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LOOKING AHEAD David Skorton 1 Secretary, Smithsonian Institution F ifty years ago, as the Apollo program prepared to put man on the moon, the future arrived at America’s doorstep all at once. Our astronauts ushered in a new age of exploration and innova- tion, pushing humanity to consider horizons once deemed unreachable. Today we live in an even more rapidly changing era — a time when new technologies enable cultural institutions even more effectively to honor history and heritage, invoke wonder and make our aspirations possible. In 2018, the Smithsonian embraced innovation as a driving force — our openness, creativity and capacity to take risks have never been more robust, as evidenced by our new strategic plan. It’s a collective legacy I’m extremely proud of as I look back on my four years as Secretary of this wonderful institution. Though my time here comes to an end in June 2019, I leave the Smithsonian in the hands of enormously talented colleagues, and I am more confident than ever that it is primed to harness new ideas to create a better world. Contents I am particularly excited about our collaboration with the Google Arts & Culture Lab. Together, we are applying tech- nology like 3-D capture, machine learning and visualization 1 David Skorton Reflects to broaden access and change the way audiences can experience our nation’s history. In 2018, Google VR teamed 3 Because of Her up with the National Air and Space Museum to capture NASA’s space shuttle Discovery in 3-D and provide an 4 Democratizing Knowledge astronaut’s view inside the orbiter’s flight deck — something by Everyone for Everyone the public had never seen before. Increasing our reach through digital platforms and new 8 Adding Three-Dimensional Depth partnerships has become a core focus for the Smithsonian. For instance, the Institution is working with Washington, D.C., 12 Teaching Machines to See public schools to implement educational programs and resources for all pre-K–12 students in the District. At the 17 Finding My Story same time, our Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service brings exhibitions to museums, libraries, community 26 All in a Day centers, botanical gardens, schools and other institutions across the country. 29 Recognition and Reports Our goal? To meet and empower young people wherever they are, whether in our own backyard or halfway around the globe.
2 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 David Skorton SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Ariana Curtis 3 Secretary, Smithsonian Institution Curator, Latinx History and Culture National Museum of African American History and Culture Because This year, as we celebrate the mixing genes from different coral This year’s annual report features centennial of women’s right to vote, populations — a technique that experts from across the Smithsonian of Her we’re launching the Smithsonian speeds up adaptation. whose work represents the best of American Women’s History Initiative, innovation for the public good. They In 2018, scientists from the which strives to tell more complete provide an excellent bird’s-eye view Smithsonian Conservation Biology stories of women and their contribu- of the many new approaches we Institute and partners in Florida tions to the nation — in art, design, are taking, each with the goal of and Curaçao became the first to science, politics, education and opening new opportunities for use cryopreserved coral sperm to more. This spirit informs a new learning and discovery. support gene migration of corals. exhibition at the National Portrait Researchers fertilized live eggs We often think of agility as a concept The Smithsonian American Women’s History Gallery, Votes for Women: A Portrait from endangered elkhorn coral in applied in the tech world, an apti- Initiative seeks to amplify diverse representations of Persistence, exploring the lives Curaçao with frozen elkhorn coral tude that can streamline and improve of women in every possible way so that women and experiences of women often sperm collected in Florida, Puerto commerce. At the Smithsonian we show up not only in our contemporary realities overlooked in the complex history Rico and Curaçao. The team then are proud to practice agility for but in our historical representations. of women’s suffrage. Google is transported 20,000 larvae to different ends: to help people under also helping to develop digital Florida, where they are growing stand the world around them, intro- Too often our public representations of women content for the initiative. Here, successfully in a lab environment. duce big ideas and tell a diverse are enveloped in superlatives: ”the first American machine learning can help us range of human stories. woman to.…” They don’t reflect daily realities. delve into our collections and Innovation in our museums archives and “uncover” previously sometimes takes surprising forms. I remain in awe of the many creative Museums can literally change how hundreds of millions untold stories about women. Last spring, we introduced a group minds that build, teach and explore of people see women and which women we see. So of museum guides straight out in our museums, research centers rather than always being the first, or the most famous, Our creative work applying tech- of a sci-fi novel: four-foot-tall and educational programs every day. it is also our responsibility to show everyday women nology to history and education is humanoid robots named Pepper. They continue to expand our sense whose stories have been knowingly omitted from our matched by our innovative efforts I have watched Pepper delight of what is possible and push toward national and global histories. in science and sustainability. For I will continue to collect objects people of all ages as it chats new horizons — a great gift to the instance, Smithsonian scientists As a curator, I am empowered to change that from extraordinary history makers. with visitors, offers directions nation and world. I cannot wait to are working to make coral reefs narrative. I research, collect and interpret objects Their stories are important. But what and interesting facts, poses see where they take us next. more resilient to the harmful and images of significance. drives me to show up, today and for selfies and even dances. impacts of global warming by every day, is the simple passion to Celia Cruz, the queen of salsa, is significant—and write our names in history, display We intentionally stationed Pepper an Afro Latina. The Smithsonian has collected her them publicly for millions to see, in some of our oldest areas, costumes and shoes, her portrait, her postage stamp and walk in the ever-present light including the Castle, our first and this reimagining by artist Tony Peralta. When I that is woman. building, marrying our longest- displayed this work it was a victory for symbolic lived cultural inheritance with contradictions: pride in displaying a dark-skinned the newest ideas. Latina, a black woman in large rollers who straightens her hair, perhaps a nod to white beauty standards— a refined glamorous woman in oversized chunky gold jewelry. When this work was on view, it was one ABOVE M. Tony Peralta’s Celia con Rolos, 2015, was in the of our most Instagrammed pieces. Visitors told me exhibition Gateways/Portales at the Anacostia LEFT they connected with the everyday elements of her Community Museum and is now part of the museum’s Pepper, a humanoid robot, greets collection. The exhibition explored the experiences Smithsonian visitors, offers directions brown skin, or her rollers or jewelry. of Latino immigrants in Washington, D.C.; Baltimore; and even poses for selfies. Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
4 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Effie Kapsalis SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Democratizing Knowledge by Everyone for Everyone 5 Senior Digital Program Officer Democratizing Knowledge by Everyone for Everyone The birth of the Smithsonian in 1846, an institution dedicated to “the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men,” occurred alongside the birth of photography, a technology that democratized what we see as human beings. At the time, Thomas Smillie, the Smithsonian’s staff photog- RIGHT Through his photographs, Thomas Smillie, rapher, experimented with the new medium to document the Smithsonian’s first staff photographer, recorded American life at the turn of the the developing Smithsonian; its collections, exhibitions and 20th century. Pictured clockwise from top left, Mrs. Rhoda Oshkosh (Menominee), 1905; expeditions; and the growing U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Roland Oshkosh (Menominee), 1905; David Tohin or Blue Hair (Iowa), 1903; He-cha-mon-in, His photographs, now in the Smithsonian Institution Archives, Heskamai, or White Horns (Osage), 1904. provide an important window into how the Smithsonian National Anthropological Archives, National Museum of Natural History. made sense of its ambitious mission.
