1

Damage Control: Art and 

Destructi on Since 1950

Hirshhorn Museum and 

Sculpture Garden

While destructi on as a theme 

can be traced throughout art 

history, from the early atomic 

age it has become a pervasive 

and contextually rich element of contemporary visual 

culture. From pieces that offer overt displays of disasters 

either on a cataclysmic or everyday scale to more symbolic 

evocati ons, arti sts since the 

1950s have used shock, humor, irony, and directness to 

confront and respond to the 

contemporary moment. In 

the fi rst in-depth explorati on 

of this important moti f, Kerry 

Brougher, deputy director and 

chief curator of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture 

Garden (HMSG), and Russell 

Ferguson, professor and chair 

of the Department of Art at 

UCLA, are researching and organizing a major new exhibiti on enti tled Damage Control: 

Art and Destructi on since 

1950. Scheduled to open 

in April 2013 at the HMSG, 

with other venues tentati vely 

scheduled in Luxembourg 

and in Austria for 2014, the 

exhibiti on will feature more 

than 70 works by a host of 

internati onal arti sts working 

in a range of media and dati ng 

from 1950 to the present. 

Weaving through the 

exhibiti on are three essenti al 

themes: destructi on as spectacle and catharsis, as a form 

of rebellion and protest, and 

as an integral component of 

re-creati on and restorati on. 

As a whole, Damage Control 

reaches beyond art to off er a 

broader understanding of culture and society in an age of 

anxiety induced by the looming fear of total annihilati on in 

the atomic age and the ongoing threat of terrorism and 

other disasters, both real and 

imagined. As this topical and 

rich subject touches not only 

upon art but also on history, 

psychology, and contemporary culture, the project is envisioned both as an exhibiti on 

and as a series of integrated 

parts that will contribute to a 

greater understanding of the 

subject and inspire essenti al 

dialogue about the world today. In additi on to the exhibiti on, the project will include a 

fully illustrated catalogue with 

essays by the exhibiti on curators as well as scholars from a 

variety of disciplines in order 

to investi gate this complex 

subject from a range of perspecti ves. It also will include 

RECENT RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Inspiring Generati ons through Knowledge and Discovery

The work of Smithsonian scienti sts, curators, and historians is essenti al to 

the Insti tuti on’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 highlights are some of the many new 

discoveries, research programs, and initi ati ves under way at the Smithsonian. 

Ed Ruscha, The Los Angeles County Museum on Fire, 1965–68, oil on canvas, 

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
2

a multi -day conference designed to explore the central 

premises of the exhibiti on. 

Through panel discussions, 

fi lms, and performances, the 

conference will bring together 

internati onal art and cultural 

historians, psychologists, philosophers, policymakers, and 

notable fi gures from the art 

and fi lm worlds to exchange 

ideas about the ways that the 

juncture of art and destructi on has encapsulated and 

refl ected crucial historical moments and social responses to 

these events. 

Harold Edgerton, Atomic Bomb 

Explosion, c. 1952, gelati n silver 

print, Massachusett s Insti tute of 

Technology Museum. © 2010 

Massachusett s Insti tute of 

Technology

arti sti c dialogue. Their papers 

also expanded upon traditi onal art historical narrati ves 

of the U.S. and Lati n America 

by including African American, 

Caribbean, and Lati no arti sts. 

The museum’s new curator 

for Lati no art, E. Carmen Ramos, presented a talk enti tled 

“Inside and Out: The Lati no 

Presence in American Art.”

Several papers also considered triangular exchanges 

with Europe and indigenous 

communiti es. At the conclusion of the conference, artist and criti c Luis Camnitzer 

reminisced on the challenges 

faced by Lati n American artists working in the U.S. who 

struggle with the opposing 

dangers of nostalgia and assimilati on, the periphery and 

the mainstream.

Abstracts of the lectures, 

biographies of the speakers, 

and an archived webcast of 

the event can be found on 

the museum’s website at 

americanart.si.edu/research/

symposia/2011/. In additi on, 

the summer 2012 issue of the 

museum’s scholarly journal, 

American Art, will include 

commentaries on the topic of 

encuentros by several symposium speakers, along with an 

opening essay on the state of 

the fi eld by Chon Noriega.

“Encuentros: Arti sti c 

Exchange between the U.S. 

and Lati n America” was the 

third of fi ve Terra Symposia on 

American Art in a Global Context, which are supported by a 

generous grant from the Terra 

Foundati on for American Art. 

The next symposium is slated 

for the fall of 2013.

“Encuentros: Arti sti c Exchange between the U.S. 

and Lati n America”

Smithsonian American Art Museum

The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s fall 2011 symposium 

“Encuentros: Arti sti c Exchange between the U.S. and Lati n 

America” drew an esti mated 200 people to the museum on 

October 5 and 6. Scholars, staff , and the public heard 18 talks 

on arti sti c encounters between Lati n America and the United 

States from the late 19th century to the present. 

