INSPIRING GENERATIONS THROUGH KNOWLEDGE AND DISCOVERY

Highlights of New Discoveries and Research Initiatives  

The work of Smithsonian curators, historians, and scientists is essential to the Institution’s

ability to meet the four grand challenges of the Smithsonian Strategic Plan: understanding and

sustaining a biodiverse planet, unlocking the mysteries of the universe, valuing world cultures,

and understanding the American experience.  The following stories highlight a few of the many

new discoveries, research programs, and initiatives that have occurred recently at the

Smithsonian.  These achievements reflect the immense resources and intellectual talent of the

Smithsonian, as well as demonstrate its commitment to addressing issues and answering

questions of global importance.

VALUING WORLD CULTURES

Collaborative exhibition and publication reflect 150 years

of Smithsonian anthropological research in Alaska  

Based on a collaborative exhibition created by the National

Museum of Natural History (NMNH), the National Museum

of the American Indian, Alaska Native communities, and the

Anchorage Museum, the new book Living Our Cultures,

Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska celebrates

both the long‐awaited return of ancestral treasures to their

northern homeland and the diverse cultures in which they

were created.  The publication, edited in part by NMNH

anthropologist Aron L. Crowell, features more than 200

objects representing the masterful artistry and design

traditions of 20 Alaska Native peoples.  Universal themes of

“Sea, Land, Rivers,” “Family and Community,” and

“Ceremony and Celebration” are explored by referencing

exquisite masks, parkas, beaded garments, basketry,

weapons, and carvings that embody the diverse

environments and practices of their makers.  Accompanied

by traditional stories and personal accounts by Alaska

Native elders, artists, and scholars, each piece featured in

Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage evokes both

historical and contemporary meaning, and breathes the life

of its people.  This Smithsonian publication builds on 150 years of Smithsonian anthropological

research in Alaska and carries it forward in a new mode of extensive collaboration with

indigenous scholars.  The Living Our Cultures collections, which include over 600 objects, will be

on display until at least 2017 in Anchorage, where they will be available for ongoing

community‐based study and interpretation.

More than 200 objects

representing the artistry and

design traditions of 20 Alaska

Native peoples are featured in

the book Living Our Cultures,

Sharing Our Heritage.
  

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Hirshhorn’s Yves Klein: With the Void, Full Powers culminates seven‐year research project  

In May 2010, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden opened Yves Klein: With the Void,

Full Powers, the first United States retrospective of the noted French artist’s work in nearly 30

years.  One of the twentieth century’s most

influential artists, Yves Klein (1928–1962) took

the European art scene by storm in a prolific

career that lasted only from 1954 to 1962.  Klein

was an innovator whose goal was to reinvent

what art could be.  Inspired by Eastern

philosophies and judo, he sought to achieve

“immaterial sensibility” in all his work—from

painting and sculpture to photography and film.  

The project, which was co‐organized by the

Hirshhorn and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, is the culmination of nearly seven years of

research that included extensive work with the Yves Klein Archives in Paris; interviews with

Rotraut Klein‐Moquay (Yves Klein’s widow); consultation with a range of scholars; and

substantial text and photographic research.  Co‐curated by Hirshhorn Deputy Director and Chief

Curator Kerry Brougher and Dia Art Foundation Director Philippe Vergne (formerly chief curator

and deputy director at the Walker Art Center), the exhibition presents approximately 200

artworks that explore the full range of the artist’s body of work and reveal his process and

creative practice.  Examples from all of Klein’s major series are included—from his iconic blue

monochromes and Anthropometries to sponge reliefs, Fire Paintings, Cosmogonies, planetary

reliefs, and “air architecture” projects that envisioned a utopian future.   