6 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Democratizing Knowledge by Everyone for Everyone SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Democratizing Knowledge by Everyone for Everyone 7 I THE GREAT was surprised to learn of students and lifelong learners The stunning — yet daunting — other “early adopters” in create learning sets with our part is that we have an amazing OBJECT OF HUMAN our institution’s history. collections and digital resources breadth of resources from our THOUGHT IS Pam Henson, the through the Smithsonian Learning 172 years of existence that cut Smithsonian historian, Lab. At the National Museum of across women’s and girls’ experi- THE DISCOVERY tells a story of the first Natural History, 2,545 citizen scien- ences. However, these stories Smithsonian Secretary, physicist tists on six continents have set up of women represented in our OF TRUTH OR, Joseph Henry, setting up a network camera traps — infrared-activated objects, archives and libraries IN OTHER WORDS, of citizen weather observers in cameras — and uploaded them to are not always obvious and often 1849 to collect information across the museum’s eMammal project, reflect our culture’s point of view TO ARRIVE AT the United States. He used the capturing nearly 10 million pictures on women at that particular time. CONCEPTIONS telegraph, a new technology he of species in their locales. Each Additionally, some of the technol- had a hand in developing. The data year the number of people helping ogies we will employ, like machine AND EXPRESSIONS he collected from these volun- transcribe our collections through learning, have inherent gender OF THINGS WHICH teers—or as we call them today, the Transcription Center grows. biases, so we will need to improve “the crowd”— helped demonstrate Today, more than 12,000 Digital ourselves and take the algorithms SHALL AGREE that weather patterns move from Volunteers around the world are on the journey with us. west to east, information critical to transcribing our bee specimen WITH THE NATURE our agricultural industry. labels, Frederick Douglass papers This is the virtuous cycle we need to enter. We are an institution OF THINGS. Henry’s early crowdsourcing and early Alaska expedition records established for the increase and so the texts can be accessible to experiment was the seed for the diffusion of knowledge among human and machine queries. establishment of the U.S. National men, which in the 1800s was a Weather Service. His experiment JOSEPH HENRY But the current crowd will look thin bold statement because, at the is so notable that Wikipedia cites it once we reach our audacious goal time, knowledge was largely the as the fourth documented example set out in the Smithsonian’s new purview of wealthy male land- of crowdsourcing in history. strategic plan — to reach 1 billion owners. Now, in the early decades Since our forebears were experi- people a year with a digital-first of the 21st century, we have a duty menting with technology and strategy. How do we leverage tech as one of the most trusted resources crowdsourcing, I point to them if nology and partner with people, in the world to share stories of and I ever get pushback on involving aka “the crowd,” to do this? for all Americans, including women. “the crowd” in my projects. Where One way will be through the I am reminded of the importance my work deviates is in the technology Smithsonian American Women’s of this by one of our foremothers, I use, which is more complex and History Initiative. With this initiative Edith Mayo, curator emeritus ubiquitous, and the crowds, which we have an opportunity and a of the National Museum of are more diverse and far-flung. challenge to use technology and American History: “When you’re Henry’s crowd—more than 600— partner with “the crowd” in new invisible people assume you’ve pales in comparison to the numbers ways to identify gaps in our collec- done nothing.” of citizen scientists and virtual tions and surface new stories RIGHT volunteers who contribute to the about women to add to the web Nearly 10 million pictures of species in their locales have been uploaded Smithsonian’s mission today. to present a more balanced view to the eMammal project by citizen Nearly 48,000 U.S. teachers, of U.S. history. scientists around the world. Visit emammal.si.edu to see more.
8 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Vince Rossi 9 3-D Program Supervisor Digitization Program Office Adding Three- Dimensional Depth Throughout human history we have used a near-infinite range of tools to share our knowledge and insight into the world around us. Hand drawings bring the natural world into sharper focus. Microscopes and telescopes bring the unseen into view. Photography and video make it possible to capture a moment in time and share it with virtually anyone. These methods have one common quality: They are two-dimensional representations of a three-dimen- RIGHT sional world. However, with the recent development The technology of 3-D scanning makes thousands of Smithsonian objects— of noncontact three-dimensional (3-D) scanning devices, from ancient Chinese coins to starfish— instantly accessible. our ability to document the world has been revolutionized.