The conference was divided into fi ve sessions focused on 

the following themes: New Approaches: Lati n American Art 

and its Intersecti ons; Nati onal Identiti es and Internati onal Relati ons; the Arti st/Traveler; Contact Zones: Workshops and Art 

Schools; and Transnati onal Encounters in the American Metropolis. Parti cipants included graduate students and senior 

scholars; key speakers included Deborah Cullen of el Museo del 

Barrio; Katherine Manthorne of the City University of New York 

Graduate Center; Edward Sullivan of the Insti tute of Fine Arts 

at New York University; Itala Schmelz of the Museo de Arte 

Carrillo Gil; Valerie Fraser of the University of Essex; and Chon 

Noriega of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. 

Papers presented at the “Encuentros” symposium demonstrated a range of methodologies and considered diverse geographies and arti sti c approaches. The majority of the talks took 

the form of case studies rather than broad overviews. Departing from a linear model of one-way infl uence, speakers instead 

examined two-way exchanges, arti sti c affi niti es, hemispheric 

travel, and the role of geopoliti cs in promoti ng and shaping 
3

As announced in the August 

2011 online publicati on of 

the Proceedings of the Royal 

Society B, ichthyologist Dave 

Johnson of the Nati onal 

Museum of Natural History’s 

Department of Vertebrate 

Zoology contributed to the 

identifi cati on of a new species 

and “living fossil.” 

In February 2009, research 

diver Jiro Sakaue of the Southern Marine Laboratory in 

Palau encountered an unusual 

eel-like fi sh in a dark reef cave 

in the Pacifi c Ocean Republic 

of Palau. Sakuae returned on 

several ti mes to collect additi onal specimens and brought 

them to ichthyologist Hitoshi 

Ida of Kitasato University in 

Japan for identifi cati on. Ida 

consulted with other ichthyologists, including Johnson. 

Despite being initi ally 

uncertain about the true 

connecti on of this fi sh to 

other fi shes, the researchers 

and other colleagues used 

morphological and molecular 

evidence to determine the 

fi sh is a type of eel, but one 

with features not present in 

any other living eels. Through 

comparati ve analysis of the 

skeletal anatomy in living and 

fossil eels, Johnson found that 

the fi sh has a unique blend of 

features, sharing characteristi cs of both living eels and 

fossil eels of the Cretaceous 

period. Many of its primiti ve 

anatomical features are unknown in the other 19 families and over 800 species of 

living eels (Anguilliformes). 

In additi on to Johnson’s 

detailed anatomical studies, 

Recently Discovered Fish Represents a “Living Fossil”

Nati onal Museum of Natural History

colleague Masaki Miya and his 

team from the Chiba Natural 

History Museum and Insti tute 

in Japan conducted a DNA 

analysis of the fi sh. Comparisons to representati ves of all 

living eel families and other 

bony fi shes led to the conclusion that it represents one of 

the most basal, independent 

lineages of the true eels. Furthermore, the DNA analysis 

esti mated that the unusual 

organism had diverged from 

all other known eels around 

200 million years ago (early 

Mesozoic)—more than 100 

million years prior to the date 

of the earliest known fossils. 

All of these fi ndings led 

Johnson and colleagues to 

determine that the fi sh represents a new species and an 

ancient lineage that warrants 

recogniti on as a “living fossil.” 

This conclusion is the basis 

for the new publicati on in the 

Proceedings, where the fi sh is 

described and named Protanguilla palau, and is placed in 

a new family, the Protanguillidae. The discovery has generated a level of excitement 

reminiscent of the discovery 

of another living fossil fi sh, 

the coelacanth, in the late 

1930s. Protanguilla palau is 

currently known from only 10 

specimens collected from a 

single cave in Palau and, given 

its apparently limited distributi on, the fi sh also underscores 

how much there is to learn 

about the species inhabiti ng 

Earth and the criti cal importance of conservati on eff orts. The discovery of Protanguilla palau represents a new species and an ancient 

lineage that warrants recogniti on as a “living fossil”
4

Central American Ceramics

Nati onal Museum of the American Indian and the 

Smithsonian Lati no Center

Over the past two years, the Nati onal Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) and the Smithsonian Lati no Center have collaborated to apply some of the best archaeological experti se to 

NMAI’s extensive collecti on of Central American ceramics. Collected by George Gustav Heye and part of the museum’s original collecti on, the ceramics came from several sources, most 

of whom were landowners and archaeology enthusiasts who 

Polychrome vessel, AD 300-500, 

Península de Azuero, Los Santos 

Province, Panama, Nati onal 

Museum of the American Indian

resided in the emerging, postcolonial nati ons of Guatemala, 

El Salvador, Nicaragua, and 

Panama. Although the collecti on has long been ignored 

because of a perceived lack of 

research potenti al, archaeologists have recently found that 

the ceramics provide valuable 

new informati on about the indigenous populati ons of Central America and the history 

of archaeological research, as 

well as contribute to a bett er 

understanding of the region. 

The project benefi ted 

from the contributi ons of many outside experts. Over the past 

two years, Alexander Benitez, assistant professor of archaeology at George Mason University, coordinated reviews by many 

of the leading archaeologists who work in Central America, 

including Dr. Rosemary Joyce of the University of California, 

Berkeley; Francisco Corrales of the Nati onal Museum of Costa 

Rica; John Hoopes of the University of Kansas; Elin Danien of 

the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and 

Anthropology; and Fabio Amado of the Nati onal Geographic 

Society. Their examinati ons added to the knowledge of the 

collecti on and contributed to the conceptualizati on of a future 

exhibiti on and public programming. 