In addition to the multilayered exhibition content, Yves Klein: With the Void, Full Powers is

supported by a 352‐page illustrated catalogue that includes archival materials and translations

of the artist’s published and unpublished writings; the first‐ever complete English translation of

Dimanche, a faux newspaper Klein created for the November 1960 Avant‐Garde Art Festival;

the launch of multiple social media sites with a changing menu of online quotes, photos, and

video and audio recordings by Klein; and images of

artworks, quotes from Klein, and audio/video

recordings of the artist on the Hirshhorn’s first iPhone

app.  The exhibition, catalogue, and iPhone app have

received significant press attention, with reviews in

national and international newspapers, magazines,

and journals, including the New York Times, the New

Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, the

Washington Post, Art in America, and ArtForum,

among others.  After closing at the Hirshhorn in

September 2010, Yves Klein: With the Void, Full

Powers was installed at the Walker, where it will be on

view until mid‐February 2011.

Reflecting nearly seven years of

extensive research, the exhibition

includes approximately 200 artworks

that explore the full range of the

artist’s body of work and reveal his

creative process and practice.
  

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Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage explores relationship between Colombian cultural

expressions and regional ecosystems

In August and October of 2010, researchers from the Center for

Folklife and Cultural Heritage (CFCH) and various Colombian

cultural institutions carried out field research in five regions of

that country, each of which is defined by a unique ecosystem

and distinctive regional culture.  The purpose of the research

was to explore The Nature of Colombian Culture, the theme

selected for the 2011 Smithsonian Folklife Festival “living

exhibition,” and examine how Colombian cultural expressions

are inextricably connected to their distinctive environments.   

The five ecosystems include the Andean Savannah, the Coffee

Belt, the Momposino Flood Plains, the Southeastern Plains, and

the Pacific Rainforest.  The regional cultural profiles range from

the historically Hispanic traditions established by the earliest

Spanish colonizers of the Andean spine of the country, to the

strongly Afro‐descendant communities that originated with the

slave laborers brought to the mines and plantations of the

Pacific Rainforest belt, to the cattle ranchers of the immense

flood plains of the Orinoco river basin.  Traditions documented

include occupations surrounding coffee production, the thriving

flower‐growing industry and expressive traditions around

the city of Medellín, the weaving of Andean woolen textiles

and reed baskets, the crafting of leather goods, and musical

forms rooted in local tradition.   

Additional research focused on the cultural mix in

Colombia’s three principal urban areas: the capital city of

Bogotá with its 7 million inhabitants, Medellín, and Cali.  The

massive migration of rural people—many of them displaced

by the drug trade and civil unrest, others lured by more

lucrative work—to urban centers has created a new mix of

people seeking both to maintain their sense of cultural

identity and to adapt to increasingly urban tastes and

vogues.  For example, in Medellín, young people of African

descent from the Chocó region of the Pacific coast are

creating hip‐hop expressions that incorporate the sounds

and rhythms of their regional past.  The research team

interviewed more than 100 potential participants

throughout the five regions for the Folklife Festival project,

and documented numerous traditions with interviews,

photographs, and video.

A member of the Asociación

de Artesanos de Filandia

collective gathers vines to

make baskets in Filandia,

Quindío.

Alirio Rivas Rios measures a

tambora in the workshop he

shares in Quibdó, Chocó.
  

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Museum Conservation Institute assists in Immigration and Customs Enforcement training  

The Museum Conservation Institute (MCI), in collaboration

with the U.S. Department of State’s Cultural Heritage

Center and Department of Homeland Security’s

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has organized

three highly successful training workshops for ICE agents

tasked with investigating and preventing the illicit trade of

art and antiquities.  The workshops, which have trained 67

agents thus far, cover legal issues and processes, including

investigative methods and procedures appropriate for

international cultural property cases.  The courses also

draw upon Smithsonian specialists’ expertise in identifying,

determining the provenance of, and assessing the

authenticity of cultural heritage materials.  With the Office

of International Relations coordinating key logistical

aspects, and the assistance of the Office of the Under

Secretary of Science and the Center for Folklife and

Cultural Heritage, staff from MCI and other Smithsonian museums also provide a behind‐the‐

scenes introduction to objects from regions that are at greatest risk of looting and trafficking, as

well as practical training in the handling, photographing, recording, and packing of objects.   

National Postal Museum publishes papers from the Winton M.

Blount Symposia

The National Postal Museum recently published The Winton M.

Blount Postal History Symposia: Select Papers, 2006–2009.  

