Smithsonian Institution 

Fiscal Year 2016 

Budget Justification to Congress 

February 2015 
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Request to Congress 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION 

Overview .................................................................................................... 1 

FY 2016 Budget Request Summary ........................................................... 8 

SALARIES AND EXPENSES 

Summary of FY 2016 Changes ................................................................ 15 

Fixed Costs 

Salary and Related Costs ................................................................... 18 

Utilities, Rent, Communications, and Other ........................................20

Summary of Program Changes ................................................................ 25 

No-Year Funding ...................................................................................... 34 

Object-Class Breakout ............................................................................. 34 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and

Program Category ..............................................................................35

MUSEUMS AND RESEARCH CENTERS 

Grand Challenges and Interdisciplinary Research ............................. 37

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe 

Introduction, Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe ........................ 42 

National Air and Space Museum ........................................................ 43 

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory ............................................ 48 

Major Scientific Instrumentation ..........................................................52

Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet

Introduction, Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet .......58

National Museum of Natural History ................................................... 59 

National Zoological Park .....................................................................71

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center ....................................78

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.............................................82

Valuing World Cultures 

Introduction, Valuing World Cultures .................................................. 90 

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery/Freer Gallery of Art .................................... 91 

Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage .............................................96

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum ...................................101

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden ........................................105

National Museum of African Art ........................................................111

Understanding the American Experience 

Introduction, Understanding the American Experience..................... 119

Anacostia Community Museum ........................................................120

Archives of American Art ..................................................................126

National Museum of African American History and Culture ..............130
National Museum of American History, Behring Center ................... 140

National Museum of the American Indian ......................................... 150

National Portrait Gallery .................................................................... 154

National Postal Museum ................................................................... 162

Smithsonian American Art Museum .................................................. 166

MISSION ENABLING 

Introduction, Mission Enabling .......................................................... 172

Outreach ........................................................................................... 173

Communications ...............................................................................181

Institution-wide Programs ................................................................. 185

Office of Exhibits Central .................................................................. 195

Museum Support Center ................................................................... 197

Museum Conservation Institute ........................................................ 199

Smithsonian Institution Archives .......................................................204

Smithsonian Libraries .......................................................................207

Office of the Chief Information Officer ...............................................211

Administration ...................................................................................214

Office of the Inspector General .........................................................218

Facilities Maintenance ......................................................................220

Facilities Operations, Security, and Support .....................................224

FACILITIES CAPITAL 

Overview ................................................................................................ 229

Summary Tables .................................................................................... 232

Revitalization .......................................................................................... 234

National Museum of Natural History ................................................. 234

National Zoological Park ................................................................... 236

National Museum of American History .............................................. 241

National Air and Space Museum ...................................................... 244

National Museum of the American Indian ......................................... 246

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum ................................... 248

Freer-Sackler Gallery ........................................................................ 251

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden ........................................ 253

Museum Support Center ................................................................... 255

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center .................................. 258

Suitland Collections Facility .............................................................. 260

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute........................................... 262

Multiple Locations Revitalization Projects ......................................... 263

Construction Supervision and Administration ................................... 263

Facilities Planning and Design ............................................................... 264

APPENDIX 

Organization Chart ................................................................................. 267

Visitation Chart .......................................................................................268

Trust Funds Summary ............................................................................ 269

Appropriation Language and Citations ................................................... 271

Adjustments to FY 2015 Funding ........................................................... 279
1 

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION’S IMPACT ON AMERICA 

The Smithsonian greatly appreciates the continued support of the Administration, 

the Congress, and the American people, and takes seriously the crucial role it plays in 

advancing the civic, educational, scientific, and artistic life of this nation. As a public trust, 

the Smithsonian addresses some of the world’s most complex issues — and uses new 

technologies to broaden access to information for citizens, students, and policy makers. 

Thanks to the generous bequest of English scientist James Smithson, Congress 

established the Smithsonian Institution in 1846 as an independent federal trust 

instrumentality, a unique public-private partnership that has achieved outstanding results for 

169 years. The federal commitment provides the foundation for all we do, and is especially 

helpful in attracting private support. We leverage our federal funding to enrich the lives of 

the American people and advance our mission: “the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” 

We continue to implement our 2010 Strategic Plan that focuses on four “Grand 

Challenges” and is reinforced by four consortia to promote interdisciplinary and Institutionwide collaboration. That plan has been extended to 2017. Accordingly, we are improving 

facilities maintenance and collections care to be better stewards of America’s treasures. 

We are also working with new federal, state, and local partners to avoid redundancies 

and expand our reach. 

The Smithsonian is large and diverse, encompassing art, history, science, 

education, and culture. We have 19 museums and galleries, 20 libraries, nine research 

centers, the National Zoo, and 199 affiliate museums in 44 states, Puerto Rico, and 

Panama. We are open 364 days a year — and admission is free. We have research and 

education facilities in eight states and the District of Columbia, and operate in more than 

130 countries. Last year, our museums had almost 27 million visits, and another 4.5 

million people visited our traveling exhibitions, in all 50 states, in 263 communities around 

the nation. In addition, Smithsonian Magazine is now read by more than 7 million people. 

Our collections total 138 million objects, including 127 million scientific specimens, 

340,000 works of art, and two million library volumes. We also care for 157,000 cubic feet 

of archival material — and more than 2,000 live animals. We have the Star-Spangled 

Banner; Morse’s telegraph; Edison’s light bulb; the Hope Diamond; the Wright Flyer; one 

of Amelia Earhart’s planes; Louis Armstrong’s trumpet; labor leader Cesar Chavez’s 

jacket; the Lansdowne portrait of George Washington; the Congressional Gold Medal 

awarded to Japanese American World War II veterans; the Spirit of Tuskegee airplane; 

the camera John Glenn used on his voyage into space; Asian, African, and American art; 

the Apollo 11 Command Module, Columbia; and the space shuttle Discovery. We hold all 

these objects in trust for the American people. 

In 2014, our visitors enjoyed nearly 100 new exhibitions, including: Nation to 

Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations, at the National 

Museum of the American Indian (NMAI); The Last American Dinosaurs at the National 

Museum of Natural History (NMNH); Wilderness Forever: 50 Years of Protecting 

America’s Wild Places, marking the 50th anniversary of The Wilderness Act, at NMNH; 
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Pacific Exchange: China & U.S. Mail at the National Postal Museum (NPM); Modern

American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection at the Smithsonian American 

Art Museum (SAAM); Gravity’s Edge at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; DDay 3D: Normandy 1944 at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM); Visions from

the Forests at the National Museum of African Art (NMAfA); An American in London:

Whistler and the Thames at the Sackler Gallery; Raise it Up! Anthem for America at the 

National Museum of American History (NMAH); the unveiling of portraits of Maya 

Angelou, Renee Fleming, and Robin Williams at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG); 

Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code at NMNH; American Cool at NPG; and Spirit &

Opportunity: 10 Years Roving Across Mars at NASM. 

At the National Zoo, we celebrated the first birthday of our panda cub, Bao Bao; 

added a new female Asian elephant, Bozie; and welcomed three new Asian elephants 

from the Calgary Zoo in Alberta, Canada, expanding our herd to seven. In addition, four 

lion cubs were born at the Zoo, and all are doing well. 

The year 2014 also marked many anniversaries at the Smithsonian: the 

bicentennial of the Star-Spangled Banner; the 125th anniversary of the founding of the 

National Zoo; the 50th anniversary of NMAH; the 50th anniversary of NMAfA; the 10th 

anniversary of the opening of the NMAI on the National Mall; the 20th anniversary of 

NMAI’s Heye Center in New York City; and the 10th anniversary of the opening of 

NASM’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia. In addition, the Charles McC. Mathias 

Laboratory opened in September at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in 

Edgewater, Maryland, and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum reopened to 

the public on December 12. 

As part of our work to broaden access to the nation’s treasures, a new report, 

Delivering on the Promise of the Digital Smithsonian, outlines the action agenda we have 

set for the digital arena. It highlights the Institution’s major priorities: 1) use technology to 

enhance the in-person visitor experience; 2) digitize the collections; 3) make Smithsonian 

digital content easy for the public to find and use; and 4) spark engagement and 

participation among learners everywhere. 

Digital technology allows us to reach new, diverse audiences more than ever 

before. In 2014, our 200+ websites attracted 100 million unique visitors, and, in social 

media, we had 5.5 million followers on Facebook and Twitter alone, with tens of 

thousands more engaging with us on other online platforms. The Smithsonian Channel, 

which this year featured exciting content on the Civil War and the history behind the StarSpangled Banner, now has more than 35 million viewers. 

 For years, we have been digitizing our objects, specimens, archival materials, and 

library books. So far, our museums and libraries have created digital images for 2.2 

million objects, specimens and books, and electronic records for 25 million artifacts and 

items in the national collections. Our archives have created 3.5 million digital images, and 

have electronic records for close to 100,000 cubic feet of archival material. Our new 

Transcription Center, with 4,400 volunteers, has transcribed 49,000 pages of data in the 

last year and a half alone. Furthermore, we are implementing conveyor-belt technology to 
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digitize full collections. The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery released 

their entire collections online on January 5, 2015, providing unprecedented access to one 

of the world’s most important holdings of Asian and American art. “Open F|S” 

(Freer/Sackler) is free to the public and allows access to most of the 40,000 artworks, in 

high resolution and without copyright restriction. Approximately 73 percent of the Cooper 

Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s collections are now available online, with the rest 

scheduled to be digitized in the coming months. This track record establishes the 

Smithsonian as a leader in digitizing our nation’s intellectual capital and cultural heritage 

for future use. 

Through our Digitization Program Office, we are now leaders in the field of 3D 

scanning, allowing our treasures and specimens to be seen in an entirely new light. We 

unveiled our Smithsonian X 3D collection and website, which features 20 items from the 

collections, including Lincoln’s life mask, the Wright Flyer, fossil whales, and a remnant of 

the CasA supernova. With the new Explorer tool offered on the website, users can not 

only view objects from every angle, they can print replicas via 3D printer for scientific 

research or use in the classroom. We recently made history when our digitization team 

scanned President Barack Obama, creating a life mask and bust, which went on display 

to the public in the Smithsonian Castle in December 2014. Later, these models will join 

the Lincoln life mask as a part of the collection of the National Portrait Gallery. 

On the education front, our digital badging program (similar to merit badges in 

Scouting) is called Smithsonian Quests. This exciting new digital tool motivates young 

learners by helping them build skills, explore their interests, and try out new Smithsonianinspired roles. The program now has more than 4,000 registered users from all 50 states 

and more than 50 countries. In addition, this year we piloted a first-of-its-kind 

collaboration with the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of State’s 

Diplomatic Reception Rooms to create two digital badge opportunities under the InterAgency Collaboration on Education’s “Declaration of Learning” initiative. 

Our collections are a vital national asset and we have improved their display and 

storage conditions, balancing the preservation of and access to these collections. As 

mentioned, we are stepping up efforts to digitize as many of the collections as funds 

permit. The collections we maintain are a valuable resource for scientists from federal 

agencies such as the Departments of Agriculture and Defense, and the United States 

Geological Survey. We work with the Office of Science and Technology Policy to 

coordinate our efforts with federal agencies and avoid duplication of activities. Collections 

acquired a century or more ago are being used today to address the effects of global 

change, the spread of invasive species, and the loss of biological diversity and its impact 

on ecosystems. Federal, state, and local authorities often look to our collections for 

answers during events such as flu epidemics, oil spills, volcanic eruptions, and aircraft 

downed by bird strikes. 

We operate in more than 130 countries by coordinating across the federal 

Government and with the private sector. Through our Office of International Relations and 

our science, art, history, culture, and education units, we work with virtually every cabinetlevel federal agency. 
4 

Closer to home, we have signed a new Memorandum of Agreement with the U.S. 

Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for $6.4 million that will be used to explore 

American innovation across the Smithsonian. Projects include “Innovation Festivals” at 

the National Air and Space Museum (held November 1, 2014) and the National Museum 

of American History, family and young professionals’ events at the Smithsonian American 

Art Museum, a joint USPTO–Smithsonian exhibition at the National Museum of American 

History, and an innovation website to be produced by Smithsonian Enterprises. Strategic 

planning between the Smithsonian and USPTO will provide even more potential for 

creative programs and exhibitions in the years ahead. 

On June 12, 2014, the Smithsonian signed a Memorandum of Understanding 

(MOU) with the University of Tennessee-Batelle to formalize collaboration between the 

Institution and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in scientific and educational areas. 

Current shared interests include climate change; human-environmental interactions; 

genomics; computational sciences; bioinformatics; data analytics; and science, 

technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Activities will include 

sharing of data and staff expertise as well as collaborating to secure financial resources. 

Also last June, the Smithsonian and the Penn Cultural Heritage Center, in 

cooperation with the Syrian Interim Government’s Heritage Task Force, held a three-day 

training program on “Emergency Care for Syrian Museum Collections.” The program 

provides Syrian participants with information on how to secure their museum collections 

safely during emergencies; they were also given basic supplies for such tasks. 

In today’s world of long-distance travel and new technologies, deadly viruses can 

reach around the globe in 24 hours, and nearly 75 percent of emerging pathogens in 

humans come from animals. Working with the USAID-funded Emerging Pandemic 

Threats Program, the Smithsonian is helping public health officials avoid the next major 

pandemic. Veterinary scientists and pathologists from the National Zoo are conducting 

regional wildlife pathology workshops to train biologists and conservationists to recognize 

and identify the next global health threat in its initial stages.

The Smithsonian’s 500 scientists are tackling vital issues of the day, making 

important discoveries — and sharing them with the public. On October 9th, we used our 

influential reputation in the scientific community to address the pressing issue of global 

climate change. We held a one-day symposium, Living in the Anthropocene: Prospects 

for Climate, Economics, Health, and Security, with speakers from Oak Ridge National 

Laboratory, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Bank, Booz Allen 

Hamilton, The New York Times, and many other public- and private-sector institutions. 

The symposium produced a statement on climate change, available to the public, and it 

has attracted more than 13,000 visits. 

In December, our consortia launched the Smithsonian Institute for Biodiversity 

Genomics (SIBG) in conjunction with a special issue on avian genomics in Science 

magazine. The launch of the SIBG will provide the high-profile, multidisciplinary 

scholarship, leadership, collaborative spirit, and logistical support necessary to enhance 

our understanding of the natural world through genomics. The collections and field-based 
5 

initiatives of our museums and research centers include the NMNH, the Smithsonian 

Tropical Research Institute (STRI), the National Zoo (NZP), the Smithsonian 

Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI), the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center 

(SERC), and the Museum Conservation Institute (MCI). 

The Smithsonian will build on the momentum of the climate change statement, 

symposium, and past efforts of the Living in the Anthropocene initiative by developing a 

strategic Institution-wide response to climate change in four ways: by increasing 

knowledge of the human and natural environment through research; making research 

findings available to the public; protecting our collections; and operating our facilities and 

programs in a sustainable manner. 

With our international partners and worldwide reach, the Institution is particularly 

well connected to tackle biodiversity issues. The Smithsonian’s ForestGEO (Global Earth 

Observatories) network is a worldwide partnership of more than 80 institutions working to 

monitor the health of four million trees (8,500 species) on 53 plots in 23 countries. Our 

new initiative, Tennenbaum Marine Observatories, or MarineGEO, seeks to replicate this 

success and assess the health of coastal areas and the oceans at large. 

Looking upward, at the University of Arizona, Smithsonian scientists continue to 

help with construction of the large mirrors, 28 feet in diameter, for the Giant Magellan 

Telescope, which will be built at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. This project is 

the brainchild of an international consortium led by the Carnegie Institute, with the 

Smithsonian as a member. This powerful new telescope will enable researchers to see 

distant stars and galaxies 10 times more clearly than with the aging, space-based Hubble 

Telescope. 

Meanwhile, scientists at the Harvard-based Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

are using telescopes in outer space to discover new planets. Smithsonian Astrophysical 

Observatory (SAO) scientists have discovered an exoplanet dubbed a “mega-Earth.”

Found in the constellation Drago, Kepler-10c is a rocky world weighing as much as 17 

Earths. The star it orbits is a little smaller and older than our sun. Kepler 10c’s surface 

temperature is around 300 degrees centigrade, but the planet still could host life. Back in 

our own solar system, a NASM geologist is serving at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 

helping with the Curiosity mission on Mars. He analyzes data to understand the 

geological history of the Gale Crater and discover if there might have been habitable 

environments there in the ancient past. 

The National Museum of Natural History is the leading partner in a global effort 

called the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL), an ambitious, 10-year project that will become a 

key repository of scientific information about virtually every form of life on Earth. EOL is 

an online database that has financial, logistical, and research support from numerous 

partners, including the MacArthur and Sloan Foundations. It features text, multimedia, 

and trait data on more than 1.3 million of the world’s 1.9 million known species of animals, 

plants, and other life forms. Today, scientists, students, and teachers worldwide use the 

EOL as a resource for research, classwork, academic and professional studies, with more 

than 5.5 million unique visitors to the EOL website last year. On a related note, the
6 

Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is the scientific literature cornerstone of the EOL. It is 

an international consortium of natural history and botanical libraries. Led by the 

Smithsonian Libraries, biodiversitylibrary.org now has more than 144,000 volumes and 44 

million webpages freely available online. More than 762,000 unique visitors per year 

access its records. 

The NMNH also houses the Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL), an 

international initiative devoted to developing DNA barcoding as a global standard for the 

identification of biological species. The new technique uses a short DNA sequence from a 

standardized position in the genome as a molecular diagnostic marker for species 

identification. As the recognized U.S. leader in DNA barcoding, the Smithsonian seeks to 

increase its research and training capacity to better work with our partners in expanding 

the frontiers of knowledge in this exciting new field. 

Our cutting-edge work in biogenomics will make the Smithsonian a world leader in 

searching for answers to genome-scale questions about the animals, plants, and 

ecosystems of our planet. Our goal, along with our strategic partners, is to solve 

worldwide problems of biodiversity loss, disease transmission, and environmental 

degradation as well as train future generations of scientists and citizens to understand our 

natural world. The Smithsonian’s biogenomic initiative is built on a foundation of vast 

global research expertise, the world’s largest natural history collections, the most 

significant concentration of biodiversity scientists anywhere, and a long and trusted 

history of studying nature and documenting our discoveries. 

As part of our mission, the “diffusion of knowledge,” we now deliver educational 

materials to students and teachers in all 50 states. More than 2,000 learning resources, 

all tied to state standards, are available online for free. We have seven new education 

centers in different stages of completion at our museums: the NMAI center in 

Washington, DC, is now open and its New York center will open in the spring of 2015; the 

NMAH center opens in the summer of 2015; the NMNH and SAAM centers are now open; 

the Postal Museum’s William H. Gross Stamp Gallery that opened in September of 2013 

features two education centers, the Byrne Education Loft and the EdLab Innovation 

Center; and NMNH opened Q?rius, our new 10,000-square-foot science education center 

for teenagers, in December of 2013. 

In addition, our continuing partnership with the Cricket Media ePals global online 

learning network enables us to offer lesson plans and resources to more than one million 

schools. The Smithsonian Learning Center within ePals has had 4.2 million visitors and 

11 million page views, including more than 485,000 downloads of student work based on 

Smithsonian content. This year, the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage partnered 

with ePals to launch the Junior Folklore Challenge. Held in conjunction with the 

Smithsonian Folklife Festival, students from seven countries submitted more than 100 

entries that illustrated the vibrant diversity of their communities’ cultural traditions. 

In October, we launched our first limited online course through edX, the Massively 

Open Online Course (MOOC) platform, jointly sponsored by Harvard and the 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is a free, six-week offering called “Teaching 
7 

Historical Inquiry with Objects,” in which 512 secondary school teachers across the 

country are enrolled. (The course is at maximum capacity for now, but we will expand 

eligibility soon.) Our American History Museum produced it in collaboration with 

Smithsonian Enterprises. Successful participants receive certificates that can be used to 

meet their continuing education requirements. 

Now in its third year, the Spark!Lab Invent It Global Challenge received more than 

400 invention submissions from K–12 students from the United States and around the 

world. Working alone or in small groups, students identified a problem, researched 

possible solutions, sketched their ideas, and built and tested a prototype. Students’ 

inventions have ranged from an adjustable ice scraper that a driver can use while sitting 

inside a car, to a vehicle designed for refugees to carry their children and belongings over 

long distances, to a leash equipped with solar-powered lights for walking a dog at night. 

Thanks to the NMAH and our affiliates, the National Youth Summit: Freedom 

Summer took place on February 5, 2014. Eleven affiliates hosted live events, and schools 

from all 50 states participated, in addition to learners in Canada, the United Kingdom, 

Tanzania, Pakistan, and Belgium — for a total of more than 8,000 students. 

We can do all this thanks to more than 6,400 dedicated employees, including 

award-winning scientists and scholars, curators, researchers, historians, and experts in 

fields from astrophysics to zoology, and more than 6,300 generous volunteers, 788 

Fellows, 1,331 interns, and 980 research associates — brain power that benefits the 

Smithsonian and the world many times over. They all care deeply about their work and 

the Smithsonian. That is why the Smithsonian was, for the fifth year in a row, ranked as 

one of the best places to work in the federal Government. 

With the continuing support of the Congress, the Administration, our Board of 

Regents, and the American people, we will open more doors in the future — like the new 

National Museum of African American History and Culture currently under construction. 

We have maintained a tradition of serving our nation and the world as a source of 

inspiration, discovery, and learning. Today, with its free museums, distinguished research 

and scholars, iconic American treasures, and the vast array of information accessible 

from its websites, the Smithsonian remains a valuable resource for the American people. 

The Institution is full of surprises, big and small. But what we do best is no 

surprise: inspire the next generation of scholars, scientists, doctors, educators, 

innovators, entrepreneurs, and just ordinary folks who have questions to ask or simply 

want to learn more about the world around them. We provide people with a universal lens 

for learning, no matter where they live — all free of charge. 

The Smithsonian is more innovative, disciplined, focused, nimble, and self-reliant 

than ever before. We are determined to expand access to new and diverse audiences, in 

keeping with our original mission. As we face both exciting new opportunities and 

imposing challenges, we will continue to take full advantage of our many strengths. 
8

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

FY 2016 BUDGET REQUEST SUMMARY 

Account

FY 2014

Enacted

FY 2015

Enacted

FY 2016

Request

Salaries and Expenses 

Facilities Capital 

Total

$647,000,000

$158,000,000

$805,000,000

$675,343,000

$144,198,000

$819,541,000

$735,825,000

$200,000,000

$935,825,000

For fiscal year (FY) 2016, the Smithsonian’s request to fund operating 

expenses and revitalization of the Institution’s physical infrastructure is $935.8 

million. The amount includes $735.8 million for Salaries and Expenses (S&E) and 

$200.0 million for the Facilities Capital account. A detailed summary of the 

increases requested is provided in the table at the end of this section. 

SALARIES AND EXPENSES 

FIXED COSTS INCREASES 

 Salaries and Related Costs (+$8,497,000) — This request funds a 1.3 percent 

pay raise for FY 2016; annualization of the 2015 pay raise (1.0 percent); an 

increase for employee benefits; and an increase for Workers’ Compensation. 

 Non-pay Mandatory Items (+$5,726,000) — The Institution requests 

additional funding, largely for inflation-related increases in rent, utilities, 

software licenses, and other mandatory operating costs. Details are provided 

in the S&E section of this budget submission. 

PROGRAM CHANGES 

This budget request for FY 2016 places the programmatic increases into the 

broad categories of the Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan, thereby linking the funds 

directly to the Institution’s overall mission and strategic goals. 

EXCELLENT RESEARCH 

 Greenland Telescope (+$2,000,000) — The Institution requests $2.0 million to 

support the Greenland Telescope project that will conduct groundbreaking, highpriority observations of supermassive black holes. This project addresses the 

only mid-scale priority in the 2010 Decadal Survey for astronomy and is a joint 

venture with the National Science Foundation.

 Biodiversity Genomics (+$360,000) — The funds requested support the 

Biodiversity Genomics program to collect, organize, share, and study genomic 

samples of non-human species, which will advance the Smithsonian’s efforts to 
9 

create a systematic understanding of Earth’s biodiversity. This program is a 

cornerstone priority of the Institution’s biodiversity strategic plan and will 

leverage private fund raising. This request will specifically direct genomic 

research across the Institution and enable coordination with global partners on a 

longer term basis. 

 MarineGEO (+$400,000) — The Institution’s Marine Global Earth Observatories, 

or MarineGEO, provide a global-scale network of ecological observatories 

dedicated to understanding changes in the structure and function of marine 

ecosystems. This comprehensive approach will provide a new, fundamental 

understanding of our oceans, their sustainability, and their importance to human 

life and society. This request supports network expansion, staffing, and 

equipment needs.

BROADENING ACCESS 

 Digitization (+$1,800,000) — The Smithsonian continues work on its Strategic 

Plan to become the trusted source of information on the World Wide Web by 

using new technologies to share its vast collections and extensive research, 

along with the expertise of its scholars, scientists, researchers, museum 

specialists, and curators. This request supports the Smithsonian’s Digitization 

Strategic Plan to stimulate learning and innovation. Digitizing the collections 

and making them accessible online are major Strategic Plan priorities. 

 Web Access (+$1,325,000) — The funds requested will support redesign of the 

current website to reflect the Institution’s mission strategy and consolidate 

Institution-wide websites into a stronger, more effective, and cost-efficient whole, 

thereby improving collections search tools. This request, along with the above 

increase for digitization, supports the overall improvement of digital services. 

 Exhibits Maintenance (+$850,000) — This funding request will enable 

museums to keep up with the routine maintenance needs resulting from 

expanded exhibition space, increased visitation, and the more popular, 

maintenance-intensive interactive exhibitions. 

 Latino Initiatives (+$879,000) — This funding request will increase the total 

resources in the Latino Initiatives Pool to $2 million and enable the Smithsonian to 

increase support for projects in research and collections, as well as for exhibitions 

and educational and public programming. These additional funds will allow all 

Smithsonian museums to compete for project funds that will advance the 

knowledge and understanding of the contributions of Latinas and Latinos to U.S. 

history, art, culture, and science.

 Asian Pacific American Initiatives (+$400,000) — This budget request will 

establish an Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool that will provide annual 

funding for Smithsonian programs that focus on the Asian Pacific American 

experience and contributions to science, history, art, and culture. Pool funds 
10

will enhance the Smithsonian’s capability to provide public programming and 

support exhibitions, education, research, and collections acquisition. 

REVITALIZING EDUCATION 

 STEM Engagement (+$5,000,000) — This funding request will enable the 

Institution to work collaboratively with federal agencies offering Science, 

Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs. The request will 

support the implementation of the Federal STEM Education 5-Year Strategic 

Plan and the Government-wide reorganization of STEM education programs so 

that the Smithsonian may: identify and disseminate content that takes advantage 

of each agency’s unique assets; create complementary materials and avoid 

duplication of effort; and share a centralized portal for the broad dissemination of 

our engagement offerings. The Smithsonian will create discipline- and subjectbased committees that coordinate the efforts of STEM engagement providers, 

including Smithsonian units, mission agencies, and other non-profit collaborators. 

STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS 

 Collections Scholarship (+$1,980,000) — This will fund staffing needs to 

provide optimal care for the Smithsonian’s vast collections, as well as 

strengthen and increase sharing of collections with a diverse national and 

international audience. These funds will help the Smithsonian reinvigorate its 

curatorial staffing strength to support excellent research; improve exhibitions 

and digitization of the nation’s vast collection of artifacts; and fully realize the 

benefits from the Institution’s facilities infrastructure investments. 

 Collections Care Initiative (+$3,000,000) — Collections stewardship is a key 

component and core priority of the Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan. The requested 

increase will target specific collections and improve substandard aspects of 

collections care by providing essential resources to meet professional 

standards of collections care. The funding will also correct specific collections 

management deficiencies identified in the Smithsonian’s Inspector General 

audit recommendations, and address the Institution’s highest priority collections 

management needs.

 Animal Welfare (+$700,000) — The National Zoological Park (NZP) is 

requesting this increase to support the Zoo’s medical team, primarily in the 

Pathology unit, and ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the living 

collection. The requested funds would support pathology staffing to maintain 

animal care standards at NZP, continue the NZP’s board-certified veterinary 

residency program, and raise the standard of animal care.