In early 2011, the archaeologists assembled for a day-long 

symposium to present and discuss their fi ndings with a parti cular focus on how the study of older collecti ons can benefi t 

archaeological research and interpretati on today. Meanwhile, 

planning conti nues for an exhibiti on, publicati on, web resources, public programming, and audience development. While 

directed to both general and informed audiences, the project 

also seeks to strengthen the engagement of Central American 

expatriate communiti es in the greater Washington, D.C., area 

in Smithsonian programming and initi ati ves.

Snakehead Invasion 

Spreads to Rhode River

Smithsonian Environmental 

Research Center

Smithsonian biologists have 

discovered that an invasive 

fi sh has broken through barriers in the Potomac River.

In July 2011, a team of 

researchers from the marine 

invasions lab at the Smithsonian Environmental Research 

Center (SERC) set out on a 

routi ne seining survey in the 

Rhode River, a subestruary of 

the Chesapeake Bay. They 

returned with a troubling 

catch: a Northern Snakehead 

fi sh.

The Northern Snakehead 

(Channa argus) is a top-level 

predator with characteristi c large teeth, an opti mal 

streamlined body, relentless 

strength, and a unique crypti c 

colorati on. It can consume 

fi sh and animals up to onethird of its body size. The 

fi sh also has the rare ability to breathe out of water 

for up to four days if kept 

moist, using air chambers 

above its gills that can act as 

a primiti ve lung. The Northern Snakehead has inspired 

mythical tales, but it cannot 

walk on land. At best, the 

fi sh can wriggle short distances, but only as juveniles. 

More disturbing to ecologists, however, is their ability 

to seriously disrupt the food 

chain wherever they establish 

themselves.

Nati ve to China, the 

Northern Snakehead fi rst appeared in 2002 in a Croft on, 

Maryland, pond about 20 
5

miles east of Washington, D.C. 

Regulators moved quickly to 

eradicate them, but they were 

found two years later in the 

Potomac River. Since snakeheads thrive in freshwater 

(they typically cannot tolerate 

saliniti es higher than 50 percent that of seawater), scienti sts hoped they would be 

unable to expand beyond the 

Potomac. Ecologists suspect 

an infl ux of freshwater into 

the Chesapeake Bay could 

have charted a course for 

them to leave the Potomac 

and to invade other tributaries, such as the Rhode River. 

Back at the lab, scienti sts 

were shoulder to shoulder in 

order to get a peek at this rare 

and important fi sh. Camera 

fl ashes and ethanol jars were 

all around as SERC teams 

documented and studied this 

organism. The fi sh was preserved for further analysis.

SERC Intern Alison Everett holds the 

invasive snakehead fi sh caught on a 

seining survey in the Rhode River, a 

subestruary of the Chesapeake Bay 

Exoplanets (planets around 

stars other than the Earth’s 

sun) have kept the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory 

(SAO) in the headlines this 

quarter. Among the many 

discoveries includes the spotti ng of the fi rst confi rmed 

Earth-like exoplanet that has 

the right size and distance 

from its star to be classifi ed as 

potenti ally habitable. Known 

as a “Tatooine,” the name of 

a fi cti onal planet in the Star 

Wars movie series, a planet 

has been found that circles a 

pair of stars, demonstrati ng 

that planetary systems are at 

least as imaginati ve as science 

fi cti on movies, with many of 

them unlike our own solar 

system. An analysis of the 

orbits of over 600 measured 

exoplanets reveals that orbits 

are much more eccentric than 

had been expected from the 

example of our solar system. 

As for exoplanet sizes, the 

present set of over 1,200 

detecti ons includes 68 confi rmed Earth-sized candidates; 

another 288 that are between 

1.25 and 2 Earth-radii in size; 

662 candidates the size of 

Neptune (between 2 and 6 

Earth-radii); 165 Jupiter-sized 

objects (between 6 and 15 

Earth-radii); and 19 that are 

up to twice the size of Jupiter 

(22 Earth-radii).

SAO astronomers have 

been pioneers in the search 

for exoplanets for decades, 

and are leaders in the instrumentati on, observati on, 

data analysis, and theoreti cal 

modeling of exoplanet orbits 

and planet characteristi cs. 

They are core team members 

of Kepler, the NASA satellite 

with a 1.4-meter diameter 

telescope launched last year, 

and which is responsible for 

the above discoveries. Kepler 

stares at about 150,000 stars 

in the sky, looking for brightness variati ons (as small as 

.001 percent) that signal the 

presence of a planet passing 

across the face of the star, 

dimming the light as seen 

from Earth (a transit). Once 

the telltale signatures are 

confi rmed to be planets (and 

not other eff ects like sunspots), meti culous monitoring 

of repeated transits—their 

ti ming, dimming, and variati ons therein—allow astronomers to esti mate the planets’ 

orbital parameters, masses, 

and sizes, and even properti es 

of their atmospheres. 

