Annual Report to the Regents

Fiscal Year 2009

Kristofer Helgen of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History discovered a new species 

of giant rat while on a filmmaking expedition with the BBC to a remote rainforest in Papua New Guinea.

This photo shows BBC cameraman Gordon Buchanan with the 3.5-pound rodent. 

Photo by Jonny Keeling
Prepared by 

Offi ce of Policy and Analysis
Public Impact

Visits to the Smithsonian 

In fi scal year 2009, the Institution counted 30.0 million visits 

to its museums in Washington, D.C., and New York, plus the 

National Zoo and Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center—up almost

25 percent from fi scal year 2008. Th is signifi cant jump in 

visitation was largely attributable to the reopening of the 

National Museum of American History, which saw nearly 

4.2 million visitors after being closed for extensive renovations 

throughout fi scal year 2008. 

Th e Smithsonian also counted approximately 4.75 million

visits to 52 traveling exhibitions mounted by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. 

Th e exhibitions were on view in 697 venues in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Guam, 

and American Samoa. Th ese fi gures include The Mask of Lincoln, a portfolio created for widespread 

distribution to schools, libraries, and museums across the country. 

Visits to Smithsonian Museums and Traveling Exhibitions

Fiscal Years 2007, 2008, and 2009 

Smithsonian Online

Smithsonian Web sites logged more than 188 million visits in fi scal year 2009, up 9 percent from the 

fiscal year 2008 figure. Among the online highlights for the fi scal year were the following: 

Th e Encyclopedia of Life (EOL), a consortium including the Smithsonian that seeks to make 

extensive information on all known species easily accessible online through a single Web site, now 

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African Art

Air and Space

Udvar -HazyAmerican History

American Indian -

Mall

Heye Center -NY

Anacostia

Cooper -Hewitt -NY

Freer/Sackler

Hirshhorn

Natural History

Postal

Renwick

Reynolds Center

Ripley CenterSI Castle

National Zoo

SITES

(In Millions)

FY 2007

FY 2008

FY 2009

Smithsonian Fiscal Year 2009 Highlights 1
features 170,000 expert-reviewed species pages. Th e public used tools such as Flickr to upload over 

30,000 images, videos, and other data into EOL by the public. 

Th e Smithsonian’s central online education portal SmithsonianEducation.org was selected as a 

Landmark Website on the inaugural list of the American Association of School Librarians’ Best 

Websites for Teaching and Learning.

“Ghosts of a Chance,” an alternative reality game from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 

attracted thousands of players online and hundreds to the fi nale at the Museum on October 25, 

2008. It received coverage in several national news outlets and was an Offi cial Honoree in the new 

Interactive Advertising category at the 13th Annual Webby Awards.

“The Secret in the Cellar,” an interactive, graphic novel–style Webcomic companion to the National 

Museum of Natural History exhibition Written in Bone, was chosen by the U.S. Distance Learning 

Association to receive a 2009 Best Practices in Distance Learning Programming Gold Award.

Th e Smithsonian Photography Initiative launched the second version of its click! photography changes 

everything Web site, which includes mini-documentaries on the power of photography featuring 

Smithsonian experts. Th e Initiative also launched a blog, The Bigger Picture. 

Th e Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press and Smithsonian Institution Libraries completed the 

digitization of legacy volumes of the Smithsonian Contributions Series—a total of 1,072 volumes 

(more than 107,000 pages) of research in a wide range of subject areas—and posted PDFs online.

Th e Archives of American Art’s Oscar Bluemner Collections Online Web site won the Fredric M. 

Miller Finding Aid Award of the Mid-Atlantic Archives Conference. Th e Archives Web site also won 

an Honorable Mention in the 2009 Best on the Web Awards sponsored by the Archives Next blog. 

Exhibition Highlights

The National Museum of American History reopened 

on November 21, 2008, after its most extensive 

renovations in over 40 years. New highlights include 

a popular permanent exhibition, The Star-Spangled 

Banner: The Flag That Inspired the National 

Anthem, and the 3,500-square-foot Lemelson Hall of 

Invention, which made its debut with an exhibition 

titled Invention at Play.

Th e 2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival (June 24–

July 5), spearheaded by the Center for Folklife and 

Cultural Heritage, attracted over one million visitors. It 

included three major programs: 

Wales Smithsonian Cymru, showcasing traditional and 

contemporary Welsh culture; 

Giving Voice: The Power of Words in African 

American Culture (with the National Museum of 

African American History and Culture); and 

Las Américas: Un Mundo Musical/The Americas: A 

Musical World (with the Smithsonian Latino Center).

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2 Smithsonian Fiscal Year 2009 Highlights
Among the new exhibitions at the National Museum of Natural History were Written in Bone: Forensic 

Files of the 17th-Century Chesapeake (opened February 7, 2009); Orchids through Darwin’s Eyes

(January 24–April 26, 2009), a collaboration between the Smithsonian Horticulture Services Division 

and U.S. Botanic Garden; and Since Darwin: The Evolution of Evolution (September 12, 2009–July 18, 

2010) to mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth. 

Th e Smithsonian American Art Museum off ered a number of new exhibitions, including 1934: A 

New Deal for Artists (February 27, 2009–January 3, 2010), in honor of the 75th anniversary of the 

fi rst Federal program to support the arts, and Georgia O’Keeffe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities

(September 26, 2008–January 4, 2009), which highlighted these two influential artists’ appreciation of 

the natural world.

Among exhibition highlights at the National Air and Space Museum were Painted Apollo: The Art 

of Alan Bean (July 2009–mid-January 2010), which gives visitors a chance to see the moon through 

the eyes of an artist who walked on the lunar surface, and the opening of a public observatory on the 

southeast terrace of the Museum’s Mall building. 