MISSION ENABLING 

 Facilities Maintenance (+$14,710,000) — The Smithsonian requests an 

increase of $14.7 million to enable its maintenance program to continue 
11

stabilizing and standardizing the overall condition of its facilities. The increase 

will enable the Institution to address the maintenance backlog and meet the 

standards for annual maintenance budgets as endorsed by the Government 

Accountability Office and the National Research Council. The increase also 

supports the essential facilities funding required to open the new National 

Museum of African American History and Culture.

 Facilities Operations, Security, and Support (+$12,700,000) — The 

Institution also requests an increase of $12.7 million to address high-priority 

operating and safety needs. The increase will enable the Institution to provide 

better facilities operations and cleanliness. The increase also supports the 

critical facilities funding required for the new National Museum of African 

American History and Culture.

• Diversity (+$155,000) —Diversity is one of the expressed values in the 

Smithsonian Strategic Plan. This increase for the Office of Equal Employment 

and Minority Affairs is requested to hire one affirmative employment specialist 

to conduct regular and comprehensive audits of Smithsonian units Diversity to 

ensure consistent Equal Employment Opportunity practices across the 

Smithsonian. 

FACILITIES CAPITAL PROGRAM 

The requested funds for the Facilities Capital Program ($200,000,000) will be 

applied to arrest deterioration of some of the Smithsonian’s oldest buildings and 

maintain the current condition of other facilities through systematic renewal and repair. 

This amount will allow the Facilities Capital Program to address all of the priority one 

projects ready to be fixed in FY 2016. 

For FY 2016, the requested funds will enable the Institution to continue major 

revitalization work at the National Museum of Natural History ($23.0 million); the 

National Zoological Park ($29.59 million); National Museum of American History ($15.0 

million); and to perform critical revitalization work at the National Air and Space Museum 

(NASM) ($12.65 million); National Museum of the American Indian — New York facility 

($5.35 million); Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum ($4.6 million); FreerSackler Gallery ($4.0 million); Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden ($4.45 million); 

Museum Support Center (MSC) ($16.7 million); Smithsonian Environmental Research 

Center ($5.9 million); Suitland Collections Facility ($1.75 million); and the Smithsonian 

Tropical Research Institute ($1.65 million). The request also provides for critical 

revitalization projects throughout the Institution and costing under $1 million each 

($19.45 million). This request also accounts for planning and design of future projects 

estimated at $55.91 million, including NASM ($20.0 million) and Pod 6 at MSC ($6.3 

million). Details are provided in the Facilities Capital section of this budget request. 
12

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

FY 2016 REQUIRED BUDGET SUMMARY 

BY APPROPRIATION ACCOUNT 

SALARIES AND EXPENSES FTEs Amount

FY 2015 Enacted 4,327 $675,343,000

FY 2016 Increases

FIXED COSTS INCREASES

Salaries and Related Costs 0 8,497,000

Utilities, Postage, Rent, Communications, and Other 0 5,726,000

PROGRAM INCREASES

Excellent Research

Greenland Telescope 0 2,000,000

Biodiversity Genomics 2 360,000

MarineGEO 5 400,000

Broadening Access

Digitization 0 1,800,000

Web Access 0 1,325,000

Exhibits Maintenance 0 850,000

Latino Initiatives 0 879,000

Asian Pacific American Initiatives 0 400,000

Revitalizing Education

 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics 15 5,000,000

Strengthening Collections

Collections Scholarship 11 1,980,000

Collections Care Initiative 0 3,000,000

Animal Welfare 4 700,000

Mission Enabling

Facilities Maintenance 64 14,710,000

Facilities Operations, Security, and Support 115 12,700,000

Diversity 1 155,000

Total FY 2016 Salaries and Expenses 4,544 $735,825,000
13

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

FY 2016 REQUIRED BUDGET SUMMARY 

BY APPROPRIATION ACCOUNT 

FACILITIES CAPITAL FTEs Amount

FTEs in Base 48

Revitalization

National Museum of Natural History 23,000,000

National Zoological Park 29,590,000

National Museum of American History 15,000,000

National Air and Space Museum 12,650,000

National Museum of the American Indian 5,350,000

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum 4,600,000

Freer-Sackler Gallery 4,000,000

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden 4,450,000

Museum Support Center 16,700,000

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center 5,900,000

Suitland Collections Facility 1,750,000

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute 1,650,000

Multiple Location Revitalization Projects 19,950,000

Planning and Design

Facilities Planning and Design 55,410,000

Total FY 2016 Facilities Capital 48 $200,000,000

FY 2016 REQUEST, ALL ACCOUNTS 4,592 $935,825,000
14
15

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

SALARIES AND EXPENSES (S&E) 

FY 2016 Summary of Increases 

FTEs Amount

FY 2015 Enacted 4,327 $675,343,000

Fixed Costs Increases

 Salaries and Related Costs 8,497,000

 Utilities, Postage, Rent, Communications, and Other 5,726,000

Total Fixed Costs Increases $14,223,000

Program Increases

Excellent Research

 Greenland Telescope 0 2,000,000

 Biodiversity Genomics 2 360,000

 MarineGEO 5 400,000

Broadening Access

 Digitization 0 1,800,000

 Web Access 0 1,325,000

 Exhibits Maintenance 0 850,000

 Latino Initiatives 0 879,000

 Asian Pacific American Initiatives 0 400,000

Revitalizing Education

 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics 15 5,000,000

Strengthening Collections

 Collections Scholarship 11 1,980,000

 Collections Care Initiative 0 3,000,000

 Animal Welfare 4 700,000

Mission Enabling

 Facilities Maintenance 64 14,710,000

 Facilities Operations, Security, and Support 115 12,700,000

 Diversity 1 155,000

Total Program Increases 217 $46,259,000

Total Increases 217 $60,482,000

FY 2016 Total Salaries and Expenses 4,544 $735,825,000
FTE = Full-Time Equivalent

 Pay & 

Benefi

Page # FTEs $000 FTEs $000 FTEs $000 $000 

MUSEUMS AND RESEARCH CENTERS

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe

43 National Air and Space Museum 161 18,123 161 18,603 163 19,469 50

48 Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory 99 23,746 99 23,957 99 24,343 38

52 Major Scientific Instrumentation 0 4,118 0 4,118 0 6,118 

37 Universe Consortium 1 184 1 184 1 184 

Subtotal, Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe 261 46,171 261 46,862 263 50,114 89

Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet

59 National Museum of Natural History 343 47,428 343 47,992 343 48,935 94

71 National Zoological Park 204 24,533 204 25,420 208 26,603 48

78 Smithsonian Environmental Research Center 32 3,873 32 3,909 32 3,992 8

82 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute 202 13,940 202 14,025 202 14,271 24

37 Biodiversity Consortium 3 1,520 3 1,520 10 2,285 

Subtotal, Understanding a Biodiverse Planet 784 91,294 784 92,866 795 96,086 1,76

Valuing World Cultures

91 Arthur M. Sackler Gallery/Freer Gallery of Art 45 6,019 45 6,049 45 6,169 12

96 Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage 17 2,490 17 2,503 17 2,603 4

101 Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum 36 4,710 36 4,755 36 4,842 6

105 Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden 37 4,270 37 4,301 37 4,605 8

111 National Museum of African Art 27 4,209 27 4,227 28 4,632 7

37 World Culture Consortium 2 284 2 284 2 284 

Subtotal,Valuing World Cultures 164 21,982 164 22,119 165 23,135 39

Understanding the American Experience

120 Anacostia Community Museum 18 2,079 18 2,093 19 2,415 4

126 Archives of American Art 17 1,844 17 1,859 17 1,898 3

130 National Museum of African American History & Culture 106 34,162 139 40,648 139 41,501 31

140 National Museum of American History, Behring Center 158 21,381 158 21,767 163 23,117 45

150 National Museum of the American Indian 216 31,293 216 31,444 216 32,077 58

154 National Portrait Gallery 55 5,943 55 5,997 56 6,448 12

162 National Postal Museum 6 1,052 6 1,073 6 1,216 1

166 Smithsonian American Art Museum 88 9,391 88 9,474 89 10,005 19

37 American Experience Consortium 4 593 4 593 4 595 

Subtotal, Understanding the American Experience 668 107,738 701 114,948 709 119,272 1,76

Total Museums and Research Centers 1,877 267,185 1,910 276,795 1,932 288,607 4,80

16

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

Salaries and Expenses

Unit Detail of the FY 2014 Enacted and FY 2015/2016 Requests

($ in Thousands)

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 

Enacted Enacted Congress Request 
FTE = Full-Time Equivalent

 Pay & 

Benefi

Page # FTEs $000 FTEs $000 FTEs $000 $000 

MISSION ENABLING

Program Support and Outreach

173 Outreach 65 9,121 65 9,150 80 14,317 16

181 Communications 22 2,556 22 2,567 22 3,945 5

185 Institution-wide Programs 0 7,778 0 10,505 0 14,784 

195 Office of Exhibits Central 28 2,950 28 2,974 28 3,037 6

197 Museum Support Center 18 1,836 18 1,848 18 1,884 3

199 Museum Conservation Institute 22 3,222 22 3,244 22 3,308 6

204 Smithsonian Institution Archives 20 2,149 20 2,167 20 2,223 5

207 Smithsonian Libraries 86 10,337 86 10,399 86 10,748 19

Subtotal, Program Support and Outreach 261 39,949 261 42,854 276 54,246 63

211 Office of the Chief Information Officer 93 47,856 93 48,929 93 53,395 37

214 Administration 185 34,185 181 34,067 182 34,977 70

218 Office of the Inspector General 24 3,392 24 3,416 24 3,476 6

Facilities Services

220 Facilities Maintenance 357 69,032 382 71,403 446 86,695 58

224 Facilities Operations, Security and Support 1,357 185,401 1,476 197,879 1,591 214,429 1,32

Subtotal, Facilities Services 1,714 254,433 1,858 269,282 2,037 301,124 1,91

Total Mission Enabling 2,277 379,815 2,417 398,548 2,612 447,218 3,69

GRAND TOTAL, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 4,154 647,000 4,327 675,343 4,544 735,825 8,49

17

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

Salaries and Expenses

Unit Detail of the FY 2014 Enacted and FY 2015/2016 Requests

($ in Thousands)

FY 2014FY 2015 FY 2016

Enacted Enacted Congress Request 
18

SALARIES AND EXPENSES 

FY 2014 Enacted $647,000,000

FY 2015 Enacted $675,343,000

FY 2016 Request $735,825,000

For FY 2016, the Institution requests $735.8 million in the Salaries and 

Expenses (S&E) account. Within the total increase requested, approximately 

24 percent is attributable to fixed costs for sustaining base operations (e.g., pay, 

utilities, rent, etc.), and the remainder is for priority requirements throughout the 

Institution, including an increase of $10.5 million for the facilities and security 

operations of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. 

FIXED COSTS 

SALARY AND PAY-RELATED COSTS (+$8,497,000) — The 

Institution requests an increase of $8.5 million for higher salary and pay-related 

costs. The increase funds the proposed 1.3 percent pay raise in January 2016, 

annualization of the 2015 1.0 percent pay raise, increased employee benefit 

costs, and increased Workers’ Compensation costs, as follows: 

Salary and Related Costs: Request

 2016 pay raise (3/4 year at 1.3%) $4,293,000 

 Annualization of 2015 pay raise (1/4 year at 1.0%) $1,168,000 

 Employee benefits $3,000,000 

 Workers’ Compensation $36,000 

Total $8,497,000

 Proposed 2016 Pay Raise (+$4,293,000) — This provides for a 1.3 percent 

January 2016 pay raise for three-quarters of a year. 

 Annualization of the 2015 Pay Raise (+$1,168,000) — This funds the 

annualization of the anticipated 1.0 percent pay raise in January 2015 for the 

first quarter of FY 2016. 

 Employee Benefits (+$3,000,000) — This funds increased employee benefit 

costs, including health care premiums and retirement costs, along with the 

shift of federal employees from the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) to 

the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).

 Workers’ Compensation (+$36,000) — This supports the provisions of 

Section 8147(b) of Title 5, United States Code. The Workers’ Compensation 

bill for FY 2016 is estimated at $3,454,000, based on projected costs incurred 

from July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014. 
19

FY 2016 Increased Pay Costs 

(Dollars in Thousands) 

Line Item

FY 2015 

Annualized

FY 2016

Pay/Benefits

National Air and Space Museum 51 455

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory 42 344

National Museum of Natural History 119 824

National Zoological Park 60 423

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center 11 72

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute 30 216

Biodiversity — Consortium 0 5

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery/Freer Gallery of Art 14 106

Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage 5 40

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum 8 59

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden 11 76

National Museum of African Art 8 67

Anacostia Community Museum 5 37

Archives of American Art 5 34

National Museum of African American History and Culture 25 285

National Museum of American History, Behring Center 57 393

National Postal Museum 2 13

National Museum of the American Indian 65 518

National Portrait Gallery 16 105

Smithsonian American Art Museum 26 173

American Experience — Consortium 0 2

Outreach 18 149

Communications 7 46

Museum Support Center 4 32

Museum Conservation Institute 8 56

Smithsonian Institution Archives 6 50

Smithsonian Institution Libraries 24 175

Office of Exhibits Central 8 55

Office of the Chief Information Officer 42 334

Administration 69 600

Inspector General 7 53

Facilities Maintenance 127 455

Facilities Operations, Security, and Support 288 1,041

Total Increased Pay Costs $1,168 $7,293
20

UTILITIES, POSTAGE, RENT, COMMUNICATIONS, AND OTHER 

FIXED COSTS (+$5,726,000) — For FY 2016, the Institution requests an 

increase of $5,726,000 for utilities, postage, rent, communications, and other 

fixed-cost accounts, as detailed in the chart below. The requested increase 

reflects consumption and rate changes in the utilities accounts, inflationary 

increases, and program needs in rent accounts. In addition, the increases for 

Communications and Other Support are requested to provide for fixed software 

licensing and maintenance costs, inflationary increases for library subscriptions, 

and to meet federal regulatory compliance requirements. 

The following table displays the FY 2015 and FY 2016 estimates. The 

details that follow address the specific changes impacting the FY 2016 accounts. 

Federal Utilities, Postage, Rent, Communications, 

and Other Fixed Costs 

FY 2015–FY 2016 

(Dollars in Thousands) 

FY 2015

Estimate

FY 2016

Request Change

Utilities:

Electricity 19,566 20,487 921

Chilled Water 6,632 6,614 -18

Steam 7,909 7,749 -160

Natural Gas 3,068 3,211 143

DC Gov’t Water/Sewer 2,792 3,222 430

Other Water and Fuel Oil 1,105 1,151 46

Subtotal, Utilities 41,072 42,434 1,362

Postage 1,611 1,511 -100

Motor Fuel 370 370 0

Rental Space:

Central 30,972 32,231 1,259

Unit 7,557 8,222 665

Subtotal, Rent 38,529 40,453 1,924

Communications 17,463 19,753 2,290

Other Support 2,277 2,527 250

Total $101,322 $107,048 $5,726
21

UTILITIES (+$1,362,000) — Justified here, but included in the Facilities 

Operations, Security, and Support line item, is a requested increase to cover the 

higher costs of electricity; natural gas; Washington, DC Government Water and 

Sewer; and other water and fuel services. The request includes the following: 

 Electricity (+$921,000) — Electricity is used to operate the Smithsonian’s 

large infrastructure. The major use of electricity is for air-conditioning that 

provides essential climate control to protect the priceless national collections 

as well as ensure the comfort of visitors and staff. The request covers cost 

increases in FY 2016 to current services for all accounts (+$331,000). Also 

included is the balance required for six months of electrical service for the 

new National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) 

(+$590,000). 

 Chilled Water (-$18,000) — Chilled water costs represent both the annual 

cost of the fixed, 15-year debt service for the joint project between the 

General Services Administration (GSA) and the Smithsonian to supply chilled 

water from GSA’s central plant to the Smithsonian’s south Mall facilities, and 

the variable cost for actual chilled water usage. The net decrease includes a 

nominal rate increase for FY 2016 (+$15,000), and an offsetting decrease for 

the lower-than-expected rate increase in FY 2015 and prior years (-$33,000). 

 Steam (-$160,000) — The Smithsonian uses steam for heating and 

humidification, and to produce hot water for facilities on the Mall and in New 

York City. The net decrease includes anticipated rate increases in FY 2016 

(+$48,000) and an offsetting decrease for lower steam costs as a result of 

energy conservation (-$208,000). 

 Natural Gas (+$143,000) — The Smithsonian uses natural gas for heating 

and generating steam. The net increase covers anticipated rate changes in 

FY 2016 (+$9,000), the balance required for six months of gas service for 

NMAAHC (+$182,000), and a downward adjustment for lower-than-expected 

rate increases in FY 2015 and prior years (-$48,000). 

 DC Water and Sewer (+$430,000) — Funds cover the costs of both water 

and sewer services provided by the District of Columbia Water and Sewer 

Authority (DCWSA). The increase represents rate and billing adjustments 

transmitted by DCWSA to the Smithsonian in April 2014 (+$430,000). 

 Other Water and Fuel Oil (+$46,000) — Funds provide water service for 

facilities outside of Washington, DC, fuel oil used in dual-fuel boilers, and fuel 

oil and propane used in generators for emergency power. The estimate 

covers rate increases for water to all facilities (+$46,000). No increase is 

requested for fuel oil in FY 2016. 
22

POSTAGE (-$100,000) — Funds provide for all official domestic and 

international mail services. The estimate for postage reflects a decrease in 

postage costs (-$100,000) due to the Smithsonian’s increased use of electronic 

communication, such as email. 

MOTOR FUEL — Funds provide for motor fuel that powers the Smithsonian’s 

motor vehicle fleet and scientific research vessels. No increases are requested 

for motor fuel in FY 2016.

RENTAL SPACE (+$1,924,000) — Funds provide for the long-term rental of 

office, collections and warehouse storage, and laboratory space. For FY 2016, 

the Smithsonian requests increases of $1,259,000 for centrally-funded lease 

requirements and $665,000 for unit-funded, programmatic lease requirements, 

as follows: 

 Central Rent (+$1,259,000) — Justified here, but included in the Facilities 

Operations, Security, and Support line item, are increases needed to support 

leased office and storage space, as follows: 

 Escalation (+$1,259,000) — Provides for annual rent increases in 

accordance with the terms of current lease contracts, and lease-related 

services. Among the contracts, the annual escalation rate for base rent 

averages three percent, and operating and real-estate taxes are each 

projected at four percent above FY 2015 estimates. 

 Unit Rent (+$665,000) — Justified here, but included in the following 

museums’ line items, are unit-funded rent increases needed to support 

Smithsonian programs. The increases are as follows: 

 Escalation (+$80,000) — Provides funding for the annual escalation of 

contractual lease costs and lease-related services. The requested increase 

supports leased space occupied by the National Museum of African American 

History and Culture (+$43,000); Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage 

(+$5,000); Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (+$20,000); National 

Postal Museum (NPM) (+$10,000); and the Smithsonian American Art 

Museum (+$2,000). 

 National Museum of African American History and Culture (+$500,000) —

Provides funds for rental of additional leased space and one-time, fit-out costs 

for NMAAHC to house an anticipated increase in essential staff to set up the 

exhibitions, programming, and operations of the Museum before it opens to 

the public. 

 Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (HMSG) (+$67,000) — This

increase provides base rent funds for 2,015 square feet of existing leased 

collections-storage space. The requested funds ensure continuation of 
23

current leases that are essential to preserve and ensure continued access to 

the Museum’s permanent art collections. 

 National Postal Museum (+$18,000) — The request funds annual lease 

costs for approximately 2,400 square feet of leased collections-storage space 

to be identified by Museum staff. The NPM has a collection of more than 6.1 

million objects and needs additional space to house its three-dimensional 

postal collection, including its historic collection of postal vehicles. Currently, 

the postal vehicles are being temporarily stored in various U.S. postal 

facilities that are scheduled to close. The requested funds will provide a 

secure, climate-controlled space for the vehicle collection, thereby ensuring 

the future preservation of and access to the collection. 

COMMUNICATIONS (+$2,290,000) — The communications base supports 

the operations of the Institution’s voice and data telecommunications 

infrastructure. The requested increase covers the increased cost of software and 

hardware maintenance fees for existing investments, and the expansion of 

central storage and backup systems used to house, manage, and protect the 

rapidly growing number of digitized collections assets. 

The Institution maintains a centrally supported Digital Asset Management 

System (DAMS) that is used to store, manage, and share digital versions of our 

collections objects. The underlying storage and data protection components of 

DAMS are experiencing rapid growth in storage demand that is projected to 

continue for the foreseeable future. This rapid growth is due to a number of 

factors, including a deliberate focus on adoption of this system by all Smithsonian 

units for all digitized collection objects to ensure these assets are properly 

protected. Additionally, the DAMS provides mechanisms to make the digitized 

collections accessible to the public, which is a strategic priority of the Institution. 

Other factors causing this growth are more efficient digitization processes that are 

dramatically improving the rate of digitizing objects, and technology advances that 

produce higher resolution assets with larger individual file sizes (+$1,310,000). 

Additional funding is also needed for business-critical systems to cover 

mandatory upgrades and/or rising software and hardware maintenance fees. 

These systems include the Collections Information System used by the seven art 

museums, National Air and Space Museum, National Postal Museum, and the 

Anacostia Community Museum, the Smithsonian Institution Research Information 

System (SIRIS), and the Institution’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) 

financial management system (+$400,000). 

Additional funding is also required to address increased software and 

hardware maintenance costs due to changes in vendor software license models 

and the increased number of wireless access points deployed in our public 

spaces to provide Wi-Fi for staff and visitors. The Smithsonian needed to 

increase its number of Internet access points to meet visitor expectations and to 
24

enable a mobile, friendly and interactive experience and allow the Institution’s 

many units to offer more interactive products (e.g., mobile apps) that are 

accessible by visitors anywhere on the National Mall (+$580,000). 

OTHER SUPPORT (+$250,000) — An additional $250,000 is requested to 

offset the effects of inflation and to cover other fixed costs. The Smithsonian 

Libraries requires additional funding to adequately address inflationary increases 

in library subscriptions (+$150,000). This increase will enable the Libraries to 

cover the inflation costs of purchasing journals and electronic databases, which 

are critical to support the Institution’s many research programs and scientists. 

The Institution requests an increase of $50,000 to support the 

Smithsonian Folklife Festival’s compliance with new regulations instituted by the 

National Park Service (NPS) in its management of the turf on the National Mall, 

which strictly limit how the Festival can use both the turf and tree panels. The 

new regulations require the Festival to provide annual funding to NPS to restore 

the turf and tree panels after the annual Festival. 

In addition, the Institution requests $50,000 to support the Smithsonian’s 

Project SEARCH program, which is a school-to-work transition program for 

young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Smithsonian 

piloted Project SEARCH in 2013 based on the outstanding outcomes of the 

programs at the National Institutes of Health and in the Montgomery County 

government (in Maryland). The business-driven program provides opportunities 

for participating interns to develop job skills that will lead to success in the 

workplace and possible long-lasting paid employment. The Smithsonian 

anticipates hiring six to 10 individuals each year who have successfully 

completed the 10-month intensive internship program, working in positions 

across the Institution. The additional funding will enable eligible offices to hire an 

intern at the completion of the internship, rather than waiting until a slot becomes 

available. The long-term goal is to increase the Smithsonian’s hiring of people 

with disabilities. Project SEARCH provides a way for the Smithsonian to become 

a model employer in this area, thereby improving the diversity of the Institution’s 

workforce while also serving under-represented communities throughout the 

National Capital Region. 
25

SUMMARY OF S&E PROGRAM INCREASES 

$000s

FY 2015 

Base

FY 2016

Request

Excellent Research (Grand Challenges) 83,896 +2,760

 Greenland Telescope 500 +2,000

 Biodiversity Genomics 0 +360

 MarineGEO 0 +400

Broadening Access 78,678 +5,254

 Digitization and Web Access 11,581 +3,125

 Exhibits Maintenance 1,400 +850

 Latino Initiatives 1,121 +879

 Asian Pacific American Initiatives 0 +400

Revitalizing Education 19,479 +5,000

Strengthening Collections 74,664 +5,680

 Collections Scholarship 0 +1,980

 Collections Care Initiatives 5,197 +3,000

 Animal Welfare 18,706 +700

Mission Enabling 418,626 +27,565

 Facilities Maintenance 71,403 +14,710

 Facilities Operations, Security, and Support 197,879 +12,700

 Management Operations 77,894 +155

Total S&E Program Increases $675,343 +$46,259

Note: For a complete list of program categories, see page 36

EXCELLENT RESEARCH (GRAND CHALLENGES) 

 The Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan for FYs 2010–2017 articulates four Grand 

Challenges that provide an overarching strategic framework for Smithsonian programs 

and operations. The four Grand Challenges are: 

 Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe

 Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet

 Valuing World Cultures 

 Understanding the American Experience 

Meeting these Grand Challenges will allow the Smithsonian to integrate the work 

of many disciplines within its museums and research centers, as well as broaden the 

Institution’s external collaborations. The challenges are grounded in research and 

emphasize complementary education and outreach programs. Together, they will 
26

continue to influence how the Smithsonian directs its resources and focuses its energies 

for maximum effectiveness. 

 The Institution has established consortia in each Grand Challenge area to fuse 

and optimize efforts across the Institution and coordinate work with the Smithsonian’s 

research partners to ensure that our combined efforts are as cost-effective and 

productive as possible. The consortia also help the Institution raise funds for these 

efforts. However, in the interest of efficiency, all research will continue to be conducted 

by our existing museums and research centers. 

For FY 2016, the Institution will continue implementing its Strategic Plan with the 

following requested increases for Excellent Research: 

Category

FY 2015 

Base 

$000s

FY 2016 

Increase 

$000s

EXCELLENT RESEARCH $83,896

 Greenland Telescope 500 +2,000

 Biodiversity Genomics 0 +360

 MarineGEO 0 +400

Total Increases +$2,760

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe — Greenland Telescope (+$2,000,000)

The Smithsonian requests $2,000,000 to support the completion of the first 

phase of the Greenland Telescope project that will conduct groundbreaking, highpriority observations of supermassive black holes, and conduct terahertz (very high 

frequency) observations of the cold universe as part of the only “mid-scale” priority in 

the 2010 National Research Council “Decadal Survey of Astronomy.” The Smithsonian 

Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), in partnership with the National Science Foundation 

(NSF) Division of Polar Programs, has identified a high, dry, northern site on the 

Greenland ice sheet as the ideal place for the Smithsonian’s 12-meter radio antenna. 

The telescope will conduct single-dish submillimeter and terahertz observations, and 

very long baseline observations, in conjunction with telescopes in Chile and the 

Smithsonian’s submillimeter telescope array (SMA) in Hawaii. Additional details are 

provided in the Major Scientific Instrumentation section of this budget submission. 

Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet — Biodiversity Genomics 

(+$360,000, +2 FTEs) 

This request (+$360,000, +2 FTEs) supports expanded Institution-wide efforts on 

collaborative, multidisciplinary discovery, exploration, and application of genomic 

information for sustainability of global biodiversity and the 21st century bioeconomy. 

This program is a cornerstone priority of the Institution’s biodiversity strategic plans, 

builds on 20 years of systematic development and federal investment, and will further 

leverage and give credence to increased private fund raising. Additional details are 
27

provided in the Grand Challenges and Interdisciplinary Research section of this budget 

request. 

Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet — MarineGEO (+$400,000, +5 

FTEs)

The Institution requests $400,000 and 5 FTEs for the Marine Global Earth 

Observatories, or MarineGEO. MarineGEO is one of the Smithsonian’s signature 

programs in Earth observations and understanding global change, dedicated to 

understanding changes in the structure and function of marine ecosystems. This project 

builds on existing Smithsonian federal and trust investments, collaboration with the 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Science and 

Technology Council’s Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology, and 

leveraging in-kind support from a range of academic partners to allow expansion of the 

network beyond the initial sites. Additional details are included in the Grand Challenges 

and Interdisciplinary Research section of this budget submission. 