Planets, Planets, Planets

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Kepler detects planets by precisely 

monitoring a star’s brightness. If a 

planet crosses the star’s face from 

Kepler’s point of view, the starlight 

will dim slightly. Using this technique, Kepler has so far spott ed 

more than 1,200 planetary candidates (Credit: NASA)
6

The Smithsonian Asian Pacifi c 

American Program is preparing a major travelling exhibiti on on the early and later 

generati ons of immigrants 

from India. Scheduled to fi rst 

open at the Smithsonian in 

2013, Speaking Up!: Asian Indian Americans Shape the Nati on will address the history, 

culture, struggles, and contributi ons of Indian Americans, 

as well as explore how this 

growing populati on has revealed its dynamic character 

and helped shape the American experience. Dr. Pawan 

Dhingra is the exhibiti on’s 

curator and lead researcher. 

The phrase Speaking Up! 

refers to the literal and fi gurati ve voices of Indian Americans. Although Indian American doctors and engineers are 

a familiar presence to most 

Americans, the community 

is also full of persons who 

have excelled in such diverse 

arenas as spelling bees, hiphop music, and literature, to 

name a few. For example, 

Indian Americans have won a 

remarkable nine of the past 

13 Scripps Nati onal Spelling Bees, despite being less 

than 1 percent of the U.S. 

populati on. The exhibiti on 

will feature the fi rst Spelling 

Bee trophy won by an Indian 

American (in 1985), medals awarded in Indian-only 

spelling bee competiti ons, 

study sheets by parti cipants, 

broadcast video competiti ons 

and personal interviews, and 

personal items of spelling bee 

winners. It also will present 

the hip-hop and spoken word 

contributi ons of Indian Americans, part of a quickly growing 

phenomenon being exported 

to India in a reversal of the 

Indian diaspora. 

While the presentati on of 

such diverse verbal expressions will demonstrate the 

contributi ons of Indian American youth to the American 

narrati ve and to world culture, much of the exhibiti on 

will highlight the historic challenges and achievements of 

Indian Americans in the workplace and in American culture. 

Examples of key exhibiti on objects will include the trunk of 

an Indian pioneer who arrived 

in the U.S. around 1915; items 

from the successful campaign 

of Representati ve Dalip Singh 

Saund, the fi rst U.S. Congressman of Indian ancestry; 

examples of microchip inventi ons by Vinod Dham, the 

“father” of the Penti um chip; 

an Indian-owned hotel sign 

dati ng to the 1950s; the meter of a New York City taxicab 

driven by an Indian American; 

autographed cookbooks by 

celebrity chef Madhur Jaffrey; a signed jersey of NFL 

Super Bowl Champion Brandon Chillar, whose father is of 

Indian ancestry; the turban 

of the fi rst hate crime fatality 

aft er the September 11, 2011, 

att acks; and various arti facts 

from Indian American cultural 

organizati ons. Such pieces, 

along with video clips and 

photographs, will tell of everyday and once-in-a-lifeti me 

events in the lives of Indian 

Americans—stories that have 

become part of the American 

fabric, refl ect contributi ons 

to world culture, and speak 

of the journey of becoming 

American. Items from the successful campaign of Representati ve Dalip Singh Saund, 

the fi rst U.S. Congressman of Indian descent

Speaking Up!: Asian Indian Americans Shape the Nati on 

Smithsonian Asian Pacifi c American Program
7

Cooper-Hewitt , Nati onal 

Design Museum is conducti ng 

new research on American 

painter and interior designer 

Lockwood de Forest (1850–

1932) in connecti on with 

the renovati on of de Forest’s 

unique interior in the Andrew 

Carnegie mansion, the museum’s home. The research will 

culminate in the exhibiti on 

Lockwood de Forest, Frederic 

Church and the Passion for 

the Exoti c, which will be the 

fi rst exhibiti on in the restored 

mansion. The museum obtained a $300,000 grant from 

American Express to support 

this research project.

Lockwood de Forest was 

the protégé of the celebrated 

nineteenth-century landscape 

painter Frederic E. Church, 

who trained de Forest in 

landscape painti ng during the 

early 1870s and engendered 

a passion for exoti c places 

and exoti c decorati ve arts 

objects in de Forest. This 

interest led de Forest fi rst to 

the Holy Land and Egypt and 

fi nally to India, where he set 

up an atelier in Ahmedabad to 

produce hand-carved Indian 

teak, which he imported to 

the United States to use in 

his interior decorati ng projects. While in Ahmedabad, 

de Forest was introduced to 

Muggunbhai Hutheesing and 

together they created workshops that produced carved 

teak panels and metalwork 

using nati ve Hindu mistri

craft smen. 

Research thus far has 

curators know where de Forest traveled and the architecture he especially noted. The 

Hutheesing family sti ll owns 

the Ahmedabad workshops 

and have revived some of 

the early craft s techniques 

practi ced by de Forest and 

Muggunbhai Hutheesing. The 

family also holds some archival photos, samples of wood 

and metalwork, and examples 

of other pieces produced 

during de Forest’s ownership. 

All are key to understanding 

the combinati on of traditi onal 

design sources and western 

taste that is refl ected in the 

furniture, metalwork, and 

other forms of decorati on de 

Forest designed and imported to the U.S. A curatorial 

visit to the Hutheesing family archives, collecti on, and 

studio will result in a bett er 

understanding of Lockwood 

de Forest’s use of Indian 

traditi onal design, new Indian 

design, and his own design in 

the products he created. 