10 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Adding Three-Dimensional Depth SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Adding Three-Dimensional Depth 11 T oday, by 3-D scanning an object we make it instantly accessible via the web, and allow anyone to experi- ence the object using any number of platforms, from an augmented reality (AR) app on a cellphone to an immersive virtual reality (VR) experience using a headset. We are expanding our perception beyond I now scan objects and specimens Portrait Gallery. I thought users would to access our data, whether for the constraints a two-dimensional across the Smithsonian. The variety and make 3-D prints of the busts. This an augmented reality experience depiction offers. How we leverage breadth are humbling —from million- student took it much further, creating on a smartphone or virtual gallery this revolution will help define the year-old whale fossils in Chile to the his own home museum. experienced through a VR headset. Smithsonian of the future. Apollo 11 Command Module. And his is not an isolated case. With the development of this public My career followed a similar trajec- More than ever I understand how Teachers are using our scan of the data hub we are meeting the mem- tory from the concrete world to a 3-D digitization will transform the 1903 Wright Flyer to teach the funda- bers of our audience where they virtual one. A sculptor most of my life, Smithsonian and how our scholars mentals of flight, an artist in Japan live, by allowing the platforms they I consider form a means of commu- and scientists document, study added joints to a model of a woolly already use to become portals to nication. I studied art in Philadelphia, and share our enormous collection. mammoth and printed a movable Smithsonian content. We position then worked as a fabricator of props toy (sharing his creative data back ourselves not as the gatekeepers of and costumes for film, opera and With less than 1 percent of our nearly with the Smithsonian), and students this information but as gateways to theater in London. By 2004, I was 155 million objects on display, 3-D around the world can now virtually a new knowledge. We hold the raw using molds and casts for Smithsonian scanning renders what was once sit inside the Apollo 11 Command ingredients for discovery, but the Exhibits to create objects from images, inaccessible readily available. We Module and explore its details down future of knowledge lies with those many of which found their way into created the first Smithsonian 3-D to the astronauts’ handwritten who will unlock it. After all, it is there museum exhibitions. viewer online through a partnership graffiti. By allowing free access we for anyone, anywhere, who wishes with Autodesk to revolutionize My life as a sculptor — working with encourage educators to bring the to turn the key. our storytelling, where the object clay, resins and metal — was trans- Smithsonian’s content directly into becomes a window for storytelling. formed when the Digitization Program their classrooms in powerful, This viewer is a powerful new tool Office purchased the Smithsonian’s engaging and immersive ways. that allows us to share our data with first 3-D scanner, then an industrial the world — setting it free for users So, what does the future hold for 3-D printer. The ability to scan an ABOVE to experience online or download. us at the Smithsonian? Renderings: Tyrannosaurus rex (vertebra cast), object without touching it and create U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha district a lifelike replica was pure magic. The examples of what happens when We are introducing more and more and The Museum of the Rockies, Montana State University; Triceratops horridus (composite cast), you unleash data are astounding. A high automation into our work, pulling National Museum of Natural History; Massimiliano school student in Colorado Springs, content out from the shadows of Ravenna, George Washington, 1819, after RIGHT our hidden collections, and devel- Colo., created his own virtual reality Giuseppe Ceracchi, 1792, National Portrait A rendered 3-D scan of astronaut Neil Armstrong’s Gallery; Lace coral (pocillopora damicornis), space-suit helped conserve the suit and will exhibition of our recently scanned oping a Smithsonian 3-D data hub collected 1992, Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea, provide the public with a new view of the artifact. presidential busts at the National (API), which will enable any platform National Museum of Natural History
12 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 13 [TYPE SECTION HERE] [SUBSECTION HERE] Teaching Machines to See The potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to make sense of our era’s deluge of big data is enormous. And the Smithsonian, with an encyclopedic collec- tion of objects and specimens spanning centuries, is an ideal AI test bed. RIGHT Unknown, Moonwatch Volunteers, 1965. How? AI could allow for a more intuitive search for Smithsonian Institution Archives images by cross-referencing other images, or with The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) launched Operation Moonwatch in rapid, automatic transcription of handwritten labels. 1956, training citizen astronomers to spot artificial satellites and gather statistics for It also might reveal artistic influences between SAO’s computation center, in an era before the launch of optical tracking stations. This unrelated works, or ease the daunting task of was an early example of how machines charting genetic relationships among the planet’s revolutionized research by facilitating the collection and interpretation of scientific data. biodiverse organisms.
14 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Teaching Machines to See SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Teaching Machines to See 15 A revolution is After these successes, we recog- Zorich adds that the Smithsonian underway, in fact. nized that similar AI approaches also might play a role in correcting It started with the could be applied across all different biases that remain prevalent in AI. most unassuming kinds of collections at the Smithsonian. For instance, AI that initially identi- of things: plants. fies a particular Hopi object as a Along with the Smithsonian Research doll might be taught to correctly Specifically, using thousands of digital Computing Office inthe Office of identify it as a kachina. And once photos of mosses and ferns in the the Chief Information Officer and this identification is made, AI might National Herbarium collection at the the Google Arts & Culture Lab, we be taught to differentiate the types TEACHING National Museum of Natural History, convened a workshop in late 2018 two pilot projects showed the enor- bringing together more than of kachinas used in certain ceremo- MACHINES TO nies. That’s where the hand of a mous potential for artificial intelligence 40 experts from 22 Smithsonian curator comes in, the person “SEE” NUANCES to completely reshape how scholars museums and research centers familiar with an object’s deeper can quarry the Smithsonian’s vast to introduce AI’s possibilities. story, and the input of data scientists, AND BRINGING holdings for research. One result: a real-time demon who can program the machines TOGETHER OBJECTS with data context. Using super-fast computers, stration of how to train a machine FROM ACROSS Smithsonian researchers initially to learn algorithms to recognize “We’re hoping that our work may put an AI computer program to unique hand gestures that can help drive AI development, to THE SMITHSONIAN work analyzing more than 15,000 call up $1, $5 and $10 bills from digital photographs of mosses. the National Museum of American push companies doing AI to COLLECTION address biases better in the work Some specimens had been treated History’s numismatics collection. they’re doing,” Zorich says. “It’s just WOULD BE A with mercury to protect them from pests, while others had not. “Artificial intelligence has the a theory now, but the Smithsonian GAME CHANGER. potential to help us re-examine — and all museum collections — Though the staining is evident to and recatalog our collection so could bring something valuable the human eye, researchers sought that objects have more context to the table for tech companies to determine whether a computer and can be used in different ways,” jumping on the AI bandwagon.” DIANE ZORICH could learn to “see” the discoloration says Diane Zorich, director of the too. It did, 91 percent of the time. Digitization Program Office. Next, they used 140,000 images The next challenge is to expand of ferns from 86 different genera. the processes like those tested on The goal: to test whether the program the botany collections, streamlining could teach itself to identify the genus them into a systematic approach with no information other than the that can be used across the Smithsonian image of the plant. The computer and eventually in other museums was successful 95 percent of the time. and research institutions. Where it missed the mark was between closely related species with only LEFT microscopic physical differences. Tony Reyna (Taos Pueblo), Kachina Doll Mother, 1960–1963. Gift of Elsie W. Latham, National Museum of the American Indian Artificial intelligence might be taught to differentiate among types of kachina dolls used in Hopi ceremonies.