The National Portrait Gallery featured several new exhibitions, including the 

much-discussed One Life: The Mask of Lincoln (November 7, 2008–July 5, 

2009), which chronicled Lincoln’s presidency and the use of photography to 

shape his identity as a national leader, and Inventing Marcel Duchamp: The 

Dynamics of Portraiture (March 27–August 2, 2009), which cast new light 

upon one of the most infl uential artists of the recent past. 

The Panza Collection (October 23, 2008–January 11, 2009) at the Hirshhorn 

Museum and Sculpture Garden presented 39 important artworks from the 

late 1960s and early 1970s recently acquired by the Museum. Also at the 

Museum, Louise Bourgeois (February 26–May 17, 2009) presented a major 

retrospective of the works of a leading fi gure in 20th-century art. 

The National Museum of African American History and Culture presented 

Road to Freedom: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1956–1968 in 

the International Gallery of the Ripley Center (November 8, 2008–March 9, 

2009) and The Scurlock Studio and Black Washington: Picturing the Promise 

(opened January 30, 2009) at the National Museum of American History. 

Th e Freer and Sackler Galleries opened several new exhibitions, including 

The Tsars and the East: Gifts from Turkey and Iran in the Moscow Kremlin

(May 9–September 13, 2009) and Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings 

of Jodhpur (October 11, 2008–January 4, 2009), which showcased newly 

discovered paintings from the court collection of Marwar-Jodhpur. 

Fritz Scholder: Indian/Not Indian, on display at both the National Museum 

of the American Indian’s facility on the Mall and its George Gustav Heye 

Center in New York City (October 29, 2008–August 16, 2009), presented 

works from one of the most influential American artists of the 20th century. 

Also at the Museum, Ramp It Up: Skateboard Culture in Native America

(June 12–September 13, 2009) celebrated American Indian skate culture.

At the National Museum of African Art, Desert Jewels: North African Jewelry 

and Photography from the Xavier Guerrand-Hermès Collection (October 

8, 2008–January 11, 2009) offered striking displays of jewelry and photographs. The Museum also 

lalunched Artful Animals (July 1, 2009–July 2010), part of a collaborative project with performances, 

Smithsonian Fiscal Year 2009 Highlights 3
storytelling, and other activities at the National Postal Museum, National Zoo, Discovery Theater, and 

National Museum of Natural History. 

Staged Stories: Renwick Craft Invitational 2009 (August 7, 2009–January 3, 2010) at the Renwick 

Gallery celebrates the work of four artists whose work illuminates the shift in contemporary studio craft 

from functionality to narrative.

The Anacostia Community Museum presented Jubilee: African American Celebration (December 7, 

2008–September 20, 2009), which explored a wide variety of distinctive African American holidays and 

celebrations through images, artifacts, traditional songs and music, and folklore.

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum was the debut venue for the national tour of Design for a 

Living World (May 14, 2009–January 4, 2010), which features works that use sustainable materials. It 

also unveiled several other new exhibitions, including Wall Stories: Children’s Wallpaper and Books

(October 3, 2008–April 5, 2009) and Fashioning Felt (March 16–September 7, 2009).

Th e National Postal Museum exhibition Delivering Hope: FDR and Stamps of the Great Depression

(June 9, 2009–June 6, 2010) shows how Franklin D. Roosevelt communicated with the American people 

through stamps, using them to convey messages of hope, optimism, and solidarity.

Th e Smithsonian Institution Libraries exhibition Darwin’s Legacy, on 

display at the National Museum of Natural History (September 10, 

2009–September 12, 2010), features the fi rst edition of Charles Darwin’s 

On the Origin of Species (1859), a book that changed the course of modern 

science. 

Collections Highlights

New acquisitions this year included the following: 

Th e portrait that came to symbolize the historic campaign of President 

Barack Obama found a permanent home at the National Portrait 

Gallery. Shepard Fairey’s iconic image was installed at the Gallery on 

January 17, 2009. Th e Gallery also unveiled portraits of President 

and Mrs. George W. Bush to wide acclaim.

Jao Chu, a female clouded leopard at the National Zoo’s Conservation and 

Research Center, gave birth to two male cubs on March 24, 2009. On 

January 10, 2009, the Zoo’s 26-year-old western lowland gorilla, Mandara, 

gave birth to a female baby sired by the Zoo’s 16-year-old male gorilla, 

Baraka. 

Th e Smithsonian American Art Museum acquired the estate archive of 

Nam June Paik (1932–2006), who became one of the most infl uential 

artists of his generation by transforming television and video into artists’ 

media. Th e Museum also installed the monumental sculpture Modern 

Head by Roy Lichtenstein outside the Donald W. Reynolds Center for 

American Art and Portraiture.

In other collections news, the National Museum of Natural History celebrated the 50th anniversary of 

the gift of the Hope Diamond to the Museum. To mark the occasion, the Museum commissioned three 

new temporary designs for the 45-carat blue diamond, which is the centerpiece of the National Gem 

Collection. 

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Education, Event, and Program Highlights

Th e three-day reopening festival for the 

National Museum of American History began 

with a ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring 

former Secretary of State Colin Powell reading 

the Gettysburg Address. Th e festivities, 

which featured performances, living history 

interpreters, and other events, drew over 

77,000 people.

As part of the January 2009 celebrations 

surrounding the inauguration of Barack 

Obama as the 44th President of the United 

States, a number of units featured special 

programs, including:

Th e National Museum of American History’s Renewing America’s Promise, a celebration with music, 

gallery talks, book signings, and actors portraying great Presidents of the past; 

Out of Many, a multicultural festival of music, dance, and storytelling spearheaded by the National 

Museum of the American Indian in collaboration with the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, 

National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Latino Center, and Asian 

Pacifi c American Program; and 

Th e debut of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling 

Exhibition Service’s unique mobile exhibition, Abraham 

Lincoln: Self-Made in America, housed in a 53-foot, 

double expandable trailer. 