Previous scholarship on 

de Forest has concentrated 

on him as a designer in the 

aestheti c taste. Aft er consultati on with Debra Diamond of 

the Freer and Sackler Galleries, however, the curators 

concluded that examining the 

Ahmedabad works in relati on 

to Indian design traditi ons will 

result in considerable new 

scholarship on de Forest and 

will deepen the understanding of the Lockwood de Forest 

Teak Room and the designer’s 

other works.

Lockwood de Forest, Frederic Church and the Passion for the Exoti c 

Cooper-Hewitt , Nati onal Design Museum

been conducted at Olana, 

Church’s country home, which 

holds many examples of de 

Forest’s painti ngs and furniture. In the course of this research it was discovered that 

Church had planned to visit 

India in the late 1860s and 

Cabinet designed by Lockwood 

de Forest in 1902 for the Carnegie 

mansion’s Teak Room

that, perhaps in anti cipati on 

of this trip, he had acquired 

a large number of yet-to-be 

studied photographs of India. 

Curators will visit de Forest 

descendants, including grandson Kellam de Forest. Frank 

Goss, a Santa Barbara paintings dealer who represents 

the Kellam de Forest collecti on, has promised to donate 

two of de Forest’s oil sketches 

of Egypt and India to CooperHewitt , subject to curatorial 

and committ ee review.

Through research of the 

de Forest family papers and 

materials in the Archives 

of American Art, as well as 

through his publicati ons, the 
8

JEFFERSON AT THE SMITHSONIAN 

In response to Smithsonian research and two exhibiti ons related to the 

life of founding father Thomas Jeff erson, the Offi ce of the Under Secretary 

for History, Art, and Culture has developed a collaborati ve and comprehensive “Jeff erson at the Smithsonian” website. Located at www.gosmithsonian.com/jeff erson, the site features Smithsonian research, collecti ons, 

and exhibiti ons about Thomas Jeff erson, including new Jeff erson-related 

exhibiti ons prepared by the Nati onal Museum of American History 

(NMAH) and the Nati onal Museum of African American History and 

Culture (NMAAHC), (described in more detail below); two permanent 

exhibiti ons, The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden (NMAH) and 

America’s Presidents (Nati onal Portrait Gallery); and material related to 

Jeff erson at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Nati onal 

Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Insti tuti on Archives, and the 

Nati onal Museum of the American Indian. The site also promotes events 

planned for the NMAAHC exhibiti on and the Smithsonian Associates 

Program, such as discussions by curators and the portrayal of Thomas 

Jeff erson by Bill Barker of Colonial Williamsburg, and a February 2012 

webinar with Smithsonian scholars and other experts being developed to 

reach school children and teachers across the U.S. and beyond. With the 

support of Smithsonian Networks, a “Jeff erson at the Smithsonian” 

brochure also will be available at Smithsonian informati on desks and 

welcome centers.

Jeff erson’s Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth

Nati onal Museum of American History 

Nati onal Museum of American History politi cal history 

curators Harry Rubenstein and 

Barbara Clark Smith are leading experts on the “Jeff erson 

Bible,” a unique Smithsonian 

object created by Thomas Jefferson. Jeff erson assembled 

the 84-page document using 

excerpts from Greek, Lati n, 

French, and English versions 

of the Four Gospels of the 

New Testament. The goal 

of Jeff erson, who intended 

the book to be his private 

document, was to present a 

chronological version of the 

which opened in November 

2011. Rubenstein and Smith 

worked closely with NMAH 

book conservator Janice Ellis 

and experts at the University 

of Virginia and Monti cello to 

document the book’s history and to preserve this very 

personal Jeff erson object. 

Displayed with the volume are 

the two English editi ons of the 

New Testament from which 

Jeff erson clipped passages. 

Visitors can digitally explore 

each page of the “Jeff erson 

Bible” at an interacti ve kiosk 

and view short videos about 

life of Jesus, disti ll his moral 

teachings, and exclude those 

aspects which, to Jeff erson, 

appeared to be “contrary to 

reason.” Titled The Life and 

Morals of Jesus of Nazareth 

by Jeff erson, the book was 

passed down through his 

family unti l purchased by the 

Smithsonian in 1895, when it 

became popularly known as 

the “Jeff erson Bible.” 

The book was meti culously conserved over the past 

year and is now the focus of 

a new exhibiti on in the Albert 

H. Small Documents Hall, 
9

its history and conservati on. 

On sale in the museum bookstore are reproducti ons of the 

historic book. Published by 

Smithsonian Books, the books 

include essays by the exhibiton curators. The exhibiti on 

also is enhanced by the website www.americanhistory.

si.edu/Jeff ersonBible; a Smithsonian Channel documentary 

Jeff erson’s Secret Bible will 

premiere in February 2012. 

achievements, and aspirati ons 

for freedom, and, in the case 

of the Hemmings family, with 

relati onships to the Jeff erson 

family itself. The family stories will be brought to life via 

Monti cello’s “Getti ng Word” 

oral history project, which 

includes interviews of 170 

descendants of slaves who 

lived on Jeff erson’s plantati on. 