16 [TYPE SECTION HERE] [SUBSECTION HERE] FINDING MY STORY National Museum of American History 17 1 Finding My Story Twenty-some years ago when I became a National Museum of American History curator in the history of medicine, I was doing straight-up history of medicine — a little infectious disease, a few prosthetics, a big dose of ophthalmology. The objects were my teachers. As engaging as they were, my attention wandered. I became increasingly aware— then frustrated— that the presence of gender-nonconforming, non- binary rebellious spirits like myself was missing from the galleries and deeply buried in the storerooms. Invisibility has had dangerous consequences throughout history as well as in our own time. There is a lot at stake. LEFT Fifty years ago, the Stonewall protests in New York City launched a national movement for gay rights.
18 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 National Museum of American History SMITHSONIAN | 2018 National Museum of the American Indian 19 W RIGHT e don’t have William Page, Charlotte Cushman, 1853. a formal National Portrait Gallery division or One of the best-known American 2 actresses in the 19th century, Charlotte collecting Cushman won praise for portraying program Romeo, Hamlet and Cardinal Wolsey, as well as Lady MacBeth. devoted to LGBTQ+ history, but through the years several of us have been consciously collecting and docu- Native American Innovators menting this history. The academic scholarship of the last few decades Jane Mt. Pleasant, a renowned made this work much easier, and Native agricultural scientist and major social changes made it a member of the Tuscarora Nation, lot safer. studies Haudenosaunee agricultural practices, specifically corn and the This year marks the 50th anniversary productivity of the “three sisters” of the Stonewall uprising in New York cropping system — planting corn MUSEUMS HOLD City. Those five hot summer nights alongside squash and beans. of protests by bar patrons who were IDEAS UP FOR sick of police harassment are often Though a monoculture of corn yields a more bountiful crop, her called the beginning of the modern DISCUSSION AND gay rights movement. In organizing research proves that when the HELP US COEXIST for the anniversary, it is crucial to “three sisters” are planted together, the nutritional values are higher demonstrate that the struggle for WITH HARD ISSUES. rights, inclusion and even existence Museums hold ideas up for discus- and provide a more sustaining meal. sion and help us coexist with hard began long before Stonewall. issues. This is one of the most ABOVE Mt. Pleasant’s years of research Through games, hands-on activities In the imagiNATIONS Activity Center, students Smithsonian objects are still eloquent significant contributions we make are the basis of a game at the new and interactive media, imagiNATIONS KATHERINE OTT to the civic good. The National imagiNATIONS Activity Center learn how Native people were the original teachers. They are powerful evidence demonstrates the complex scientific innovators in the Americas. of the presence and influence Museum of American History at the National Museum of the principles behind the innovations, The activity center is made possible by of LGBTQ+ people throughout recently accessioned artifacts American Indian – New York, George such as the geometry used to ensure the United States Congress and the City American history, from those who from Matthew Shepard, who Gustav Heye Center. The Cropetition igloos won’t bulge or cave in, the of New York, with support from the Office was targeted as gay and brutally of the Mayor, New York City Council, and came before “gay” was an identity, Challenge asks players to choose advanced mathematics developed the Manhattan Borough President’s Office from actress Charlotte Cushman, murdered 20 years ago. the best combination of crops for by the Maya, and the physics Arctic through the Department of Cultural Affairs. Lead funding is provided by Valerie and John who played both male and female nourishing their families. The game hunters used to catch game. For marginalized people and the W. Rowe and The Rockefeller Foundation. dramatic roles, and President James rewards cooperation over competi- Major funding is provided by the Booth histories that have been ignored “Teachers and students alike Buchanan in the mid-1800s (although tion, reinforcing a holistic Native Ferris Foundation, Margaret A. Cargill or erased, information carries even are amazed to learn about the Philanthropies, Margot and John Ernst, his niece destroyed his letters, American approach to critical greater weight. Schools have found The George Gund Foundation in memory Washingtonians considered him thinking, creative problem-solving many innovations developed by of George Gund III, the Nathan Cummings that simply acknowledging LGBTQ+ a couple with Senator and future and sustainability. Indigenous peoples throughout Foundation, the National Council of the existence reduces bullying and National Museum of the American Indian Vice President William Rufus King) the Americas,” says Johanna makes the school environment safer. and The Walt Disney Company. Additional to basketball’s Jason Collins, the Native people are the original Gorelick, the education services funding provided by Catherine Morrison Just naming it makes us all safer. 1990s hit show Will and Grace, and innovators of the Americas, in areas manager for the museum. “This Golden, the New York State Council on How simple is that? the Arts with the support of Governor hundreds of buttons, T-shirts and ranging from agriculture to chemical topic is largely absent from most Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State publications from across the country. Katherine Ott, curator processes to advanced engineering. school curricula.” Legislature and the Rauch Foundation.