Printed by the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, the book

is a collection of 16 essays selected from over 60 papers

presented during the first four Winton M. Blount Postal History

Symposia.  The symposia were conceived as a venue for  

bringing together philatelic and academic postal historians,

allowing them to interact and share their research.  One

measure of the symposia’s success is that seven of the 18

authors in the publication are academic or public historians who

do not collect stamps.

NMNH A467804

Workshop participants learn

how to handle and document an

Italian archaeological ceramic

during an investigation exercise

led by MCI and National

Museum of Natural History

Anthropology Collections

Management staff.
  

5

UNDERSTANDING AND SUSTAINING A BIODIVERSE PLANET

National Museum of Natural History entomologist contributes

to the understanding of mimicry in butterflies and moths

The evolution of caterpillars and pupae of many tropical

butterflies and moths has resulted in a diversity of color

patterns that mimic vertebrate eyes.  In an article published in

the June 2010 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy

of Sciences, National Museum of Natural History Research

Entomologist John Burns, along with Daniel Janzen and Winnie

Hallwachs from the University of Pennsylvania, proposed that

false‐eyed lepidopteran species (which are more or less edible) comprise a large complex of

vertebrate‐mimicking species that is generated and sustained

by the tendency of small insectivorous birds to avoid potential

vertebrate predators. These birds instinctually flee from

anything that resembles the eyes of a vertebrate, such as a

snake or lizard, that might eat them.  In this kind of mimicry,

where the birds’ avoidance behavior is innate instead of

learned, the camouflaged lepidopterans vastly outnumber the

vertebrates whose eyes they mimic, and the false‐eye color

patterns differ greatly from species to species instead of looking

alike.  On June 15, 2010, the Science section of the New York

Times featured a story on this research that included a full page

color photo spread of several species of butterflies and moths.  

The story also appeared in the Washington Post and in several

international media outlets.   

STRI team’s discovery of ancient pollen provides new information on global warming

In October 2010, as the world representatives prepared

to address contemporary global warming at the United

Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico,

Science magazine published a prescient study led by

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) staff

scientist Carlos Jaramillo about warming in ancient

tropical forests in South America.  Jaramillo’s team

examined plant pollen trapped in rock cores and

outcrops from Colombia and Venezuela that were

formed before, during, and after the Paleocene‐Eocene

Thermal Maximum, an abrupt global warming event that

occurred some 56.3 million years ago.  The event raised

the world’s temperature by 3–5 degrees Celsius, doubled

carbon dioxide levels in only 10,000 years, and resulted

Representative false eyes

and faces seen on

lepidopteran caterpillars

from Costa Rica.

Scanning Electron Micrographs of

pollen grains revealed that plant

diversity increased during an

ancient global warming event.  
  

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in warm conditions that lasted for the next 200,000 years.  Based on the first‐ever discovery of

ancient pollen from the passionflower plant family and the chocolate family, among others,

Jaramillo’s research dispelled assumptions that tropical forests would be devastated under

similar conditions.  Finding that new plant species evolved at a much faster rate than the older

species became extinct, the team concluded that forest diversity actually increased rapidly

during this ancient warming event.  The report received extensive media reporting, including

pieces by Elisabeth Rosenthal in the New York Times and other syndicated wire service reports.

Spreading implications: SERC studies a new marine

invasion in southeast Alaska

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) Senior

Scientist Greg Ruiz has long‐predicted the northward

migration of invasive marine species along the West Coast.  

In June 2010 he found new evidence of this phenomenon.  

Ruiz, along with a team of colleagues and volunteers,

discovered the invasive tunicate Didemnum vexillum in the

waters off Sitka, Alaska.  D. vexillum is a prolific fouling

organism that can cause economic and ecological damage

because it grows rapidly, creates monocultures, and

smothers sensitive marine environments and shellfish

resources.  

The D. vexillum discovery was the result of the first annual

“BioBlitz,” a coordinated survey of invasive species that

involved SERC, citizen scientists, and partner institutions.  