Th e world premiere of Night at the Museum: Battle of the 

Smithsonian was held in May 2009 at the Lockheed Martin 

IMAX Th eater at the National Air and Space Museum. 

Th e red carpet gala was attended by stars Ben Stiller, Amy 

Adams, Hank Azaria, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, and 

Ricky Gervais, and was covered by a worldwide media 

contingent. Th e fi lm went on to become a box-offi ce hit. 

Using a broad range of Smithsonian resources, the National 

Science Resources Center continued to expand its work to transform K–12 science education in the 

United States and the world. Highlights include the following: 

Developing 16 instructional units in the life, earth, and physical sciences that school districts and 

states can use to construct a comprehensive science program at the 6th–10th grade levels; 

Sponsoring its fi rst National Science Education Leadership Forum for national and state leaders to 

showcase current research and best practices in high school science education; 

Broadening work with university faculty and high school teachers through the Geneticists’ Educator 

Network Alliance; and 

Sponsoring the annual meeting of presidents of the National Academies of Sciences from Canada, 

the United States, and South America, resulting in the development of a plan to transform K–16 

science education programs in South America.

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Smithsonian Fiscal Year 2009 Highlights 5
In collaboration with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Museo del Canal Interoceánico de 

Panamá (a Smithsonian Affi liate), the Smithsonian Latino Center launched Panama at the Smithsonian, 

a series of 21 programs examining Panama’s social, cultural, and natural heritage. 

Educators from the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum worked with the 

Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies to host the annual Smithsonian Teacher’s Night

event at the Reynolds Center, which drew more than 2,800 teachers. 

Among the activities held by the National Air and Space 

Museum to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 

11 moon landing was the Museum’s annual John Glenn 

Space Lecture, which featured Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz 

Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Mike Collins. 

A memorandum of understanding between the National Zoo 

and George Mason University was fi nalized in October 2008 

to develop a comprehensive conservation education program 

for undergraduates, graduates, and professionals. 

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum welcomed 9,000 

visitors during its 3rd annual National Design Week in 

October 2008, the highlight of which was the 9th annual 

National Design Awards gala. 

First Lady Michelle Obama, who served as honorary patron 

for the 10th National Design Awards program, hosted a 

White House ceremony for the 2009 award winners and 

fi nalists in July 2009. 

Among the highlights for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings this year were the following: 

Two Folkways albums were nominated for Grammy awards: From Now On: Michael Doucet and 

Amor, Dolor Y Lagrimas: Musica Ranchera: Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano. Th e latter was a 

winner when the awards were announced in February 2009. 

Several Folkways recordings earned Independent Music Awards: Territory, by Tony Trischka; On The 

Right Road Now, by the Paschall Brothers; and ¡Ayombe! The Heart of Colombia’s Música Vallenata, by 

various Colombian artists. 

Nine Folkways albums were cited in Tom Moon’s popular new book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before 

You Die: A Listener’s Life List. 

In May 2009, the redesigned Archives of American Art Journal was nominated by the Society of 

Publications Designers for the 2008 best redesign in the Non-Newstand category, and won inclusion in 

Step Into Design magazine’s 2009 list of “100 Trend-setting Projects.” 

Th e Society for History in the Federal Government awarded the Thomas Jefferson Prize for 

Documentary History to the Smithsonian Institution Archives’ Joseph Henry Papers Project. 

Outreach 

Smithsonian Affiliations off ers museums, cultural institutions, and educational organizations access to 

Smithsonian collections and resources. Th rough the Affi liations program, the Smithsonian fulfi lls its 

outreach mission of sharing artifacts, programs, and expertise with the nation and beyond. 

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6 Smithsonian Fiscal Year 2009 Highlights
In fi scal year 2009, the Smithsonian welcomed 10 new Affiliates. Th ere are currently 165 Affiliates 

in 41 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Panama. 

Smithsonian units loaned 413 artifacts to 15 Affiliates. Th ere are now 1,077 Smithsonian artifacts 

on view at Affi liates across the nation. 

Th e Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) continued to sustain a high level of 

outreach activity. In fi scal year 2009, SITES put the following new shows on the road: 

NASA | ART: 50 Years of Exploration launched a national 

tour at the Art League of Bonita Springs, Florida. 

Lasting Light: 125 Years of Grand Canyon Photography

had its debut in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Kennedys | Portrait of a Family: Photographs by 

Richard Avedon premiered at the Riverside Metropolitan 

Museum in Riverside, California, a Smithsonian Affi liate. 

Th e newest Museum on Main Street exhibition, Journey 

Stories, opened in small towns in Illinois, Kansas, 

Mississippi, North Dakota, and Oklahoma. 

American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show Print opened at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, 

Washington. 

Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program, 1942–1964, a 

bilingual collaboration between the National Museum of 

American History and the Smithsonian Latino Center, debuted 

in Washington, D.C. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, whose father 

was a bracero, spoke at the press event for the show’s premiere. 

Th e Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies 

(SCEMS) presented Abraham Lincoln and Climate Change, its first 

online Webinars in a new series funded by the Offi ce of the Chief 

Information Offi cer. Both featured live, participatory sessions (now 

archived for replay) with curators and educators from multiple 

Smithsonian units. Teachers and learners from every state and dozens 

of foreign countries participated. 

The Smithsonian Associates (TSA) continued to present a wide array of education programs in 

Washington, D.C., and around the country. 

More than 55,000 children and adults attended Discovery Theater performances on the National 

Mall and in schools, libraries, theaters, and community centers. 

Smithsonian Summer Camp celebrated its 40th year with over 60 camps and 1,100 children who 

explored the museums and exhibits around the National Mall. 