BROADENING ACCESS 

Category

FY 2015 

Base 

$000s

FY 2016 

Increase 

$000s

BROADENING ACCESS $78,678

 Digitization/Web Access 11,581 +3,125

 Exhibits Maintenance 1,400 +850

 Latino Initiatives 1,121 +879

 Asian Pacific American Initiatives 0 +400

Total Increases +$5,254

Digitization (+$1,800,000) 

This budget request seeks funding to accelerate digitization progress by 

turning time-limited rapid digitization prototypes into production projects that enable 

the Smithsonian to digitize entire priority collections. Increasing the quantity and 

quality of digital inventory records and digital images advances each of the major 

goals of the Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan, and is a basic requirement for Broadening 

Access to the public. The Smithsonian has successfully implemented a framework of 

digitization policies, assessments to account for the state and progress of 

digitization, and Institution-wide digitization priorities to guide resource allocations 

and planning. Operationally, funding to date has allowed the Institution to establish 

prototypes for: (a) cost-efficient, high-quality, and rapid digitization, and (b) the 

application of 3D technology in a museum setting. Additional details are provided in 

the Office of the Chief Information Officer section of this budget request. 
28

Web Access (+$1,325,000) 

One of the Institution’s goals is to broaden access to the Smithsonian and 

enhance the experience of online visitors. The requested funding will provide new 

tools and technologies to broaden access to the Institution worldwide. The nation’s 

growing diversity challenges the Smithsonian to reach new audiences and ensure 

that the Institution’s collections, exhibitions, and outreach programs speak to all 

Americans. The Smithsonian also aims to remain relevant to visitors who come from 

around the world. To accomplish this goal, the Institution is building a robust, multichannel platform that can support the Smithsonian’s digital presence. Additional 

details are included in the Communications section of this budget submission. 

Exhibits Maintenance (+$850,000) 

 Smithsonian museums have a long tradition of raising private funds to design 

and install new exhibitions. For generations, these exhibitions have been the reason 

why millions of visitors have come to the National Mall. However, the success of 

these exhibitions comes with a cost. The mere presence of record numbers of 

visitors results in significant damage to the spaces and displays within the museums’ 

halls, and increases the cost to maintain them. Currently, exhibits maintenance is 

defined as custodial, exhibit, and conservation operations of exhibit areas; cleaning 

of casework and objects; paint touch-ups; carpet replacement; and upkeep of other 

exhibit components, including media and interactive technology. The requested 

funding increase will support the Institution’s continuing efforts to address the 

exhibits maintenance backlog and maintain existing and new exhibits at a standard 

that reflects a world-class institution. 

 Specifically, funding would be provided to the National Museum of the 

American Indian (+$50,000); the National Portrait Gallery (+$150,000); the 

Smithsonian American Art Museum (+$150,000); the National Postal Museum 

(+$100,000); the National Museum of African Art (+$150,000); the Hirshhorn 

Museum and Sculpture Garden (+$150,000); and the Anacostia Community 

Museum (+$100,000). Additional details are included in each Museum’s narrative. 

 

Latino Initiatives (+$879,000) 

The Smithsonian requests an increase for the Institution’s Latino Initiatives 

Pool. This pool, established in FY 1996, has not been substantively increased from its 

$1 million initial level. Yet, during that time, the U.S. Latino population has doubled 

and the collections of Latino artifacts and artworks in the Smithsonian’s collections 

have multiplied exponentially. This increase will enable the Smithsonian to increase 

support for projects in research and collections, and for exhibitions and educational 

and public programming that will advance the knowledge and understanding of the 

contributions of Latinas and Latinos to U.S. history, art, culture, and science. By 

increasing the funding, the pool will be able to fund more projects to enhance the 

Institution’s capabilities to reach a wider, national audience. The Smithsonian will also 

be able to produce more exhibitions, including traveling and virtual exhibitions, and to 
29

offer more opportunities for internships, Fellowships, and teacher training throughout 

the United States. Additional details are provided in the Institution-wide Programs 

section of this budget submission. 

Asian Pacific American Initiatives (+$400,000) 

The Smithsonian requests $400,000 to establish an Asian Pacific American 

Initiatives Pool. The Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015,

encourages the Smithsonian to develop a more robust program “which will promote 

a better understanding of the Asian Pacific American experience.” This pool will 

provide annual funding for Smithsonian programs that focus on the Asian Pacific 

American experience and contributions to science, history, art, and culture. Pool 

funds will improve the Smithsonian’s ability to provide public programming and 

support exhibitions, education, research, and collections acquisition. Projects will be 

funded on a competitive basis from proposals that demonstrate effective use of pool 

funds leveraged by other Smithsonian resources (such as gifts and grants). 

Additional details are provided in the Institution-wide Programs section of this budget 

request.

REVITALIZING EDUCATION 

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Engagement —

(+$5,000,000, +15 FTEs) 

The Smithsonian is requesting $5 million to provide authentic and inspiring 

STEM experiences for teachers and students by drawing on the scientific and 

engineering assets of the federal Government — including scientists, labs, satellites, 

museums and research centers. The Smithsonian’s STEM engagement supports the 

implementation of the Federal STEM Education 5-Year Strategic Plan and the 

Government-wide reorganization of STEM education programs. The Smithsonian 

will serve as a conduit between federal mission agencies and other non-profit 

organizations — including the Smithsonian’s 199 Affiliate museums. The Institution 

will grow and support learning communities that include educators in schools and 

informal learning settings; assist with the identification of curricula in a variety of 

modalities; and work with our partners to identify, develop, and disseminate STEM 

engagement materials and experiences. The STEM initiative will also advance 

professional development opportunities that draw on guidance from the Next 

Generation Science Standards and align with state education standards. 

The Smithsonian will work collaboratively with federal agencies offering 

STEM programs to: identify and disseminate content that takes advantage of each 

agency’s unique assets; create complementary materials; avoid duplication of effort; 

and share a centralized portal for the broad dissemination of our learning resources. 

The Smithsonian will manage these endeavors by creating discipline- and 

subject-based committees that coordinate the efforts of STEM engagement 
30

providers, including Smithsonian units, mission agencies, and other non-profit 

collaborators. We will also increase the capacity of Smithsonian units that offer 

programs, experiences and services in the creation, dissemination, and evaluation of 

STEM education content. Additional information is included in the Outreach section 

of this budget submission.

STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS 

Category

FY 2015 

Base 

$000s

FY 2016 

Increase 

$000s

STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS $74,664

 Collections Scholarship 0 +1,980

 Collections Care Initiatives 5,197 +3,000

 Animal Welfare 18,706 +700

Total Increases $5,680

Collections stewardship is a key component and core priority of the 

Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan. Assembled over 169 years, Smithsonian collections 

are fundamental to carrying out the Institution’s mission and Grand Challenges, 

serving as the intellectual base for scholarship, discovery, exhibition, and education. 

As recognized by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, the proper 

management, documentation, preservation, and accessibility of collections are 

critical to the nation’s research and education infrastructure. Smithsonian collections 

serve a unique and important role in addressing scientific and societal issues of the 

21st century, enabling researchers to address such significant challenges facing 

society as the effects of global change, the spread of invasive species, and the loss 

of biological diversity and its impact on the global ecosystem. 

Collections stewardship — the systematic development, documentation, 

management, preservation, and use of collections — is not a single process or 

procedure but a series of components which are interwoven, interdependent, and 

ongoing. The condition of facilities housing collections, the quality of storage 

equipment and preservation, and the ability to document collections in manual and 

digital formats directly affect the Smithsonian’s ability to make collections available 

to scholars and the general public worldwide. Because collections stewardship is 

fundamental to the Smithsonian’s mission, there is a critical need for additional 

resources to accomplish basic collections management activities for accountability, 

preservation, storage, digitization, and accessibility of the collections. The Institution 

must also substantially improve its collections scholarship to ensure that our vast 

collections are properly exhibited and interpreted for the Smithsonian’s worldwide 

audiences. 
31

Collections Scholarship (+$1,980,000, +11 FTEs) 

The Smithsonian curatorial staffing levels have declined to expose significant 

gaps in the Institution’s ability to research, interpret, exhibit, and care for its national 

collections. This request will fund staffing needs to provide optimal care for the 

Smithsonian’s vast collections as well as strengthen and increase sharing of collections 

with a diverse national and international audience. These funds will help the 

Smithsonian reinvigorate its curatorial staffing strength to support excellent research, 

exhibitions, and digitization of the nation’s vast collection of artifacts. 

This request will provide the necessary federal support to begin to reverse this 

trend in several Smithsonian units. Units requesting this funding include: the National 

Museum of American History (5 FTEs); National Portrait Gallery (1 FTE); Smithsonian 

American Art Museum (1 FTE); National Museum of African Art (1 FTE); Anacostia 

Community Museum (1 FTE); and National Air and Space Museum (2 FTEs). Additional 

details are included in each Museum’s narrative.

Collections Care Initiatives (+$3,000,000)

The Institution seeks to improve its collections care to ensure Smithsonian 

collections remain available for current and future use. The volume, characteristics, 

complexity, and age of Smithsonian collections, as well as the variety of disciplinespecific standards that apply to their care, make their management and preservation as 

unprecedented, challenging, and complex as the collections themselves. 

This budget request supports the Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan to continually 

improve the quality of collections preservation, storage space, management, and 

accessibility, while also leveraging internal resources to support Institution-wide 

initiatives that strategically address Smithsonian collections care. Collections care 

funding directly supports the Smithsonian’s overarching goal of improving the 

preservation and accessibility of collections which are vital to current and future 

scholarly research, education, and the nation’s scientific endeavors. 

 The Smithsonian has made significant progress at raising the level of 

collections care, storage, and accessibility with targeted funding. Through 

assessments, long-term planning, and prioritization, the Smithsonian is 

strengthening collections in a pragmatic, strategic, and integrated manner. This 

budget request seeks critical resources to continue to build on and implement 

important planning initiatives for strategically addressing critical collections 

management, emergency preparedness, and space needs. Additional details are 

included in the Institution-wide Programs section of this budget submission. 
32

Animal Welfare (+$700,000, +4 FTEs) 

 The National Zoological Park (NZP) is requesting an increase of $700,000 

and 4 FTEs to support the Zoo’s medical team, primarily in the Pathology unit, and 

ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the living collection. The requested funds 

would support pathology staffing to maintain animal care standards at NZP, continue 

the NZP’s board-certified veterinary residency program, and raise the standard of 

animal care. 

These additional funds will allow diseases and medical issues to be 

diagnosed more quickly. This will ensure the appropriate treatment of sick animals, 

thereby preventing any diseases from spreading outside the Zoo. Additional details 

are provided in the NZP section of this budget submission. 

MISSION ENABLING 

Category

FY 2015 

Base 

$000s

FY 2016 

Increase 

$000s

MISSION ENABLING $418,626

 Facilities Maintenance 71,403 +14,710

 Facilities Operations 197,879 +12,700

 Management Operations 77,894 +155

Total Increases +$27,565

Facilities Maintenance (+$14,710,000, +64 FTEs) 

 For FY 2016, the Smithsonian requests an increase of $14.7 million and 64 FTEs 

to enable its maintenance program to continue the work of stabilizing and standardizing 

the overall condition of Institution facilities. The increase will fund high-priority needs, 

including the maintenance program for the new National Museum of African American 

History and Culture (NMAAHC). The increase will also allow the Smithsonian to operate 

at a solid rating of 3 (out of 5) — Managed Care — in the Smithsonian’s Association of 

Higher Education Facilities Officers, or APPA, maintenance level rating for the 

Institution. This level of preventive maintenance and building system reliability will 

ensure that proper conditions are maintained for collections and that public expectations 

are met. 
33

 The following chart summarizes the requested requirements: 

Category

FY 2015 

Base

($000s)

FY 2016 

Increase 

$000s

FY 2016 

Increase 

FTEs

Facilities and Systems Support +10,875 +40

Support for NMAAHC +3,600 +24

Security Maintenance +235 0

Total Facilities Maintenance $71,403 $14,710 +64

Additional details are included in the Facilities Maintenance section of this budget 

submission.

Facilities Operations (+$12,700,000, +115 FTEs) 

For FY 2016, the Smithsonian requests an increase of 115 FTEs and $12.7 

million to address high-priority operating, safety, and security requirements. The 

increase will fund high-priority needs, including support to fund facilities and security 

operations for the new National Museum of African American History and Culture. 

The Institution is committed to achieving APPA’s appearance level 2 (out of 5), 

referred to as “Ordinary Tidiness.” This level of appearance will provide an 

acceptable level of cleanliness that meets public expectations. The funds requested

will allow the Smithsonian to make progress toward achieving level 2. 

 The following chart summarizes the requested requirements: 

Category

FY 2015 

Base

($000s)

FY 2016 

Increase 

$000s

FY 2016 

Increase 

FTEs

Facilities Operations +3,700 +33

Support for NMAAHC +6,900 +80

Security Requirements +2,100 +2

Total Facilities Operations, Security, 

and Support $197,879 +$12,700 +115

Additional details are included in the Facilities Operations, Security, and 

Support section of this budget request. 

Management Operations (+$155,000, +1 FTE) 

 Diversity (+$155,000, +1 FTE) — Diversity is one of the expressed values in the 

Smithsonian Strategic Plan. This increase for the Office of Equal Employment and 

Minority Affairs is requested to hire one affirmative employment specialist to conduct 

regular and comprehensive audits of Smithsonian units to identify barriers to Equal 
34

Employment Opportunity (EEO), including in the Institution’s hiring and promotion 

practices. The specialist will also focus on retention and extension of term 

appointments; reviews of internal policies and practices regarding leave and 

telework, as well as display of EEO posters; and implementation of a comprehensive 

barrier analysis protocol that includes the presentation of findings, appropriate 

action, and reports. Taken together, all of these actions will significantly strengthen 

the Smithsonian’s commitment to ensuring a diverse workforce. 

NO-YEAR FUNDING — The following table provides the FY 2015 and FY 2016 

Salaries and Expenses requests for No-Year Funding. 

No-Year Funding Request 

(Dollars in Thousands) 

Salaries and Expenses FY 2015 

Enacted

FY 2016

Request

Change from 

FY 2015

No-Year Funds

National Museum of African American 

History and Culture

40,648 41,501 +853

National Museum of Natural History

 Exhibition Reinstallation 954 954 0

 Repatriation Program 1,367 1,379 +12

Major Scientific Instrumentation 4,118 6,118 +2,000

Collections Acquisition 435 435 0

 Total, No-Year Funds $47,522 $50,387 +$2,865

OBJECT-CLASS FUNDING — The following table provides an object-class 

breakout of resources for the Salaries and Expenses account. 

Object-Class Request 

(Dollars in Millions) 

Salaries and Expenses FY 2015

Enacted

FY 2016

Request

Change from 

FY 2015

Salaries and Benefits 425 450 +25

Travel and Transportation 5 5 0

Rent, Utilities, Communications, and 

Other 91 97 +6

Other Services 110 132 +22

Supplies and Materials 18 21 +3

Equipment 20 25 +5

Land and Structures 6 6 0

 Total, Object-Class Funds $675 $736 +$61
 35

FEDERAL RESOURCE SUMMARY BY PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE AND 

PROGRAM CATEGORY 

The Smithsonian has developed its FY 2016 budget request by reviewing all 

resources, both base amounts and identified increases or decreases, in relation to the 

Institution’s performance plan and Strategic Plan. In the sections that follow, detailed 

justifications are provided for all funding and FTEs by the Institution’s strategic goals and 

by performance objectives under each goal. 

The Institution’s program performance goals and objectives are aligned with the 

program categories used in the federal budget and the Institution’s financial accounting 

system. This enables the Institution to more clearly demonstrate the relationship 

between dollars budgeted and results achieved. 

The table on the following page summarizes the Institution’s FY 2015 and 

FY 2016 Salaries and Expenses estimates and the proposed changes by strategic 

goal, performance objective, and program category. 
FTEs $000 FTEs $000 FTEs $000

Excellent Research

Research

Engage in research and discovery 432 66,466 438 70,275 6 3,809

Ensure the advancement of knowledge in the 

humanities 120 17,430 122 18,177 2 747

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web support 68 11,581 70 14,984 2 3,403

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 128 16,658 129 18,318 1 1,660

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 350 50,439 346 51,368 -4 929

Revitalizing Education

Education

Engage and inspire diverse audiences 162 19,479 177 24,805 15 5,326

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national collections 539 74,664 554 81,894 15 7,230

Mission Enabling

Facilities

Improve the overall cleanliness and efficient operation 

of Smithsonian facilities 736 136,198 804 147,238 68 11,040

Implement an aggressive and professional 

maintenance program 382 71,403 446 86,695 64 15,292

Execute an aggressive, long-range revitalization 

program and limited construction of new facilities 1 591 1 584 0 -7

Security and Safety

Provide world-class protection for Smithsonian 

facilities, collections, staff, visitors, and volunteers 755 66,602 802 72,754 47 6,152

Provide a safe and healthy environment 44 6,385 44 6,454 0 69

Information Technology

Modernize the Institution's information technology 

systems and infrastructure 142 59,553 142 62,383 0 2,830

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is customer 

centered and results oriented 187 27,427 187 28,503 0 1,076

Ensure that the Smithsonian workforce is efficient, 

collaborative, committed, innovative, and diverse 91 17,845 92 18,342 1 497

Modernize the Institution's financial management and 

accounting operations 89 13,950 89 14,190 0 240

Enhance the reputation of the Smithsonian by 

maintaining good relations with the news media and 

with federal, state, and local governments 27 3,805 27 3,870 0 65

Modernize and streamline the Institution's acquisitions 

management operations 56 7,789 56 7,913 0 124

Ensuring Financial Strength

Secure the financial resources needed to carry out the 

Institution's mission 18 7,078 18 7,078 0 0

TOTAL 4,327 675,343 4,544 735,825 217 60,482

Federal Resources by Performance Objective and Program Category

Salaries and Expenses ($s in thousands)

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change Performance Objective/Program Category

 36
37

GRAND CHALLENGES AND INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR 

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED

10 2,581 0 0 0 560 0 0

FY 2015

ENACTED

10 2,581 0 40 0 192 0 0

FY 2016

REQUEST 17 3,348 0 50 0 15 0 0

STRATEGIC GOAL: EXCELLENT RESEARCH 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Engage in research and discovery 4 1,704 11 2,469 7 765

Ensure the advancement of knowledge in the 

humanities

6 877 6 879 0 2

Total 10 2,581 17 3,348 7 767

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT 

The Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan for 2010–2017 articulates four Grand 

Challenges which provide an overarching strategic framework for Smithsonian 

programs and operations. Meeting these challenges will enable the Institution to 

integrate the work of many disciplines within the Smithsonian museums and 

research centers, as well as broaden our external collaborations. The challenges are 

grounded in research and emphasize complementary education and outreach 

programs; together, they influence how the Smithsonian directs its resources and 

focuses its energies. The Smithsonian has developed and implemented a Grand 

Challenges Awards initiative to advance cross-disciplinary, integrated scholarly 

efforts across the Institution that relate to one or more of the four Grand Challenges. 

Using a competitive internal process, the Smithsonian is distributing externally raised 

grant funds designated for the purpose of advancing research, broadening access, 

revitalizing education, and encouraging new ways of thinking that involve emerging 

technology. The grant funding may also help to leverage additional funding, both 

internal and external, thereby amplifying the scope and breadth of cross-cutting 

research initiatives. The Smithsonian uses the Grand Challenges to present the 
38

high-level view of the Strategic Plan in the budget; funds are distributed through 

interdisciplinary consortia, but most of the actual expenditures are made by existing 

Smithsonian units with subject-matter expertise in the areas being supported. 

The Smithsonian created interdisciplinary consortia around each of the 

four Grand Challenges to leverage the scholarship and experience that reside in 

each field of knowledge. These consortia spark innovative research and 

educational programs, as well as broker partnerships with private and public 

entities that support these goals. In addition, the Smithsonian will fortify existing 

external relationships and forge new ones as potential collaborators emerge in 

priority areas. These consortia are not new programmatic units, but work through 

existing museums and research centers to facilitate innovative scholarship and 

outreach. 

The four Grand Challenges are: 

 Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe

 Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet

 Valuing World Cultures 

 Understanding the American Experience 

 In FY 2016, the Smithsonian’s budget request includes funding increases

for research in the Biodiversity Consortia for Genomics and MarineGEO, and 

$7,000 for necessary pay for existing staff funded under this line item. The 

Institution will continue to advance the prior-year research funding in the other 

three Grand Challenges. Below is a summary of the FY 2016 Consortia budget. 

Consortium

FY 2015 

Base 

$000s

FY 2016 

Increase

$000s

FY 2016 

Total

$000s

Universe 184 0 184

Biodiversity 1,520 +765 2,285

 Biodiversity Genomics 0 +360 +360

 MarineGeo 0 +400 +400

 Consortium Pay Increase 0 +5 +5

World Culture 284 0 284

American Experience 593 +2 595

 Total $2,581 +$767 $3,348

Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet — Biodiversity 

Genomics (+$360,000, +2 FTEs) 

This request (+$360,000, +2 FTEs) supports expanded Institution-wide 

efforts on collaborative, multidisciplinary discovery, exploration, and application 

of genomic information for sustainability of global biodiversity and the 21st 

century bioeconomy. This program is a cornerstone priority of the Institution’s 
39

biodiversity strategic plans, builds on 20 years of systematic development and 

federal investment, and will further leverage increased private fund raising. 

Genome-level information is now a crucial, unifying component of diverse 

fields, including evolutionary biology; ecological research and monitoring; 

environmental change and health; conservation and wildlife management; 

invasive species management; agriculture; drug discovery; and biosurveillance 

related to national security and commerce. Genomic approaches provide novel 

tools to explore the traits and properties of unknown or poorly known organisms.

Collections are one of the key resources of biodiversity genomics because they 

represent long-term investments, are the key for analyses with future 

technologies, and are the basis for monitoring near- and long-term changes.

This genomics research will span existing Smithsonian interests, use the 

findings of the National Science Foundation Tree of Life decadal program, 

enhance Smithsonian collaboration with the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge 

National Laboratory, and facilitate the new (started in 2013) international network 

— The Global Genome Biodiversity Network — of which the Smithsonian is a key 

leader. This expertise and international network will integrate new intellectual and 

technological approaches, and will support our Earth observation platforms, 

MarineGEO and ForestGEO. It will facilitate building the vital distributed 

infrastructure of biological diversity collections and tissues, develop big data 

(genome level) of unparalleled quality and provenance, and secure international 

cooperation on standards for these key observation sets. 

This request will provide two federal researchers to specifically help foster, 

coordinate, and implement biodiversity genomics research across the 

Smithsonian and in coordination with our federal, national, and global partners. 

These two researchers will accelerate the initiative by providing critical core 

expertise, facilitate development and adoption of standards, and build a 

foundation to leverage further private support. 

The bioinformatic scientist will provide central support and coordination of 

core bioinformatic resources, including protocols for the collection, analyses, and 

management of data, the implementation and maintenance of hardware and 

software, and the curation of internal and public data repositories and 

bioinformatics pipelines. Coordinated and accessible data management is a 

critical element of biodiversity genomics. 

The core-laboratory and biorepository scientist will provide central support, 

integration, and coordination of core programmatic laboratory needs, including 

shared approaches, protocols, and resources for the collection, preservation, 

archiving, and sharing of genomic grade samples. This scientist will also help 

develop and document the variety of evolving molecular genetic technologies 

and methods for assessing molecular genetic information. 
40

Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet — MarineGEO 

(+$400,000, +5 FTEs)

The Institution requests $400,000 and 5 FTEs for the Marine Global Earth 

Observatories, or MarineGEO. MarineGEO is one of the Smithsonian’s signature 

programs in Earth observations and understanding global change, and is 

dedicated to understanding changes in the structure and function of marine 

ecosystems. This investment builds on existing Smithsonian federal and trust 

investment, collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA) and the National Science and Technology Council’s 

Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology (SOST), and leveraging inkind support from a range of academic partners to allow expansion of the 

network beyond the initial sites. The MarineGEO network is unique in that it 

combines: (1) a commitment to standardized, long-term measurements of key 

new variables to document changes during the next 30–50 years; (2) the 

incorporation of innovative experiments across traditional disciplinary boundaries 

as a core element to determine causes of observed changes; (3) the use of 

extensive collections in anthropological and paleontological studies that put 

present changes into the context of longer time frames; (4) a commitment to data 

openness and standardization; (5) a focus on separating natural and 

anthropogenic causes of biodiversity changes; and (6) a focus on near-shore 

environments where people and biodiversity are concentrated and interact most 

closely. This comprehensive approach will provide a new, fundamental 

understanding of the sustainability of our oceans. 

The expanded MarineGEO program will be a global-scale network of sites, 

which spans latitudes and ocean basins and engages a diverse consortium of 

partner institutions and collaborators. This network will provide the platform for 

integrative, multidisciplinary research to answer a diverse range of fundamental 

questions about marine ecosystems, how they function, and their sustainability. 

MarineGEO will also provide a vibrant and dynamic platform for education and 

outreach activities for students, citizen-scientists, resource managers, and policy 

makers. MarineGEO has begun as a select set of core nodes, or sites, where the 

Smithsonian already has major research activities, to facilitate rapid development 

of the program (i.e., the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center; the 

Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce, Florida; and the Smithsonian Tropical 

Research Institute [STRI] at Bocas del Toro, Panama) and testing of 

standardized useful protocols. To do this in the most efficient manner possible, 

the Institution is drawing on lessons learned from its current network of Global 

Forest Earth Observatories. MarineGEO is also being implemented in 

collaboration with the expansion of the Smithsonian genomics analytical and 

collections capacities, because of the importance of DNA-based analyses. 

As protocols are established at the core sites, MarineGEO has expanded 

to the other two Smithsonian sites (Belize and STRI, Naos), and has begun 

working with NOAA and state agencies to augment existing monitoring sites, and 
41

to include key international partners both latitudinally into the polar region and 

longitudinally to encompass the world’s ocean basins. The Smithsonian will 

continue to develop strategic partnerships with other institutions and 

organizations to establish these new sites and form a global-scale network that 

promotes the MarineGEO protocols and publically accessible websites. 

 Private financial support will be harnessed to address some of the 

program’s infrastructure and equipment needs. Together with federal funds, 

private-sector resources will support the expansion of the network, fully integrate

the data and information into national and international Earth observation data 

streams, use core information for model development and testing, and support 

sustainable management and adaptation options in coastal regions. 

 The requested funds (+$400,000) will provide salaries and benefits for 5 

FTEs (i.e., a data manager; two field site molecular technicians; and two 

bioinformatics/collections specialists). In addition, federal funds will support staff 

travel to the MarineGEO sites. 
42

Introduction, Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe

The Smithsonian will continue to lead in the quest to 

understand the fundamental nature of the cosmos, using nextgeneration technologies to explore our own solar system, meteorites, 

the Earth’s geological past and present, and the paleontological 

record of our planet. 

RESEARCH Goal: The Smithsonian will continue to advance 

knowledge at the forefront of understanding the universe and the 

solid Earth. 

ACCESS Goal: Inspire people to probe the mysteries of the 

universe and planetary systems. 

UNITS primarily associated with this Grand Challenge: 

 National Air and Space Museum

 Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

 Major Scientific Instrumentation
43

NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 161 18,123 53 6,795 20 4,972 4 1,462

FY 2015

ENACTED 161 18,603 46 6,061 22 6,525 6 504

FY 2016

REQUEST 163 19,469 46 6,061 22 6,525 6 504

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

REVITALIZING EDUCATION; STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS; AND 

MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Engage in research and discovery 3 1,124 3 1,156 0 32

Ensure the advancement of knowledge in the 

humanities 25 3,116 25 3,169 0 53

Broadening Access

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 6 864 6 894 0 30

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 40 5,756 40 5,836 0 80

Revitalizing Education

Education

Engage and inspire diverse audiences 12 1,290 12 1,324 0 34

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national collections 47 2,857 49 3,301 2 444

Mission Enabling

Information Technology

Modernize the Institution’s information technology 

systems and infrastructure 9 1,031 9 1,062 0 31

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is customer 

centered and results oriented 19 2,565 19 2,727 0 162

Total 161 18,603 163 19,469 2 866
44

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The mission of the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) is to 

commemorate the development of aviation and space flight, and educate and 

inspire the nation by: 

 preserving and displaying aeronautical and space flight equipment and data of 

historical interest and significance to the progress of aviation and space flight; 

 developing educational materials and conducting programs to increase the 

public’s understanding of, and involvement in, the development of aviation and 

space flight; and 

 conducting and disseminating new research in the study of aviation and space 

flight and their related technologies. 