In additi on to the NMAAHC 

exhibiti on, Monti cello will 

open the exhibiti on Mulberry 

Row and the Landscape of 

Slavery at Monti cello in February 2012. The exhibiti on 

will feature physical restorati ons and interpreti ve exhibits, augmented by computer 

animati ons, a website, and 

a smart phone app that will 

enable visitors to explore the 

past and bett er understand 

the lives of slaves. 

families who lived at the Monti cello plantati on. 

With this exhibiti on, 

NMAAHC scholars will bring 

to Smithsonian audiences 

important new research that 

addresses the diffi cult issue 

of slavery in America and 

the paradox of Jeff erson, a 

lifelong slaveholder whose 

livelihood was dependent 

upon the insti tuti on. This 

same man, however, authored 

the Declarati on of Independence—the nati on’s call for 

freedom—and called slavery 

an “abominable crime.” 

A variety of museum objects, works of art, and documents, as well as arti facts 

found during archaeological 

excavati ons at Monti cello, will 

allow visitors to see slaves as 

individuals with names, marriages, families, faith, values, 

Slavery at Jeff erson’s Monti cello: Paradox of Liberty

Nati onal Museum of African American History and Culture

Scheduled to open on January 27, 2012, in the NMAAHC 

Gallery at NMAH, Slavery 

at Jeff erson’s Monti cello: 

Paradox of Liberty refl ects 

the collaborati ve eff orts of 

NMAAHC with the Thomas 

Jeff erson Foundati on, which 

preserves and oversees the 

presidenti al home that is a 

Nati onal Historic Landmark, 

World Heritage site, and the 

best-documented, preserved, 

and studied plantati on in the 

United States. Co-curated 

by NMAAHC’s Rex Ellis and 

Monti cello’s Elizabeth Chew, 

the exhibiti on will present 

two decades of unprecedented and well-documented 

archaeological and historical 

research that illustrates—in 

a fuller, more humane, and 

personal way than heretofore 

possible—the lives of six slave 

(right) The meti culously conserved 

“Jeff erson Bible” is on display at 

the Nati onal Museum of American 

History unti l May 28, 2012 
10

land snails 5,500 miles from 

Europe to Tristan de Cunha 

Island in the South Atlanti c 

Ocean and back. But this is 

the fi rst report of a marine 

snail “fl ying” from one ocean 

to another. 

Scienti sts working at STRI 

have long been interested in 

how the rise of the Central 

American land bridge more 

than 3 million years ago drove 

speciati on and increased 

biodiversity. It formed a 

barrier between marine species, some of which evolved 

in their new surroundings, 

becoming new “sister” species that could no longer mate 

with their former relati ves. 

Scienti sts studied the 

geneti cs of two sister species 

of Horn Snails, Cerithideopsis 

californica and C. pliculosa,

collected at 29 diff erent locati ons in mudfl ats and mangrove habitats from California 

to Panama on the Pacifi c and 

Smithsonian scienti sts and 

colleagues report that snails 

successfully crossed Central 

America, long considered 

an impenetrable barrier to 

marine organisms, twice in 

the past million years—both 

ti mes probably by fl ying 

across Mexico, stuck to the 

legs or riding on the bellies 

of shorebirds and introducing 

new genes that contribute 

to the marine biodiversity on 

each coast.

“Just as people use airplanes to fl y overseas, marine 

snails may use birds to fl y 

over land,” said Mark Torchin, 

staff scienti st at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Insti tute 

(STRI). “It just happens much 

less frequently. There’s also 

a big diff erence between 

one or two individuals ending up in a new place, and a 

really successful invasion, in 

which several animals survive, 

reproduce, and establish new 

populati ons.” 

The discovery of the 

hitchhiking snails, published 

in the Proceedings of the 

Royal Society: B, has broad 

implicati ons. “Not only snails, 

but many interti dal organisms may be able to ‘fl y’ with 

birds,” said the study’s fi rst 

author, Osamu Miura, assistant professor at Japan’s Kochi 

University and former postdoctoral fellow at STRI. 

Chance events that occur only once in a great while 

may be extremely important 

in the history of life. In 1940, 

George Gaylord Simpson, 

who studied natural history as 

recorded in fossils, coined the 

term “sweepstakes dispersal” 

to describe the unlikely events 

in which animals cross over a 

barrier resulti ng in major consequences for the diversity 

of life on Earth. Simpson was 

thinking about land-based 

animals that might cross 

between conti nents or islands 

by fl oati ng on raft s of debris. 

Someti mes such events result 

in devastati ng biological invasions that introduced new 

diseases, wiped out resident 

species, or caused economic 

damage to crops. 