20 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 National Portrait Gallery SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Anacostia Community Museum 21 3 BELOW Auguste Edouart, Oliver Caswell, 1843. Gift of Robert L. McNeil, Jr., National Portrait Gallery Silhouettes—cut-paper profiles—were a hugely popular and democratic form of portraiture in the 19th century, offering virtually instantaneous likenesses of everyone from presidents to those Bringing Shadows to Light who were enslaved. Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now examined the art form and its rich “Traditionally, portraiture was an elite art form historical roots. that favored those in power,” says Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery. Cut- paper silhouettes, however, provided a quick and inexpensive way to capture the likenesses of all kinds of people during the decades that preceded the advent of photography. Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now shed light on everyday lives that frequently have been eclipsed from our national narrative. For example, the exhibition included portraits of people who had been enslaved and the first known image of a same-sex couple, Sylvia Drake and Charity Bryant, who lived and worked together in early 19th-century Vermont. “When people see those who look like themselves, they can realize that they have within them all the ingredients to make ABOVE Tenant protest in Washington, D.C.’s Adams Morgan neighborhood, 1978. their own important contributions to the 4 national narrative,” Sajet says. They viewed his pop-up exhibition an experimental recording and The show also called attention to extraordinary drawn from the Smithsonian exhibition space on wheels. During artists such as Moses Williams, a former slave, Anacostia Community Museum’s the festival, Meghelli recruited more and Martha Ann Honeywell, a woman born A Right to the City, which explores residents to participate in future without hands who cut silhouettes using her History by and for the People how ordinary citizens have a hand oral history interviews. mouth. Works by contemporary female artists in developing neighborhoods by reconceptualized the silhouette to explore You built this neighborhood. Get “We tell stories from the perspec- fighting for good schools, green how questions of gender, race and representa- to know it. That’s exactly what tive of the people who’ve lived spaces and public transportation. tion persist in modern-day America. Washingtonians did during the through and shaped history in 40th annual Adams Morgan Day Meghelli’s conversations and the this city,” Meghelli says. “This Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now was made possible street festival last fall. They listened pop-up exhibition were produced requires deep and sustained by the Thoma Foundation, Andrew Oliver Jr. and Daniel Oliver, Mr. and Mrs. Michael H. Podell, Dr. and Mrs. Paul to Smithsonian Curator Samir in conjunction with American engagement in the communities Carter, The Richard and Elizabeth Dubin Family Foundation, Meghelli interview local activists. University’s Humanities Truck, themselves.” The Forman Family Foundation, Glen and Sakie Fukushima, Stephanie and Timothy Ingrassia, Philip and Elizabeth Ryan, The Abraham and Virginia Weiss Charitable Trust, Amy and A Right to the City was funded by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, which receives support from the National Endowment Marc Meadows, the Barbara Lee Family Foundation and an for the Arts, and from the Historic Preservation Fund, administered by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior. In addition, anonymous donor. Additional support was provided by the this exhibition received federal support from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Portrait Gala Endowment. American Center. Additional support was provided by the Smithsonian Women’s Committee.
22 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Smithsonian Science Education Center 23 5 6 BELOW from the annual Burning Man No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man featured a temple created by David gathering in Nevada’s Black Rock Best and the Temple Crew to be Desert. The exhibition took over adorned with visitor inscriptions. the entire Renwick and included public art sculptures in the Collaborative Creativity You Can’t Be Her surrounding neighborhood. If You Don’t See Her In the Smithsonian American Art Viewers were invited to leave their Museum’s Renwick Gallery, on a Growing up in Pittsburgh, Carol thoughts. Hidden in a niche in blackboard stenciled with the O’Donnell didn’t know any women the Temple, an intricately carved provocatively incomplete phrase scientists, but that didn’t stop her. wooden structure filling the Bettie “Before I die I want to…,” someone She loved science, earned a Ph.D., Rubenstein Grand Salon, a visitor scrawled, “Be rich with love.” and taught physics. Now, as the wrote on a piece of recycled wood, director of the Smithsonian Science Someone else wrote, “Swim in “It doesn’t feel real yet….” Education Center, which is trans- every sea.” forming the teaching and learning “It’s all about being there, being No Spectators: The Art of Burning of K-12 science throughout the fully present and not just observing,” Man broke the boundaries between nation and the world, O’Donnell says Nora Atkinson, the museum’s art and audience with a stunning wants the next generation of Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft. collection of participatory works girls to pursue careers in science, “This exhibition also invites people technology, engineering and math to talk with their neighbors as they (STEM) —despite today’s odds that interact with the art.” show women are significantly The nonprofit Burning Man Project underrepresented in these fields. advised Atkinson on her selections “We bring female engineers, scientists, for the exhibition, and the local technologists and manufacturers Burning Man community volun- into classrooms to engage with teered as museum greeters. students,” O’Donnell says. “We are Atkinson adds, “Burning Man art not only creating those gateway is all about creating community.” experiences for young girls, but are providing them with the role IF A YOUNG GIRL models they need so that they can see themselves in others and chart SEES SOMEONE IN Intel provided generous financial and in- kind support as the lead sponsor of the a course toward a STEM career.” A STEM ROLE, SHE exhibition. Additional financial support was provided by the Carolyn Small Alper The center, which provides a WILL BELIEVE SHE Exhibitions Fund, Sarah and Richard curriculum based on Smithsonian Barton, the Bently Foundation, the Diane science to schools around the world, CAN DO THAT TOO. and Norman Bernstein Foundation, The Bronner Family, the Elizabeth Broun is partnering with Johnson & Johnson Curatorial Endowment, DAWSON to make sure girls remain on track Companies, the James F. Dicke Family Endowment, Ed Fries, Ping Fu, the James to study STEM. The joint initiative, ABOVE CAROL O’DONNELL Renwick Alliance, Nion McEvoy, Debbie Women in STEM Manufacturing A scientist from Johnson & Johnson Frank Petersen, Bobby Sarnoff, Albert H. and Design (WiSTEM2D), has visits a STEM classroom in Costa Rica to Small, Myra and Harold Weiss, Kelly teach about the science of sound, using reached more than 50,000 a lesson developed by the Smithsonian Williams and Andrew Forsyth, and an anonymous donor. young people. Science Education Center.