Ruiz spearheaded the survey to determine whether or not

species like D. vexillum are advancing northward along the

Pacific Coast.  Prior to this discovery, the tunicate was

known to live only in coastal waters stretching from

California to British Columbia.  

Ruiz anticipated the arrival of D. vexillum in Alaska after much study and analysis.  Under his

direction, SERC’s Marine Invasions Research Lab has tracked the movement of cruise ships and

other vessels that inadvertently transfer invasive species to new locations.  The lab has

identified and located source populations of potential invaders, as well as developed predictive

models for several species that would find suitable habitat in Alaskan waters.  This multi‐

faceted approach has produced greater predictive powers and yielded early detections, such as

the discovery of D. vexillum.  Early detections can lead to faster responses and ultimately

mitigate the problems associated with invasive species.  In recognition of the program’s

success, the Alaska SeaGrant Program has awarded Ruiz $400,000 to do additional research,

outreach and eradication planning on D. vexillum.  

L. Shaw, NOAA Fisheries

A “Japanese lantern” oyster

cage, used to grow‐out mature

oysters, being pulled up at an

aquafarm in Sitka, Alaska, with

an infestation of Didemnum

vexillum on it.
  

7

STRI researchers bolster understanding of tropical tree

biodiversity

In July 2010, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute research

associate Liza Comita and STRI staff Salomon Aguilar, Steve

Hubbell, and Helene Muller‐Landau made the cover story in

Science magazine.  The team’s study of the survival of more

than 30,000 seedlings of 180 species of tropical trees showed

that seedlings of rare species are much more sensitive to the

presence of neighbors of their own species than are more

common species.  The study was sponsored in part by the HSBC

Climate Partnership and used STRI’s large‐scale, long‐term

forest dynamics plot on Barro Colorado Island, the first plot in

the Smithsonian Institution Global Earth Observatory system of

more than 40 plots worldwide that use the same methodology

to characterize forests.   

Similar results were found during another STRI study.  Using a

different experimental technique, post‐doctoral fellow Scott

Mangan and staff scientist Allen Herre found that underground

interactions are a key to understanding tropical tree

biodiversity.  Their findings were published in Nature.

National Zoo grows two species of anemones using coral techniques learned in the field

The National Zoo has become the first in the zoo and

aquarium communities to use coral larvae–settling

techniques to successfully grow two species of

anemones—an accomplishment that will provide a

unique opportunity to learn how anemones grow.  The

anemones, both of which are commonly called Tealia

red anemones under the species of Urticina, spawned in

late April and early May 2010, just days apart.  Hours

after they spawned, invertebrate keeper Mike Henley

collected the eggs and sperm from the more than 2,000‐

gallon tank and put them together in smaller tanks to

increase the chances of fertilization.  After fertilization,

the larvae settled and metamorphosed into polyps.  

Henley then put some of the developing larvae in a

circular tank called a kreisel—the same type of tank

researchers use to hold coral larvae when conducting

field work—that automatically stirs the water to prevent

larvae from binding to one another, which would kill the  

Liza Comita studied data

from more than 30,000

tropical tree seedlings in

STRI’s forest dynamics plot

in Panama.

The result of National Zoo keeper

Mike Henley’s work is hundreds of

thriving anemones, all smaller than

the tip of a pencil.  The one shown

here is no bigger than 1–2 mm.
  

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animals.  Other free‐swimming larvae went into a regular tank with aeration and rocks on which

the new anemones could settle.  Now the Zoo has hundreds of thriving anemones, all smaller

than the tip of a pencil.  Henley will continue to observe the anemones to learn about their

growth rate and the conditions that are necessary to rear these species in captivity, including

the food, light, and water temperature they require.  

UNLOCKING THE MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory astronomers discover

an extrasolar Earth‐sized planet

There are over 500 confirmed extrasolar planets, most of which

are gas giants like Jupiter.  Using the recently launched Kepler

spacecraft, which was designed to study extrasolar planets, a

team of Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO)

astronomers led the Kepler’s discovery of an Earth‐sized

extrasolar planet in October 2010.  By carefully analyzing the

orbital motions of two known Saturn‐sized extrasolar planets in

the system named Kepler‐9, and then subtracting their

influence to search for even smaller effects, they found a

candidate planet whose size is only about 1.5 Earth‐radii—one

of the smallest extrasolar planets known.  Because the planet

orbits the star in only 1.5924 days (its “year”), it is very close to

its star, hot, and thoroughly unlike the Earth.  Nevertheless, this

discovery represents a major step forward in the search for

small planets.   