The idea of land snails 

hitching rides on birds goes 

back to Charles Darwin, who 

speculated that migratory 

birds could transport snails to 

distant places. In fact, birds 

are thought to have carried 

Hitchhiking Snails Fly from Ocean to Ocean 

Smithsonian Tropical Research Insti tute

Scienti sts discovered that hitchhiking snails crossed Central America, long 

considered impassable to marine organisms, twice in the past million years
11

Materials and Techniques of Henry Ossawa Tanner

Smithsonian American Art Museum

In 2009, conservati on staff from the Smithsonian American Art 

Museum (SAAM) began a research project with representati ves from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) 

and the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservati on Insti tute (MCI) 

to investi gate the materials and techniques of African American painter Henry Ossawa Tanner. SAAM’s permanent collecti on holds the largest public repository of Tanner’s work, 20 

of which will be featured in PAFA’s traveling exhibiti on Henry 

Ossawa Tanner: Modern Spirit, which will open on January 27, 

2012. PAFA’s recently released exhibiti on catalogue includes 

the collaborati ve essay “Pursuit of the Ideal Eff ect: The Materials and Techniques of Henry Ossawa Tanner” that resulted 

from this fi rst-ever scientifi c appraisal of Tanner’s work. The 

study also will be highlighted in the exhibiti on’s didacti c materials and audio tour, which will include selecti ons from an 

interview with SAAM Conservator of Painti ngs Amber Kerr-Allison. In additi on, SAAM is providing visitor programs (including 

a public lecture, a recorded webcast, and a gallery talk) related 

to the research project, as well as expanding the foundati onal 

research on Tanner’s materials and techniques through an MCI 

fellowship awarded under the Grand Challenge: Understanding 

the American Experience.

Detail of Henry O. Tanner’s Head of a Jew in Palesti ne in normal and UV 

light. Conservators examined six painti ngs by Tanner using infrared, raking, 

and UV light, along with x-rays and technical analysis to determine the 

painter’s materials and working methods

from Texas to Panama on 

the Atlanti c. The researchers discovered that, about 

750,000 years ago, these 

snails invaded the Atlanti c 

from the Pacifi c, and then, 

about 72,000 years ago, Atlanti c populati ons returned to 

invade Pacifi c shores.

“Shorebirds mostly move 

back and forth across Central America via a couple of 

fl yways,” said Torchin. “We 

think that the snails were able 

to cross the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico because 

it’s a major bird fl yway and 

is a relati vely fl at and narrow 

stretch of land with ideal ti dal 

fl at habitat on either side.” 

“There is a chance that 

the hitchhiking snails benefi ted nati ve populati ons by 

bringing in new genes that 

helped them resist common parasites that castrate 

the snails and keep them 

from reproducing,” said Ryan 

Hechinger, associate research 

biologist at the University 

of California, Santa Barbara. 

“Now we are looking at the 

parasite genes to see if they 

jumped Central America too.” 

Understanding that such 

hitchhiking occurs can help reveal where new species might 

have become established or 

where they might establish in 

the future,” said Eldredge 

Bermingham, STRI director 

and staff scienti st. “I am here 

in Panama watching as snails 

fl y over my head. Tongue in 

cheek, I fail to understand 

why others did not noti ce this 

before! I suspect our interpretati on of this phylogeographic patt ern would make 

George Gaylord Simpson 
12

Smithsonian scienti sts have 

confi rmed that chytridiomycosis, a rapidly spreading amphibian disease that att acks 

the skin cells of amphibians 

and is wiping out frog species worldwide, has reached 

a site near Panama’s Darien 

region. This was the last 

area in the enti re mountainous neotropics to be free of 

the disease. This is troubling 

news for the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservati on 

Project, a consorti um of nine 

U.S. and Panamanian insti tuti ons that aims to rescue 20 

species of frogs in imminent 

danger of exti ncti on.

Chytridiomycosis has been 

linked to dramati c populati on 

declines or even exti ncti ons of 

amphibian species worldwide. 

Within fi ve months of arriving 

at El Cope in western Panama, 

chytridiomychosis exti rpated 

50 percent of the frog species 

and 80 percent of individuals.

The Darien Nati onal Park 

is a World Heritage site and 

represents one of Central 

America’s largest remaining 

wilderness areas. In 2007, 

Doug Woodhams, a research 

associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Insti -

tute, tested 49 frogs at a site 

bordering the Darien. At that 

ti me, none tested positi ve 

for the disease. In January 

2010, however, Woodhams 

found that 2 percent of the 93 

frogs he tested were infected. 

“Finding chytridiomycosis on 

frogs at a site bordering the 

Darien happened much sooner than anyone predicted,” 

Woodhams said. “The unrelenti ng and extremely fastpaced spread of this fungus is 

alarming.”

“We would like to save all 

of the species in the Darien, 

but there isn’t ti me to do that 

now,” said Brian Gratwicke, 

biologist at the Smithsonian 

Conservati on Biology Insti -

tute (SCBI) and internati onal 

coordinator for the Panama 

Amphibian Rescue and 

Conservati on Project. “Our 

project is one of a few to take 

an acti ve stance against the 

probable exti ncti on of these 

species. We have already 

succeeded in breeding three 

species in capti vity. Time may 

be running out, but we are 

looking for more resources 

to take advantage of the ti me 

that remains.”

The Panama Amphibian 

Rescue and Conservati on Project has already established 

capti ve assurance colonies 

in Panama of two priority species endemic to the 

Darien—the Pirre harlequin 

frog (Atelopus glyphus) and 

the Toad Mountain harlequin 

frog (A. certus). In additi on, 

the Nati onal Zoo maintains an 

acti ve breeding program for 

the Panamanian golden frog, 

which is Panama’s nati onal 

animal. The Panamanian 

golden frog is criti cally endangered, according to the 

Internati onal Union for Conservati on of Nature, and researchers have not seen them 

in the wild since 2008.