NASM is administered as one Museum with multiple locations: the National 

Mall building; the Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia; and the Garber Facility 

in Suitland, Maryland. NASM provides access to the nation’s aviation and space 

flight history to an average of 7–9 million on-site visitors from around the world each 

year, making it one of the most visited museums in the world. In addition, NASM 

draws tens of millions of virtual visitors to its website and broadcast and webcast 

educational programming. 

In FY 2016, NASM will collect and preserve the nation’s aviation and space 

artifacts and perform original research in aviation and space history and planetary 

science to support its broad array of exhibitions, programs, publications, and 

outreach activities. To accomplish its public service mandate and reach diverse 

audiences, the Museum draws upon a mixture of in-house resources, contracted 

resources, and a large corps of volunteers. 

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $866,000 and 2 FTEs. 

The increase includes $506,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs 

for existing staff funded under this line item, and a programmatic increase of 

$360,000 and 2 FTEs for Collections Scholarship. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

Public Engagement — NASM continues to reach diverse audiences through 

exhibitions, educational programming, publications, and electronic outreach. The 

exhibitions incorporate written labels, interactive devices, and programming 

elements that appeal to a wide range of ages and interests. Based on the success 

of several of our new exhibits, all future plans for galleries will include components 

that are physically and intellectually accessible to the Museum’s youngest visitors, 

ages 3–8, as well as designs that reach a new group of millennials. To illustrate 

complex concepts, exhibitions will continue to build on past success by using 

mechanical and computer interactive devices, but will also include more way-finding 

and social media concepts which appeal to a broad range of visitors and families. 
45

To further enhance visitor experiences, NASM staff and volunteers will 

continue to provide a variety of Museum programs, from daily activities, such as 

docent-led tours, lectures, and science demonstrations that reach hundreds of 

thousands of visitors annually, to big Family Day events, such as the Heritage 

Family Days, that can reach 20,000 to 50,000 diverse visitors at one event. Our 

Flights of Fancy, Early Childhood Program is a model for both museum 

programming and school outreach. In FY 2015, NASM is exploring designs for an 

Early Childhood Education Center to ensure more robust programming at the 

Udvar-Hazy Center. In addition, NASM will continue to build on the student 

Explainers programs at both Museum locations, and will be exploring an eExplainer 

approach to reach audiences beyond the Museum walls. The astronomy programs, 

which include the Public Observatory and educational programming in the 

planetarium, will remain an important component of science, technology, 

engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education throughout FY 2016. 

With the National Mall building revitalization on the immediate horizon, 

NASM is undergoing a tremendous transformation ― both physically as well as 

organizationally. To support our outreach efforts, we have created a new 

Department of Public Engagement that includes communications, Web/media, 

lectures and seminars, publications and education outreach. This department will 

play a pivotal role in emphasizing the objective of reaching beyond the walls of the 

Museum. NASM will continue to develop digital outreach programs that educate 

and inspire audiences onsite, online and on the go. Concepts will be developed to 

increase access to Museum assets, activities, content and expertise, with a focus 

on creating unique online experiences and educational programs. In addition, 

NASM staff will develop new models for online learning and work to involve 

audiences more directly in achieving our mission. 

In FY 2015, NASM continued to inspire and educate audiences at the 

National Mall building and the Udvar-Hazy Center through new and updated 

exhibitions. The Museum celebrated the tenth anniversary of the opening of the 

Udvar-Hazy Center in 2015 with an Open House event that will continue to provide 

visitors with a behind-the-scenes experience. Also, in FY 2014, an exhibition of 

Mars exploration images was mounted in the Flight and the Arts gallery, and Hawaii 

by Air was displayed in gallery 104; in early FY 2015, Outside the Spacecraft: 50 

Years of Extra-Vehicular Activity was opened to mark the 50th anniversary of the 

first spacewalks in 1965. The exhibit features art, photography and artifacts flown in 

space, including spacesuits from the Gemini program. This temporary exhibit will be 

on display until June of 2015. In addition, NASM has begun the major

reinterpretation and revitalization of the Boeing Milestones of Flight in galleries 100 

and 108. These galleries are the first and last impressions that visitors have of the 

Museum because they are at the entrance/exit points of the building. They are 

scheduled for reopening in the summer of 2016. 

As part of NASM’s ongoing efforts to achieve the strategic goals of 

Broadening Access and Strengthening Collections, aircraft and spacecraft 
46

continued to be moved into the Udvar-Hazy Center for restorations and relocations 

in our state-of-the-art conservation and restoration facility. 

Collections — The Museum’s new conservation and restoration hangar 

and collections storage areas handle portions of the Museum’s collections of 

more than 46,000 artifacts. The traditionally high level of craftsmanship shown in 

the NASM restoration program now is matched by first-class facilities that can 

handle the various types of objects and materials the Museum manages. 

Preparations continue for the move of the selected collections and 

restoration/conservation activities from the Paul E. Garber Facility in Suitland, 

Maryland to the Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, and will continue in FY 

2016 and beyond, as funding permits. NASM will continue its loan program, 

which encompasses more than 1,300 aviation and space artifacts, including 

some of the most sought-after artifacts of the last century: spacesuits and lunar 

spacecraft. 

NASM continues to advance the strategic goal of Broadening Access to its 

collections by moving collections information to a publicly accessible website. 

The curatorial databases contain extensive information on the history and 

provenance of each artifact, and the best way to offer more of this in-depth 

information to the public is through electronic means. NASM’s electronic 

resources allow more people access to the Museum’s archival collections, with a 

resulting increase in archival information requests by the public. 

Scientific Research — To achieve the strategic goal of Excellent 

Research, NASM’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies conducts basic 

research related to planetary exploration, with an emphasis on Mars, Mercury, 

and the moon, and curates galleries and public offerings in the planetary 

sciences. NASM scientists continue to work as members of the science teams for 

the Mars Exploration Rover, Mars Express, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Lunar 

Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Science Laboratory, and MESSENGER missions. 

NASM scientists work with the data from these and other missions to solar 

system bodies, and convey this exciting information to the public. Basic research 

continues to concentrate on the National Research Council and NASA priorities 

to determine the origin of solar system bodies and habitable planets, with an 

emphasis on understanding the past climate of Mars and publishing the results of 

this research in scientific literature. 

Historical Research — NASM will continue to lead in the field of flight 

history by publishing books and papers, and by making presentations at 

professional conferences on the history of aerospace technology, aviation, 

aerodynamics, space flight, and space sciences. Based on their research and 

expertise, the curatorial staff will continue to evaluate potential acquisitions for 

the national collections and respond to numerous public inquiries. NASM will also 

continue to upgrade exhibits dealing with aviation and space flight, thereby 

ensuring that current materials are kept available to the public. 
47

Management — NASM will achieve the Mission Enabling strategic goal by 

using the single organizational approach it has developed to support the National 

Mall building, the Udvar-Hazy Center, and the Garber Facility, while continuing to 

strive for operational excellence at each facility. 

EXPLANATION OF CHANGE 

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $866,000 and 2 

FTEs. The increase includes $506,000 for necessary pay and other related 

salary costs for existing staff funded under this line item, and a programmatic 

increase of $360,000 and 2 FTEs for Collections Scholarship, as detailed below. 

Collections Scholarship (+$360,000, +2 FTEs) 

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $360,000 and 2 FTEs

for additional curators. The Museum’s curatorial staff has significant gaps in their 

ability to research, interpret, exhibit, and care for the national collections. These 

gaps include critical subject areas, chronological periods, and program execution. 

Over time, the Museum has lost more than half of its curatorial staff, which has 

seriously depleted the Institution’s scholarly foundation. The Museum must rebuild 

its curatorial strength to support excellent research, exhibitions, and digitization of 

the nation’s vast collection of artifacts. Specifically, these positions will fill the 

highest priority gaps in our scholarly foundation. For NASM, these are in the areas 

of space history and the collections, where more than 50 percent of the curatorial 

staff is eligible for retirement. These areas represent the collections of national 

importance and involve topics of planned exhibitions.

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds support research, 

education, exhibitions, and fund raising, including salaries and benefits. 

Donor/sponsor-designated funds support costs related to specific programs and 

projects. Fund raising is under way for future galleries and the endowment of public 

programs. Government grants and contracts support research and other scientific 

activities. 
48

SMITHSONIAN ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 99 23,746 103 21,085 11 6,617 211 74,445

FY 2015

ENACTED 99 23,957 99 24,108 13 8,200 206 75,649

FY 2016

REQUEST 99 24,343 107 23,808 20 14,518 201 73,764

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

AND MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/ FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

Program Category FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Engage in research and discovery 90 19,385 90 19,646 0 261

Broadening Access

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 1 181 1 186 0 5

Mission Enabling

Security and Safety

Provide world-class protection for Smithsonian

facilities, collections, staff, visitors, and volunteers 0 70 0 80 0 10

Information Technology

Modernize the Institution’s information technology 

systems and infrastructure 0 159 0 169 0 10

Management Operations

Ensure that the Smithsonian workforce is efficient, 

collaborative, committed, innovative, and diverse 8 4,162 8 4,262 0 100

Total 99 23,957 99 24,343 0 386

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT 

The mission of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is to advance 

the public’s knowledge and understanding of the universe through research and 

education in astronomy and astrophysics. The secondary mission is to be of service to 

the national and international astronomical communities, and to society in general, in 

areas associated with our primary mission. The Observatory has a strong record of 

achievement in developing and successfully implementing large, complex, and innovative 
49

observational and theoretical research projects. SAO also supports the investigative 

research carried out by individual researchers and small groups. These varied activities 

create the distinctively fertile research environment that drives SAO’s success and makes 

the Observatory a recognized leader in the global astrophysical field of science. 

SAO’s work directly supports the first of the Grand Challenges outlined in the 

Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe. The goal calls 

for the Smithsonian to “advance knowledge at the forefront of understanding the 

universe and solid Earth.” 

Founded in 1890, SAO is the largest and most diverse astrophysical research 

institution in the world. SAO has helped develop some of the world’s most 

sophisticated astronomical instruments, with high resolution at wavelengths across the 

electromagnetic spectrum, to probe the universe. Alone, and in powerful partnerships 

with the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration (NASA), and the Department of Energy, it has pioneered the 

development of orbiting observatories and large, ground-based telescopes; the 

application of computers to study astrophysical problems; and the integration of 

laboratory measurements and theoretical astrophysics. Observational data are 

gathered at SAO’s premier facilities: the Submillimeter Array (SMA) in Hawaii; the 6.5-

meter diameter Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT); the Very Energetic Radiation 

Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS); and related telescopes at the Fred 

Lawrence Whipple Observatory in Arizona. In addition, SAO conducts research with a 

broad range of powerful instruments aboard rockets, balloons, and spacecraft (most 

notably the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Hinode 

Telescope, and the Solar Dynamics Observatory); and at locations as diverse as the 

high plateaus of northern Chile and the Amundsen South Pole Station. Headquartered 

in Cambridge, Massachusetts, SAO collaborates with the Harvard College 

Observatory to form the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. 

Since the Observatory moved to Cambridge in 1955, SAO astronomers and 

their colleagues have made revolutionary discoveries that have changed our 

fundamental understanding of the universe and our place in it. We have discovered 

and examined planets in orbits around other stars, watched as new stars are born, 

and discovered bizarre remnants of dead stars that emit vast quantities of x-rays. We 

have determined that the universe is 13.7 billion years old, and that it is populated with 

billions of galaxies, many of which have supermassive black holes at their centers. In 

addition, we have found convincing evidence that most of the matter in the universe is 

an unexpected mixture of some unseen “dark matter,” with normal matter making up 

less than four percent of the total; and that the expansion of the universe is apparently 

accelerating, driven by a mysterious and invisible “dark energy.” At the same time, 

SAO astronomers work systematically on the vital basic research that seeks to explain 

the sun and its x-ray-emitting corona, the nature of the solar system, the abundant 

elements in our Milky Way Galaxy, the gas and dust between the stars, the formation 

and evolution of galaxies, and other important questions about the nature of the 

universe. Today, SAO is taking a lead role in the science of “precision astronomy,” 
50

using past discoveries and advanced technologies to produce a coherent story of the 

cosmos from the Big Bang to life here on Earth. 

SAO’s research is unique and world renowned because of the strength and 

diversity of its observers, theorists, instrument developers, engineers, and laboratory 

experimentalists, and because SAO emphasizes multiple strategies that draw from the 

strengths of both small projects and large research centers. Indeed, SAO’s 

extraordinary research success is partly the result of the rich cross-fertilization that its 

outstanding scholars bring to each other in a climate that nurtures collaborative 

excellence. 

SAO’s pre-eminence is underscored by the recognition that its researchers 

receive from leading scientific organizations. For instance, a senior SAO scientist 

received the 2014 Karl Schwarzschild Medal in recognition of a lifetime of outstanding 

contributions to astrophysics. Another senior SAO scientist won the Grote Reber Prize 

for Radio Astronomy, the highest award for radio astronomy. Other major awards 

received by SAO scientists included the Gold Medal of Merit from the Institute of 

Applied Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Henry Norris Russell 

Lectureship, the highest honor of the American Astronomical Society. These are only a 

few examples of the many awards received by SAO staff in FY 2014 and FY 2015. 

Together with its partner, the Harvard College Observatory, SAO is the top choice of 

graduate- and postdoctoral-level young scientists for astrophysics. Federal support 

makes this continued leadership possible. 

The budget estimate includes an increase of $386,000 for the necessary pay 

and other related salary costs for existing staff funded under this line item. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

To achieve the goal of Excellent Research, SAO scientists will make optimal 

use of various astronomical facilities to support their research, including the groundbased optical and radio telescopes owned and operated by SAO in Arizona and 

Hawaii, and space-based telescopes, most notably the Chandra X-ray Observatory, 

which is operated by SAO on behalf of NASA, and NASA’s Solar Dynamics 

Observatory. SAO scientists also have research privileges at the two 6.5-meter 

Magellan telescopes in northern Chile (because of SAO’s partnership with the Harvard 

College Observatory). In addition, SAO scientists and engineers are leading the 

science operations team and carrying out a vital scientific research program in very 

high-energy astrophysics at the VERITAS telescope in southern Arizona. These 

facilities enable SAO scientists to make substantial progress in answering 

fundamental questions about the origin and nature of the universe, including dark 

energy and dark matter, as well as questions about the formation and evolution of 

Earth and similar planets. In addition, SAO scientists will continue their work on future 

space missions, collaborating with NASA and its research center on missions to study 

the sun, the x-ray universe, and the outer solar system. 
51

SAO scientists and engineers play leading roles in the development of 

new techniques and instrumentation for astronomy. In early FY 2015, SAO 

scientists prepared the preliminary design for the Giant Magellan Telescope 

(GMT)-Consortium Large Earth Finder (G-CLEF), a planet-finding spectrograph 

that will be the first scientific instrument to be installed on the GMT. In addition, 

SAO scientists and engineers led the design of critical elements of the GMT 

wavefront control system that allows the seven GMT mirrors to work as a single 

optical element. 

SAO scientists will continue to take a leadership role in astrophysics by 

participating in or hosting national and international conferences (e.g., the American 

Astronomical Society, the International Astronomical Union, and the Astronomical 

Data Analysis Software and Systems conference series), by participating as keynote 

and/or invited speakers at such meetings, and by serving on a diverse range of 

astronomical and astrophysical review panels. SAO scientists will also continue to 

publish in leading peer-reviewed journals such as the Astrophysical Journal, the 

Astronomical Journal, and Astronomy & Astrophysics. In addition, SAO developed and 

operates the Astrophysics Data System, which is a world leader in the dissemination 

of scientific literature. 

SAO will achieve the strategic goal of Broadening Access by producing and 

delivering educational services and products rooted in SAO research to meet the 

educational needs of the Observatory’s audiences. This sustained outreach effort will 

give SAO increased publicity and recognition. 

The goal of Mission Enabling will be achieved by making SAO’s information 

technology (IT) infrastructure robust, reliable, and secure; maintaining a cooperative 

environment through communication and activities that underscore SAO’s special 

mission and each staff member’s contribution to its success; evaluating management 

officials and supervisors on their compliance with applicable equal opportunity laws, 

rules, and regulations, and on the effectiveness of their efforts to achieve a diverse 

workforce; and facilitating the use of small, minority, women-owned, and other 

underused businesses in SAO’s procurement and business relationships. These 

management tools will continue to support and enhance SAO’s scientific and 

educational missions. 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds come primarily from 

overhead charged on grants and contracts. SAO uses these funds to support 

administrative functions approved in the Indirect Cost Budget submitted to the 

Defense Contract Audit Agency and the Office of Naval Research, as required by 

Office of Management and Budget Circular A-122, Cost Principles for Nonprofit 

Organizations. Donor/sponsor-designated funds come primarily from restricted gifts 

from individuals, foundations, and corporations, which are earmarked for particular 

purposes; restricted endowment funds; and non-governmental grants and contracts. 

Government grants and contracts come from Government agencies for research in 

areas of SAO’s expertise. SAO often conducts this research in cooperation with 

governmental, academic, and research institutions in the United States and abroad. 
52

MAJOR SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTATION 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 0 4,118 0 0 0 0 0 0

FY 2015

ENACTED 0 4,118 0 0 0 0 0 0

FY 2016

REQUEST 0 6,118 0 0 0 0 0 0

STRATEGIC GOAL: EXCELLENT RESEARCH 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/ FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

Program Category FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Engage in research and discovery 0 4,118 0 6,118 0 2,000

Total 0 4,118 0 6,118 0 2,000

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

Smithsonian science is engaged in research and discovery focused on the 

origin and evolution of the universe, the formation and evolution of Earth and similar 

planets, the discovery and understanding of biological diversity, and the study of 

human diversity and cultural change. 

The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s (SAO) work directly supports 

the first of the Grand Challenges outlined in the Smithsonian Institution Strategic 

Plan: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe. This goal calls for the Smithsonian to 

“advance knowledge at the forefront of understanding the universe and solid Earth.” 

To achieve the strategic goal of Excellent Research, the Smithsonian uses its 

no-year funding from the Major Scientific Instrumentation (MSI) line item to develop 

large-scale instrumentation projects with advanced technologies that enable 

scientists at SAO to remain at the forefront of astronomy and astrophysics research. 

The Smithsonian’s criteria for proposing and selecting MSI projects are: 1) the 

instrumentation will enable compelling scientific advances that would not otherwise 

occur (either at SAO or anywhere else in the world) for some time to come; 2) the 

instrumentation is novel and technically advanced, and would not be developed 
53

without SAO’s contribution; and 3) the science enabled by the innovative 

instruments is consistent with the Smithsonian Institution’s Strategic Plan. The 

fundamental role for federal appropriations is to support the basic scientific 

infrastructure that enables SAO to conduct research, compete for external grants 

and funding, publish in peer-reviewed journals, and inform the public about the latest 

scientific discoveries in an exciting and compelling manner. Because of the 

magnitude of the costs and the time required to fabricate major new instruments and 

reconfigure existing ones, the Institution requests that MSI funds for these projects 

be kept available until they are spent. 

For the past 50 years, astronomers have made fundamental discoveries 

about the universe, such as the existence of more than 1,000 planets around nearby 

stars and the bizarre remnants of dead stars that emit large quantities of x-rays in 

the Milky Way Galaxy. Scientists have determined that the universe is 13.7 billion 

years old and that it is populated with billions of galaxies, many of which have 

supermassive black holes at their centers. Research has produced strong evidence 

that the expansion of the universe is accelerating due to a mysterious and invisible 

“dark energy.” Today, SAO scientists use advanced technologies to produce a 

coherent story of the cosmos from the Big Bang to the origins of life on Earth. MSI 

funds are used to meet this objective. 

Three SAO projects are included in the FY 2016 MSI line item: the Greenland 

Telescope; the Submillimeter Telescope Array (SMA) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii; and 

instrumentation for the converted Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) at SAO’s Fred L. 

Whipple Observatory at Mt. Hopkins, Arizona. 

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $2,000,000 for the 

Greenland telescope. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

SAO’s mission is to engage in astrophysical research and discovery. 

Observational astrophysics is the basic science responsible for the understanding of 

the universe and its components beyond Earth. SAO has made leading contributions 

to many key discoveries in astrophysics, including: 1) the remarkable discovery that 

the universe is accelerating; 2) the discovery of enormous patterns traced by 

galaxies in the universe; 3) the most compelling demonstration of the existence of 

supermassive black holes at the centers of most galaxies; 4) the discovery of very 

high-energy gamma rays; 5) the most convincing observational evidence for the 

existence of dark matter; and 6) the discovery of planets orbiting other stars. SAO 

scientists contributed to these discoveries by using key facilities that enable 

observations in several different bands of the electromagnetic spectrum (i.e., the 

broad range of light that is emitted by objects in the universe). These contributions 

have put SAO in the forefront of this generation of astronomers and astrophysicists. 
54

SAO’s pre-eminence is underscored by the recognition that its researchers receive 

from leading scientific organizations. For instance, Dr. Margaret Geller received 

the 2014 Karl Schwarzschild Medal, which recognizes a lifetime of outstanding 

contributions to astrophysics. Dr. James Moran won the Grote Reber Prize for 

Radio Astronomy, which is the highest award for radio astronomy. Dr. Michael 

Pearlman was awarded the 2014 Gold Medal of Merit by the Institute of Applied 

Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Dr. Giovanni Fazio was 

awarded the 2015 Henry Norris Russell Lectureship, the highest honor of the 

American Astronomical Society. These are only a few examples of the many 

awards received by SAO staff in FYs 2014 and 2015. Together with its partner, the 

Harvard College Observatory, SAO is the top choice of graduate- and 

postdoctoral-level young scientists. Federal support makes this continued 

leadership possible. 

SAO’s strength in observational astrophysics depends on its major groundbased facilities, the SMA and MMT, and the National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration’s space-based facilities, including the Chandra X-ray Observatory, 

the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Access to both 

ground- and space-based observatories enables SAO scientists to conduct research 

that would be impossible with either type of observatory alone. SAO’s future strength 

in ground-based observational astrophysics is critically dependent on equipping the 

SMA and MMT with powerful new instruments and establishing the new Greenland 

Telescope. This leadership depends on developing specialized instruments and 

facilities that do not now exist. A team of talented scientists and engineers must 

work together, over a period of several years, to bring these tools into being with 

support from multiyear MSI funding. 

Greenland Telescope ($500,000) 

SAO, in partnership with the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of 

Polar Programs, has identified a high, dry, northern site on the Greenland ice sheet 

as the ideal place for high-frequency radio astronomical observations that require 

excellent atmospheric transmission and exceptional atmospheric stability. 

The NSF Division of Polar Programs is redeveloping the Greenland Summit 

Station to better isolate current clear air and snow research from other activities. The 

development of astronomical activities at the site is a key element of redevelopment 

plans. Retrofitting and commissioning of the telescope, which was transferred to 

SAO from NSF Astronomy, is being undertaken by SAO’s partner institution, the 

Academia Sinica Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Taiwan. 

Significant funding for instrument development for the telescope is being 

provided by external partners, including the international University community. The 

Smithsonian considers this an excellent opportunity to capitalize on a highly 

leveraged use of federal funds with high-value science returns on the investment. 
55

The Greenland Telescope will form the northernmost node of a Very Long 

Baseline Interferometer (VLBI), operated jointly with the SMA (Hawaii) and the ALMA 

Vertex Prototype antenna (Chile), to make unprecedented observations of the event 

horizon of the supermassive black hole (six billion times the mass of our sun) at the 

heart of the giant galaxy M87. This will complement the observations to be made in 

the southern hemisphere of the less massive black hole (only four million solar 

masses) at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy. The combination of these 

observations will revolutionize our understanding of gravity where it is at its 

strongest, the very edges of black holes, and provide pioneering data for 

astronomers and physicists to analyze as they pursue the Smithsonian’s Grand 

Challenge of Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe. When the Greenland 

Telescope is not connected to the VLBI network, it will exploit its high, dry location 

and stable atmosphere to make sensitive measurements of molecules in space at 

the highest frequencies accessible from the ground. 

Submillimeter Telescope Array ($1,718,000)

The SMA is an array of eight 6-meter-diameter antennas located on the 

summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, that functions as one giant telescope. It is a 

collaborative project of SAO and the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and 

Astrophysics in Taiwan. With its unprecedented capability to observe at high 

resolution and high frequency, this facility enables scientists to study a wide range of 

astronomical phenomena, from the formation of the earliest galaxies in the universe 

to the formation of new planets around nearby stars. 

The feasibility of conducting a particular scientific observation with the SMA is 

directly linked to instrument sensitivity. Given that the total data-collecting area of the 

array antennas is fixed, sensitivity is governed by three factors: the receiver noise, 

the instantaneous system bandwidth, and atmospheric transmission and stability. 

Instrument sensitivity can be improved by adding duplicate sets of receivers 

similar to those currently in operation, increasing receiver bandwidth, or 

compensating for the effects of atmospheric instabilities to improve the signal and 

image quality. Thanks to recent developments in microwave technology, and 

innovative millimeter-wave technology developed at SAO, we have increased the 

receiver bandwidth by a factor of four from the original SMA instrument design. We 

are continuing to implement the first phase of a second-generation spectrometer, 

which, when coupled with the broadband receivers, will enable 16 gigahertz of 

bandwidth to be processed in a single observation. This will increase the throughput 

and sensitivity of the SMA by another factor of two, and will enable spectral line 

surveys to be conducted on a wide variety of astronomical sources. 

While the second-generation spectrometer (SWARM) will improve all types of 

astronomical observations with the SMA, even more spectrometer capacity is 

needed to fully exploit the increase in bandwidth offered by the new SMA receivers. 

We are currently working toward building the second copy of SWARM, which will be 
56

used to phase out the original SMA spectrometer — now 15 years old and in need of 

replacement. The Institution is requesting funds in FY 2016 to complete this 

replacement and to begin work on a third section of the SWARM, which will further 

increase the throughput of the SMA. During FYs 2017 and 2018, we expect to build 

and commission a fourth section, which will complete the SWARM upgrade. 

In June of 2014, the SMA Visiting Committee, which is made up of 

international experts in the field of millimeter and submillimeter astronomy, endorsed 

plans to add a second set of 1.3-mm wavelength receivers to the SMA. Coupled with 

the additional spectrometer capacity, these receivers will also enable sensitive, 

broadband, dual-polarization observations. This upgrade will increase our 

understanding of the role that magnetic fields play in star formation, the formation of 

proto-planetary disks, and the accretion of matter into black holes. The SMA is the 

leader in submillimeter polarimetry, and a two-fold increase in sensitivity will 

significantly increase the population of observable sources. To maintain this 

leadership, the Smithsonian requests additional funds for FY 2016 to fabricate, 

install, and commission the required additional receiver hardware. 

In addition, the proposed upgrades will enable the SMA to become fully 

compatible with other facilities, which are themselves undergoing upgrades as part 

of the Event Horizon Telescope that has the long-term goal of imaging supermassive 

black holes and addressing fundamental questions of general relativity theory. 

Multiple Mirror Telescope ($1,900,000) 

The MMT, a joint project of SAO and the University of Arizona, dedicated in 

1979, was originally made up of six identical 1.8-meter telescopes in a single 

altitude-azimuth (naval-gun-type) mount. The multiple-mirror design provided a 

state-of-the-art solution to the technological limitation in casting large mirrors at that 

time. Following advances in mirror-casting technology developed by the University of 

Arizona in the 1990s, SAO replaced the six smaller mirrors of the original MMT with 

a single mirror 6.5 meters in diameter. This large mirror more than doubled the lightgathering capability of the telescope, and a set of large corrector lenses increased 

its field of view 400 times. 

The converted MMT is an extremely powerful telescope, but requires 

sophisticated instruments to analyze the light it collects. Binospec, an imaging 

spectrograph with dual 8’x15’ fields of view, will replace two generations of earlier 

spectrographs and is expected to become the dominant instrument used during dark 

moon phases when the best observations can be made. 

SAO expects Binospec to be a “game-changer,” enabling the MMT to 

compete on an equal footing with the largest telescopes in the world. Binospec’s 

huge light grasp will enable SAO scientists to carry out pioneering explorations of 

the structure and evolution of galaxies, the structure of the Milky Way, and the 

nature of dark matter and dark energy. Binospec’s nimbleness in moving between 
57

spectroscopy and imaging will enable Smithsonian scientists to lead in observing 

transient events like supernova explosions and gamma-ray bursts to map the 

geometry of the universe and accurately detect objects at the furthest reaches of the 

universe. The scientific opportunities opened by Binospec will help attract the critical 

next generation of astrophysicists who will exploit the power of the Giant Magellan 

Telescope for the next 20 to 30 years. 

