to create a geographic information system software for digital field notes, which is used by a wide network of volunteers who document plant changes and responses to climate change. “Our citizen scientists use this to collect and provide this data to scientists like Rusty,” said Bryant. “It’s sparked a revival of interest in this area.”
 Russell in the classroom in Riverside, California. Photo courtesy Danielle Leland, Riverside Metropolitan Museum. Both Russell and Bryant agree that RMM’s active relationship with the Smithsonian has benefits for both institutions. “Riverside is also helping the Smithsonian,” said Bryant. “We have helped the Smithsonian establish a presence in our community, and as a result we are providing the Institution new research data, programs and new members.”
The nice thing about this project is that it brings smaller places together with the Smithsonian,” said Russell. “Many people may not have the opportunity to go to Washington, D.C., but through this kind of outreach, the Smithsonian plays an ongoing role in this community.”
April 25, 2012
How did nearly 20 fossils return on long-term loan to the Tellus Science Museum? How did the Senator John Heinz History Center manage to negotiate the loan of a piece of the Star Spangled Banner? What kind of research did the Frost Art Museum have to undertake to find the perfect paintings for its upcoming exhibition on Seminole portraits? Affiliate guest speakers and Smithsonian Affiliations National Outreach Managers answer these questions and troubleshoot Affiliate loan questions during the session The Loan Clinic: Unlock the Mysteries of Sharing Collections, at the Smithsonian Affiliations National Conference on June 14, 2012.
We know from our Affiliate Satisfaction Survey that our Affiliate partners want access to Smithsonian loans. We also know that the process can be daunting. So we want to discuss the big questions together—“What could have been done differently?” “How do I anticipate what is needed?” “Am I asking the right questions?” Three Affiliate speakers will present case studies using their loan experiences as a model for tackling the Smithsonian loan process.
 Ladds Quarry fossils on loan from the National Museum of Natural History to the Tellus Science Museum. With experience working with the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) and National Air and Space Museum, Amy Gramsey, Collections Manager, Tellus Science Museum (Cartersville, Georgia) will discuss the power of thinking ahead and recognizing the differences in each Smithsonian museum. Her examples will include the successful loan of the Ladds Quarry fossils from NMNH. Ladds Quarry, an abandoned limestone quarry in Cartersville produced a goldmine of fossils in the 1960s. These fossils were able to return to the Cartersville community to inspire and educate visitors to the Tellus Science Museum through a long-term loan from NMNH.
 Bantam Jeep on loan from the National Museum of American History to the Senator John Heinz History Center. Anne Madarasz, Museum Division Director, Senator John Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) has had success organizing loans from the National Museum of American History (NMAH), National Portrait Gallery, and National Postal Museum and is currently investigating loans from National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of African Art. A firm believer in having every History Center exhibition include a Smithsonian artifact, Madarasz’s success in obtaining loans comes from her strategy of not limiting her request to just one Smithsonian museum and having a solid back-up plan. Her case studies will include the successful loan of the Bantam Jeep, which has been on loan from NMAH since 2003, and a fragment of the Star Spangled Banner which is currently included in the History Center’s exhibition Stars & Stripes: An American Story.
 Annette Fromm receives a Certificate of Award for her participation in the 2011 Affiliations Visiting Professionals Program. (L to R) The Honorable Sam Johnson (TX-03), Smithsonian Affiliations Director Harold Closter, Annette Fromm, Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough. A Smithsonian Affiliations Visiting Professional in 2011, Annette B. Fromm, Assistant Professor/Museum Studies Coordinator, The Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum, Florida International University(Miami, Florida), is well-versed in advanced planning to anticipate what surprises may occur along the way. Working in conjunction with the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate in Clewiston, Florida, to secure portraits of Seminoles from the National Portrait Gallery (NPG), Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), Fromm will touch on how to anticipate what costs may be to avoid big surprises after a proposal is secured. Her Visiting Professional residency at NMAI, NPG and the American Art Museum proved the importance of pre-arranged researching to find the best fit
for her exhibition.