24 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute SMITHSONIAN | 2018 National Museum of African American History and Culture 25 BELOW Populations of the northern bobwhite have declined since the 1930s. The Smithsonian, conservation groups and landowners are creating healthy habitats 8 to maintain the birds’ population. Taking a Moment to Reflect At the National Museum of African American History and Culture we ask visitors to reflect on their experi- ences by answering one of four questions, including: “Which of the exhibitions that you just walked through are most memorable to you and why?” and “How do you think race and racism affect your day-to-day activities and why?” Their answers encompass a wide range of moving and thoughtful responses and are recorded in our Reflections Booths, located on each museum level—Slavery and Freedom: 1400–1877, The Era of Segregation: 1876–1968, and A Changing America: 1968 and Beyond. I am ever amazed that a complete stranger can bring tears to my eyes in such a short span of time. Visitors 7 They continue for 10 minutes. Their data — gathered mostly on email the recordings to themselves If they’re very lucky, they’ll hear private agricultural land, then and can share them with us. We use the distinctive call of the northern shared with participating land- the shared recordings in a variety of bobwhite, which has suffered a owners at the end of the year — ways: Some are posted on our YouTube significant population decline. reveal the impact on native bio- page or on Twitter, others are incorpo- The Power of Citizen Scientists diversity of land-use practices, rated into short documentaries, and These volunteer citizen scientists such as the choice of grasses to still others find their way into outreach As birdsongs fill the air, the first are conducting a survey for Virginia plant in pastures. “We couldn’t presentations given by our staff. So far, rays of dawn pierce the mist over a Working Landscapes, a privately exist without citizen scientists,” we have collected more than 45,000 Northern Virginia meadow. A group funded program of the Smithsonian says Amy Johnson, program reflections—and no two stories are of people stands close together, Conservation Biology Institute. In director and one of three staff the same. The possibilities for their listening intently. One names each 2018, citizen scientists donated at Virginia Working Landscapes. impact are endless. bird she hears or sees within 100 nearly 2,000 hours to the program, “With them, we’re a team of more completing about 500 surveys of Kelly Elaine Navies, oral historian meters — she’s been rigorously than 60 people working together ABOVE Visitors to the National Museum of trained and tested for the task — birds, bumblebees, arthropods to use science to inform conserva- African American History and Culture while the others take notes. and grassland plants. tion land management.” reflect on issues of race and equality.
All in a Day At any hour on any day, around the world, something is happening at the Smithsonian. 12AM 1AM 2AM 3AM 4AM 5AM 6AM 7AM 8AM 9AM 10AM 11AM 12PM 1PM 2PM 3PM 4PM 5PM 6PM 7PM 8PM 9PM 10PM 11PM Cownose rays mate in the The Smithsonian Asian Pacific In the wee hours, zookeepers Scientists at the Smithsonian Volunteer Jim Walker Conservators install early copies of In Baltimore, residents bring Chesapeake Bay every summer. The National Zoo celebrates Washington Capitals hockey fans American Center and Pasifika feed a newborn armadillo pup Migratory Bird Center outfit photographs National Air the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation Visitors to the Anacostia The future of imperiled coral reefs family photos, videos and records Then, they disappear. Smithsonian is a bit brighter with a breakthrough the birth of Moke, a western crowd the steps of the National First Fridays host a poetry slam in Salt Environmental Research Center that needs to eat around the clock. bluethroats with data trackers to learn and Space Museum galleries, and 13th Amendment at the National Museum Conservation Institute Community Museum add to a week-long series of “community Lake City, home to the largest Pacific lowland gorilla. Within six months, Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian Scientists with the National Zoo’s how to better protect them. The birds when the museum is closed, Museum of African American History scholars confer with colleagues their images to artist Amanda for freezing and thawing early-stage curation” events. The National Museum scientists follow their migration zookeepers dubbed him a big American Art Museum after an at- Islander population in the contiguous Nutrition Department used data from breed over two months in northern and uploads them as 3-D and Culture. Technicians at the National in Nimrud, Iraq. Working together, Burnham’s 3-D artwork Block larvae. Post-doctoral fellow Jonathan of African American History and Culture pattern by tagging the cownose boy, as he took his first steps home victory. Throughout the 2018 United States. Jahra Wasasala, one of our Milk Repository to create a high- Alaska; their activities during the other panoramas. The virtual tours Institute of Standards and Technology the Nimrud Rescue Team is Watch, transforming it into Daly’s work at the Smithsonian worked with participants to digitize rays with acoustic transmitters. away from his mom, Calaya. Stanley Cup playoffs, Caps fans four poets performing at the event, calcium armadillo formula after this 10 months of the year are a mystery. allow visitors to explore the collaborated on the design and fabrication stabilizing and recovering this living history. Conservation Biology Institute advances personal objects as part of an effort Signals are recorded around the commandeer this spot cheering on traces her heritage to Fiji. pup’s mother stopped lactating. museum online. of the documents’ protective casings. ancient archaeological site. reef restoration efforts and safeguards to preserve and share the stories of clock, showing that the cownose their team to win the championship. at-risk species. African Americans. rays winter in Florida. Ben, a telescope named after The Smithsonian’s epic creative Conservator Dawn Wallace puts the Celebrating the Inti Raymi, the astronomer Benjamin Banneker, Volunteers weed, water, plant and The crown jewel of a newly renovated Puerto Rico–born guitarist José Feliciano Awestruck Parker Curry stares About 10,000 people turn out for The Center for Folklife and Cultural marathon The Long Conversation, finishing touches on the Ruby Slippers, transition of seasons, dancers After charging all night, Pepper can NASA’s Parker Solar Probe blasts is pointed at the morning sky. In 2018, at the official portrait of Michelle the fifth annual Indian River Lagoon Heritage launches a three-year chat all day. Cheerfully engaging prune thousands of blooms in the fossil hall, the T.rex is unveiled for the is a special guest at the naturalization in the Arts & Industries Building, hosts worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz, hold Andean-style fans as they off to touch the sun. A suite of more than 90,000 people from around Obama at the National Portrait Gallery. Science Festival in Fort Pierce, Fla., co- project to preserve textiles with the Institution’s gardens. Working alongside press at the National Museum of Natural ceremony of 19 candidates for American citizen artists, scientists and thought leaders before they go back on display at the National circle the National Museum of visitors about art, culture, science and instruments built by the Smithsonian the world used the Smithsonian Astro- Royal Textile Academy in Bhutan. Smithsonian Gardens staff from spring History. It will delight crowds when the ship at the National Museum of American History. Curry’s image dressed as the former organized by the Smithsonian Marine who share ideas for creating a hopeful Museum of American History. More than the American Indian. The parade history at six Smithsonian locations, the Astrophysical Observatory will physical Observatory’s MicroObservatory Hand-woven textiles are among through fall, volunteers are critical to the hall reopens on June 8, 2019. The musician donated the guitar on which he First Lady for Halloween went viral— Station. Participants explore 80 stations, future. Performer Sasha Velour takes $370,000 raised during the Kickstarter was part of the Smithsonian-wide SoftBank-donated humanoid robots are sample the star’s fiery outer corona. Robotic Telescope Network to request Bhutan’s cherished traditional arts. maintenance of these outdoor museums. played the “The Star-Spangled Banner” at a leading to a real-life meeting between including one on how coral reefs form, the stage in the evening. campaign by over 6,400 backers enabled Solstice Saturday, which featured transforming how visitors interact with images of space. World Series game in 1968. the girl and her idol. facilitated by station researcher Scott Jones. Wallace to spend 200 hours cleaning and late museum closing hours and museum exhibitions. conserving the legendary 80-year-old shoes. events across the National Mall.