In FY 2016, MSI funds will be used to complete the calibration and 

commissioning of Binospec. With additional external support (from committed NSF

funds competed for in the Telescope System Instrumentation Program), Binospec 

will be shipped to the MMT for commissioning and its first research observations 

early in FY 2016. 

MSI funds will also be used to recommission MMIRS, the MMT-Magellan 

InfraRed Spectrograph, at the MMT. This excellent multiple- object infrared 

spectrograph has been in use at the Magellan facility since 2009. MMIRS was 

recently refitted with a cutting-edge infrared detector. Following recommissioning, 

MMIRS will become the MMT’s most powerful instrument for observations during 

bright moon phases, accessing dust-obscured regions of star formation and 

observing the red-shifted light from distant galaxies. 

SAO’s expertise in building large and powerful instruments is a crucial 

capability in the era of extremely large telescopes that is now upon us. Continued 

MSI funding will enable SAO to conduct this research and maintain the United 

States’ lead in this important scientific field. 

EXPLANATION OF CHANGE 

Greenland Telescope (+$2,000,000) 

The FY 2016 budget request seeks an increase of $2 million to help develop 

the existing Greenland Summit research station to support astronomy in preparation 

for installation of the Greenland Telescope, a 12-meter radio antenna that will be the 

first major astronomy project in Greenland. The funds will be used to support the 

Smithsonian’s interests in this effort, including establishing laboratory space and 

other infrastructure, and development of astronomical instrumentation for the 

telescope. 

The Greenland Telescope will conduct groundbreaking observations of 

supermassive black holes, as part of the only “mid-scale” priority in the 2010 National 

Research Council “Decadal Survey of Astronomy.” Specifically, very long baseline 

observations will be made in conjunction with telescopes in Chile and the 

Smithsonian’s SMA in Hawaii. The telescope will also be used to perform highfrequency radio observations of the cold universe. These will be the first such 

observations in the northern hemisphere. 
58

Introduction, Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet

The Smithsonian will use the resources of its scientific 

museums and research centers to significantly advance our 

knowledge and understanding of life on Earth, respond to the growing 

threat of environmental change, and sustain human well-being. 

RESEARCH Goal: The Smithsonian advances and synthesizes 

knowledge that contributes to the survival of at-risk ecosystems. 

ACCESS Goal: The Smithsonian inspires all generations of 

learners to turn knowledge of life on Earth into awareness and action 

aimed at improving sustainability. 

UNITS primarily associated with this Grand Challenge: 

 National Museum of Natural History

 National Zoological Park

 Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
59

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR 

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 343 47,428 29 5,426 47 15,283 14 3,665

FY 2015

ENACTED 343 47,992 30 5,860 53 22,550 15 4,055

FY 2016

ESTIMATE 343 48,935 30 5,860 56 24,800 16 4,550

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

REVITALIZING EDUCATION; STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS; AND 

MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/ FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

Program Category FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Engage in research and discovery 119 16,678 119 17,006 0 328

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web support 4 477 4 486 0 9

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 14 1,681 14 1,714 0 33

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 48 6,793 48 6,926 0 133

Revitalizing Education

Education

Engage and inspire diverse audiences 27 3,425 27 3,493 0 68

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national 

collections

97 14,095 97 14,372 0 277

Mission Enabling

Facilities

Improve the overall cleanliness and efficient 

operation of Smithsonian facilities

4 812 4 828 0 16

Security and Safety

Provide world-class protection for Smithsonian 

facilities, collections, staff, visitors, and 

volunteers

1 175 1 179 0 4
60

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Information Technology

Modernize the Institution’s information 

technology systems and infrastructure

14 2,155 14 2,197 0 42

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is 

customer centered and results oriented

4 554 4 565 0 11

Enhance the reputation of the Smithsonian by 

maintaining good relations with the news media 

and with federal, state, and local governments

7 721 7 735 0 14

Ensure that the Smithsonian workforce is 

efficient, collaborative, committed, innovative, 

and diverse

3 327 3 334 0 7

Modernize the Institution’s financial 

management and accounting operations

1 99 1 100 0 1

Total 343 47,992 343 48,935 0 943

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The mission of the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is to 

inspire curiosity, discovery, and learning about nature and culture through 

outstanding research, collections, exhibitions, and education. Building upon its 

unique and vast collections and associated data, field research stations, 

specialized laboratories, and internationally recognized team of staff scientists, 

research associates, federal agency partners, and Fellows, the Museum provides 

fundamental research information to a wide array of constituencies ranging from 

federal agencies to the public. The Museum’s particular strengths are in all four 

of the following Smithsonian Grand Challenges: Unlocking the Mysteries of the 

Universe; Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet; Valuing World 

Cultures; and Understanding the American Experience. The Museum’s research 

provides new understanding and relevance to broader national and international 

scientific agendas, looking at such important societal issues as global change, 

biodiversity, cultural conflict, and natural hazards. 

The Museum’s stewardship of its collections, making up more than 

127 million natural history specimens and human artifacts, is at the core of its 

mission. This set of collections, the largest of its kind, is an unparalleled resource 

for collections-based research on the diversity of life on Earth, including plants, 

animals, fossils, minerals, and human activity. These anthropological, biological, 

and geological specimens and objects are the foundation for all of the Museum’s 

scientific products. With their unparalleled spatial breadth and temporal depth, 

the collections promote analyses and interpretations that enable scientists to 

connect observations of contemporary phenomena with the past and around the 

world so that we can better understand our planet and the effect of human 

activities on it. The Museum’s collections capture the imagination and stimulate 

the next generation of scientists, and are important for maintaining the 

Institution’s intellectual infrastructure and the Administration’s continuing goal of 

competitiveness in international science and the application of scientific 
61

knowledge. NMNH collections and their attendant information are a dynamic 

resource used by researchers, educators, and policy makers worldwide. 

In addition, NMNH’s collections serve as critical reference materials for 

U.S. Government agencies. These resources are actively and collaboratively 

used by staff members of the Departments of Defense, Commerce, Agriculture, 

and Interior, who are housed in NMNH facilities. For example, tens of thousands 

of insects urgently requiring identification are sent to NMNH from ports of entry 

each year. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and NMNH consult 

the collections and rapidly provide identifications to border control agencies so 

that U.S. agricultural and economic interests are kept secure from damage by 

potential invasive species. The NMNH bird collections provide answers to the 

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the U.S. Department of Defense, 

revealing the species of birds that damage aircraft, and leading to improved 

habitat control around airports and improved aircraft and engine design. 

In addition, the National Cancer Institute relies upon NMNH as a trusted 

repository for plant specimens that must be kept as vouchers for pharmacological 

and biomolecular research. Similarly, the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau 

of Ocean Energy Management relies on the NMNH as a trusted repository for the 

ecologically significant invertebrate animals it collects in the course of its 

research. Meteorites collected from Antarctica are deposited at NMNH by the 

Johnson Space Center and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

(NASA). One recent addition to the collections included a Martian meteorite that 

fell to Earth in the desert of southern Morocco; it was the first Martian meteorite 

to fall since 1962 and is only the fourth known. 

In the area of law enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation 

benefits from the identifications and analyses conducted by experts in the 

Department of Anthropology, who consult the human skeletal collections when 

providing answers about the remains of crime victims. In the area of public 

health, analyses of the collections have provided vital clues regarding the spread 

of H5N1, the Avian Flu virus, and the etiology of past influenza epidemics. 

NMNH’s first-class research supports its exhibitions and educational 

outreach. As one of the most visited museums in the world, NMNH provides 

diverse public audiences with presentations on every aspect of life on Earth. In 

FY 2013, the Museum hosted more than eight million visitors, and, through many 

affiliations and partnerships, NMNH takes its science, exhibitions, and public 

programs to other museums and non-traditional exhibition venues, such as 

libraries, schools, and universities across the country. With a growing network of 

interactive websites, distance-learning experiences, social media and software 

applications (apps), the Museum is transforming itself into a true electronic 

classroom, which is potentially accessible to everyone — free of charge. 
62

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $943,000 for necessary 

pay and other related salary costs for existing staff funded under this line item. 

 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

To achieve the strategic goals of Broadening Access and Revitalizing 

Education, funding will be used to maintain and upgrade permanent exhibitions, 

replace outdated exhibits with multidisciplinary, interactive exhibitions on the Mall 

and in other venues through traveling exhibits, and to conduct more electronic 

outreach across the country. Both the permanent and traveling exhibitions reflect 

best practices in visitor experience upgrades and informal science education, 

and these exhibits are developed as part of an array of public outreach activities. 

In FY 2014, NMNH welcomed more than 7 million visitors, and recent evaluations 

show that exhibitions now engage visitors for longer periods and in more 

dynamic ways than they did 10 years ago. The effectiveness of NMNH 

exhibitions and programming can be seen in the excitement they generate and 

their popularity with family audiences. 

Having completed the planning and design phase, FY 2015 marks the start 

of the actual renovation of the 30,000-square-foot Fossil Halls in preparation for 

the Deep Time exhibit scheduled to open in 2019. This project has required 

removing and conserving about 2,000 paleontological collections. The specimens 

are now being remounted for display when the exhibit opens. In addition to these 

major projects, donated funding supports scientific updates and visitor experience 

upgrades throughout the Museum’s 300,000 square feet of public space. 

In December 2013, the Museum opened Q?rius, a new Science, 

Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning facility that brings the 

NMNH Research and Collections assets to the forefront, allowing for public 

participation on site, online and through classrooms. 

In FY 2014, the Museum opened five new temporary exhibits, thanks to donor 

support and some creative partnerships. Temporary exhibitions included Unintended 

Journeys (February 2014), which tells the story of migrations of people around the 

world who are forced by environmental disasters to relocate. Featuring photographs 

from professional photographers, stories include the tsunami in Japan, Hurricane 

Katrina in New Orleans and an earthquake in Haiti. This project was funded by the 

Windland Smith Rice Nature’s Best Photography fund. Beyond Bollywood: Indian 

Americans Shape the Nation (February 2014) explores the heritage, daily 

experience and numerous, diverse contributions that Indian immigrants and Indian 

Americans have made to shaping the United States. This exhibition is part of a 

collaboration with the Smithsonian’s Asian Pacific American Center, which provided 

funding for this exhibition. The Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) will 

take the exhibition on tour for four years after its run of 20 months at NMNH. The 

Wilderness Forever photography show (September 2014) commemorates the 50th

anniversary of the passage of the Wilderness Act and features approximately 50 
63

images taken by people around the country. Selected through a nationwide 

photography contest developed specifically for this purpose, the images feature 

wilderness landscapes and wildlife from around the United States. This exhibition is 

funded through donations from the Wilderness 50 Coalition, made up of nonGovernmental organizations and Government agencies with a commitment to 

celebrating and preserving American wilderness. In addition, several temporary 

exhibits supplemented our dinosaur programming, including an augmented reality 

dinosaur exhibit, the Rex Room, a display based on photographing, scanning, and 

processing our new Tyrannosaurus Rex specimen, and several smaller displays. 

 Five temporary exhibits are planned for FY 2015. The Last American 

Dinosaurs (which opened in November of 2014) introduces visitors to the major 

themes of our new Deep Time exhibition, provides a venue to test exhibition 

concepts and strategies, and allows visitors continued access to the FossiLab 

where paleontological experts prepare specimens for research and display. 

Funded by a gift from David H. Koch, and supplemented with federal funds, this 

exhibition will provide continued access to dinosaur collections while the main halls 

are under renovation. Other exhibitions include Nature’s Best Photography 

(October 2014); Orchid Innovations (January 2015); Into Africa: The Photography 

of Frans Lanting (June 2015); and Primordial Landscapes: Iceland Revealed 

(July 2015). 

In FY 2016, NMNH will continue implementing its public engagement plan 

to coordinate and integrate its many outreach efforts. This plan focuses the 

Museum’s permanent and temporary exhibitions, educational and outreach 

programs, and Web outreach on the major research themes identified in the 

Science Strategic Plan: understanding the formation of the Earth and similar 

planets, discovering and understanding life’s diversity, and exploring human 

diversity and cultural change. 

In FY 2016, the Museum’s fundamental commitment to education and 

outreach will be further deepened and expanded in support of the Smithsonian’s 

strategic goal of Revitalizing Education. The Museum will build on its cuttingedge research, vast collections, and exciting exhibitions such as the Sant Ocean 

Hall, David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins, Race: Are We So Different?, and 

Butterflies + Plants: Partners in Evolution. In addition, the Museum’s new STEM 

education and experience center, Q?rius, brings out NMNH science experts and 

collections from behind the scenes and provides opportunities to engage with 

scientists, their research, collections and research-grade scientific equipment. 

The Museum will reach out to a growing local, national, and international 

audience, including children and families, students and teachers, adults, and 

especially teenagers who visit the Museum on the Mall or its extensive presence 

online. Outreach activities will include traveling exhibitions, distance learning, and 

in-depth, online resources, including the Ocean Portal, Human Origins website, 

Q?rius.si.edu and digitized collections, as well as long-standing programs of 

lectures, films, and teacher education. These programs and resources will 
64

continue to inspire citizens by making them aware of current issues related to the 

natural and cultural world, helping them understand their role in addressing those 

issues, and enabling them to participate in experiences that inspire stewardship, 

conservation, and protection of natural and cultural diversity. In addition, there is 

a focused effort to build new youth audiences and increase youth participation in 

a continuum of opportunities that inspire, nurture, grow and diversify the next 

generation of STEM professionals. These efforts will serve visitors to our nation’s 

capital and, through innovations in educational technology, tens of millions of 

people around the world who cannot visit the Museum in person. NMNH 

will continue to study the effectiveness and impact of its public education and 

outreach efforts with focused audience research and evaluation. 

 

For FY 2016, a primary focus of the Museum’s exhibit efforts will be on the 

design and renovation of the NMNH Fossil Hall. The design of the exhibit has been 

completed to the 65 percent level in advance of the renovation component to 

ensure coordination between construction and the exhibit. The Museum is in the 

second of three major renovation stages associated with this project, and will enter 

the final phase of exhibit construction in 2017. 

 

Additional exhibit maintenance funds provided to the Museum have been 

invested in upgrading the audiovisual elements of older exhibits and the general 

maintenance and cleaning of all NMNH exhibits. 

Also in FY 2016, NMNH will continue a rich array of monthly on-site and 

online public programs to complement the Museum’s exhibitions, including the 

Hall of Human Origins and Sant Ocean Hall, and the new paleontology 

temporary exhibition. These programs will include intergenerational 

programming, public lectures, hands-on lab experiences and additional events 

for local and national audiences. NMNH will continue to prepare and disseminate 

new educational resources for the public, and for students and teachers, to 

support major exhibitions. In particular, NMNH will focus its science programs on 

greater outreach to the public and on increased public access to the collections 

through Web-based resources and use of distance-learning technologies. This 

outreach includes maintaining engagement through the qrius.si.edu, the Ocean 

Portal and Human Origins interactive educational websites, beginning 

development on a new paleobiology website, and continuing to incorporate 

evolving social media. NMNH will continue to increase access to exhibits, 

research, and collections for people with disabilities as well as economically 

disadvantaged students. In addition, NMNH will continue to expand its 

professional volunteer community to enhance the visitor experience and enrich

programming at the Museum, now with more than 850 volunteers engaging the 

public with information and informal educational programming in English and 16 

additional languages. New media tools and new partnerships and services will be 

used to reach traditionally underserved audiences.

 
65

 A critical element of NMNH’s plans for FY 2016 is the Museum’s 

commitment to the stewardship of its federal scientific collections in support of 

the Smithsonian’s strategic goal of Strengthening Collections. As underscored by 

a recent survey of federal collections, these resources play an important role in 

public health and safety, homeland security, trade and economic development, 

medical research, and environmental monitoring. They also provide the 

foundation for the Museum’s diverse research, exhibits, and public outreach 

programs. NMNH will continue to strengthen its commitment to cutting-edge 

research and state-of-the-art stewardship of the collections, in partnership with 

affiliated federal agencies such as the Departments of Defense, Commerce, 

Agriculture, and the Interior. Federal funding is the linchpin for maintaining and 

preserving these priceless collections and their valuable information for future 

generations, while also supporting their use for critical ongoing research that, for 

example, facilitates recovery efforts after natural disasters such as volcanic 

eruptions and the associated loss of biodiversity. The breadth of NMNH research 

and its collections of biological, geological, and anthropological objects foster an 

interdisciplinary environment that attracts other academic institutions, foreign 

researchers, and national and international policy makers. 

Furthermore, the NMNH has a long history of training future scientists 

here and abroad to examine and monitor biodiversity in their own countries, 

among their other research endeavors, which also strengthens the NMNH 

collections and connections with these countries. The NMNH is committed to 

training future generations of scientists by increasing the number of its 

postdoctoral Fellowship awards and providing an entry-level research experience 

for the most talented undergraduates in the Earth and life sciences as well as 

anthropology. Collaboration with foreign students and colleagues will continue to 

be emphasized to broaden the international science network. 

In FY 2016, the NMNH will continue collections preservation and access 

projects related to strategic initiatives in preserving indigenous languages 

through preservation of manuscripts, recordings and moving images, and 

photographs; preserving and digitizing fossil collections and associated paper 

records; and preserving biological specimens at ultra-cold temperatures to

document biodiversity as part of the Global Genome Initiative. A high-impact 

project for FY 2016 is the continuing integration of the national parasite collection 

which was transferred from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 

FY 2014, and which requires re-housing, data migration, and reorganization. In 

addition to these strategic initiatives, other high-priority collections improvement 

projects identified through the comprehensive, quantitative assessment of the 

collections will continue. These include the re-housing of large collections of 

marine invertebrates; integration of DNA sequences generated from NMNH’s 

research activities into the biorepository; inventory of selected ethnographic 

collections; re-housing of geological collections in need of microclimates to 

prevent deterioration; securing vertebrate collections cabinetry; improving 

mitigation and prevention strategies for management of pests; re-housing and 
66

organization of unique collections of slide-mounted microscopic invertebrates; rehousing and creation of digital surrogates of selected insect collections; and 

recuration and arrangement of fossil plant and animal collections. 

The NMNH will continue to significantly increase the number of specimen 

records in its electronic databases for scientists and the Research and 

Collections Information System (RCIS), and to expand the availability of these 

valuable and unique assets via the Internet to worldwide researchers, policy 

makers, and the public. Recent pilot efforts to speed the rate of digitization will be 

used to increase the number of selected plant and insect records available 

online. NMNH’s digitization priorities will continue to be guided by its digitization 

plan, focusing on selected plant, insect, vertebrate, and artifact collections. The 

Museum will continue to develop a streamlined data-capture system for use 

when collecting specimens in the field. 

To achieve the Smithsonian’s goal of Excellent Research in FY 2016, 

NMNH continues to focus on basic research in geology and mineralogy, 

paleobiology, systematics, genomics, evolutionary biology, ecology and its 

relationship to biodiversity, and anthropology and successful major initiatives 

such as Deep Time, Recovering Voices and Genomics. Increasing the number of 

digitized specimens will enable researchers to leverage the knowledge inherent 

in the diverse collections to address many of today’s pressing issues regarding 

invasive species, disease vectors, and the impact of humans on biodiversity and 

climate. As a result, NMNH publications will have a more integrated quality, 

providing insights from all viewpoints of the Museum on pressing national and 

international topics. 

The NMNH’s strengths in research have been diversified and infused with 

some exciting hires in the past few years. Areas focused on, which also link 

directly to the Smithsonian’s Grand Challenge areas of research, are as follows: 

maintenance, documentation, and analysis of indigenous languages of 

Mesoamerica; the analysis of microbial production of certain minerals in polluted 

environments to identify remediation strategies; the evolution of pelagic 

invertebrates that swim up off the sea floor, as opposed to their ancestors that 

actually lived on the sea floor; the evolution of ferns; the evolutionary and 

ecological histories of some four-limbed marine tetrapods that made the great 

transition from life on land to sea; the evolutionary history of parasitic worms, 

especially leeches and tapeworms; and the paleoecology of whales and 

dolphins. 

In FY 2016, NMNH will ramp up the Global Genome Initiative (GGI) to 

collect genomic samples and voucher specimens from every major branch of the 

Tree of Life — each of the approximately 10,000 families and half of the major 

known genera. Biodiversity genomics is at the forefront of innovation and 

discovery due to technological advances resulting from the Human Genome 

Project. By sequencing a broad representation of the Earth’s biodiversity —
67

initially, at least one specimen representative of every family — GGI will extend 

the genomics revolution, which began with human and model organisms, to the 

rest of life on Earth, and provide data that will accelerate biological inquiry and 

innovation for the 21st century. Less than 20 percent of our planet’s 12 million or 

more species have been identified, yet extinction and habitat loss could eliminate 

many of them before we even know they exist. 

The NMNH alone has invested $11.7 million to date in infrastructure and 

currently spends $2 million annually to support core analytical laboratory 

operations and 10 staff. Additional funds are spent to support the associated 

collections and necessary infrastructure, and to fund research and field collecting 

activities. The Bio-Repository at the Museum Support Center (MSC) represents 

the primary infrastructure for the storage of genomic samples. The reliability and 

maintenance of the ultra-cold freezer equipment is critical to the preservation and 

availability of these genomic samples for future generations of scientists. In 

FY 2014, NMNH received private support of $6 million to accelerate work on the 

GGI. This private support will also expand the Global Genome Biodiversity 

Network (GGBN), a consortium of the world’s major biorepositories and genomic 

research collections. The Museum organized this network, which now has 24 

collaborating member institutions and will serve to accelerate and optimize 

research everywhere. Its vision is to have one federated database of the world’s 

genomic resources — tissues and DNA — accessible to all stakeholders. The 

combination of federal infrastructure and private support will provide an important 

asset for scientific study and enable Smithsonian researchers to do more than 

would be possible with public- or private-sector resources alone. 

Highlights of other research that NMNH scientists will continue in FY 2016

include: dinosaur evolution research indicating that early dinosaurs quickly 

reached large body sizes as they occupied new ecological roles; international 

fieldwork that yields discoveries like the first new species of mammalian 

carnivore identified in 35 years, the olinguito (a member of the raccoon family); 

research on the springsnails of western North America that are currently afforded 

protection under the Endangered Species Act; interdisciplinary research on 

island ecology and biodiversity in the Channel Islands, forcing evaluation of 

ecosystem restoration goals and reducing risks of climate change; work in ocean 

environments and studies on current circulation, focusing on past intervals and 

greenhouse climate, as well as on coral reefs, trying to understand how 

settlement can aid in restoring Caribbean reefs; studies of the large-scale 

evolutionary relationships among birds, insects, and plants as part of 

collaborative research projects in the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded 

Tree of Life initiative; new research on past climate instability indicating that early 

humans adjusted to their environment in stages, through development of a large 

brain, long legs, and making tools; research on ecological recoveries from mass 

extinctions and the innovations in the history of life; research as part of the 

Endangered Language Program, which will preserve and make accessible 

through digitization more than 11,400 sound recordings of endangered 
68

languages in the National Anthropological Archives and Human Studies Film 

Archives; and NSF-funded research into the spread of the earliest humans from 

Africa and Asia. 

NMNH also continues to lead the way in training the next generation of 

scientists. In FY 2014, NMNH hosted 219 Fellows and more than 350 interns, 

from 35 different countries and 32 different U.S. states, as well as the District of 

Columbia. One endowment and two significant NSF grants support these 

endeavors, with training of more university faculty members in the future. 

Finally, the NMNH will continue to develop the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL), 

a landmark effort to digitally gather, organize, curate and freely share trusted 

information on the 1.9 million known species of life on Earth (and many extinct 

ones as well). Started in 2007, the Encyclopedia of Life provides global access to 

knowledge about life on Earth through a free website (http://eol.org) that is 

available in more than a dozen languages. The NMNH hosts the Secretariat 

(administrative and leadership hub) and the Content Working Group for 

the Encyclopedia of Life, which is based on federal funding, grants and 

contributions from member institutions, and Web visitors. EOL content can be 

organized to meet the needs of different user communities, from educators and 

scientists to policy makers and the general public. EOL’s most recent innovation 

was the introduction of TraitBank, a unique repository of computable species trait 

data that has dramatically increased the amount of information in EOL. With 

extensive, broad collections, an engaged community of scientific contributors, 

and highly skilled public programs staff to provide insights into these collections, 

the NMNH is uniquely positioned to digitally document all of Earth’s biodiversity. 

In FY 2016, the NMNH will continue to support the strategic goal of 

Strengthening Collections by providing maintenance for mobile shelving, nitrogen 

cabinets, and freezers at the state-of-the-art research, conservation, and 

collection storage facility at the MSC in Suitland, Maryland, as well as by 

relocating tissue collections from various sites into the Bio-Repository at MSC, 

moving the National Parasite Collection and associated materials to MSC and 

NMNH, and assisting in remediating collections damaged in the 2011 

earthquake. The Museum will continue renovating major building systems and 

improving security in the building, resulting in better collections housing, 

upgraded laboratory facilities for researchers, and more useful public spaces for 

exhibitions and educational opportunities. Management will continue to support a 

robust and reliable information technology infrastructure for new online facilities, 

and to broaden access to the Museum’s collections and research through Web 

programs which support NMNH-specific electronic outreach goals. This focus on 

Broadening Access helps make collections data easily accessible via the 

Internet, maintains important collaborative Web projects such as the Ocean 

Portal and the Human Origins websites, and enables the Museum to launch new 

websites and update them with current information in a timely manner.
69

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds support salaries 

and benefits of administrative personnel, development and business activities, 

and other program-related costs. The Museum raises funds from private sources 

to support research, exhibitions, public programs, and administrative functions. 

This includes securing donations from special events to promote new exhibitions 

and educational initiatives, and public outreach. Donor/sponsor-designated funds 

are critical to support exhibition hall renovations, such as the major gifts that are 

helping to fund the ongoing major renovations of the Fossil Hall and Human 

Origins Hall, establish Fellowship programs at the Museum, and educational 

activities and programs in Q?rius, the STEM education and experience center 

that opened in December of 2013. In addition, significant endowment gifts 

support internships and Fellowships which will introduce more students to the 

natural sciences, as well as help the Museum maintain and update its 

educational programs for the Ocean Hall, and study of human origins. Other 

examples include the Ernest S. (“Tiger”) Burch, Jr. Endowment, which promotes 

and interprets the multidisciplinary study of Arctic peoples and their cultures, past 

and present. Additionally, the Harold Robinson and Vicki Funk Fund supports the 

creation of an award to fund and sustain the work of Fellows, researchers and 

curators conducting research involving Compositae (or Asteraceae) collections in 

the U.S. National Herbarium within the NMNH. These endowments are important 

in providing operational and research support to scientists as they conduct their 

important work. 

The NMNH had a successful year in private fund raising through the 

Smithsonian Campaign, raising $25.6 million in FY 2014, which focused on the 

Human Origins, Global Genome and Fellows programs. Importantly, $15 million 

of this campaign success was through a Human Origins endowment, which turns 

this Museum initiative into a sustainable, long-term program augmenting the 

basic research of the Museum. In addition, an NMNH board member gave the 

Museum a $6 million leadership gift to launch the Global Genome Initiative, 

which will focus on collecting genomic samples. 

The Museum continues to receive grants and contracts from both nonGovernment and Government institutions. The NMNH was awarded grants and 

contracts totaling $7.1 million in FY 2014. These funds support both cutting-edge 

research and exhibitions, and demonstrate international collaboration in addition 

to cross-agency collaboration on shared projects and issues. For example, 

researchers in the Departments of Mineral Sciences and Paleobiology continue 

to receive significant grants from NASA and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory 

for various research projects. Two significant foundation grants are going to 

preserve recordings and manuscripts of languages no longer actively spoken in 

the United States and other parts of the world. The remaining community 

members rely heavily on NMNH collections to help revive their dying languages. 

The U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Department of Transportation continue to 

support the bird/aircraft strike hazard program that provides critical data to the 

FAA and other agencies on the types of birds that are a flight risk for 
70

aircraft. Funds were provided to continue work on the Consortium for the 

Barcode of Life, an international initiative devoted to developing DNA barcoding 

as a global standard for the identification of biological species. In addition, NMNH 

has received funds from a health research company to analyze specimens 

related to malaria outbreaks in Brazil. Also, the U.S. Department of Health and 

Human Services has provided funding to identify invasive fish species, and the 

U.S. Park Service is supporting indigenous language documentation in the 

Bering Strait region of Alaska. 