Solar storms witnessed with SAO instrument on the Solar

Dynamics Observatory satellite  

Launched in February 2010, the Solar Dynamics Observatory is

the most advanced spacecraft ever created to study the sun.  It

carries a Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory instrument

designed to image the sun with high precision at a variety of

wavelengths.   

In August 2010, astronomers used it to witness the sun’s surface

blasting billions of tons of plasma into interplanetary space

towards Earth.  These types of events, called coronal mass

ejections, can interact with the Earth’s magnetic field, causing

the spectacular light shows known as aurorae.   

A recent cover of Science

shows an artist’s depiction

of the extrasolar planetary

system Kepler‐9 and its

Earth‐sized planet.

The solar surface during a

large eruption, as seen with

the new Solar Dynamics

Observatory satellite.
  

9

Air and Space Museum researcher collaborates to find evidence of ancient mega‐lakes  

Utilizing both field work and techniques similar to those used to study ancient lakes on Mars,

researchers have discovered evidence that the northward flowing Nile River was diverted into

the Western Desert of Egypt some 250,000 years ago, forming a series of lakes the size of the

Great Lakes that likely covered much of the eastern Sahara.   

Over the past several years, Ted Maxwell of the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) Center

for Earth and Planetary Studies and colleagues from Egypt and the University of Arizona used

field work and Space Shuttle Imaging Radar to piece together a complicated history of what is

currently a desert.  The researchers analyzed evidence for fossil fish in the middle of the desert,

along with information from the Imaging Radar that revealed the timing and direction of flow of

mid‐Pleistocene (~250,000 years ago) river channels—some with peculiar terminations—buried

beneath the sand.  By considering the archaeological findings together with a detailed

topographic profile from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, they concluded that the

seemingly disparate features of the now hyperarid desert actually occurred at the same

elevation.

The study was published in December 2010 in the journal Geology and reported by Science

News, UPI, and MSN.COM.  It also was the picture of the day for New Scientist on December 2,

2010.  In addition to early external funding from NASA, Smithsonian Endowment funds

provided crucial support for the past decade of fieldwork.

Using field work and Space Shuttle Imaging Radar data, researchers concluded that the northward

flowing Nile River was diverted into the Western Desert of Egypt some 250,000 years ago.
  

10

UNDERSTANDING THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

National Museum of African American History and Culture develops inaugural exhibition

In July 2010 National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) Museum

Curator Paul Gardullo had the opportunity to travel to Lyles Station, Indiana, to do site‐specific

research on an African American farming community that dates back to the mid‐nineteenth

century.  The trip was part of a long‐term effort to conceive and collect material for a major

inaugural exhibition at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.  

Tentatively entitled The Power of Place, the exhibition will use the lens of place to immerse

visitors in the diversity and broad implications of the African American experience.  The goal is

to present the rich diversity of people, places, and experiences that, even if unfamiliar, can

offer meaningful perspectives on the historic role of place and region in the lives of all

Americans.  

With the support of the Smithsonian’s Research

Opportunities fund, Gardullo spent three days

meeting with members of the Lyles Station

Historical Society, conducting research in local

archives, and viewing potential collection items

in homes, farms, and institutions.  The result was

a case study of a farming community that has

lived on and farmed the same land for over 150

years, facing multiple and diverse challenges.   

Gardullo coordinated his visit with a non‐resident

fellow from the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for

African and African American Research who is

working on a broader project researching African

American pioneers in the antebellum Midwest.  Together they recorded several interviews with

members of the Lyles Station community.  Gardullo also was able to make contact with other

heritage tourism, museum, and preservation projects related to African American history in

southern Indiana.  Future visits will focus both on identifying specific collections for the

Smithsonian, as well as strategizing about ways to share the history of this African American

farming community with visitors both on the National Mall and in Indiana.