TSA brought Smithsonian experts to 17 communities in 10 states for a variety of programs in local 

schools, museums, and other cultural organizations. 

Th ree-day Teaching American History workshops were conducted in school districts in Louisiana, 

New York, and Michigan. 

In December 2008, in the Bhutanese capital of Th imphu, the Royal Government of Bhutan restaged the 

Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage’s 2008 Folklife Festival program on the culture of Bhutan. 

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Smithsonian Fiscal Year 2009 Highlights 7
Th e National Zoo and the World Bank Group signed a memorandum of 

understanding to launch the Global Tiger Initiative to restore wild tiger 

populations. Th e Zoo also joined seven other organizations to form the 

Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project, which aims to save 

amphibians from the brink of extinction in the eastern region of Panama, an 

area rich with amphibian species.

Th e Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) signed a memorandum of understanding 

with the Chinese Academy of Sciences to initiate a regional EOL in China, 

bringing the number of regional EOLs to three. Discussions on other 

regional projects are under way in Central America, the Middle East, Indonesia, and South Africa. 

In February 2009, the National Museum of Natural 

History welcomed participants from Brazil, Colombia, 

the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama, 

Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela to its Collections 

Management Training Program for Latin American 

and Caribbean museum professionals.

In April 2009, the Smithsonian Accessibility Program, 

in partnership with the John Heinz History Center, an 

Affi liate in Pittsburgh, hosted more than 350 students 

at Ability Pittsburgh, an event modeled on the 2007 

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act program at 

the National Air and Space Museum. 

A new 2,500-square-foot interactive traveling exhibition created by educators and scientists at the 

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Black Holes: Space Warps and Time Shifts, opened on June 21, 

2009, at the Boston Museum of Science. It began a three-year national tour in September 2009. 

In June 2009, Deputy Under Secretary for Science Scott Miller and Secretary Clough visited the Mpala 

Research Center in Nairobi, Kenya, to meet with Kenyan partners and to give the Secretary a fi rst-hand 

glimpse of the world-class research being done by Smithsonian scientists and their collaborators.

Th e Freer and Sackler Galleries launched Asia After Dark, an after-hours series designed to engage a 

new generation of young professional museumgoers and donors. Th e fi rst two events on June 4 and 

September 3, 2009, were well-attended and garnered an exceptional amount of media attention. 

Scholarship

Science Units

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO)

In fi scal year 2009, SAO scientists published 401 articles in peer-reviewed journals, with another 558 

articles in non-peer-reviewed journals, books, and conference proceedings. SAO research was the subject 

of 15 articles in Nature and 12 in the New York Times. 

8 Smithsonian Fiscal Year 2009 Highlights
Gamma rays are the most energetic form of electromagnetic 

radiation known. SAO astronomers have used VERITAS 

(Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System), 

an array of four 12-meter telescopes at the Fred L. Whipple 

Observatory in Arizona, to obtain an image of gamma ray 

emission that provides deeper understanding of these rays’ 

origins. 

Dark energy is the name given to the mysterious process 

that drives the outward acceleration of the universe. By 

studying distant clusters of galaxies using the Chandra Xray Observatory administered by SAO, astronomers have provided the fi rst direct evidence for cosmic 

acceleration since the original discovery of dark energy. 

SAO’s Submillimeter Array in Hawaii has brought a new level of precision to the study of circumstellar 

disks, the material surrounding young stars that have the potential to be converted into planets. With it 

has come a deeper understanding of how planets form. 

SAO astronomers’ high-precision measurements of the Milky Way have demonstrated that our galaxy is 

about 50 percent larger than had been believed, implying that it is rotating faster than previously thought 

and that the likelihood of collisions with other galaxies is greater than suspected. 

National Zoological Park (NZP)

NZP scientists produced 114 publications in fi scal year 2009, including 103 peer-reviewed journal 

articles (21 of which appeared in high-impact journals), fi ve book chapters, and two books. 

Scientists at the Zoo’s Conservation and Research Center (CRC) successfully performed an artifi cial 

insemination on a white-naped crane. Th e resulting female chick is one of the most genetically valuable 

cranes in the North American Species Survival Program. 

In May 2009, Dr. JoGayle Howard conducted fi ve artifi cial 

inseminations on black-footed ferrets at the CRC using 

cryopreserved semen that was frozen 10–20 years ago. Th is 

resulted in the birth of a genetically valuable litter. 

In June 2009, a group led by NZP’s Melissa Songer 

completed a highly successful Przewalski’s horse–collaring 

mission in China, deploying satellite collars on four family 

groups that are being released from a new site in the 

Kalameili Nature Reserve. 

National Air and Space Museum (NASM) 

Th e second Messenger Mission fl yby of Mercury on October 6, 2008, returned more than 1,200 images 

of a side of the planet not previously seen by spacecraft. Sarah Andre and Tom Watters of NASM’s 

Center for Earth and Planetary Studies (CEPS) are involved in Messenger data analysis.

CEPS tallied 41 peer-reviewed publications in fi scal year 2009, four of which were published in the 

high-impact journals Science and Nature—including a cover story in the May 2009 issue of the former. 

Th e Division of Space History published six new books (plus four new editions), while the Division of 

Aeronautics published five new books. 

Smithsonian Fiscal Year 2009 Highlights 9
Roger Launius of NASM’s Division of Space History won the American Astronautical Society’s 2009 

John F. Kennedy Astronautics Award for his “signifi cant and impressive contributions to the enterprise of 

space exploration, both as an author and a positive infl uence on the public’s understanding of the history 

of and rationale for today’s space programs.”