The effects of environmental change are documented, monitored, and 

assessed in various ways. One NMNH researcher and his colleagues at George 

Mason University received an NSF grant to develop new computer models which 

will simulate human societies and analyze their responses to climate change. 

The NMNH also continues to receive funding from the National Cancer Institute 

to inventory important plant voucher and invertebrate specimens. Finally, NMNH 

also receives funds from the U.S. Department of Defense to continue 

environmental monitoring in and around the St. Lucie Estuary and the Southern 

Indian River Lagoon in Florida, an area rich in biological diversity. 

 
71

NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR 

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014 

ENACTED 204 24,533 31 4,803 24 6,163 7 1,717

FY 2015

ENACTED 204 25,420 31 5,000 24 7,000 7 1,700

FY 2016 

REQUEST 208 26,603 31 5,000 24 7,000 7 1,700

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

REVITALIZING EDUCATION; STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS; AND 

MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Engage in research and discovery 25 2,586 25 2,644 0 58

Broadening Access

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 5 757 5 769 0 12

Revitalizing Education

Education

Engage and inspire diverse audiences 2 259 2 264 0 5

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national 

collections 155 18,706 159 19,775 4 1,069

Mission Enabling

Security and Safety

Provide world-class protection for Smithsonian 

facilities, collections, staff, visitors, and 

volunteers 5 793 5 804 0 11

Information Technology

Modernize the Institution’s information 

technology systems and infrastructure 4 816 4 825 0 9
72

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is 

customer centered and results oriented 6 1,105 6 1,119 0 14

Ensure that the Smithsonian workforce is 

efficient, collaborative, committed, innovative, 

and diverse 0 116 0 116 0 0

Enhance the reputation of the Smithsonian by 

maintaining good relations with the news media 

and with federal, state, and local governments 2 282 2 287 0 5

Total 204 25,420 208 26,603 4 1,183

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

In FY 2016, Smithsonian National Zoological Park (NZP) will mark the midpoint of the NZP strategic plan, “Our Plan to Save Species.” With the Strategic 

Plan as the roadmap, the focus in FY 2016 will be: 

Ensuring the Survival of Species at Risk: Wildlife Health, Captive 

Animal Husbandry, and Welfare 

Maintaining a live collection is a multifaceted challenge. The first priority is 

to maintain the health of the collection as it exists today. The second is to ensure 

that there are systems and processes in place to ensure the continued viability of 

a live collection into the future, which is a cooperative effort among American 

Zoological Association (AZA) zoos. NZP is a leader of both efforts, and the 

medical unit is at the forefront of its field. 

NZP medical professionals ensure the reproductive health of mothers and

the vitality of newborns, and provide geriatric care for a morphologically diverse 

collection ranging from elephants to cuttlefish. NZP has traditionally staffed the 

medical unit with board-certified veterinarians and pathologists regulated by the 

American College of Zoological Medicine (ACZM) and the American College of 

Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP), both rigorous programs involving residency 

training and significant research and publishing. Today, only two veterinarians and 

NZP’s sole pathologist are board-certified. NZP has traditionally maintained one of 

the country’s few residency training programs, a requirement to ensure a future 

staff of these medical professionals. The program is also critical in raising the 

standard of animal care in American zoos. Retaining ACZM board-certified 

veterinarians and pathologists is a requirement to maintain this residency 

program. 

The field of zoological pathology is crucial to safeguarding the health of our 

rare and endangered animals. Information learned from biopsies and necropsy 

reports helps identify the cause of illnesses, allowing clinical veterinarians to halt 

the spread of disease before the rest of the collection is affected. The data in 

these reports has helped both Zoo animals and wildlife globally. NZP’s pathology 
73

team was the first to identify and describe in detail the EEHV herpes virus, the 

leading cause of young captive elephant mortality, and was subsequently 

instrumental in the identification of six additional virus species in captive and wild 

elephants. The NZP pathology department also identified the chytrid fungus, 

which is now ravaging amphibian populations globally. NZP pathologists in New 

York were the first to identify the emergence in our continent of the West Nile 

Virus — a disease that affects both the animal and human population, potentially 

causing illness lasting months, or death. In addition to the program’s significant 

impact the health of giant panda cubs, and training programs in Vietnam, our 

pathologist managed the longest continually running zoological pathology training 

program. 

During the last 50 years, NZP has trained 15 veterinary pathology residents 

and many more veterinary students who are now leaders in the professional 

community. Pathology service and guidance is also instrumental in most animalrelated research regarding pathogens, nutrition, genetics, and physiology. Much 

of the NZP pathology archive, which is used by researchers, museums, and 

educational facilities to track the spread and origins of disease in the animal 

world, exists only because of the commitments of the Zoo pathologists. 

Last but not least, our pathologists continue to help ensure the absence of 

disease and pathological agents. One of NZP’s primary responsibilities is keeping 

both staff and visitors safe. Several times each year, pathologists are called upon 

to rapidly and accurately detect the presence or absence of a zoonotic agent —

such as Influenza, Tuberculosis, Salmonella or E. coli and Balmuthia. Due to the 

critical nature that our pathology team plays in maintaining and safeguarding both 

animal and human health, the lack of pathology resources and related capabilities 

puts our animal collection and related species survival programs in danger, and 

the Zoo and general public at risk. The NZP pathology program serves as a vital 

component, and participant in our Institution’s missions of advancement and 

diffusion of knowledge, understanding a biodiverse planet, and saving species. 

The pathology program also maintains a rigorously controlled collection of 

samples in different forms: desiccated fecal samples, tissues stored in alcohol, 

histological slides, frozen blood/serum/tissues, and samples stored in paraffin. 

Only NZP maintains an active collection that spans a significant period of time. As 

health issues emerge in a captive animal population, only NZP can answer the 

question of whether a pathogen has been living undetected in an animal 

population for years, or whether it has newly emerged. Our banked samples can 

and have been used in many research projects to answer questions about 

infectious disease, chronic disease, and genetics. NZP is the only Zoo in North 

America to take on the role of a collecting entity, preserving a comprehensive 

library of biological samples to fulfill future researchers’ needs for data which 

cannot be anticipated in advance. 
74

Expanding Our Reach and Impact through the Guest Experience 

NZP is the top destination for families with children in the Washington DC 

metro area. On site, NZP welcomes families with children, tour groups, field trips, 

tourists, young adults, grandparents, and those seeking to connect with nature in 

our urban environment. In FY 2014, NZP welcomed visitors from each of the 50 

states, along with Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands and many 

international visitors. Virtually, via our web cams, NZP allows visitors throughout 

the world to stay in touch with Bao Bao, our panda cub, the new elephants, and 

the growing lion pride. Even the naked mole rats have a virtual fan club. Whether 

on site or virtually, the live collection is what draws the public. Metrics are being 

developed to measure how a Zoo visit increases the visitor’s level of biodiversity 

literacy. Although this work is at its infancy, the earliest results of a World 

Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) study (A Global Evaluation of 

Biodiversity Literacy in Zoo and Aquarium Visitors — 2014) indicates that zoos 

increase the public’s understanding of biodiversity and knowledge of actions to 

help protect biodiversity. 

In conjunction with Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ), NZP leverages the 

energy of an extensive volunteer community. Volunteer interpreters are on the 

front lines of engaging the public in connecting to the animals they see. 

NZP exhibits use a variety of techniques to connect visitors to the missions 

of the Zoo and the Smithsonian. Keeper demos are the highlight of a Zoo visit, as 

the animals of the live collection exhibit natural behaviors that educate the public, 

including fish feedings in Amazonia, elephant training, the sea lion demonstration, 

and others. These interactive components of exhibits provide a greater learning 

impact and appreciation for the needs and behavior of animals; it is one thing to 

read that an elephant can lift 700 pounds, and another to try to move the weight 

yourself. Visitors gain a better understanding for the need to manage animalhuman interaction. In FY 2015, NZP will add new digital signs throughout the Park 

— both inside and outside. Digital signs accomplish multiple goals, one of which is 

to provide an early warning system for events that need to be communicated 

quickly, such as adverse weather conditions, an escaped animal, or other security 

incidents in the Park. On a daily basis, digital signs will help orient visitors with 

path-finding information, provide up-to-date information about activities such as 

keeper demonstrations, and provide more in-depth information about the animal 

collection. 

The NZP website is also an important component of the Zoo’s educational 

efforts. The website serves a variety of needs, providing simple information such 

as opening hours, and continually updated posts about new animals. Traffic to the 

website is predominantly associated with the webcams (with the giant panda cam 

by far the most popular), with information about visiting the Zoo not far behind. 

One change observed over the past several years has been the large increase in 

those accessing the website via mobile devices. When the website was 
75

developed, there were few Web browsers and no mobile usage. Today, the 

website needs to serve multiple browsers and an increasing number of different 

mobile platforms, which the current digital infrastructure is not well equipped to 

accomplish; many of the features of the site are not available on mobile devices. 

Updating the site requires technical expertise and knowledge. The technology 

underpinning the site is quickly becoming obsolete and is in need of an overhaul. 

In FY 2015, NZP will invest in a technical and content redesign of the current 

website and convert to a responsive content management system to improve the 

efficiency of website operations and services for those who rely on it. Once this 

occurs, NZP will need to continue to maintain the system to ensure that 

information about the collection is kept current and accessible. 

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $1,183,000 and 4 

FTEs. The increase includes $483,000 for necessary pay and other related salary 

costs for existing staff funded under this line item, and a programmatic increase of 

$700,000 and 4 FTEs to support the welfare and care of the animal collection. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

The health, safety, security, and welfare of the staff, visitors, and 

collections are the most important considerations in the Zoo. 

An immediate influx of resources is needed to re-establish previous 

standards in pathology services and collections, as well as maintain leadership in 

veterinary medicine. Previously, NZP was able to attract and retain ACZM boardcertified veterinarians. Today, that is no longer the case. NZP is no longer as 

attractive to this small pool of talented individuals, and the pay scale is a major 

barrier. Today, the staffing has shrunk to a dangerously low level in pathology, 

which must be corrected by hiring more staff and raising salaries to competitive 

levels. The Zoo’s scientifically vital pathology collection will be maintained by an 

increase in staff and the purchase of new supplies. 

When the public hears “Smithsonian’s National Zoo,” they think animals. 

Wild, exotic animals that are found in places like Africa and Asia are typically the 

first that come to mind. In FY 2014, NZP welcomed three additional elephants to 

the newly renovated Elephant exhibit. This allowed NZP to build a natural and 

social herd. Also in FY 2014, NZP produced one litter of tiger cubs; two litters of 

lion cubs; Bao Bao, the panda cub; a new sloth bear cub on Asia Trail; Andean 

bear cubs on American Trail; a new grey seal; and many smaller animals 

throughout the Zoo. Labor Day 2014 also marked the opening of the Bison exhibit 

in celebration of NZP’s 125th birthday (because the bison was the first animal in 

the Zoo collection in 1890). 

Since the opening of its new facilities in the fall of 2012, the SmithsonianMason School of Conservation (SMSC) continues to grow and serve its mission of 

educating the next generation of conservation professionals. The Living-Learning 
76

Community leverages the expertise of Smithsonian and Mason faculty and staff to 

offer courses and programming for undergraduate scholars, graduate students, 

and professionals, as well as affinity groups from around the world. The program’s 

highlights in FY 2014 include: 

 SMSC has educated 49 students in its undergraduate program. Several 

students have selected the program as a valuable post-baccalaureate 

experience. 

 The graduate and professional team ran 13 courses, serving a total of 134 

professionals from 38 countries. Courses using new methods to measure 

species populations and biodiversity are among the most popular. 

 SMSC has served more than 2,000 conference guests from 64 different 

organizations, including the World Wildlife Fund, the World Bank, and 

Conservation International. Conference revenue doubled in the second 

year of operation. 

 The SMSC team continues to grow, adding two full-time and five part-time 

staff to support operations, increased enrollment, and conference activities. 

NZP thrives on birth and renewal. New animals and refreshed exhibits are 

what inspire visitors to care about animals, biodiversity, conservation, and biology. 

Safety requirements such as two-person rules, additional time spent developing 

and training on safety protocols, double lock checks, and scheduling keepers to 

ensure that sufficient staff are available to cover animal escapes and other 

emergencies have put pressure on staffing in all areas of the Zoo. With a live 

collection, the animal care staff must have the resources to deal with 

emergencies. In FY 2014, two animal births resulted in the need for 24-hour 

keeper care. The first grey seal born at NZP in 23 years arrived in January of

2014. However, 48 hours later, it became clear that she would need to be handfed because her mother was not lactating enough to support the pup’s healthy 

growth. The keeper staff started feedings six times each day, with a special 

formula that mimics her mother’s milk. Another birth that required round-the-clock 

care was the sloth bear born in December. 

NZP’s next capital renovation will be unique as a major exhibit and the first 

of its kind in a zoological park or natural history museum to tell the story of bird 

migration and the science behind it. The new venue will enable visitors to learn 

and wonder about bird migration from a global perspective, reflecting NZP’s 

mission of excellence in animal exhibition, husbandry, and scientific 

leadership. The development of the exhibit is a multiyear effort. With completion of 

concept development, FY 2015 will see the Zoo’s multidisciplinary team continue 

to work with the design team to complete the bulk of the design phase —

including schematic design, design development, and the majority of construction 

documents — for both the facility and the exhibit interpretation, with continued 

refinement of the animal collection to support the migration storyline. The 

remaining construction documents will be completed in FY 2016. Planning and 

design for collections swing space are running concurrently with the Bird House 
77

renovation design phase, and by the summer of 2016 the collections will be ready 

to be moved so that construction can begin in FY 2017. 

EXPLANATION OF CHANGE 

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $1,183,000 and 4 

FTEs. The increase includes $483,000 for necessary pay and other related salary 

costs for existing staff funded under this line item, and a programmatic increase of 

$700,000 and 4 FTEs to support the welfare and care of the animal collection, as 

detailed below. 

Animal Welfare (+$700,000, +4 FTEs) 

 The NZP requests an increase of $700,000 and 4 FTEs to support the 

Zoo’s medical team, primarily in the Pathology unit, which will help ensure the 

health, safety, and welfare of the living collection. The requested funds would 

support pathology staffing, ensure the maintenance of the pathology collection, 

allow NZP to attract and retain board-certified professionals, and continue its 

residency program. These additional funds will allow diseases and medical 

issues to be diagnosed more quickly. This will ensure the appropriate 

treatment of sick animals, thereby preventing any diseases from spreading 

outside the Zoo. 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds support salaries and 

benefits of the director, general operational requirements for adequate animal care, 

professional training in conservation sciences, and animal acquisitions. 

Donor/sponsor-designated funds support the costs related to specific programs and 

projects, including field and captive studies on Sahelo-Saharan antelopes, 

amphibians, cheetahs, giant pandas, Asian elephants, tigers, and clouded leopards; 

ecological studies on migratory birds; and the documentation and monitoring of 

biodiversity and habitat quality in selected sites around the world. A large percentage 

of these funds supplement federal funding for renovating and modernizing the Zoo. 

Private donations to bring bison back to NZP or fund the Bird House renovation cover 

a portion of construction costs and support all exhibit interpretive design and 

implementation. Government grants and contracts support a wide array of scientific 

studies on the biology and habitats of endangered and threatened species. 

Concessions such as food and retail sales fund the NZP Information Technology 

Support and Help Desk, exhibit maintenance, visitor services, volunteer programs, 

and the communications team. 
78

SMITHSONIAN ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH CENTER 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 32 3,873 9 833 8 1,554 36 4,663

FY 2015

ENACTED 32 3,909 8 850 8 1,700 40 4,706

FY 2016

REQUEST 32 3,992 8 850 8 1,800 40 4,978

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; REVITALIZING 

EDUCATION; AND MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Engage in research and discovery 24 3,121 24 3,183 0 62

Revitalizing Education

Education

Engage and inspire diverse audiences 1 116 1 119 0 3

Mission Enabling

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is 

customer centered and results oriented 4 453 4 464 0 11

Modernize the Institution’s financial 

management and accounting operations 3 219 3 226 0 7

Total 32 3,909 32 3,992 0 83

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) is a leader in 

research on land and water ecosystems in the coastal zone. SERC’s innovative 

research and unique setting advance basic environmental science in the zone 

where most of the world’s population lives, and provides society with the 

knowledge to solve the environmental challenges of the 21st century. 

Research and discovery remain the core activities at SERC. Scientists use 

the unique site on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay, and other sites, including 

the Smithsonian Marine Science Network, to investigate the ecological 
79

interconnections of aquatic, terrestrial, and atmospheric components of complex 

landscapes, with comparative studies on regional, continental, and global scales. 

SERC achieves the goal of Revitalizing Education by engaging and 

inspiring diverse audiences through school-based programs, teacher training, 

and public outreach. SERC programs serve more than 12,000 school children 

and public visitors annually. 

SERC maintains a vigorous professional training program dedicated to 

producing the next generation of scientists. Through its efforts to achieve 

extramural funding and establish external partnerships, SERC hosts a large 

number of undergraduate interns, graduate students, postdoctoral Fellows, and 

visiting scientists, with a particular success in reaching candidates from 

underserved communities. 

SERC will continue to update and streamline management systems and 

functions, and advance construction of its Facilities Master Plan. In FY 2015, 

SERC will complete work on its new fire suppression water system and the 

renewable energy photovoltaic array associated with the recently completed 

Charles McC. Mathias Laboratory. In addition, the Center will begin making 

improvements to its one-mile entrance road, which is necessary for the safe 

travel of staff and visitors in passenger vehicles and school buses. 

 

The 2016 budget request includes an increase of $83,000 for necessary 

pay and other related salary costs for existing staff funded under this line item. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

SERC has an advantage in furthering its research goals and priorities by 

operating its 2,650-acre site on the Chesapeake Bay. Using the unique 

assemblage of streams, shoreline, forests and agricultural fields, its scientists 

investigate the interconnections of aquatic, terrestrial, and atmospheric 

components of complex landscapes. SERC’s research campus also supports 

research efforts of other collaborators and agencies (e.g., U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and many 

universities and state agencies). SERC develops innovative approaches and 

instrumentation to measure environmental changes at four ecological levels (i.e., 

global change, landscape ecology, ecology of coastal ecosystems, and 

population and community ecology), and has developed unique, long-term, and 

experimental data sets on environmental change. SERC has been a leader in 

developing the Smithsonian’s Marine Science Network of sites along the western 

Atlantic Ocean for comparative coastal studies, as well as in developing the new 

Tennenbaum Marine Observatories Network. SERC is a partner site in the 

National Ecological Observation Network (NEON). As such, in FY 2014 

construction began on a new sampling tower array to support a node for 

environmental data collection that will feed a national network established to 
80

observe and interpret changes in terrestrial environments. Construction has been 

completed and the site will become operational in the Spring of 2015. During its 

50-year history, SERC has built a reputation for world-class research, producing 

many publications that are rich in data and multi-disciplinary and integrative in 

analysis. 

SERC’s research, education, and outreach efforts are closely aligned with 

the Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan. By building on existing strengths and special 

programs, SERC enhances its successful research on the following topics: landsea linkages of ecosystems; landscape ecology of coastal watersheds; estuarine 

ecology; invasive species (especially in coastal ecosystems); global change 

impacts on biotic and chemical interactions; biocomplexity of structure and 

processes in key ecosystems; and community and population ecology. 

During the next five years, SERC research on coastal marine ecology will 

focus on four key, interrelated areas: the structure and dynamics of marine food 

webs; the integrity and biodiversity of crucial marine ecosystems; linkages of 

ecosystems at the land-sea interface; and the ecological regulation of marine 

biodiversity. SERC seeks to expand its expertise in the ecology of invasive 

species and how they affect coastal ecosystems. To implement these goals, 

SERC will link its research with national and international research networks and 

enhance the Marine Science Network. SERC is also developing scientific and 

technological capabilities in analytical chemistry, remote sensing, and 

instrumentation in coastal watersheds and connected ecosystems. SERC has 

been a lead contributor in establishing a consortium, known as TMON 

(Tennenbaum Marine Observatories Network), in an effort to coordinate and 

align the extensive marine research efforts ongoing throughout the Smithsonian. 

In addition, SERC is working with partners in the National Museum of Natural 

History and the regional research community to develop DNA barcode libraries 

for all of the species of fishes and major groups of invertebrates of the 

Chesapeake Bay. This will become a shared resource for tracking biodiversity, 

species distributions, and foodweb structures in the nation’s largest estuary.

SERC uses its website to provide more information to the public about 

environmental issues in general, and the Center’s research and education 

programs in particular. On-site education will focus on serving more than 12,000 

students and members of the general public. SERC will continue to focus on 

improved access for traditionally underserved audiences, as well as those 

participants located off site from the SERC campus. 

SERC has strengthened its public outreach programs and continues to 

participate in the National Park Service’s Chesapeake Gateways Network. 

Through partnerships with various agencies in the Maryland state government 

and the Gateways program, SERC has continued developing a series of new 

trails and visitor experiences on the historic 575-acre Contee Farm, which was 

acquired in 2008. In addition to providing a lecture series, workshops, and expert 
81

consultation for the public, teachers, and public officials, SERC remains open to 

the public six days a week. Also, besides offering formal programs to the public, 

SERC encourages visitors to explore the Center’s many trails through forests 

and fields, as well as more than 12 miles of shoreline along the Chesapeake 

Bay. 

SERC continues to implement its comprehensive Facilities Master Plan 

through projects that provide critical infrastructure improvements and allow for 

controlled and operationally sustainable growth during the next two decades. 

One of the key components of the plan is the focus on reducing energy and 

water consumption across the campus. The incorporation of sustainable 

improvements at the campus will ensure long-term savings in operating costs 

and a reduction in SERC’s carbon footprint. For example, the Charles McC. 

Mathias Laboratory has been designed to achieve a designation of Leadership in 

Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum — the highest measure of 

environmental sustainability afforded by the U.S. Green Building Council. SERC 

expects future projects to reach similar design standards as the Center 

establishes its leadership in the areas of innovative design and functionality. 

SERC has established management controls to ensure proper accounting 

for its research activities, including indirect cost recovery in its sponsored 

research program. Moreover, the staff strives to maintain an excellent record of 

safety and protection for all staff and visitors. In conjunction with the Institution’s 

central administrative offices, SERC maintains its excellent record of property 

management and protection of sensitive information and data. 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds support fund raising 

and internship/Fellowship programs. In addition, core administrative support is 

funded through an indirect cost surcharge applied to extramural research and 

education awards. Donor/sponsor-designated funds provide critical operating 

support related to specific programs and projects in research, public education, 

and professional training. Most of SERC’s scientific research program of $5.5 

million annually is supported by Government grants and contracts, including the 

National Ballast Information Clearinghouse, which was established by Congress 

as part of the National Invasive Species Act of 1996. 
82

SMITHSONIAN TROPICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR 

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 202 13,940 61 2,368 31 5,036 16 2,021

FY 2015

ENACTED 202 14,025 62 1,900 32 5,000 19 2,000

FY 2016

REQUEST 202 14,271 64 2,000 32 5,000 19 2,000

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

REVITALIZING EDUCATION; AND MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Engage in research and discovery 124 8,805 124 8,950 0 145

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web support 3 323 3 330 0 7

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 13 707 13 723 0 16

Revitalizing Education

Education

Engage and inspire diverse audiences 1 421 1 423 0 2

Mission Enabling

Security and Safety

Provide world-class protection for Smithsonian 

facilities, collections, staff, visitors, and 

volunteers 14 546 14 560 0 14

Provide a safe and healthy environment 2 145 2 148 0 3

Information Technology

Modernize the Institution’s information 

technology systems and infrastructure 6 338 6 344 0 6

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is 

customer centered and results oriented 8 718 8 732 0 14

Ensure that the Smithsonian workforce is 

efficient, collaborative, committed, innovative, 

and diverse 5 334 5 341 0 7

Modernize the Institution’s financial 

management and accounting operations 11 720 11 737 0 17
83

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Enhance the reputation of the Smithsonian by 

maintaining good relations with the news media 

and with federal, state, and local governments 3 229 3 234 0 5

Modernize and streamline the Institution’s 

acquisitions management operations 12 739 12 749 0 10

Total 202 14,025 202 14,271 0 246

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

In 1910, Smithsonian Secretary Charles Walcott requested and received 

permission from President William Howard Taft to send a scientific expedition to 

Panama to study the environmental impact of the Panama Canal. The President of 

Panama, Pablo Arosemena, invited the Smithsonian to extend its study to the entire 

isthmus (1910–1912), establishing a relationship that more than 100 years later 

continues to be a remarkable scientific resource for both countries and the world. The 

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) is now the principal U.S. organization 

dedicated to advancing fundamental scientific discovery and understanding of biological 

diversity in the tropics and its contribution to human welfare. STRI plays a critical role 

for the U.S. Government and the Smithsonian by maintaining world-class research 

facilities in Panama, where each year approximately 1,300 resident and visiting 

international scientists access the diverse tropical environments STRI stewards. Of 

these, STRI most notably serves as the official custodian for the Barro Colorado Nature 

Monument (BCNM) in Panama under the terms of the Convention on Nature Protection 

and Wildlife Preservation in the Western hemisphere, ratified by the U.S. Senate in 

April 1941. The BCNM is the only mainland tropical reserve under U.S. stewardship and 

served as the original base of operations for the 1910 expedition. 

Why is the Smithsonian in Panama? What is now Panama was under water until 

about 3 million years ago. The rise of the Isthmus of Panama changed the world. It 

connected North and South America and separated the Atlantic from the Pacific, setting 

into motion global change that dramatically impacted marine and terrestrial life. STRI 

has been located at the heart of this event for more than a century. Its nine research 

facilities, situated throughout Panama’s diverse ecosystems, serve as an unparalleled 

field research platform to investigate the critical events that shaped the world and its 

tropical diversity. 

Scientific Productivity 

The relevance, quality, and performance of STRI scientists is top tier, and is 

regularly evaluated by a Visiting Committee of outside experts. In their last review, the 

Visiting Committee used National Research Council criteria to measure the productivity 

and impact of STRI science compared to 142 of the best university research 

departments in the United States; STRI scientists ranked first in all measures of 

scientific relevance (e.g., publication citations), quality (e.g., scientific honors), and 

productivity (e.g., publication numbers). In addition, the number of young scientists who 

choose STRI as the base for their graduate and postgraduate research training provides 
84

an annual measure of the relevance and quality of STRI science to the future of tropical 

biology and policy. 

STRI’s 40 staff scientists and 160 research assistants-in-residence share our 

science platform with scientists from U.S. and international organizations. Each year, 

approximately 1,300 visiting scientists conduct research at STRI facilities with STRI 

scientists who are leaders in their fields. This collaborative effort has produced more 

than 11,000 scientific publications of record during the last century. In recent years, 

STRI scientists have published an average of 400 articles in peer-reviewed journals 

annually. 

Scientific Direction 

The long-term research conducted by STRI scientists and collaborators is a 

critical contribution to the Smithsonian Institution’s 2010–2017 Strategic Plan, “A 

Smithsonian for the 21st Century,” set forth in 2009, particularly through its contributions 

to the Grand Challenge, Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet. However, 

STRI also contributes to Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe through its 

paleontology program, and to Valuing World Cultures through its anthropology and 

archeology programs. In addition to investigating animal behavior, ecology, physiology, 

and the evolutionary changes that have occurred in the tropics, STRI has invested for 

the long term in several other core research directions. These include: 

Environmental and Human Health 

 The Panama Canal Watershed provides drinking water for more than one million 

Panama residents. Much of the watershed has been deforested. STRI’s Agua Salud 

Project uses the Panama Canal’s central role in world commerce to focus global 

attention on the ecosystem services provided by tropical forests in comparison with 

other types of land cover, providing rigorous quantitative data on a critical topic much 

debated by policy makers. The hydrology portion of the project focuses on the roles of 

forests on water-related ecosystem services such as flood and drought mitigation and 

water purification. 

STRI’s geographical position on the narrow Isthmus of Panama, which is a 

migratory route for North American birds to and from South America, combined with 

STRI’s outstanding relationships with Panama’s Health Ministry, led the National 

Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund development of regional surveillance and diagnostic 

capabilities for avian influenza. This effort couples STRI expertise in avian population 

biology and the Gorgas Institute (Panama Ministry of Health) expertise in virology to 

improve surveillance and early detection of zoonotic disease in the Western 

hemisphere.