The presentation of this story through artifacts and oral histories will allow NMAAHC to tell an

important story about African American farming and land ownership.  It also will provide a

unique perspective on the largely unknown story and legacy of African American pioneers and

their crucial role in shaping the American frontier in the nineteenth century.

An early photo of schoolchildren at the Lyles

Station School.
  

11

Hide/Seek examines the role of sexual difference in the depiction of modern Americans

Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, the National Portrait Gallery’s (NPG)

landmark survey of the role of sexual difference in the depiction of modern Americans, is the

product of a multi‐year research collaboration between NPG historian David C. Ward and

Jonathan D. Katz, director of visual studies at the University of Buffalo.  Through over 100 works

of art from the late nineteenth century to the present, Hide/Seek and its exhibition catalogue

show how artists have explored definitions of sexuality and gender at key points in social and

cultural history, as well as how art has reflected society’s changing attitudes toward sexual

identity over the last century.   

The exhibition also considers how major movements in modern art—especially abstraction—

were directly shaped by the position of gay and lesbian artists who were present in, but not

fully a part of, the American society they portrayed.  Occupying a position of influential

marginality in modern society, these artists crafted innovative and revolutionary ways of

painting portraits that included coding and abstraction.  Art became a creative act of resistance

that could express the identities of both the artists and their subjects.

Supported by extensive surveys of museum

collections, artists’ papers, and published and

unpublished scholarship on modernism and

abstraction, Hide/Seek demonstrates that

communion and exchange among people of different

sexualities has been the rule, not the exception, in

American culture.  Many of the artists represented—

from Thomas Eakins to Andy Warhol—produced

works of art that are recognized touchstones in the

history of American art and masterpieces of

American portraiture.  In extricating the hidden

biographical dimensions of many of America’s most

iconic portraits, Hide/Seek addresses the

complexities of American culture as it has evolved

during the course of the twentieth century.  By

examining the intersection between artistic

representation and biography, and presenting the

realities of American culture that have literally been

“hidden in plain sight,” Hide/Seek advances the

Smithsonian’s commitment to collection‐based

scholarship, inclusion, and understanding the

diversity of the American experience.

An undated photo of Janet Flanner by

Berenice Abbott graces the cover of the

exhibition catalogue.
  

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America’s Doll House examines one of the Institution’s most popular exhibits and its creator

National Museum of American History Political History

Curator William L. Bird Jr. recently published America’s

Doll House, an incisive portrait of a librarian’s

sentimental pastime that resulted in one of the most

popular exhibits at the Smithsonian: a five‐story,

intricately furnished miniature house that now sits on

the museum’s third floor.

Faith Bradford spent more than a half‐century

accumulating and constructing the 1,354 miniatures that

fill the house’s 23 intricately detailed rooms.  When she

donated the house to the Smithsonian in 1951, Bradford

included a lengthy manuscript that described the lives of

its imaginary residents; cataloged their tastes, habits,

and preferences; and inventoried the household

belongings.  Photographs and fabric samples were

included in the scrapbook.   

Emboldened by the overwhelming popular reception of

her first model, in 1955 Bradford embarked upon a

second house that was inspired by the architectural

renderings for the Museum of History and Technology, which was scheduled to open in 1964.  

Like the previous house, the Modern House had three display floors and was intricately

furnished, albeit with a contemporary vision.  Although the Modern House was formally

accessioned into the museum’s collection in 1959, the museum’s administration became

increasingly critical of the sentimental and fantastic features of Bradford’s models.  The Modern

House was never exhibited and is now lost.   

In America’s Doll House, William Bird weaves together the rich tapestry of Faith Bradford’s

miniature world, the history of modernism on the Mall, and the Smithsonian’s metaphorical

change from the “nation’s attic” to an “exhibition machine.”  Featuring vibrant color

photography that brings every narrative detail to life, America’s Doll House celebrates

Bradford’s remarkable and painstaking accomplishments and contributes to the understanding

of a popular exhibit in the museum now known as National Museum of American History.