SMITHSONIAN | 2018 We thank 2018’s most generous donors 29 The Smithsonian is a community of scholars and educators, sustained by the American people and generous donors. We are the nation’s museums— keepers of the country’s collection—home to experts in science, history, culture and art. We create educational programs that serve millions of families each year. In a rapidly changing world, we are reaching more people where they are, with greater relevance and impact. We thank those who make today’s Smithsonian possible. BELOW The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden commissioned Los Angeles-based artist Mark Bradford to create one of his largest artworks, Pickett’s Charge, spanning nearly 400 linear feet. Bradford was inspired by French artist Paul Philippoteaux’s 19th-century cyclorama of the final charge of the Battle of Gettysburg. By layering colored paper with reproductions of the original, the artist transformed historic Gettysburg imagery into a series of eight powerful abstract paintings, inviting viewers to reconsider how narratives about American history are shaped and contested. Mark Bradford: Pickett’s Charge, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth © Mark Bradford PHOTO CATHY CARVER
30 LEADERSHIP GIFTS We thank 2018’s most generous donors LEADERSHIP GIFTS We thank 2018’s most generous donors 31 for their gifts of $2.5 million or more for their gifts of $2.5 million or more Dagmar Dolby Barron Hilton / Ann and Gilbert H. Kinney The Volgenau Foundation Dr. Coralyn Wright Whitney LIGHTS, CAMERA, CULTURE! Conrad N. Hilton Foundation DOCUMENTING ARTISTS A KNOWLEDGE BRIDGE COLLECTING EARTH’S TREASURES PUSHING BOUNDARIES Rock ’n’ roll. Symphony concerts. Hollywood The seven-year reimagining of the National Air The Archives of American Art is Saving endangered species requires The Whitney Flame Topaz—a rare, blockbusters and independent films. America’s and Space Museum, which began in fall 2018, the preeminent resource for those sustained conservation efforts over vivid red topaz named after donor favorite pastime—baseball—and the lights of encompasses upgrades to exhibitions about seeking new insights into the history many generations. The Smithsonian Coralyn Wright Whitney—ignited Broadway. Entertainment connects us, reflects historic American trailblazers as well as of visual arts in America. It holds Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) wonder among gem enthusiasts our shared experiences and comments on educational experiences that equip children— more than 20 million primary source in Front Royal, Va., with a school and around the globe when it was unveiled public issues. A $5 million gift from Dagmar and adults—for a lifetime of discovery. A $10 materials, including the papers, research facility—where scientists at the National Museum of Natural Dolby and Dolby Laboratories, along with a million gift from Barron Hilton/Conrad N. photographs and oral histories of study and breed more than 20 History in September. A second gift donation of Dolby audio and visual equipment, Hilton Foundation supports both aspects artists, dealers and other art world threatened species— allows for this from the donor in 2018 is equally enables the National Museum of American of this transformation. In the Barron Hilton figures. Archives trustee Gilbert H. to happen. The Smithsonian-Mason awe-inspiring and enduring: a $5 History to develop Entertaining America, an Pioneers of Flight gallery, the gift will refresh Kinney and his wife, Ann, have School of Conservation connects million endowment to support the exhibition that explores the power of culture. exhibitions and conserve artifacts that bring invested in the repository’s growth world-renowned scientists with Coralyn W. Whitney Curator of Gems Opening in 2020 in the museum’s new Ray and the stories of famed aviators like Charles with a gift of $2.5 million to endow high school, college and graduate and Minerals. In charge of one of the Dagmar Dolby Hall of American Culture, the Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart to life. The the position of Gilbert and Ann students—the next generation of world’s premier gem and mineral exhibition will showcase iconic objects, such as gift also establishes the Barron Hilton STEM Kinney New York Collector, who conservation leaders. Their training collections, the curator develops the Ruby Slippers from The Wizard of Oz, and Education Fund, an endowment for new gathers materials from individuals takes place in the Volgenau Academic exhibitions to spark the public’s the impact of American entertainers. In addition, science, technology, engineering and math and organizations in the nation’s arts Center, named in recognition of curiosity about the Earth’s basic the gift funds the Ray Dolby Gateway to Culture, programs for middle school students. On- capital. The collector also writes The Volgenau Foundation’s $3 million building blocks and provides scientists where installations rewind the history of site programs, such as curated tours, will peer-reviewed essays, focused on gift. The foundation also supports with a wide array of specimens for recorded sound, and improves technology in engage students who visit the museum, these newly acquired works, for each SCBI’s coral restoration and wild canid research. Coralyn Whitney, a member the museum’s Warner Bros. Theater, while distance-learning programs will reach issue of the award-winning Archives reproduction research and the Virginia of the board of the National Museum a sought-after venue for film screenings students in under-resourced schools across of American Art Journal. The donors Working Landscapes, a program that of Natural History, also made a and discussions that cast a critical and the nation. The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation have also supported the Freer|Sackler, promotes native biodiversity and profound impact on the museum appreciative eye on entertainment. has been a generous supporter of the where Ann Kinney previously served sustainable land use. This past year, through earlier gifts, including an National Air and Space Museum since 1998. on the board. The Volgenau Foundation provided endowment for the Coralyn W. a substantial gift to the Whooping Whitney Science Education Center, Crane Breeding Facility, which houses an endowment for research related six breeding pairs of this critically to the gem and mineral collection, endangered North American bird. and the prized Whitney Alexandrite.
