COLLECTION HIGHLIGHTS
FEEL THE SUN IN YOUR MOUTH: RECENT ACQUISITIONS TO THE HIRSHHORN COLLECTION

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden 

showcased Feel the Sun in Your Mouth: Recent 

Acquisitions to the Hirshhorn Collection, a new 

exhibition that brings together artworks acquired 

by the museum over the past five years. 

Highlighting works that encapsulate the current 

moment, the exhibition is an opportunity to 

acknowledge deeper trends in the cultural 

landscape and identify art that is opening new 

avenues of exploration. On view through 

February 2020, the exhibition is in the museum’s 

lower-level galleries with more than 25 works in 

a variety of media by artists from a dozen 

countries, creating a patchwork of global 

perspectives on critical contemporary issues.

Featuring recently created works alongside 

seminal avant-garde works from the 1960s and 1970s, Feel the Sun in Your Mouth illustrates a continuity of concerns from 

those years to the present day, ultimately illuminating an interest in the poetic, the intuitive, and the cosmic in current 

artistic practice. Organized by assistant curator Betsy Johnson, the exhibition focuses on art that incites felt sensation and 

demonstrates a renewed interest in sublime encounters with the world. By harnessing metaphor and suggestion to create 

space for meanings that exist outside language, the works on view attest to the continuing possibility of mystery in a world 

that sometimes appears to have little left of the unknown.

Over the past five years, the Hirshhorn has focused on building on its world-renowned collection of modern and 

contemporary art to reflect global conversations that inform 21st-century culture. Credit: Laure Prouvost, Swallow, 2013. 

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Credit: Laure Prouvost, Swallow, 2013. Hirshhorn Museum and 

Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
CELEBRATING 50 YEARS SINCE THE LAUNCH OF APOLLO 11 AND THE NEW DULLES COLLECTIONS 

CENTER AT THE NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM

On the 50th anniversary of the historic launch of Apollo 11, the 

National Air and Space Museum unveiled Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 

11 spacesuit, back on display for the first time in 13 years. The 

suit was conserved and digitized in time for the 50th anniversary 

of the first moon landing thanks to a successful Kickstarter 

campaign in 2015. It is being temporarily displayed near the 1903 

Wright Flyer until its future home, the Destination Moon

exhibition, is completed in the next few years.

Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit, the suit that allowed a human to walk 

on the surface of the moon for the first time, is one of the most 

iconic artifacts in the museum’s collection.

The conservation of the suit included the creation of a detailed map through the imaging of X-rays, CT scanning, and UV 

photography, as well as years of research. The museum conservators worked to stabilize the suit’s degradation while 

taking great care not to remove the remains of lunar dust embedded in the exterior fabric. The most important part of 

the treatment to prolong the life of the suit was to provide a stable environment for the suit’s display.

A state-of-the-art display case and mannequin were created to protect the fragile suit. The case replicates the conditions 

of climate-controlled storage by tightly controlling temperature, lighting, relative humidity, and ventilation. A 

mannequin was created specifically for this suit, using Armstrong’s actual measurements, and designed to allow air 

circulation from the case through the mannequin system and into the suit. This advanced circulation system allows 

unwanted vapors, caused by the breakdown of the rubber in the suit, to be pulled away from the suit over time and 

slow down degradation.

The suit’s conservation and display were made possible by over 9,000 people from around the world through a 

Kickstarter campaign in 2015. The campaign was the first Kickstarter in Smithsonian history, and the museum hit the 

$500,000 goal within five days. This method of fundraising allowed more people to participate in the project. No matter 

the amount, thousands of individuals were able to collectively make the project successful, and each of them received 

updates throughout the four-year project. 