Nearly one-third of the 

world’s amphibian species are 

at risk of exti ncti on. While 

the global amphibian crisis 

is the result of habitat loss, 

Smithsonian Team Races to Save Endangered Panamanian Frogs 

from Deadly Fungus

Smithsonian Conservati on Biology Insti tute

Capti ve assurance colonies have been established in Panama for two 

priority species, including the Pirre harlequin frog (Atelopus glyphus)
13

climate change, and polluti on, 

chytridiomycosis is at least 

partly responsible for the disappearances of 94 of the 120 

frog species thought to have 

gone exti nct since 1980.

“These animals that we 

are breeding in capti vity will 

buy us some ti me as we fi nd 

a way to control this disease 

in the wild and miti gate the 

threat directly,” said Woodhams, who was the lead 

author of the whitepaper 

“Miti gati ng Amphibian Disease: strategies to maintain 

wild populati ons and control 

chytridiomycosis.” This paper, 

published in Fronti ers in Zoology, systemati cally reviews 

disease-control tools from 

other fi elds and examines 

how they might be deployed 

to fi ght chytrid in the wild. 

One parti cularly exciti ng lead 

in the eff ort to fi nd a cure 

is that anti -chytrid bacteria 

living on frog skin may have 

probioti cs properti es that 

protect their amphibian host 

from chytrid by secreti ng anti -

fungal chemicals. Woodhams 

also recently discovered that 

some Panamanian species 

with anti -chytrid skin bacteria transmit benefi cial skin 

chemicals and bacteria to 

their off spring.

“We are all working 

around the clock to fi nd 

a cure,” Gratwicke said. 

“Woodhams’ discovery that 

defenses can indeed be transferred from parent to off -

spring gives us hope that if we 

are successful at developing 

a cure in the lab, we may fi nd 

a way to use it to save wild 

amphibians.”

Although the longstanding and criti cally important role of 

Smithsonian research centers is to facilitate scholarly research, 

archives have become a source of inspirati on and arti sti c medium for arti sts in recent years. In November 2011, the Archives 

of American Art, the world’s largest archives documenti ng the 

history of art in America, partnered with the Gett y Research Insti tute to organize and host the symposium “Arti sts & Archives: 

A Pacifi c Standard Time Symposium.” 

Accumulati ng and sorti ng—the same impulses that drive 

the creati on of an archive—feed the process of making assem-

“Arti sts & Archives: 

A Pacifi c Standard Time Symposium”

Archives of American Art, 

in partnership with the Gett y Research Insti tute

Arti st George Herms talked about 

source material for his work at the 

November 2011 “Arti sts & Archives” 

symposium

blages and collages. Conceptual and performance art conti nue to blur the line between 

art and documentati on and, 

more recently, many arti sts 

draw on archival material to 

revisit and reenact earlier 

works. The symposium considered how archives not only 

trace the creati ve process but 

become part of that process, 

and even of the work itself. 

The event at the Gett y 

Center in Los Angeles attracted over 150 parti cipants. 

Speakers included keynote speaker Sven Spieker, professor of 

Russian and comparati ve literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of The Big Archive: Art From 

Bureaucracy; arti sts George Herms, Suzanne Lacy, and Mario 

Garcia Torres, who use archival material and practi ces in their 

work; Julia Bryan-Wilson, associate professor of art history at 

the University of California, Berkeley, who moderated a lively 

panel; and Michael Lobel, associate professor of art history 

at the State University of New York, Purchase College, who 

provided closing remarks. Both Bryan-Wilson and Lobel have 

Smithsonian connecti ons: Bryan-Wilson was a predoctoral research fellow at the Archives of American Art in 2003 and Lobel 

serves on the Archives’ Nati onal Advisory Committ ee.

The symposium was part of the programming for the Gett y 

initi ati ve “Pacifi c Standard Time: Art in L.A., 1945–1980,” a 

collaborati on of more than 60 Southern Californian cultural insti tuti ons that examined the birth of the Los Angeles art scene 

and its development into a major new force in the art world.
14

Global views of Mercury from orbit. MESSENGER has completed its fi rst solar day (176 Earth days) in orbit around 

Mercury and obtained a global monochrome map at 250 m/pixel and an eight-color and a 1-km/pixel color map 

The fi rst results of the orbital 

phase of the MESSENGER mission to Mercury were published in Science in September 

2011. The papers reported 

results based on imaging of 

the surface and geochemical 

and geophysical measurements of the planet. Nati onal 

First Results of Orbital Phase of MESSENGER Mission to Mercury 

Nati onal Air and Space Center for Earth and Planetary Studies

Air and Space Center for Earth 

and Planetary Studies (CEPS) 

scienti st and division chair 

Tom Watt ers is a coauthor on 

one paper that describes vast 

volcanic plains in the northern 

high lati tudes not fully seen in 

MESSENGER’s three fl ybys of 

Mercury. NASA hosted a telephone press conference about 

the publicati ons and new 

orbital phase of the MESSENGER mission on September 

29, 2011. The global imaging 

campaign, along with new 

geophysical and geochemical 

data, is revoluti onizing the 

understanding of Mercury.