32 LEADERSHIP GIFTS We thank 2018’s most generous donors LEADERSHIP GIFTS We thank 2018’s most generous donors 33 for their gifts of $1 million or more for their gifts of $1 million or more Alaska Airlines Martha and Mary and CITI Drue Heinz Trust Intel Foundation Faustino Bernadett John F. Brock lll Little more than a A $1 million gift to the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design The National Museum century ago, travel National Museum of African Museum offers researchers access to of African American by plane was rare, American History and its exceptional collection of more than History and Culture expensive and fraught Culture from founding donor CITI helps 147,000 European and American works is the nation’s most with danger. Today, it is commonplace, tell the American story through an African on paper through the Drue Heinz Study comprehensive museum devoted to affordable and safe. The America by Air American lens. The story starts outside: Center for Drawings and Prints, which the African American story and its impact gallery tells this remarkable history and, visible from across the National Mall, opened 17 years ago with funding on American and world history. Thousands with the help of a $1.5 million gift from the museum’s bronze lattice cladding is from Drue Heinz. A new gift of $1 million of unique objects in the museum’s Alaska Airlines, will engage a new generation inspired by the intricate ironwork of black from the Drue Heinz Trust supports galleries—from a reassembled South of visitors through reimagined exhibitions, artisans in the South. Inside, eight floors the center’s operations, including Carolina slave cabin to Chuck Berry’s dynamic design and improved educational of galleries, theaters and interactive spaces research on two designers represented Cadillac Eldorado—chronicle narratives opportunities—part of a multiyear trans A $2 million gift from Martha and Faustino Collisions in a vast cloud of dust and gas enable visitors to explore complex in the collection — art nouveau architect of creativity, resilience and power, while formation of the National Air and Space Bernadett enables the Smithsonian Latino formed the Earth 4.6 billion years ago. narratives about the African American Hector Guimard and graphic designer award-winning interactive exhibitions help Museum’s building on the National Mall. Center to establish the Molina Family Today, human impacts shape the fate experience. CITI has made many gifts to E. McKnight Kauffer — in preparation Americans of all backgrounds understand This gift also provides needed conservation Latino Gallery in the National Museum of life on the planet. To help the National Smithsonian museums and centers since for forthcoming exhibitions. The trust their own relationship to these narratives. for important artifacts within the gallery. of American History, the first exhibition Museum of Natural History tell the story 1982, including the National Museum of also donated an 1877 oil painting by The 400,000-square-foot museum is Alaska Airlines previously has supported the space on the National Mall dedicated to of Earth from its beginning to its future, Natural History, the Smithsonian Tropical William Michael Harnett, below, to the supported by a gift of $1 million from Intel National Museum of the American Indian. the heritage, culture and accomplishments Smithsonian National Board member Research Institute and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian American Art Museum. Foundation, a founding donor. Previous of Latinos in the United States. While John F. Brock and his wife, Mary, contributed Smithsonian Design Museum. gifts from Intel Foundation benefited the Bank of America shining a light on wide-ranging stories $1 million for Deep Time, the museum’s Smithsonian Science Education Center. of struggle and triumph, the gallery will reimagined hall of fossils. Opening to Dick and Betsy DeVos illustrate how Latinos have contributed visitors in June 2019, this 31,000-square- Family Foundation to our national identity and initiate foot exhibition traces geological processes, From Nimrud, Iraq, an ancient city recently conversations about what unifies us as ecosystem changes and the evolution bombed and bulldozed by the Islamic State, Americans. The gift also helps support of species. Understanding these forces Drawing on the expertise to New York, where Hurricane Sandy flooded the curator responsible for the gallery’s enables us to grasp our own role in the and collections of multiple historic theatrical sets, the Smithsonian exhibitions, the Dr. C. David Molina Earth’s unfolding epic. Smithsonian museums and Cultural Rescue Initiative recovers and Visiting Curator. programs, the American conserves threatened cultural heritage. Lead Women’s History Initiative corporate sponsor Bank of America made a amplifies the voices of gift of $1 million in support of the initiative’s women, past and present, and highlights mission to help U.S. and international their contributions to art, history, science, communities preserve their identities and business and culture. Bolstered by a history. Among the many other Smithsonian $1 million gift to the initiative from the museums and programs that have benefited Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation, from Bank of America’s giving since 1992 the Smithsonian will build capacity for new are the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture research, exhibitions and programming to Garden, the National Museum of the inspire and empower women everywhere. American Indian and the National Museum Planning is already underway for exhibitions of African American History and Culture. at the National Museum of American History and the National Portrait Gallery RIGHT to celebrate the centennial of women’s Smithsonian conservation experts assessed damage suffrage in the United States in 2020. at the Martha Graham Dance Company in New York, where costumes, ephemera and theatrical sets, many designed by Isamu Noguchi, were damaged by Hurricane Sandy. Collections were either RIGHT removed and freeze-dried or sent to a warehouse William Michael Harnett, Fruit Pieces, 1877. for air drying, and returned once stabilized. Bequest of Drue Heinz
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