America’s Doll House is an incisive

portrait of a librarian’s sentimental

pastime that resulted in one of the

Smithsonian’s most popular exhibits.
  

13

The Freedoms We Lost offers new perspective on genesis of America’s patriot movement

National Museum of American History Curator of Political History Barbara Clark Smith’s new

book, The Freedoms We Lost: Consent and Resistance in Revolutionary America, offers a striking

new interpretation of America’s eighteenth‐century movement for independence.  Whereas

conventional knowledge suggests that elite, educated colonists generated revolutionary ideas

about liberty, Smith’s book explores a different

trajectory of political mobilization.  By showing that

these ideas arose from the experiences of small farmers

and tradesmen seeking access to land and security in a

growing and hierarchical empire, this innovative account

places popular participation, values, and ideas about

fairness and freedom at the center of America’s Patriot

movement.   

To make this case, The Freedoms We Lost considers the

political practices that made up “the common ground of

colonial politics”—the institutions in which ordinary men

were expected to participate and in which ordinary

knowledge and common sense were acknowledged to

be sufficient.  The institutions included, for example,

elections for representatives to colonial houses of

assembly and courtrooms of common law where middle‐

class men served on juries.  These practices depended

on new relationships of mutuality and interdependence

that embraced limits on self‐interest in order to protect

the wellbeing of the community.   

These ideals characterized the Patriot movement until

the 1780s, when leaders began to dissociate from the

social values and political goals of common farmers and

tradesmen.  In the following decades, prominent

Patriots would form new alliances with “monied” men who previously had distanced

themselves from the Revolution, establish new political institutions, and transform the system

of common law.  By the nineteenth century, common men discovered that forms of

participation they had once prized as British subjects had become inappropriate—even

impermissible—to citizens of the new United States.  Americans gradually forgot the popular

elements and popular ideals of the Revolutionary moment; they no longer understood the

Patriots’ profound belief that meaningful independence requires individual Americans to

declare their interdependence with one another in common cause.

The Freedoms We Lost: Consent and

Resistance in Revolutionary America

suggests that America’s Patriot

movement arose from popular

participation, values, and ideas

about fairness and freedom.  
  

14

Portrait Gallery exhibition Inventing Marcel Duchamp spurs new research and publication

The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) reports that interest

generated by its critically acclaimed 2009 exhibition

Inventing Marcel Duchamp: The Dynamics of Portraiture has

resulted in the development of an anthology entitled Of or

By Marcel Duchamp and Rrose Sélavy: Meditations on the

Identities of an Artist.  Now being edited by Anne Goodyear

and James W. McManus, the publication is scheduled to be

released in 2012.  

  

The exhibition Inventing Marcel Duchamp served to

recontextualize Duchamp as a groundbreaking artist

(American, born France, 1887–1968).  It increased attention

among researchers and the general public to Duchamp’s

strategic use of portraiture as a tool to explore intriguing

questions regarding the fluidity and construction of personal

and professional identity.  It also examined the role of

collaboration in the artist’s career.  

  

Many of the portraits in the exhibition had never been

exhibited together, which offered new opportunities for

scholarly research and interpretation.  For example, a team

of curators and conservators from the National Portrait

Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and the

Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) were able, on the basis of archival materials held by the

Archives of American Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, to reconsider the date

and larger significance of a pair of portraits of Duchamp (owned by MoMA and the PMA) that

were drawn by Duchamp’s brother‐in‐law, Jean Crotti; the research also provided new

information about related photographs in the Archives.  The Hirshhorn loaned a previously

obscure portrait of Duchamp by Ettore Salvatore that documents their relationship during

Duchamp’s pivotal period of self‐reinvention in the United States following the Second World

War.  Salvatore is now known to be Duchamp’s instructor in casting, a technique that would

play a key role in the completion of his final master work, the installation Étant donnés.

Interest generated by the 2009

exhibition Inventing Marcel

Duchamp: The Dynamics of

Portraiture has resulted in new

research and the development

of a new anthology of the

artist’s work.