Join us at the 2012 Affiliations National Conference, June 12-14!
Register today!
View the 2012 Conference Agenda.
Book your hotel room at the L’Enfant Plaza Hotel.
The Smithsonian Affiliations National Conference is for current Affiliates only. If you are interested in becoming an Affiliate please contact Elizabeth Bugbee for more information.
March 28, 2012
Are you going to the AAM Annual Meeting in Minneapolis this year? So is Affiliations’ own National Outreach Manager for the midwest, Aaron Glavas. Reach him at glavasc@si.edu or 202.633.5309 to let him know where you’ll be!
Support your colleagues and check out these sessions featuring Affiliate and Smithsonian staff!:
Bringin’ It All Back Home: Acknowledging Your Online Support Community
Presenter: Sebastian Chan, Director of Digital & Emerging Media, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York, NY
Communities Create: Approaches to Native American and Other Community Exhibitions
Chaired by: Zahava Doering, Senior Social Scientist, Policy & Analysis, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Presenting: Carolyn Rapkievian, Assistant Director, Education & Museum Programs, National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC
CRAFTing a Community
Chaired by: Katie Crooks, Public Programs Assistant, American Art Museum Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Engagement Tools for Building Creative Communities, Placemaking, and Partnerships
Presenter: Ethelyn Abellanosa, Deputy Director for Operations, Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, Seattle, WA
Measure What? Metrics to Engage Stakeholders and Achieve Strategic Goals
Chaired by: Amy Bartow-Melia, Director-Department of Public Programs, National Museum of American History Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Presenter: Janet Abrams, Senior Advisor for Organizational Excellence, Smithsonian Institution Office of The Secretary, Washington, DC
Trauma: Creating Shared Communities in Cultural/Natural Heritage Risk Management
Chaired by: Richard Kurin, Undersecretary for History, Art & Culture, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Come Together:21st-Century Museum Leadership in China and the U.S.
Chaired by: Carole Neves, Director, Office of Policy & Analysis Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Daisy Wang, Project Manager for Chinese Art, Freer Gallery of Art & Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Linking Young People to Museums: Nothing but the Truth
Chaired by: John Franklin, Director of Partnerships and International Programs, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC
Museums and Academic Parent Organizations: the Good and the Ugly
Chaired by: Ellen Rosenthal, President & CEO, Conner Prairie Museum, Inc., Fishers, IN
Presenters: Berkley Duck, Former Chairman of the Board, Conner Prairie Museum, Inc., Fishers, IN;
Cameron McGuire, Associate Director, National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC
75 Ideas in 75 Minutes: Worst, Best, Next
Chaired by: Charles Katzenmeyer, Senior Vice President for External Affairs, Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, Chicago, IL
Chinese and U.S. Perspectives on Exhibitions as Catalysts of Creativity
Chaired by: Daisy Wang, Project Manager for Chinese Art, Freer Gallery of Art & Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Communities of Conversation Around Exhibitions
Chaired by: Barbara Stauffer, Chief of Temporary Exhibitions, National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Stop, Collaborate and Listen: Harnessing Technology to Build Creative Communities
Presenter: Amy Homma, Education Technician, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC
Talking Shop: Roundtable Discussion with Volunteer Managers and Docents
Presenter: Maretta Hemsley-Wood, Docent Program Manager, Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum , Washington, DC
Creative Practices in Education and Public Programs in China and the U.S.
Chaired by: Nik Apostolides, Associate Director, National Portrait Gallery Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Presenters: Ryan Hill, ART LAB + Program Specialist, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Carole Neves, Director, Office of Policy & Analysis Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Games: Creating Connections to Collections
Presenter: Georgina Bath Goodlander, Interpretive Programs Manager, Luce Foundation Center for American Art, American Art MuseumSmithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Keeping Safe: Discovering and Handling Hidden Collection Hazards
Presenter: Kathryn Makos, Industrial Hygienist, Smithsonian Institution’s Office of Safety, Health and Environmental Management, Washington, DC
Using Creative Problem-Solving to Cultivate Future Leaders
Presenters: Ryan Hill, ART LAB + Program Specialist, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Megan Smith, Education Specialist, National Museum of American History, Washington, DC
Pacific Standard Time: The Ultimate Cultural Collaboration, California Style!