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI)

Carlos Jaramillo and his colleagues discovered a fossil 

record of the “world’s largest anaconda” (Titanoboa 

cerrejonensi) in Cerrejón, Colombia, publishing their 

results in Nature. Th e snake, which lived about 

58–60 million years ago, reached 13 meters in length 

and weighed more than a ton. 

STRI’s Latin American Plant Initiative (LAPI) held its 

second annual meeting in Buenos Aires in November 

2008. More than 138 botanists and bioinformatics specialists attended, representing 93 institutions and 

44 countries.

Several STRI scientists were recognized for professional excellence:

In January 2009, Dolores R. Piperno, a STRI-NMNH archaeologist, received the Pomerance Award 

for Scientifi c Contribution to Archaeology from the Archaeological Institute of America. 

Staff scientist William F. Laurance and research associate Thomas E. Lovejoy won the inaugural 

BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation Biology. 

Staff scientist Stephen P. Hubbell received the Eminent Ecologist Award from the Ecological Society 

of America. 

National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) 

During fiscal year 2009, NMNH-based scientists authored or coauthored 479 publications, of which 

200 appeared in high-impact scientific journals. 

Kristofer Helgen of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of 

Natural History discovered a new species of giant rat while on 

a filmmaking expedition with the BBC in Papua New Guinea. 

Among the other potentially new species discovered on the 

expedition were approximately 16 species of frogs, one species of 

gecko, three species of fish, and 20 species of insects and spiders. 

Using 200-million-year-old fossil leaves collected in Greenland, 

a team of researchers from NMNH, Oxford, and University 

College Dublin unearthed evidence of a sudden collapse in plant 

biodiversity in the distant past, which raises new concerns about global warming. A likely culprit for this 

collapse, as reported in Science, was a relatively small rise in carbon dioxide.

The first results of the Global Mammal Assessment, a five-year effort to review the biology and 

conservation status of all mammal species worldwide, were summarized in an article published in Science. 

Among the coauthors were NMNH’s Kristopher Helgen and Louise Emmons. 

The new book Flagship of a Fleet: A Korea Gallery Guide, by Christopher Lotis and Paul Michael Taylor 

of the Anthropology Department, documents objects on display in the NMNH Korea Gallery. 

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10 Smithsonian Fiscal Year 2009 Highlights
A discovery of 1.5 million-year-old early human 

footprints, recently described in Science, was made in the 

region of northern Kenya where NMNH paleobiologist 

Kay Behrensmeyer first found a fossilized trail of early 

human footprints in 1978. The new footprints indicate 

a fully bipedal gait, a long stride, and an arch much like 

that of the modern human foot.

Museum Conservation Institute (MCI) 

In fiscal year 2009, MCI worked on 180 projects with 38 Smithsonian museums, research centers, and 

offices, as well as the FBI, National Gallery of Art, Getty Conservation Institute, Library of Congress, 

National Park Service, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate Office of the Curator, U.S. Capitol, 

Walters Art Gallery, and Folger Shakespeare Library. 

MCI researchers produced 26 publications in peer-reviewed journals, plus three books and catalogues, 

13 book chapters, and two edited books. 

Using a new approach to surface imaging called Reflectance 

Transformation Imaging (RTI), MCI staff helped decipher 

inscriptions on a unique stone tablet dating from the earliest English 

occupation of Jamestown in about 1600.

MCI is using non-destructive techniques to examine the Janssen 

Shakespeare Portrait, believed to be a 1610 work that was 

subsequently doctored to refl ect the playwright’s appearance in later 

life. Th ese will yield information for dating the painting and its 

alterations without damaging or even touching the work.

MCI scientists, working with the National Zoo, National Museum 

of Natural History, Federal Aviation Administration, and National 

Transportation Safety Board, analyzed feather remains from the

January 2009 US Airways bird strike. Th e results will help wildlife 

professionals develop techniques to reduce the risk of such collisions 

in the future.

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) 

SERC scientists published more than 110 papers in peer-reviewed journals and books in January–

September 2009, averaging an annual rate of 6.8 papers per lead scientist. 

SERC has reported a new invasive species in San Francisco Bay—an algal kelp species from the western 

Pacifi c, Undaria pinnatifida. Scientists at SERC’s satellite laboratory in Tiburon, California, were quoted 

in a story in the New York Times on the new invasion.

Microbial ecologist Cindy Gilmour has been awarded a two-year, $900,000 contract for research on 

mercury movement and accumulation in coastal ecosystems in Maine.

Landscape ecologists Kathy Boomer, Tom Jordan, and Don Weller published a series of papers discussing 

nutrient and sediment discharges from Chesapeake Bay watersheds as major sources of environmental 

problems in the Bay. SERC scientists have also developed landscape models that greatly improve upon 

existing models’ success in predicting such discharges.

Smithsonian Fiscal Year 2009 Highlights 11
Other Science Research 

Smithsonian at the Poles, a symposium sponsored by the 

Offi ce of the Under Secretary for Science with support 

from the National Science Foundation, was convened 

to celebrate the fourth International Polar Year. Th e 

proceedings, Smithsonian at the Poles: Contributions to 

International Polar Year Science, highlight contributions 

to polar research from the Smithsonian as well as 

collaborating organizations.

Art Units 

Louise Cort, David Rehfuss, and George Williams of the Freer and Sackler Galleries led a worldwide 

Webinar on the ceramics of southeast Asia, which drew nearly 100 participants from as far away as India 

and Cambodia. The Galleries also hosted a symposium on medieval Japanese religious and narrative 

painting, organized in conjunction with the Sackler Gallery exhibition The Tale of Shuten Doji. 

Th e Archives of American Art published Speaking of Art: 

Selections from the Archives of American Art’s Oral History 

Collection, 1958–2008 and cosponsored (with the City 

University of New York) a symposium on “Contemporary Art 

and the Archive” in New York City. 