The effort to protect and display Armstrong’s suit also included sharing it with a wider audience. The museum and the 

Smithsonian’s Digitization Program Office 3-D scanned the suit, helmet, and gloves. Through laser-arm scanning, 

structured light, photogrammetry, and medical CT scanning, anyone in the world with an internet connection can now 

peek inside the suit and take a guided tour of its many complex components. The team has also made the highresolution 3-D model data available for public download for use in AR/VR platforms, animation software, and 3-D 

printing. The scan data and a tour of the 3-D model are available online.
On June 28, a ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Facilities, and the 

Smithsonian’s National Collections Program was held to celebrate the opening of the Dulles Collections Center, Storage 

Module 1 adjacent to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. With construction having begun in FY 2017, the Module is a 

124,452 square foot, three-story, structural steel frame building optimized with modern safety and environmental 

controls for storing NASM’s collections. The building will serve the immediate need for temporary collections swing 

space during the NASM Mall Building revitalization and in the long-term will support the continued move of Air and 

Space Museum collections from substandard conditions at the Paul E. Garber Facility in Suitland, Maryland, to the Dulles 

Collections Center.

Since the start of the collections move in January 2019, more than 1,320 artifacts have been relocated from the Mall 

building to the museum’s storage facilities, including iconic air and spacecraft such as the North American X-15, Douglas 

D-558-2 Skyrocket, Lockheed F-104A Starfighter, Douglas DC-3, and Skylab Command Module. The Smithsonian’s X-15 

had hung from the ceiling of the museum since its opening in 1976. It was lowered for the first time in 43 years on the 

evening of August 21, one of 40 aircraft that have been moved out of the popular museum on the Mall as the building 

continues to undergo a seven-year renovation. As part of the collections move, artifacts are deinstalled or removed from 

exhibition cases; inventoried and barcoded; condition assessed for triage, short, or long-term conservation; rehoused; 

and packed for transport. Many artifacts will eventually return to the Mall museum and be reinstalled in new exhibition 

galleries during the phased reopening of the West and East wings in time for NASM’s 50th Anniversary in 2026.
PRICE TEAM TACKLES FIRE SALVAGE IN EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS TRAINING

On September 26, the National Collections Program’s 

Preparedness and Response in Collections Emergencies 

(“PRICE”) Team and the Smithsonian’s Office of Safety, Health, 

and Environmental Management (“OSHEM”) co-organized the 

second annual PRICE “Holy Smokes! Fire Salvage Workshop,” 

in partnership with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and 

Firearms (“ATF”) Fire Research Laboratory in Beltsville, 

Maryland.

Twenty-three participants from 

16 Smithsonian units 

participated in the one-day workshop focused on fire salvage of collection items along 

with PRICE Team members and six participants from last year’s workshop who served as 

recovery coordinators and artifact extractors. Michael Kilby, OSHEM’s Associate Director 

for Fire Protection, and members of the PRICE Team provided presentations on fire 

suppression at the Smithsonian, safety and protective equipment for salvage, roles and 

responsibilities during emergencies, and the effects of soot and smoke on collection 

materials. Following these presentations, a hands-on salvage activity was conducted in a 

replica collections storage space in the ATF Fire Laboratory. The space was furnished with 

hundreds of stunt-double artifacts, open shelving, and a donated SpaceSaver collections 

storage cabinet that was ignited by ATF Fire Engineers.

Credit: National 

Collections Program
PANORAMA OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE PRESERVED IN THE NEWLY ACQUIRED 

ARCHIVE OF EBONY AND JET MAGAZINES

On July 25, a consortium of foundations—the Ford Foundation, The J. Paul Getty 

Trust, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Andrew W. 

Mellon Foundation—joined with the Smithsonian to acquire the archive of 

Johnson Publishing Company (“JPC"), publisher of the 

iconic Ebony and Jet magazines.

The archive includes more than four million prints and negatives comprising the 

most significant collection of photographs cataloging African American life in the 

20th century. The archive was acquired for $30 million as part of an auction of the 

assets of JPC in connection with its Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing.

The foundation consortium will donate the archives to the National Museum of 

African American History and Culture, the Getty Research Institute, and other 

leading cultural institutions for the public benefit to ensure the broadest access 

for the general public, scholars, researchers, journalists, and other interested 

parties.

The archive is a national treasure and the partnership to preserve and make 

publicly available this profound collection of African American history and visual 

culture represented a tremendous opportunity.