Presenters: Edwina Brandon, VP of External Affairs, Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA; Gina Adams, Vice President of Development, Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA
Solutions Lounge: Sustainable Operations Tool Kit
Chaired by: Jim Richerson, President & CEO, Lakeview Museum of Arts & Sciences, Peoria, IL
Collaboration and Education
Chaired by: Christina Schwartz, Head Registrar, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service-SITES, Washington, DC
Connecting Global Communities: Striking Successes, Fabulous Flops, and Lessons Learned
Presenter: Laura Anderson, Assistant Archivist, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Birmingham, AL
Show Me the Money: Straight Talk About Museum Business Models
Presenter: Ellen Rosenthal, President & CEO, Conner Prairie Museum, Inc., Fishers, IN
Transforming Museum Volunteering 101: Back to Basics
Chaired by: Robbin Davis, Director of Visitor Services, Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City, OK
Dangerous World: Our Role During Armed Conflicts and Other Disasters
Presenter: Richard Kurin, Undersecretary for History, Art & Culture, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
How to Pitch Technology to Your Board: Strategy to Implementation
Presenter: Michael Edson, Director of Web and New Media Strategy, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Washington, DC
Social Media Metrics 101
Chaired by: Sarah Banks, Audience Engagement Specialist, National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Presenter: Victoria Portway, Chair, Web & New Media, National Air & Space Museum Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Transforming Museum Volunteering 201: Beyond the Basics
Presenters: Maria Christus, Volunteer Program Manager, Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Chicago, IL; Carly Ofsthun Shaw, Volunteer Coordinator, Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, AZ
U.S. and African Exhibits: Creating and Linking Communities
Chaired by: Kinshasha Holman Conwill, Deputy Director, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC
Presenters: Marsha MacDowell, Curator, Michigan State University Museum, East Lansing, MI
Idea Lounge: The Future of Museum Education
Presenter: Timothy Rhue, Explainers Program Coordinator, National Air & Space Museum Smithsonian Institution, Fairfax, VA
Dine and Dialogue: What’s Going On with Little Ones in Museums?
Chaired by: Betsy Bowers, Deputy Director of Museum Education, Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center, Washington, DC
Building a Healthy Future: Museums and Communities Tackle Issues of Wellness
Presenter: Lisa Falk, Director of Education, Arizona State Museum University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Citizen Science and Museums: Models of Partnership and Engagement
Chaired by: Karen Carney, Associate VP for Visitor Experience and Learning, Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, Chicago, IL
Presenters: Jason Reed, Online Engagement and Motivation Researcher, Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, Chicago, IL; Arfon Smith, Director of Citizen Science, Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, Chicago, IL
Linking Data Across Libraries, Archives and Museums
Presenter: Martin Kalfatovic, Assistant Director, Digital Services Division, Smithsonian Institition Libraries Acquisitions, Washington, DC
Wikipedia and the Museum: Lessons from Wikipedians in Residence
Presenter: Sarah Stierch, Wikipedian in Residence, Smithsonian Institution , Washington, DC
Young, Informed, Engaged: Innovation in Creating Sustainable Global Youth Communities
Presenters: Priscilla Hancock Cooper, VP, Institutional Programs, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Birmingham, AL
Decoding Diversity and Inclusion Strategy: A Sustainability Necessity
Presenter: William Harris, Senior Vice President of Development and Marketing, California Science Center Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
Future Engagement: The Latest From Brands, Games, and Entertainment
Chaired by: Judy Gradwohl, Associate Director for Education and Public Programs, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
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