To complement its exhibition One Life: The Mask of Lincoln,

the National Portrait Gallery presented a symposium consisting 

of four lectures that examined aspects of Lincoln and his times. 

Th ree books from Gallery scholars came out: Inventing Marcel 

Duchamp: The Dynamics of Portraiture, edited by Anne Collins 

Goodyear and James W. McManus; Reflections/Refractions: 

Self-Portraiture in the Twentieth Century, edited by Wendy Wick 

Reaves; and Faces of the Frontier: Photographic Portraits from the 

American West, 1845–1924 by Frank H. Goodyear III. 

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum published 

catalogues for its exhibitions Fashioning Felt and Design for a 

Living World. 

A volume coauthored by Christine Mullen Kreamer of the 

National Museum of African Art, Inscribing Meaning: Writing and Graphic Systems in African Art, was 

recommended by the New York Times’s art critic Holland Cotter in the newspaper’s 2008 Holiday Guide 

as “art history for a globally tuned-in world.” 

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden published The Panza Collection, a catalogue of artwork 

from the collection of Count Giuseppe Panza di Biumo.

Smithsonian American Art Museum staff gave more than 50 lectures, workshops, and panel discussions 

on scholarly and professional topics, and published three books: 1934: A New Deal for Artists, by Ann 

Prentice Wagner; Staged Stories: Renwick Craft Invitational 2009, by Kate Bonansinga; and Studio 

Furniture of the Renwick Gallery: Smithsonian American Art Museum, by Oscar Fitzgerald.

12 Smithsonian Fiscal Year 2009 Highlights
History and Culture Units

Th e National Museum of African American History and 

Culture presented “1968 and Beyond: A Symposium on 

the Impact of the Black Power Movement on America.”

Scholars from the Museum and the National Museum of 

American History contributed to The Scurlock Studio and 

Black Washington: Picturing the Promise, which was selected 

by Booklist as one of the 10 best black nonfi ction titles 

of 2009 and nominated for the Smithsonian’s Scholarly 

Publication Award.

The National Museum of the American Indian 

Publications Department released five new titles in 2009: 

The Land Has Memory; Most Serene Republics: Edgar Heap 

of Birds; Mother Earth, Father Skyline (revised version); 

NMAI Souvenir Book (Spanish translation); and IndiVisible: 

African-Native American Lives in the Americas. Th e 

Museum also hosted “Mother Earth: Confronting the Challenge of Climate Change,” a symposium 

exploring how indigenous peoples are responding to climate change. Th e Museum’s Heye Center hosted 

the symposium “Indian/Not Indian: Native Identity in the 21st Century” in collaboration with New York 

University and the Public Th eater.

National Museum of American History scholars produced 48 print publications in fiscal year 2009, in 

addition to engaging in numerous other scholarly activities such as presentations and panel appearances. 

Among the highlights were Pete Daniel’s presidential address to the Organization of American Historians 

and Bart C. Hacker’s editing of “Th e Social History of Military Technology,” a special issue of ICON: 

Journal of the International Committee for the History of Technology.

Marcel Chotkowski LaFollette, a research associate of the Smithsonian Institution Archives, published 

the book Science on the Air: Popularizers and Personalities on Radio and Early Television, based largely on 

the Archives’ collection of records of the Science Service.

Franklin Odo, director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American 

Program, is completing a book on Japanese immigrant folksongs of 

the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Th ese “holehole bushi” were 

stark commentaries on life and work on Hawaii’s sugar plantations. 

Th e Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage’s

Daniel Sheehy published “From Grants to Grammys: Leveraging 

Cultural Energy” in Mid Atlantic Forum, and the Center’s Jim 

Deutsch wrote an article for The Jim Crow Encyclopedia and penned 

a review that was published in the December 2008 issue of Choice: 

Current Reviews for Academic Libraries. 

To launch of its Community Documentation Center initiative, the 

Anacostia Community Museum is undertaking a documentation 

project of religious institutions in Washington, D.C.’s Ward 8. 

The 1933 Chicago World’s Fair: A Century of Progress by Cheryl 

Ganz, chief curator of philately at the National Postal Museum, 

was published by the University of Illinois Press. 

Smithsonian Fiscal Year 2009 Highlights 13
Management Excellence

Leadership Milestones

David M. Rubenstein, Cofounder and Managing Director 

of Th e Carlyle Group, was appointed a citizen member of the 

Board of Regents in May 2009. Rubenstein also serves on the 

boards of the Johns Hopkins University, Lincoln Center for the 

Performing Arts, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Dance 

Th eatre of Harlem, and Duke University, as well as the boards of 

the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and 

National Museum of Natural History. 

France A. Córdova, President of Purdue University in Indiana, was 

appointed a citizen member of the Board of Regents in september 

2009. Dr. Córdova is an internationally recognized astrophysicist, 

and a national leader in postsecondary education. She also serves 

on numerous state and national boards, including the Board of 

Trustees for Mayo Clinic and the National Science Board. 

Eva J. Pell was named Under Secretary for Science, and will 

start in January 2010. She comes to the Smithsonian from 

Pennsylvania State University, where she was senior vice president 

and dean of the Graduate School, spearheading the development 

of cross-disciplinary centers for life sciences, materials, energy 

and the environment, social sciences, cyber science, and arts and 

humanities.

Alison McNally agreed in January 2009 to remain a permanent 

part of the Castle management team as Under Secretary for 

Finance and Administration. She had been serving as Acting 

Under Secretary since October 2007. 

Johnnetta Cole became Director of the National Museum of 

African Art. She had been serving as Board Chair of the Johnnetta 

B. Cole Global Diversity and Inclusion Institute at Bennett 

College for Women, where she was President from 2002 to 2007. 

Previously, she served as Presidential Distinguished Professor at 

Emory University and as President of Spelman College.