“The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture is 

proud to collaborate with the consortium and the Getty Research Institute on this important endeavor to preserve and 

share the richness of these iconic publications,” said Secretary Lonnie Bunch. “Ebony and Jet magazine helped shape our 

nation’s history, allowing Americans—of all colors—to see the full panorama of the African American experience. 

Together, our organizations will ensure these images, stories and the history of these publications are well-preserved 

and available to the public and future generations.” 

Credit: Ebony Magazine Vol. 24 

No. 10. Johnson Publishing 

Company.
EXHIBITION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUNDED BY ART BRIDGES 

AND TERRA FOUNDATION FOR AMERICAN ART

In July, the Smithsonian American Art Museum received a nearly $2 

million grant from Art Bridges and the Terra Foundation for American 

Art to support a five-year exhibition partnership with five museums in 

some of the fastest-growing cities and states in the western region of 

the United States. The partner museums, known collectively as the 

American West Consortium, are the Boise Art Museum; the Nevada 

Museum of Art in Reno; the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Eugene, 

Oregon; the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City; and the 

Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Washington.

The partnership includes a two-part program of exhibitions and 

professional development sessions. The project is the latest in a 

transformative effort, the Art Bridges + Terra Foundation Initiative, to 

expand access to outstanding works of American art nationwide. The 

initiative supports multi-year, multi-institutional partnerships among 

groups that include a major metropolitan museum working with 

institutions in primarily non-metropolitan areas. Sharing collections and 

resources, these collaborative partners create a series of exhibitions that engage local communities.

In the first set of exhibitions, partner museums will present artworks from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s 

collection in focused installations that address interests particular to each museum. Selected works include paintings by 

David Hockney, Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe, Fritz Scholder, Alma Thomas, and Domingo Ulloa. These exhibitions 

debuted at the partner museums in September 2019.

The second exhibition will be organized jointly by all the partner museums and will feature artwork from all six 

museums. It will be presented at all six venues, opening at the Whatcom Museum in early 2021, with the Smithsonian 

American Art Museum as the final stop on the tour in 2023. The scope of the exhibition will be determined through 

collaborations between curators from the partner museums.

A related series of professional-growth opportunities with staff from all six museums will allow for the development of 

new interpretive strategies and best practices for community engagement, among other topics. 

Credit: Edward Hopper, Ryder's 

House, 1933, oil on canvas, Smithsonian 

American Art Museum, Bequest of Henry 

Ward Ranger through the National 

Academy of Design, 1981.76.
TRANSCRIPTION CENTER NOW INVITES THE PUBLIC TO TRANSCRIBE AUDIO COLLECTIONS

The Smithsonian Transcription Center now invites members of the 

public to transcribe digitized audio collections from across the 

Smithsonian. The program, “TC Sound,” is the first federal 

crowdsourcing platform to offer audio transcription projects to its 

volunteers. Visual film transcription will debut in the fall.

TC Sound furthers the Smithsonian’s efforts to share the richness of 

its collections with people around the world. Transcribed sound 

recordings will be captioned and searchable, allowing for greater 

access and new discoveries about their content. Transcription also 

preserves valuable audio collections for future generations, long 

after playback technologies become obsolete and fragile materials 

degrade.

The Smithsonian’s collections contain more than 150,000 audio 

assets. The first sound recordings available for transcription include 

interviews, oral histories, radio programs, and lectures from the 

Archives of American Art, National Air and Space Museum Archives, 

National Anthropological Archives and Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Anacostia 

Community Museum Archives, and Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and 

Collections. The recordings feature prominent artists, filmmakers, professors, and researchers.

TC Sound will continuously offer new collections for transcription. In July, the National Air and Space Museum Archives 

added sound from the Apollo 11 mission, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. The audio includes 

Apollo 11 launch and flight director recordings, press conferences, and briefings.

Since 2013, the Smithsonian Transcription Center has collaborated with members of the public to transcribe and review 

digitized collections from the Institution’s museums, libraries, and archives. To date, more than 13,000 volunteers have 

transcribed and reviewed over 460,000 pages of Smithsonian content. 

Credit: George H. Clark Radioana Collection, 

Archives Center, National Museum of 

American History, Smithsonian Institution.