Panama Amphibian Rescue Conservation Project 

 Amphibians are disappearing around the world. A systematic global assessment 

of all 5,743 known amphibian species found that one-third of all species surveyed are in 

danger of extinction. What is particularly alarming to conservationists is that 122 species 

are believed to have gone extinct since 1980, compared to just five bird species and no 
85

mammals during the same time period. The main cause of this massive extinction is the 

pathogenic chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), which causes a 

disease called Chytridiomycosis. 

 In response to the massive loss of Panama’s amphibian biodiversity, due mainly 

to the chytrid fungus, STRI has partnered with African Safari, Houston Zoo, Cheyenne 

Mountain Zoo, New England Zoo, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Smithsonian 

Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) to found the Panama Amphibian Rescue 

Conservation (PARC) project. PARC has several key goals: prevent species extinctions 

by establishing ex-situ assurance colonies of endangered amphibians threatened with 

extinction from a deadly fungus decimating amphibians worldwide; develop tools to 

mitigate the disease and lead to reintroductions in the wild; and, engage constituents to 

support conservation of amphibians and habitats. To date, the project has invested $1.5 

million to build two ex-situ facilities in Panama, and bred more than 10 endangered 

amphibian species, including the Panamanian Golden Frog, a conservation flagship 

species now extinct in the wild. STRI scientists actively monitor disease and frog 

populations in the wild, use the latest molecular tools to find beneficial skin bacteria to 

help frogs fight Chytridiomycosis infections, research genetic mechanisms of chytrid 

resistance in Panamanian Golden Frogs, and develop assisted reproduction 

technologies to breed frogs in captivity and cryopreserve their gametes for future use. 

Monitoring Forest Health and the Global Carbon Cycle 

 Combining private and federal support, STRI collaborates with the Smithsonian 

Environmental Research Center (SERC), Smithsonian Conservation Biology 

Institute/National Zoological Park (SCBI/NZP), National Museum of Natural History 

(NMNH) and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) to create the Smithsonian 

Institution Global Earth Observatories (SIGEO), the largest terrestrial-based Earth 

observation system in the world. Additional U.S. partners and supporters include the 

National Science Foundation (NSF), National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Department of 

Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the Centers 

for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as 80 partner institutions. STRI’s Center for 

Tropical Forest Science (CTFS), now named ForestGEO, coordinates research activities 

in 24 countries on 61 standardized forest parcels, ranging from two to 50 hectares, in 

which each tree is mapped and measured every five years. This partner-based global 

network provides rigorous, widely available, systematic data on forest dynamics and 

carbon budgets. These data are used by scientists and decision makers around the world 

to improve our understanding of tropical forests and to address climate change policy. The 

expanding network allows for global comparisons and has yielded important new findings 

such as the discovery that old trees play an important role in carbon sequestration, which 

was previously believed not to be the case. 

Monitoring the Oceans: MarineGEO 

 The great success of ForestGEO led to the creation of MarineGEO, a new crossbureau program that will develop a network of marine data-collection sites studying 

near-shore environments. MarineGEO is the first long-term, worldwide research 

program to focus on understanding coastal marine life and its role in maintaining 
86

resilient ecosystems around the world. By specializing in coastal ecosystems — where 

marine biodiversity and people are concentrated and interact most — this initiative will 

provide policy makers with the science to support innovative solutions and advance 

management and protection of our oceans. The overall research questions are generic 

at this stage, and will lead to improved understanding of a range of marine habitats and 

the species of plants and organisms that reside in these locations. The network concept 

includes monitoring a set of basic parameters; i.e., water acidity, temperature, salinity, 

specific conductivity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, among other factors, with the intent 

to make all data available on the Web in real time. This network and associated data 

sets will improve the characterization of biodiversity and ecosystem processes. STRI 

has installed sensors at MarineGEO sites on the Caribbean and Pacific coasts of 

Panama. 

Paleontology and Earth Science 

 The long history of partnership with the Panama Canal Authority, coupled with a 

STRI leadership eager to seize research opportunities, permitted STRI scientists to take 

advantage of new canal excavations by bringing modern tools to study the geology and 

fossils of the region. This once-in-a-century research opportunity allows scientists to 

better understand one of the great geological events in the history of the planet — the 

rise of the Isthmus of Panama three million years ago, which established a biological 

bridge between the North and South American continents and a land barrier between 

the previously connected tropical Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. 

 STRI is important because of its mission, the Institute’s location in the mainland 

tropics on the narrow Isthmus of Panama, and its relationship with the Government of 

Panama. Beyond its mission for the Smithsonian, two recent examples of collaboration 

with U.S. agencies underscore the important role STRI plays in Panama. The security 

and facilities infrastructure of Barro Colorado Island led the USGS to establish seismic 

monitoring equipment as part of its Caribbean Tsunami Warning System. In addition, 

the Continuously Operating Caribbean GPS Observational Network (COCONet) project, 

funded by the NSF, has partnered with STRI in developing a large-scale geodetic and 

atmospheric infrastructure in the Caribbean. This new infrastructure forms the backbone 

for a broad range of geoscience and atmospheric investigations and enables research 

on process-oriented science questions with direct relevance to geohazards. U.S. and 

international partner agencies use STRI’s marine station in Bocas del Toro as a 

COCONet site to monitor sea level rise and plate tectonics — the movement of Earth’s 

crustal plates that can trigger major earthquakes. 

Marine Invasions 

 New data are filling gaps in the understanding of the rise of the isthmus and its 

changing role in invasion biology, biodiversity and global climate. Trade through the 

Panama Canal will increase by approximately 20 percent, starting in 2016, with the 

completion of the canal lock expansion project. STRI scientists and colleagues at the 

SERC in Maryland are documenting the distribution of invasive marine organisms, 

providing an unparalleled platform to understand the biology of invasive species on a 

scale comparable to that of the Great American Interchange of terrestrial organisms that 

occurred when Panama first linked North and South America three million years ago. 
87

Such research has profound implications for mitigating the problems of invasive species 

in the great seaways of the world, from the Panama Canal to the Great Lakes. 

Marine Mammal Conservation

 STRI scientists are radio-tracking humpback whales and other marine mammals, 

and recent findings, published in the peer-reviewed literature, revealed that the whales —

notably mothers with calves — were at high risk of being struck by ships entering or 

exiting the Panama Canal. With support from Panama’s maritime and Canal authorities, 

the International Maritime Organization approved a traffic separation scheme (TSS) in 

May of 2014, and officially implemented it as international policy in December of 2014, 

with the recommendation that ships should maintain speed of not more than 10 knots 

from August 1 to November 30 every year, through two designated ship traffic lanes 

approximately five miles wide. This type of marine conservation work is a U.S. State 

Department priority and showed that the TSS could reduce potential collisions between 

ships and cetaceans by 95 percent. Additionally, the work has led the governments of 

Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru to collaborate with STRI and request the Institute’s 

scientific expertise and counsel on this topic. 

The budget request includes an increase of $246,000 for necessary pay for 

existing staff funded under this line item. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

STRI is the only major research institute to locate modern scientific 

instrumentation and facilities at the edges of tropical forests and reefs. STRI staff 

members lead internationally respected research while also assisting visitors with visas, 

collecting permits, transportation, housing, computing, and library needs and by 

mentoring students from universities across the United States and around the world. 

Superb Panamanian staff and the supportive Government of Panama have fostered 

Smithsonian research in Panama for more than 100 years and STRI has been an 

exceptional ambassador of goodwill for the United States in Panama and throughout 

Latin America. 

As part of its core mission, STRI will continue to enhance the Smithsonian’s 

platform for long-term research on biodiversity, ecosystems, and the impacts of 

environmental change through novel research, education of the next generation of 

scientists, and the dissemination of those findings to our audiences. 

Global climate systems and life on the planet are in flux. Policy makers and 

scientists need long-term data on fluctuations in the primary productivity of forests 

around the globe, as well as information on changes in the abundance and distribution 

of biological diversity, to distinguish the components of global change that can be 

ascribed to planetary processes from those that may be caused by human activity. The 

Smithsonian Institution is building on its unique research infrastructure to provide the 

required data by expanding its global network of dynamic, long-term tropical forest plots 

into the temperate zone, and by collecting additional data on vertebrates, insects, and 

soil microorganisms, in addition to the trees that scientists have monitored for more than 
88

three decades. Smithsonian researchers are answering the following questions: Does 

environmental change significantly alter forest biomass, and does the rate of carbon 

sequestration by forests vary with latitude, hydrological condition, and soil fertility? How 

are the diversity and the relative abundance of forest organisms changing over time and 

space? What components of observed changes are due to human activities? How can 

people modify their behavior and economies to ameliorate any changes detrimental to 

global society? 

STRI shares knowledge, experience and expertise with the next generation of 

tropical scientists. STRI hosts more than 800 pre- and postdoctoral students each year. 

For many, their experience at STRI is their first real opportunity to be full-fledged 

scientists. The experience is transformational. As mentors, the Institute’s researchers 

guide these future investigators, encouraging their curiosity and challenging them to 

develop the scientific rigor required to make new discoveries, and to share them for the 

welfare of humankind. 

STRI continues to work with primary school science teachers to inspire wonder 

and critical thinking skills in the classroom. In Panama and through digital partnerships 

with school districts in the United States, STRI continues to explain field and laboratory 

science and make it accessible to teachers and students. 

ENABLING STRI’S MISSION THROUGH ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE

STRI continues to advance the vision detailed in the 20-year plan for upgrading 

its facilities, many of which date back to the pre-World War II era of Panama Canal 

defense. The 20-year STRI facilities plan represents a spectacular opportunity for the 

Smithsonian to provide its world-class group of tropical scientists with the modernized, 

sustainable, and state-of-the-science facilities needed to face the challenges of the 21st 

century, when biological challenges will play a central role in global events. 

STRI also offers important facility resources for federal agencies and universities. 

For terrestrial research, STRI serves as the headquarters for ForestGEO, and as a base 

for tsunami-monitoring equipment installed by the USGS. The Institute provides the 

Environmental Protection Agency with sites to monitor mosquitoes and their role as 

disease vectors, and assists the NIH with its funded projects to survey birds as carriers 

of avian influenza. For marine research, the two-ocean stage provided by STRI marine 

facilities permits scientists to move between experiments in the eastern Pacific Ocean 

and the Caribbean Sea in a few hours, and represents a principal component of the 

Smithsonian MarineGEO network that extends from the Chesapeake Bay to Florida, 

Belize, and Panama. The recurring two-ocean theme in marine science at STRI has 

resulted in landmark studies of the evolution and ecology of tropical marine species and 

communities, as well as research funded by NSF and NIH for the ecologically guided 

discovery of new pharmaceutical compounds. STRI’s two MarineGEO sites provide 

direct access to two oceans, and take on increased importance as experimental 

platforms for studying the impact of climate change and ocean acidification on coastal 

coral reefs, sea grasses, and mangroves. 
89

 Managing growth is an enviable challenge and STRI continues to position itself 

for scientific and educational success by focusing on the need to maintain operational

excellence. FY 2016 will be another year in which STRI continues to more efficiently 

use its available resources while at the same time adapting to work in the everexpanding economy of Panama. STRI’s organizational efforts will include continued 

upgrading of its physical plant by seeking to reduce deferred maintenance and by doing 

more design planning. STRI will implement its restructured organization, including its 

Information Technology department and Finance and Administration areas, to better 

meet the needs of its scientific computing community as well as the business needs of 

its administrative departments. Lastly, STRI will continue to find innovative ways to 

allocate available resources for novel research that helps the Smithsonian meet the 

Grand Challenge of Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet. 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds support salaries for a 

small percentage of STRI employees involved in research, public outreach, and fund 

raising. Donor/sponsor-designated funds support specific programs and projects to 

investigate key indicators of global environmental health. 

 Donor-designated support also provides an endowed chair for the director of 

STRI, an endowed staff position in tropical paleoecology, and an endowed chair for the 

director of ForestGEO. The chair in paleoecology currently investigates climate change 

during the last 60 million years, in part by taking advantage of the multi-billion-dollar 

expansion of the Panama Canal, which is exposing new fossils and geology during the 

massive excavations. Donor-designated support also funds postdoctoral studies of the 

relationship between brain size and behavioral complexity, and postdoctoral 

Fellowships in tropical marine biology, using STRI’s Bocas del Toro and Galeta field 

stations in the Caribbean and its Naos laboratory and Rancheria Island field station in 

the eastern Pacific Ocean.
90

Introduction, Valuing World Cultures

As a steward and goodwill ambassador of cultural connections, 

with a presence in some 100 countries and expertise and collections 

that encompass the globe, the Smithsonian will build bridges of 

mutual respect and present the diversity of world cultures and the joy 

of creativity with accuracy and insight. 

RESEARCH Goal: The Smithsonian contributes insights into 

the evolution of humanity and the diversity of the world’s cultures, 

arts, and creativity. 

ACCESS Goal: The Smithsonian will inspire audiences to 

explore the cultural and artistic heritages of diverse peoples. 

UNITS primarily associated with this Grand Challenge: 

 Arthur M. Sackler/Freer Gallery of Art

 Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

 Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

 Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

 National Museum of African Art
91

ARTHUR M. SACKLER GALLERY/FREER GALLERY OF ART 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR 

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 45 6,019 7 1,879 52 9,392 0 0

FY 2015 

ENACTED 45 6,049 8 2,264 65 9,904 0 0

FY 2016 

REQUEST 45 6,169 8 2,332 65 10,201 0 0

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

REVITALIZING EDUCATION; STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS; AND MISSION 

ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Engage in research and discovery 6 1,371 6 1,408 0 37

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web support 20 29 0 9

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 3 235 3 265 0 30

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 16 2,151 16 2,170 0 19

Revitalizing Education

Education

Engage and inspire diverse audiences 5 445 5 460 0 15

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national 

collections

12 1,365 12 1,365 0 0

Mission Enabling

Facilities

Execute an aggressive, long-range 

revitalization program and limited construction 

of new facilities

0 50 0 60 0 10

Information Technology

Modernize the Institution’s information 

technology systems and infrastructure

0 15 0 15 0 0
92

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Management Operations

Ensure that the Smithsonian workforce is 

efficient, collaborative, committed, innovative, 

and diverse

1 134 1 134 0 0

Modernize the Institution’s financial 

management and accounting operations

2 263 2 263 0 0

Total 45 6,049 45 6,169 0 120

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT 

The Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (F|S) celebrate the 

artistic traditions of Asia, and are widely regarded as among the most important 

collections of Asian art in the world. The Museums collect, study, exhibit, and preserve 

exemplary works of Asian art, as well as works by Whistler and other American artists of 

the “Aesthetic Movement” as represented in Charles Lang Freer’s original gift. The 

combined resources of the Museums are directed toward programs that advance the 

understanding of the arts of Asia and of the Museums’ collections. 

In FY 2016, the F|S will continue to build on the excitement generated from its 

ambitious plans for reinvigorating the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery with innovative thematic 

exhibitions that contextualize its growing permanent collection within an expanding 

global community. International loan exhibitions and complementary public programs 

will provide audience engagement with both historical and contemporary topics, and 

access to some of the finest works of art from Asia. The Museums will also further the 

goal of Broadening Access by realigning resources in FY 2016 to position themselves 

as world leaders in digital collections management initiatives. This will be done by 

maintaining 100 percent digitization as its collections grow, improving the F|S website 

with a new search tool for online collections, and by enhancing the visitor experience 

with new ways to access its research and wealth of assets. The new programming effort 

for the International Gallery in the S. Dillon Ripley Center, managed jointly by F|S and 

the National Museum of African Art, enters its third year. This gallery, with links to both 

Museums, allows programmatic collaboration, provides a testing ground for new types 

of exhibitions, and affords new opportunities to achieve the Institution’s strategic goals 

of Broadening Access and Revitalizing Education. 

The F|S will achieve the goal of Excellent Research by maintaining its impressive 

record of hosting research Fellows and scholarly visitors, through its publications, and 

through searching for new funding sources for research. 

In addition, the F|S will address the strategic goal of Mission Enabling by 

continually assessing and enhancing staff development and oversight of internal 

controls. 

The budget request includes an increase of $120,000 for necessary pay and 

other related salary costs for existing staff funded under this line item. 
93

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

To achieve the goal of Broadening Access, the F|S continues to direct resources 

to raise attendance and assert its pre-eminence in the field of Asian art by mounting and 

traveling high-profile exhibitions. In 2016, planned exhibitions will make strong 

connections to the Museums’ permanent collections and recent important gifts and 

bequests. The year begins with a major international loan exhibition on one of the most 

influential and elusive figures in Japanese culture, Tawaraya Sōtatsu, which includes 

masterworks from the Freer’s preeminent collection. This will be followed by a major 

exhibition, drawn nearly in its entirety from the permanent collection, on the Wu School, 

one of the major painting schools of Ming dynasty China. The exhibition will explore the 

interrelationship of painting, poetry, and calligraphy for which the Wu School artists 

were known. The year will close with a major exhibition of Korans — the most important 

exhibition of its kind ever to be shown in the United States — organized in cooperation 

with the Ministry of Culture in Turkey. 

Exhibitions drawn from recent promised gifts and bequests to F|S collections are 

intended for national travel in 2016, including the Paul Singer Collection of ancient 

Chinese art, and the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine. F|S continues to develop major research 

and exhibition projects with international scholars and institutional partners in China. 

Most importantly, in FY 2016, the newly renovated and reinstalled north galleries 

of the Sackler will be in the midst of an innovative new programming concept. This first 

major overhaul since the Sackler opened in 1987 provides an opportunity for a very 

different approach to museum display: one that is more provocative and engaging. The 

installation of Darren Waterston’s fanciful interpretation of James McNeil Whistler’s 

“Peacock Room”— a jewel of the F|S collection — continues, with changing thematic 

exhibitions that encourage a contemporary consideration of this iconic masterwork and 

the complex relationships among art, money, and the passage of time. 

The Freer Gallery of Art will be closed to the public for all of calendar 2016 so 

that the building’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system can be replaced, 

which is work necessary to preserve the collection. During 2016, staff will be working on 

reinstallation plans for the Freer’s reopening in spring 2017. Planning will focus on 

creating a more welcoming visitor entrance, renovating the Meyer Auditorium, last 

updated in the early 1990’s, incorporating digital technology into the galleries, and 

reinstalling the collections in a fashion similar to the new approach first employed in the 

renovated Chinese art galleries. 

In FY 2016, an expansion of exhibitions and programming in the former 

International Gallery will allow F|S to finalize plans for long-term use of the space 

aligned with two of the Smithsonian strategic goals — Broadening Access and 

Revitalizing Education — by expanding programmatic offerings to include digital 

exhibitions and immersive experiences, engaging audiences of all ages. Planned for 

Spring 2016, an exhibition about the revitalization of Afghanistan’s traditional arts will be 

an immersive experience chronicling the rebirth of the Old City of Kabul and its artisans 

and the building of a new generation of craftspeople. Rich public programs, with the 
94

participation of visiting Turquoise Mountain artisans, are planned to accompany this 

inspirational story of the resilience of artistic beauty and the human spirit. 

The F|S will further broaden access by reaching new and diverse audiences 

through its groundbreaking educational and scholarly programs on the arts of Asia. 

These include hosting a series of international conferences and workshops, and by 

collaborating within the Smithsonian and with outside organizations such as the 

National Museum in Beijing, the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Uffizi 

in Florence, Italy, and the British Museum in London. 

Enabling the Museums to be the center for public engagement on the arts of 

Asia, the Museums’ website will undergo refinements to allow greater access to our 

collections, which were 100 percent digitized by the beginning of calendar 2015. With 

the help of a major Getty Foundation grant, an online publication of the Pulverer 

Collection of Japanese books was recently launched. In addition, in the past several 

years, the F|S has collaborated with Ritsumeikan University to digitize more than 

100,000 images of Japanese books of art. 

The F|S will achieve the Institution’s goal of Excellent Research by focusing 

efforts on coordinating its own collections more vigorously with researchers in 

universities in the Washington, DC area, as well as internationally, and ensuring that the 

F|S has appropriate distribution, in print and online, of scholarly publications. 

As part of its goal to advance Revitalizing Education initiatives, and to provide 

greater access to high-quality educational resources, the F|S will re-examine state, 

county, and municipal educational mandates to ensure that the Museums’ programs 

support public schools’ curricula. In addition, the F|S will devote more resources to 

develop long-lasting teaching materials based on the Museums’ world-renowned 

collections, and to place more educational resources on the F|S website to make it the 

premier online resource in the United States for information on the arts of Asia. As a 

result of visitor surveys conducted in FY 2011, the F|S appointed a Visitor Advisory 

Team to ensure that recommendations from these surveys — as well as from a yearlong study of the Freer Gallery of Art to be concluded by the end of calendar 2015 — 

are fully incorporated into future efforts to serve the public. 

The F|S will achieve the strategic goal of Strengthening Collections by continuing 

to devote resources to its internationally renowned conservation department and 

laboratory. The department will be led by a new director, who is one of the most 

respected figures in the field. In FY 2016, curators and researchers will continue to 

study and publish new research on the collections, including ancient Chinese art from 

Dr. Paul Singer’s collection. With a recent grant from the Andrew Mellon Foundation, 

F|S is establishing an endowment for a mid-level position for Chinese painting 

conservation, and, in collaboration with the Mellon Foundation, is building a nexus of 

institutions in the United States, China and Europe to ensure adequate succession 

planning in a field where all too many leading practitioners are due to retire within a very 

few years of each other. Additionally, the F|S will continue its research into Nazi-era 

provenance issues, further strengthening international ties developed in previous years. 
95

To meet the goal of Mission Enabling, the F|S will continue to improve its 

administrative efficiencies and reporting mechanisms, ensuring that its workforce is 

efficient and skilled, and to adopt best practices for safeguarding Smithsonian 

resources. The F|S continues to dedicate training funds to leadership and supervisory 

training to equip our managers and supervisors with the information, skills, and tools to 

make effective decisions. The F|S updated its current strategic plan for FY 2015 – 

FY 2016, aligning it with the Smithsonian’s overall strategic plan in terms of both timing 

and goals. The F|S continues to track progress against its strategic plan through the use 

of its management tracking system commissioned from ManagePro. This system 

enhances accountability by linking the strategic plans and goals of the Museums directly 

to departmental activities and outputs. 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust and donor/sponsor-designated 

funds are generated from memberships, revenue sharing from Museum shop sales and 

Smithsonian Channel; participation fees from traveling exhibition venues; special 

events; unrestricted and restricted gifts and grants; and endowment income. The Freer 

Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery are highly dependent upon 

nonappropriated sources to fund the operations necessary to provide the quality of 

exhibitions, programs, and publications expected by visitors and scholars, both online 

and on site. 
96

CENTER FOR FOLKLIFE AND CULTURAL HERITAGE 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 17 2,490 10 1,806 5 822 0 1,522

FY 2015

ENACTED

17 2,503 11 1,633 7 1,390 0 1,582

FY 2016

REQUEST 17 2,603 14 2,588 7 2,200 0 1,100

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

REVITALIZING EDUCATION; STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS; AND 

MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Ensure the advancement of knowledge in the 

humanities 0 0 2 439 2 439

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web support 0 0 1 120 1 120

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 9 1,293 6 878 -3 -415

Revitalizing Education

Education

Engage and inspire diverse audiences 2 332 2 217 0 -115

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national 

collections 2 220 2 226 0 6

Mission Enabling

Facilities

Improve the overall cleanliness and efficient 

operation of Smithsonian facilities 0 160 0 215 0 55

Provide world-class protection for Smithsonian 

facilities, collections, staff, visitors, and 

volunteers 0 100 0 100 0 0

Information Technology

Modernize the Institution’s information 

technology systems and infrastructure 1 127 1 129 0 2
97

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is 

customer centered and results oriented 1 58 1 60 0 2

Modernize the Institution’s financial 

management and accounting operations 2 213 2 219 0 6

Total 17 2,503 17 2,603 0 100

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (CFCH) is a research, 

collections, education, and public programming unit of the Smithsonian Institution 

with the mission of “promoting the understanding and sustainability of the world’s 

diverse traditional cultures.” It is the largest of a triumvirate of federal offices (with 

the Library of Congress’ American Folklife Center and National Endowment for 

the Arts’ Folk and Traditional Arts program) that supports traditional arts and 

culture in the United States and abroad. For nearly five decades, the CFCH has 

accomplished this mission through research, documentation, preservation, 

presentation, education, social enterprise, and publication. It has collaborated 

with thousands of organizations, foundations, and governments in the United 

States and worldwide. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival and Smithsonian 

Folkways recordings are its most visible products, reaching many millions of 

people each year and earning major recognition, including one of the first Best 

Practice Citizen Diplomacy awards from the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy, 

22 Grammy Award nominations, seven Grammys, one Latin Grammy, and 26 

Independent Music Awards. 

The CFCH, with its highly qualified staff, one-quarter of whom hold 

doctoral degrees, and first-rate production capabilities for public events, also 

produces multi-media website features and publications, exhibitions, 

documentary films, symposia, print publications, educational materials, and 

more. Ethnographic research and documentation are fundamental to all of its 

products and anchor its active engagement in high-profile international cultural 

heritage policy forums. Its Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections house, 

preserve, and provide access to its world-class collections. Professional training 

efforts offer opportunities for more than 130 interns each year and include 

hosting advanced study Fellows from countries around the world. 

The budget request includes an increase of $45,000 for necessary pay 

and other related salary costs for existing staff funded under this line item. 

Additionally, the request includes an increase of $5,000 for rent and $50,000 to 

comply with rigorous new National Park Service regulations governing the use of 

the National Mall. All of the above increases are explained in the Fixed Costs 

section of this budget. 
98

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

Research, production capacity, and entrepreneurial resource leveraging 

are the keys to how the CFCH accomplishes its core mission. Earned revenues 

are used to employ half of its staff, create its public products, and deliver them to 

a broad national and international public of tens of millions. Institutional 

collaboration and major public impact nationally and internationally are also key 

to fulfilling its mission. Institutional collaborations (more than 100 partnerships in 

the past five years), fund raising, and mission-driven business activities leverage 

the Center’s modest federal investment many times over to reach millions of 

people per year. 

CFCH achieves this through the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (one million 

visitors plus tens of millions via the media), Smithsonian Folkways Recordings 

(more than 40 million listeners via recordings, radio programs, downloads, and 

audio streams), websites and social media (11 million visits), and other products. 

The CFCH also periodically applies its event production capacity to put on other 

major, national cultural events consistent with its mission, such as the National 

World War II Reunion, the First Americans Festival for the opening of the 

National Museum of the American Indian, and programs for the Olympic Games 

and Presidential inaugurations. In 2014, the CFCH finalized a new strategic fiveyear plan, which sets ambitious goals for the future and harmonizes its work with 

the Strategic Plan of the Smithsonian as a whole; this realignment can be seen in 

the reallocation of funds across program categories. 

In 2015 and 2016, the CFCH will collaborate with at least nine 

Smithsonian units, 15 nonprofit organizations, and three foreign countries to 

create and deliver programmatic content. The 2015 Festival will mount a major 

program titled Inside Peru: Unknown Treasures. The Festival will highlight the 

rich cultural diversity of Peru, where Iberian traditions have mixed for centuries 

with indigenous ways of life to produce one of the most vibrant and complex 

cultures in Latin America. Because the National Mall will be closed for 

renovation, the Festival will take place on the grounds of the National Museum of 

the American Indian, which will be opening a major exhibition on the Inca Road 

at the same time. 

In 2016, the CFCH plans to present the traditional arts, music, and culture 

of California on the Mall along with a major program to commemorate 50 years of 

diplomatic relations with Singapore. The 2016 Festival also plans to launch a 

major program titled Freedom Sounds: Music in Solidarity and Protest that will 

feature African American musical traditions to accompany the opening of 

NMAAHC and the release of a major box set of hip-hop music. Also in 2015 and 

2016, the CFCH will further harness the power and reach of the Web to broaden 

access to Festival content far beyond Washington, DC, through programmatic 

features preceding, during, and following the 10-day Mall event. The CFCH will 

accomplish this by further increasing the interactivity of its websites, aggressively 
99

aiming to increase visits to all of its websites by two million in 2015, for a total of 

7.5 million. The CFCH is also continuing its partnership with e-Pals, a social 

living platform that provides a course on cultural heritage developed by the 

Center and tied to the core curriculum, to one million teachers and 11 million 

students around the globe. 