Richard Koshalek became Director of the Hirshhorn Museum and 

Sculpture Garden. Previously he was President of the Art Center 

College of Design in Pasadena, California; before that, he served as 

Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

Eduardo Díaz became Director of the Smithsonian Latino Center. 

Díaz previously served as Executive Director of the National 

Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico—the 

largest Latino cultural center in the United States. 

14 Smithsonian Fiscal Year 2009 Highlights
Judith E. Leonard became General Counsel in June 2009. She 

previously served as Vice President for Legal Aff airs and General 

Counsel at the University of Arizona. Prior to this, she spent 10 

years in Washington, D.C., at posts in the U.S. Department of 

Education and the Offi ce of National Drug Control Policy. 

Tom Ott was named President of Smithsonian Enterprises. 

Ott had been serving as Acting Chief Executive Offi cer of 

Smithsonian Enterprises since August 2007, during which time 

he oversaw a thorough reorganization of the unit formerly known 

as Smithsonian Business Ventures. 

Information Technology

To complement the Smithsonian-wide Strategic Plan, strategic plans in two key areas of information 

technology were crafted by Smithsonian personnel in fi scal year 2009:

A Web and new media strategic plan was fi nalized after gathering input from 55 units in a 

series of fi ve moderated workshops and building on ideas generated at a “Smithsonian 2.0” 

conference. 

Th e fi nal draft of a digitization strategic plan was submitted to the Secretary. It defi nes a mission 

and vision for digitization across the Institution, with strategic goals and accompanying objectives. 

Th e development of the Enterprise Digital Asset Net (EDAN) is complete. EDAN provides a common 

set of Web services for accessing digital images and metadata, thus enabling increased reuse and reducing 

the strain on enterprise storage and backup requirements.

Th e Smithsonian implemented Cisco MeetingPlace so that staff may conduct virtual meetings from their 

computers, reducing the need to travel—whether across the Mall or across the country.

Visitors to Smithsonian Institution museums on the Mall now have cellular telephone coverage with 

the completion of the Common Wireless Access System. Th e project was funded by wireless cell 

phone providers AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint/Nextel. T-Mobile, the last major carrier, recently 

confi rmed that it will participate in the program as well. 

Major Construction, Renovation, and Facilities Projects

Arts and Industries Building (AIB) 

$75 million estimated cost for roof and window replacement and structural upgrades

Current planning is focused on developing programmatic uses for AIB that will support the Institution’s 

Strategic Plan and fi t the building’s architecture, history, and fl oor plan. In the meantime, planning 

for $75 million in roof and window replacement, structural upgrades, and selective interior demolition 

is proceeding. An historic structure report and existing conditions investigation have been completed. 

Design of the roof and windows has begun, with construction to start in fi scal year 2010. Th anks to 

funding received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, construction has begun on 

masonry repairs and interior demolition and hazmat removal. 

•

•

Smithsonian Fiscal Year 2009 Highlights 15
National Museum of African American History and Culture

$500 million total estimated project cost

In April 2009, the team of Freelon Adjaye 

Bond/SmithGroup was selected to design 

the newest Smithsonian museum from 

a fi eld of six renowned architects. Th e 

selected architects will be under contract 

by the second quarter of fi scal year 2010, 

at which time the conceptual design of 

the museum building and second phase of 

the Environmental Impact Statement will 

begin. Th e new Museum is scheduled to 

open to the public in December 2015. 

National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

Revitalization of west wing public space, package III: $60 million total project cost

With the completion and reopening of the Museum’s central core in November 2008, the focus of public 

space renewal will shift to modernization of the three fl oors of the west wing. A contract for this project 

with an architect/engineer fi rm was signed in September 2009, and schematic design began in November 

2009. Th e Federal appropriation for design is approximately $6 million in fi scal years 2009–2010, with 

multiyear construction funding in fi scal years 2011–2013. 

National Zoological Park, Seal / Sea Lion Exhibit 

$40.0 million total estimated project cost

Th e Zoo’s seal /sea lion exhibit, which dates from 1987, is in need of major revitalization to meet current 

standards of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Further, 

the pathway through the exhibit area is diffi cult for strollers and people with disabilities. In addition 

to bringing the facility into compliance with codes and standards for animal care and accessibility, 

this project will upgrade underground utilities. It received fi nal design approvals from both the U.S. 

Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission in 2009. A construction 

contract was awarded in September 2009. Th e non-capital, interpretive component of the project will be 

funded with $1 million in Trust funds; the Federal capital component is approximately $39 million, with 

multi-year construction funding in fi scal years 2009–2011. 

National Zoological Park, Asia Trail II: Elephant Trails

$52.4 million estimated total project and program cost

Th e second phase of the Asia Trail project will renovate the historic elephant house and enlarge yard space 

at a projected cost of $52.4 million—$37.6 million Federal (received in fi scal years 2006–2010) and 

$14.8 million Trust. Construction began in March 2008 and is scheduled for completion in April 2011. 

Phase One is substantially complete, and the elephants will move into their new holding area (elephant 

barn) in early January 2010. Phase Two, including renovation of the Elephant Community Center, will 

commence after the elephants have acclimated to their new barn and a determination has been made 

about how to proceed with a new contractor, given the quality of the current contractor’s performance.

16 Smithsonian Fiscal Year 2009 Highlights
National Zoological Park, General Services Building 

$28.4 million total estimated project cost

Design is continuing for structural repairs, fi re-protection improvements, and safety upgrades at the Zoo’s 

General Services Building, which houses vital functions (such as the animal nutrition commissary, FONZ 

merchandise warehouse, shops, and offi ces) that must remain operational throughout construction. 

Th e phased project will entail the permanent relocation of the vehicle maintenance branch to the 

Smithsonian’s Suitland Collections Center and the temporary relocation of other units to swing space. 

Construction authorization request for a new vehicle maintenance facility in Suitland has been approved 

by the House and is currently under review by the Senate. Project design will be complete by April 2010, 

and structural renovation is expected to begin in 2012. Federal funding has been requested for fi scal 

years 2012–2014.

Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture

$19.5 million total estimated project cost 

By agreement with the National Capital Planning Commission, the Smithsonian will complete the 

renovation of the Reynolds Center with the reconstruction of the F Street stairs and the addition of 

landscaping and security. Fiscal year 2016 estimates for the associated costs are $9.5 million in Federal 

funds and $10.0 million in Trust funds. 

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

$57 million total estimated project cost

Transfer of collections to a storage facility was completed in March 2009. Design for the Fox-Miller 

townhouses renovation is complete, but questions about scope and budget have delayed the project 

award, with construction now expected to start in January 2010. Design for the Carnegie Mansion 

renovation is scheduled for completion in March 2010, with its construction contract expected to be 

awarded in March 2011. Of the $21 million requirement for Federal funds, $2.9 million has been 

received and spent on design and collections storage, $1.7 million was appropriated in fi scal year 2009 

for the Fox-Miller work, and the balance is programmed in fi scal years 2011–2013. Of the $36 million 

in required private funds, over $28 million has been identifi ed in gifts and pledges.

National Air and Space Museum—Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Phase 2

$80.9 million total project cost

Phase 2 of the Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles International Airport is under construction. It will add 

237,000 square feet of collections care space to the current facility, including a restoration hangar, storage 

and processing space, conservation laboratory, and archives. Completion is expected in mid-2011; total 

project costs include $67.8 million Trust and $13.1 million Federal.

Museum Support Center of the National Museum of Natural History, Pod 3

$42.6 million total estimated project cost

In July 2008, the Smithsonian awarded a $22.6 million construction contract for renovations to Pod 3 

in Suitland, Maryland. Th e renovated Pod 3, on schedule for completion in March 2010, will provide 

a consolidated site for frozen, refrigerated, gas-preserved, and dry collections, allowing the Smithsonian 

to vacate leased properties and free up congested space in several museums. With 85 percent of 

construction completed in September 2009, more than $15 million of shelving/racking, collections and 

Smithsonian Fiscal Year 2009 Highlights 17
meteorite cases, and freezers are now being installed. Transfers of collections from the Mall are expected 

to be completed after July 2011; estimated moving costs are $5 million.

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Mathias Replacement Laboratory Project

$41.5 million total estimated project cost

Th e Smithsonian Environmental Research Center is eliminating unsafe trailers (which currently 

house 25 percent of its lab space and 65 percent of its offi ce space), renovating and reconfi guring the 

existing Mathias Lab, and creating replacement 

laboratories to meet nationally recognized 

standards. Th e 85,000 square-foot laboratory 

and support space will employ sustainable 

technologies and building materials that will 

yield substantial reductions in energy and 

maintenance costs. Schematic design was 

completed in September 2009, with fi nal 

design completion scheduled for mid-2010. 

Construction is scheduled to commence in early 

2011 and to be completed in 2013.

Permanent Physical Security Barriers

$55 million total project cost

Th e fi rst phase of construction of security barriers at the National Museum of Natural History is 

complete, and the fi nal phase will be awarded for construction in fi scal year 2010. Construction 

of barriers for all sides of the National Museum of American History is complete except the south 

side, where it will be completed in spring 2010. Construction on security barriers for the Castle and 

Quadrangle is scheduled to start in fi scal year 2013. Design and construction of off -Mall barriers will 

follow in order of priority.

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Gamboa Laboratory Facilities 

$19.1 million total estimated project cost

With the acquisition of 172.5 acres in Gamboa from the Republic of Panama in 2007, the Smithsonian 

Tropical Research Institute is proceeding with the replacement of existing laboratory and offi ce facilities 

that have outgrown their space and would need major infrastructure adjustments to support modern 

terrestrial tropical science. A new facility on the Gamboa site, funded with $15.67 million in Federal 

and $3.46 million in Trust funds, will be dedicated to terrestrial science. Programming and design of the 

laboratory are under way, with the fi rst construction procurement actions scheduled for fi scal year 2010.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Projects 

$25.0 million total project cost

Th e American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law on February 17, 2009, provides 

$25 million for urgently needed repair and revitalization projects throughout the Smithsonian that 

are not covered by anticipated fi scal year 2009 funding. Most of these projects involve safety/code 

compliance or sustainability and energy effi ciency. By the end of fi scal year 2009, 22 of 23 project 

contract actions totaling $20.78 million (more than 83 percent of the total) were under contract. Th e 

18 Smithsonian Fiscal Year 2009 Highlights
award of the fi nal contract in October 2009 completed these actions. Construction on all projects 

is scheduled to be fi nished by early fi scal year 2011. In compliance with the Act, the Smithsonian is 

reporting on jobs created and expenditure of funds.

Sustainability

Around the Smithsonian, 17 green building projects are in progress or planned. Th irty-two staff from 

the Offi ce of Planning and Project Management and the Offi ce of Engineering, Design and Construction 

(both within the Offi ce of Facilities Engineering and Operations, or OFEO) have earned the distinction 

of becoming Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)–accredited professionals, based 

on the internationally recognized rating system of the U.S. Green Building Council. In August 2009, 

OFEO published a Sustainable Buildings Implementation Plan that responds to a Federal environmental 

stewardship goal and identifi es a path to greening 15 percent of the eligible Smithsonian building 

inventory by 2015. Th e plan focuses on earning LEED certifi cations not only for new construction and 

renovation projects, but also for existing buildings. 

Smithsonian Fiscal Year 2009 Highlights 19