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings will release more than 100 productions 

in FY 2016, including 100 albums from the UNESCO Collection of Traditional 

Music from dozens of countries around the world. In 2015, it will produce a fiveCD boxed set of Leadbelly’s music. Folkways will continue its African American 

Legacy and Tradiciones/Traditions series of African American and Latino music, 

producing at least six albums of new material. A multi-disc box set on hip-hop 

traditions will be released in 2016 to coincide with the opening of the NMAAHC, 

and the CFCH will also release a major box set to highlight the enduring 

contributions of Pete Seeger. 

In addition, Folkways will continue to extend its reach to millions more 

listeners, distributing its 3,000 album titles and 48,000 tracks of audio to 

teachers, students, scholars, and the general public. Digital distribution will 

expand further, opening new horizons for the creation and delivery of the 

Center’s educational content via downloadable audio streams, “podcast” feeds, 

and multi-media video features. Folkways will also bolster its million-plus 

circulation of digital content from non-Smithsonian websites such as iTunes U, 

now available in more than 67 countries. It will expand its collaboration with a 

private partner to deliver the entire Folkways collection to more than 440 libraries 

throughout the continent and beyond. The Musica del Pueblo virtual exhibition 

will expand its offerings of American and Latin American content by featuring 

even more video and audio recordings as well as text from and about Latino 

roots musical traditions. This mission-critical content will also generate additional 

revenues through online and retail sales. 

Center curators and research staff will continue to publish books, articles, 

and Web features, and make professional presentations at gatherings of 

specialists. One special book, Curatorial Conversations, explores curatorial 

challenges, approaches, and highlights via the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. In 

addition we have set aggressive publication targets for the entire office. The 

CFCH’s Cultural Heritage Policy team will continue its vital participation in U.S. 

and UNESCO cultural heritage policy formulation by consulting with the 

U.S. Department of State, cooperating with UNESCO, and collaborating with 

other national and international organizations. In 2016, the Center will launch and 

build upon a fresh cultural heritage policy section of the CFCH website. 

The yield from ethnographic research and multi-media primary sources 

will add to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections’ strategically 

important holdings of music and cultural traditions from the United States and 

around the world. The Folklife Archives will tackle two principal challenges in 
100

2016 — receiving a plethora of incoming ethnographic research, and assessing, 

cataloguing, preserving, and making available endangered, valuable, multi-media 

holdings through sharp prioritization of delicate and critical collections materials. 

Central funds from within the Institution will further support the Rinzler Archives’ 

digitization and dissemination efforts. Similarly, strategic efforts to rapidly digitize 

key materials will be well under way. 

Through these activities, the CFCH will take major steps to fulfill the 

Smithsonian Grand Challenges of Understanding the American Experience and 

Valuing World Cultures. The CFCH will contribute to the Smithsonian’s strategic 

goals of Broadening Access and Mission Enabling by continuing to improve its 

information technology infrastructure and related project budgeting and planning. 

 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds support salaries 

and benefits of approximately one-quarter of CFCH’s personnel, and revenues 

from Folkways Recordings pay nearly half of staff salaries and expenses. 

Donor/sponsor-designated funds cover costs related to specific projects such as 

the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and several other educational programs. Work 

at the Rinzler Archives will continue to be supported by a grant from the Save 

America’s Treasures program to digitize and preserve the Moses and Frances 

Asch collection of recordings and documentation, recognizing the national and 

international prominence of the Folkways collections. With the support of the 

Smithsonian National Campaign, the CFCH has already raised $2.53 million (63 

percent) of its $4 million goal to increase private funds in support of the Center’s 

mission. 
101

COOPER HEWITT, SMITHSONIAN DESIGN MUSEUM 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 36 4,710 24 4,067 17 5,744 0 952

FY 2015

ENACTED 36 4,755 30 4,559 14 6,841 0 60

FY 2016

REQUEST 36 4,842 40 5,285 15 7,850 0 100

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

REVITALIZING EDUCATION; STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS; AND 

MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Ensure the advancement of knowledge in the 

humanities 4 340 4 345 0 5

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web support 1 102 1 105 0 3

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 1 122 1 125 0 3

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 4 310 4 315 0 5

Revitalizing Education

Education

Engage and inspire diverse audiences 3 255 3 260 0 5

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national 

collections 7 1,900 7 1,942 0 42

Mission Enabling

Facilities

Improve the overall cleanliness and efficient 

operation of Smithsonian facilities 11 1,095 11 1,110 0 15

Information Technology

Modernize the Institution’s information 

technology systems and infrastructure 1 170 1 170 0 0
102

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Management Operations

Ensure that the Smithsonian workforce is 

efficient, collaborative, committed, innovative, 

and diverse 1 105 1 110 0 5

Modernize the Institution’s financial 

management and accounting operations 2 270 2 270 0 0

Enhance the reputation of the Smithsonian by 

maintaining good relations with the news media 

and with federal, state, and local governments 1 86 1 90 0 4

Total 36 4,755 36 4,842 0 87

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (CHSDM), in New York City, 

is one of two Smithsonian museums located outside of Washington, DC. CHSDM 

is the only museum in the nation dedicated exclusively to historic and 

contemporary design. Its collection is international in scope and encompasses 

212,000 objects representing 30 centuries of design, from China’s Han Dynasty 

(200 B.C.) to the present. The Museum presents compelling perspectives on the 

impact of design on daily life through active educational programs, exhibitions, 

and publications. 

As the design authority of the United States, CHSDM’s programs and 

exhibitions demonstrate how design shapes culture and history — past, present, 

and future. To achieve the Institution’s strategic goals of Broadening Access and 

Revitalizing Education, the Museum will continue its dynamic exhibition 

programming and active roster of educational and public programs, as well as 

expand the number of programs offered in venues outside the New York 

metropolitan area in 2016. Together, these programs will help CHSDM engage 

larger, more diverse audiences, and fulfill its mission to serve as a catalyst for 

design education throughout the nation and internationally. 

The Museum devotes resources to ensure the advancement of knowledge 

in the humanities by fostering a greater understanding of the role of design in 

everyday life and its impact on shaping the built environment of the past, present, 

and future; and to encourage the “by-products” of design thinking — such as 

creative problem solving and teamwork — in other disciplines and areas of life, 

through interactive, engaging, in-person and online experiences. 

The budget request includes an increase of $87,000. This increase 

includes $67,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for existing 

staff funded under this line item, and $20,000 to support rent costs, which is 

explained in the Fixed Costs section of this budget submission. 
103

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

In FY 2016, Cooper Hewitt will continue to transform the museum visit 

from passive to participatory with the most innovative, educational, and 

interactive exhibitions for the public, focusing on the design process. The 

Museum will present several exhibitions, among them Beauty: National Design 

Triennial and Design with the Other 90%: USA, the third exhibition in the Design 

with the Other 90% humanitarian design exhibition series. The Museum will also 

be working on publications to accompany these exhibitions. 

CHSDM resources will continue to support the strategic goal of Excellent 

Research, ensuring the advancement of knowledge in the humanities through 

exhibition-related scholarly research to create the most innovative and 

educational exhibitions for the public. 

To achieve the goal of Strengthening Collections, the Museum expects to 

complete the digitization of the entire collection in FY 2016. The Museum will also 

continue to support an on-site graduate program with the New School/Parsons on 

the history of design and curatorial studies, which will enable students and 

scholars to access objects in CHSDM’s collections. 

CHSDM will achieve the goal of Revitalizing Education by continuing to 

engage and inspire diverse audiences through efforts locally in the Museum and 

through continued national outreach. Cooper Hewitt offers a wide variety of 

educational opportunities and programs, most of which are free. The goal across 

all of the programs is to engage K–12 students in the design process through 

active observation, critical discussion, creativity, and presentation. The programs 

foster collaboration among students, teaching them how to work in teams, and to 

define problems and find solutions, while improving their verbal and written 

communication skills. Cooper Hewitt will welcome students to the Museum and 

continue to bring design workshops into classrooms in New York. The national 

pilot in Cleveland, Minneapolis, New Orleans, San Antonio, and Washington, DC 

has resulted in collaborations in multiple cities and provided data that will help 

expand access across the country. 

The Museum will also continue to offer an expanded Smithsonian Design 

Institute program nationally as well as in New York City. This program is geared 

to K–12 educators, which draws a steadily increasing national and international 

audience each year, and is the core of the Museum’s training model. 

CHSDM plans to make its educational opportunities available to a much 

broader audience in FY 2016 through greater use of the Web and fortified 

partnerships across the nation. In particular, the Museum plans to devote 

resources to increase the accessibility of educational programs through its 

website for K–12 teachers, (www.educatorresourcecenter.org), expanded 

components of the City of Neighborhoods educational programs, and 
104

Smithsonian Design Institute educational programs, to make program resources 

available to broader audiences. The Educators’ Resource Center is a website 

that uses downloadable lesson plans aligned to national standards to show K–12 

teachers how design-based learning works with diverse learning styles. These 

online tools provide educators with the resources they need to engage in the 

design process and use it effectively in their classrooms. 

To further the Smithsonian’s goal of Mission Enabling, CHSDM will 

enhance its reputation, and that of the Smithsonian, by continuing to secure 

significant media coverage across national and international print and digital 

platforms such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall 

Street Journal, as well as general interest publications and those relating to all 

fields of design, and increase the Museum’s social media presence. Cooper 

Hewitt will maintain and cultivate substantive relationships with the public, its 

existing membership community, state and local governments, children, 

educators, business leaders, and designers. 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — Nonappropriated resources support 

70 percent of the Museum’s operating budget. General trust funds are generated 

from memberships, Museum shop sales, admissions, special events, and 

unrestricted contributions. General trust funds support salaries and benefits of 

administrative personnel, development and business activities, and other 

program-related costs. The Museum also raises funds from private sources to 

support research, exhibitions, public programs, and administrative functions. This 

includes securing contributions for new exhibitions, educational initiatives, and 

public outreach. Donor/sponsor-designated funds are critical to support 

exhibitions and educational initiatives. In addition, significant endowment gifts 

support research, exhibitions, public programs, and administrative functions. 
105

HIRSHHORN MUSEUM AND SCULPTURE GARDEN 

 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 37 4,270 3 286 17 2,846 0 0

FY 2015

ENACTED 37 4,301 2 659 43 2,093 0 0

FY 2016

REQUEST 37 4,605 4 1,058 43 3,048 0 0

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

REVITALIZING EDUCATION; STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS; AND 

MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/ FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

Program Category FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Engage in research and discovery 2 294 2 294 0 0

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web support 1 117 1 117 0 0

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 2 284 2 284 0 0

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 12 1,456 12 1,653 0 197

Revitalizing Education

Education

Engage and inspire diverse audiences 4 453 4 453 0 0

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national 

collections

9 1,099 9 1,206 0 107

Mission Enabling

Facilities

Improve the overall cleanliness and efficient 

operation of Smithsonian facilities

1 92 1 92 0 0

Security and Safety

Provide world-class protection for Smithsonian 

facilities, collections, staff, visitors, and 

volunteers

2 162 2 162 0 0
106

Performance Objective/ FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

Program Category FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Information Technology

Modernize the Institution’s information 

technology systems and infrastructure

1 75 1 75 0 0

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is 

customer centered and results oriented

2 203 2 203 0 0

Modernize the Institution’s financial 

management and accounting operations 1 66 1 66 0 0

Total 37 4,301 37 4,605 0 304

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT 

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (HMSG) is a leading voice 

for contemporary art and culture, and provides a national platform for the art and 

artists of our time. The Museum seeks to share the transformative power of 

modern and contemporary art with audiences at all levels of awareness and 

understanding by creating meaningful, personal experiences in which art, artists, 

audiences, and ideas converge. The HMSG enhances public understanding and 

appreciation of contemporary art through acquisition, exhibitions, education and 

public programs, conservation, and research. 

The Museum allocates resources to further the Institution’s goals so that 

progress toward one goal advances work toward the others. For instance, 

through its efforts to pursue the goal of Excellent Research, the HMSG has 

developed a deep expertise in the conservation of time-based media works that 

are at the forefront of contemporary art, and this knowledge enables the Museum 

to sustain these works under the strategic goal of Strengthening Collections, and 

to display these works in compelling exhibitions under the goal of Broadening 

Access. 

The HMSG dedicates a significant portion of its resources to the 

Institution’s goal of Broadening Access, primarily through its presentation of 

insightful, deeply researched exhibitions of modern and contemporary artists, 

many of them with novel thematic interpretations that win critical and public 

acclaim. The HMSG supplements these exhibitions with an active roster of public 

programs, critical essays, and carefully selected images in original catalogues, 

and through continued progress in digitizing images of every work in the 

collection and highlighting them on the Museum’s re-designed website. 

The Museum’s extensive collection is central to its purpose, and, pursuant 

to the Institution’s goal of Strengthening Collections, the HMSG dedicates 

another substantial portion of its resources to the preservation of its thousands of 

artworks. These artworks have been highlighted in several collection shows such 

as Over Under Next, Out of the Ordinary, Speculative Forms and Gravity’s Edge

and At the Hub of Things in FYs 2013, 2014, and 2015. The strength of this 

collection and the need to preserve it will be highlighted significantly as the 
107

Museum moves into its fifth decade, in 2015 and 2016, with plans for additional 

showcases of its unique collection. Moreover, the HMSG continues to make 

these artworks available to museums around the country with a very active loan 

program, and lends staff expertise on conservation matters to arts organizations 

around the globe. 

The Museum contributes to the strategic goal of Revitalizing Education 

with Artlab+ and numerous educational programs, including a gallery interpretive 

guide project that is adapted to audience areas of interest and ongoing research 

from many fields of contemporary culture, and efforts to bring senior, nonmuseum education professionals into programs where they can expand on the 

HMSG’s didactic approaches. Artlab+ is a digital media studio for local 

teenagers, giving them access to professional technology and art, and 

connecting them to artist mentors who build a community of young creators. 

Artlab+ has been a signature achievement of the Museum and has received 

critical acclaim from the broader educational community and from one of its 

primary funders, the MacArthur Foundation, as well as support from the Pearson 

Foundation and the Smithsonian Youth Access Grant. The Museum pursues the 

goal of Mission Enabling by constantly improving its financial and administrative 

management tools and procedures. 

The budget request includes an increase of $304,000. The increase 

includes $87,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for existing 

staff funded under this line item; $67,000 for unit rent; and $150,000 for Exhibits 

Maintenance. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

In FY 2016, Excellent Research continues as the Museum develops a 

major public forum on the intersections of art, design, technology and education, 

featuring international subject-matter experts and an interactive online 

component effectively extending participation to audiences far beyond the walls 

of the Museum. Also, the Museum will expand its series of online and on-site 

programs dealing with the role of technology and new media in contemporary art, 

museum culture, and digital education. 

 FY 2016 exhibitions will remain at the forefront of the HMSG’s missions to 

broaden access to the arts and, specifically, to increase public understanding of 

and engagement with modern and contemporary art. FY 2016 exhibitions will 

include: 

 The Museum will open the year with Surrealist Sculptures, a major loan 

exhibition exploring the sculptures and installations created between 1920 

and 1950 by an international group of artists who espoused the Surrealist 

goal of expanding perceptions beyond ordinary reality. 
108

 Surrealist Sculptures will be complemented by Directions: Shana Lutker, 

featuring contemporary work by California conceptual artist Shana Lutker, 

who interprets her research into the Surrealist period through her own 

enigmatic sculptures and installations. 

 Other major events in FY 2016 include Robert Irwin: All the Rules Will 

Change, the first Museum exhibition to focus exclusively on this important 

American artist’s trajectory through the masterworks of his early career. 

The exhibition will culminate with a new site-conditioned scrim installation 

created to enhance the Hirshhorn’s iconic Gordon Bunshaft building. 

 Major exhibitions in FY 2016 will be interspersed with smaller displays, 

commissions, and other artist interventions around the building, enlivening 

and activating all of the Museum’s galleries and public spaces. 

All of the exhibitions presented in FY 2016 will be complemented by a 

combination of public tours led by gallery guides, and invited specialists, lectures 

and other public programs, as well as brochures, catalogues, and online 

educational resources. 

With a redesigned website, the Museum will further the goal of Broadening 

Access by engaging with local and remote audiences as they draw in information 

with individualized knowledge portals. HMSG will also refine its communication 

procedures to diffuse deep knowledge of contemporary art and culture, whether 

presented in the Museum or elsewhere, and not merely describe events in 

superficial terms. The Museum will still publish original catalogues to complement 

the viewing of its exhibitions, and produce other books which examine modern 

art, design, and cultural shifts of the early 21st century. 

The Museum will support Revitalizing Education with a range of programs 

geared toward people with varying levels of art experience and cultural interests, 

and by expanding or revising the concept of a museum as a center of learning. 

As in previous years, one or more working artists will lead youth and teacher 

workshops for K–12 teachers and students. Artists will also present their ideas 

and inspirations to people of all ages in the “Meet the Artist” programs and “In 

Conversation” interviews and panel discussions. The Museum will draw upon a 

wide pool of artists, researchers, and experts from unexpected fields to provide 

interpretive tours in Friday Gallery Talks. It will present Washington’s most 

thought-provoking film series, portraying art and critical thought from independent 

artists and documentary film makers from around the world. In concert with 

educational foundation sponsors, HMSG will expand the Artlab+ program 

throughout the Museum to create an environment where teenagers can attend 

workshops to learn about and explore digital media. The Museum will sustain its 

“Interpretive Guides” program, which brings advanced art students into the 

galleries to aid visitors’ critical experience with art on display, and which develops 

the students’ own education objectives and teaching skills. 
109

In FY 2016, the Museum’s main action to achieve the strategic goal of 

Strengthening Collections will involve the planning and fundraising effort to 

reconfigure some office and storage space on the fourth floor. This will allow the 

Conservation Lab to be moved from the basement to the fourth floor, where 

natural light will greatly enhance the Lab’s activities. In addition, the HMSG will 

further develop itself as a center for research and preservation of time-based 

media (e.g., film, digital video and audio) artworks, by integrating the work of 

conservation and exhibits to provide leading-edge presentation and 

responsible stewardship of the analog and digital time-based media artworks in 

HMSG’s collection. 

The Museum will seek to complete its efforts to photograph and catalogue 

the entire permanent collection, and bring ever more of the collection to the 

public via extensive search features on the HMSG public website. 

Under the goal of Mission Enabling, the Museum will continue to pursue 

capital projects that merge the functional with the artistic through the inclusion of 

artists and designers with central Smithsonian engineering staff. The Museum 

will continue to refine its public spaces for visitors who apply mobile technology in 

every facet of life, and expect access to Web-based knowledge and social media 

platforms to enliven their interpretive experience as they explore Museum 

galleries. The HMSG administration will continue to institute long-range program 

planning reviews to improve resource allocation, funds management, and more 

effective cost sharing with outside organizations which help support major 

exhibitions and programs. By identifying and working with partners in the private 

sector, HMSG senior leaders will leverage the Museum’s federal appropriations 

to the maximum extent possible. 

EXPLANATION OF CHANGE 

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $304,000. This 

includes $87,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for existing 

staff funded under this line item; $67,000 for increased rent supported in the 

Fixed Costs section of this budget request, and a programmatic increase of 

$150,000 for Exhibits Maintenance, as detailed below. 

Exhibits Maintenance (+$150,000) 

 The requested increase of $150,000 for exhibits maintenance will help to 

ensure that the Museum’s 60,000 square feet of exhibition space, including the 

plaza and sculpture garden, will be maintained at a level that meets the HMSG’s 

high standards for exhibition presentation, visitor experience and interaction. This 

additional funding will support and maintain the technological infrastructures 

necessary to deliver time-based media and educational content, provide for 

technical staff charged with maintaining exhibitions in the Museum and the 
110

sculpture garden, and allow for maintenance, repair and replacement of 

exhibition props, fixtures, finishes, furniture, equipment and lighting systems. 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds support salaries 

and benefits of administrative and development personnel, as well as some 

programs and public relations staff, development activities, and exhibition and 

program-related costs. Donor/sponsor-designated funds support development, 

exhibitions, public programs, communications, and marketing. 
111

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN ART 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR 

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 27 4,209 4 950 6 2,252 0 17

FY 2015 

ENACTED 27 4,227 4 940 4 771 0 0

FY 2016

REQUEST 28 4,632 4 940 8 975 0 0

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

REVITALIZING EDUCATION; STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS; AND 

MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/ FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

Program Category FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Engage in research and discovery 3 483 3 492 0 9

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web support 1 202 1 207 0 5

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 4 544 4 553 0 9

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 8 1,300 8 1,436 0 136

Revitalizing Education

Education

Engage and inspire diverse audiences 3 480 3 489 0 9

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national 

collections

4 657 5 849 1 192

Mission Enabling

Information Technology

Modernize the Institution’s information 

technology systems and infrastructure

1 176 1 176 0 0

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is 

customer centered and results oriented

3 385 3 430 0 45

Total 27 4,227 28 4,632 1 405
112

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

Africa — the cradle of humanity — is part of everyone’s heritage. The 

mission of the National Museum of African Art (NMAfA) is to inspire 

conversations about the beauty, power, and diversity of African arts and cultures 

worldwide. The Museum’s vision is to be the world’s leading center of scholarly 

and artistic excellence on the arts of Africa. The Museum accomplishes its 

mission and vision through effective use of its unparalleled collections, 

exhibitions, programs, publications, and educational initiatives, which are widely 

accessible and strengthened through collaborations with African, diasporic, and 

global arts communities. The Museum collects and exhibits ancient to 

contemporary works of art from the entire continent of Africa. NMAfA’s activities 

and programming support the Grand Challenges of the Smithsonian’s Strategic 

Plan, particularly in the areas of Valuing World Cultures and Understanding the 

American Experience. 

To achieve the goal of Broadening Access, the NMAfA dedicates 

resources to the Web and to the Museum’s social media capabilities, integrates 

digital technology in exhibitions, provides online educational resources, and 

promotes public access to the Museum’s art and photographic collections. A key 

component of Museum operations is the creation of temporary and semipermanent exhibitions of artworks from its own collection and from other museum 

and private collections. In FY 2016, the Museum will present one new temporary 

exhibition, Artists in Dialogue 3, which features contemporary African art (and will 

include a publication). The Museum may also commission a Nigerian’s artist’s 

sound installation that will complement Artists in Dialogue 3. In addition, the 

temporary exhibition, Conversations: African and African American Artworks in 

Dialogue, which opened in early FY 2015, will remain on view in FY 2016. This 

exhibition includes a publication. A small exhibition entitled African Artists’ Books, 

which was developed in collaboration with Smithsonian Libraries, will be placed 

on view in late FY 2015 and remain into FY 2016; it is accompanied by an online 

publication and a print publication, as well. 

Selections from the Museum’s permanent collection will also remain on 

view, with periodic rotations, in the Museum’s African Mosaic gallery, which is 

dedicated for this purpose. It does not include a publication, but the Museum 

revised its popular “Looking at African Art” gallery guide in FY 2015 to assist 

visitors in understanding the form, materials, and messages of Africa’s traditional 

and contemporary arts. The Museum’s Walt Disney-Tishman Highlights 

exhibition, which closed in the second quarter of FY 2014 to allow for a 

conservation assessment of the collection and to prepare for a future 

reinstallation of selected works, will likely reopen in late FY 2016 or early 

FY 2017 and feature a new thematic organization for selected masterworks from 

this important collection. 
113

The Museum will also develop programming and educational outreach in 

connection with the above-mentioned exhibitions as well as its Gems of the 

Indian Ocean project, which focuses on the peoples, arts, and cultures of the 

Swahili Coast and Oman. In addition to specially commissioned performances 

that were held in FY 2014 and are scheduled in FY 2015, the Gems project will 

include a publication and a film in FY 2016, and selected display cases in African 

Mosaic will be devoted to the arts of the people native to Indian Ocean nations. 

The Museum will present new educational programs online and expand its 

outreach to local communities and underserved or new audiences, particularly 

African immigrant communities and young adult audiences. Expanded 

educational outreach to U.S. schools is planned via videoconferences. Outreach 

to eastern Africa’s Swahili Coast and to Oman is planned in connection with the 

Museum’s Gems of the Indian Ocean project. In addition, the Museum will 

continue to catalogue objects and images from its collections for online access. 

In keeping with the Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan, the NMAfA will forge 

meaningful collaborations within and outside the Smithsonian, and strengthen its 

networking nationally and internationally — particularly on the continent of Africa. 

The Museum will achieve its goal of Broadening Access through 

organizational excellence by continuing to improve information technology (IT) 

operations, staff performance, and media relations and marketing. A 

comprehensive IT plan will integrate all of the Museum’s IT operations. The 

Museum’s website, revamped in FY 2014 to include intelligent design, continues 

to provide access to NMAfA collections, scholarship, and programming. A media 

and marketing strategy, renewed annually, will expand NMAfA’s visibility and 

membership, and promote its programs locally, nationally, and internationally. A 

fundraising plan, renewed annually, will enhance the Museum’s capacity to offer 

outstanding exhibitions, publications, programs, and outreach activities. 

Furthermore, the Museum will continue to assess its effectiveness in reaching 

out to educators, scholars, and the public through use of visitor surveys and 

other performance evaluation tools. 

As a way to establish the staff as stakeholders in the success of the 

NMAfA, the goals of the Museum’s strategic plan and the Secretary’s goals will 

continue to be integrated into the performance plans of all staff members. 

Emphasis will be on public visibility and customer-centered performance. At the 

same time, quality programming and ongoing research will continue to be the 

foundation for all NMAfA programs, including exhibitions. 

The Museum will continue to increase its public visibility and fulfill its 

mission to various stakeholders, including students, teachers, cultural community 

organizations, the diplomatic corps, African immigrant groups, scholars, 

collectors, and volunteers located in the metropolitan Washington, DC area. An 

enhanced Web presence and social media capabilities will expand the Museum’s 

visibility and impact nationally and internationally. 
114

The budget request includes an increase of $405,000 and 1 FTE. This 

includes $75,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for existing 

staff funded under this line item and program increases of $180,000 and 1 FTE 

for a curator and $150,000 for Exhibits Maintenance. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

The NMAfA will achieve the goals of Broadening Access and Revitalizing 

Education by directing resources to activities that will result in consistently highquality programs and larger audiences. The Museum will provide greater Web 

and digital access to NMAfA collections through enhanced navigation features 

via eMuseum and multimedia applications, and by completing additional image 

and object catalogue records for the Museum’s public access database. The 

Museum’s website, revised in FY 2014 with streamlined features and intelligent 

design, will continue to add content such as podcasts, blogs, Facebook and 

Twitter options, online educational resources, and activities for younger 

audiences. 

The Museum will continue to seek visitor feedback on exhibitions and 

programs, and it will also continue to implement performance assessments of its 

public programs. The NMAfA will continue to engage with our diverse audiences 

through programming and, in particular, through outreach with teachers of 

primary, secondary, and college students, as well as representatives from the 

Museum’s African Immigrant Advisory Group and local community groups, to 

seek input for exhibitions, programs, and activities. These efforts will result in 

more effective planning and development of programs and services, which will 

enable the Museum to reach its target groups and expand its audience base. In 

addition, marketing strategies will be reviewed and tested to determine the most 

effective ways to communicate with diverse audiences. 

Ongoing educational programs will include musical and dance 

performances, programs geared to younger visitors and family groups, such as 

reading, storytelling, and art-making activities, exhibition-related teacher/student 

workshops and teleconferences, and an annual Community Day. To attract 

mixed-generation and adult audiences, the NMAfA will present lectures with 

scholars and artists, gallery tours, community discussions, and film series linked 

to the ideas and themes explored in the Museum’s current exhibitions and 

reflecting current trends in African-oriented and diasporan scholarship. In 

addition, the Museum will continue its successful Director’s Series, featuring 

NMAfA’s director talking with leading figures associated with Africa and its 

diasporas. 

The Museum will continue its quarterly Conservation Clinics to educate 

the public about conservation and the important relationships linking science, 

technology, and art. Ongoing quarterly Curatorial Clinics will continue to provide 

opportunities for members of the public to learn about African art forms, styles, 
115

materials, and contexts of use as part of museum connoisseurship and object 

quality assessments. To educate casual and serious collectors of African art, the 

Museum’s website will include more helpful tips on object identification, 

assessment, and care. 

To achieve the goal of Strengthening Collections, the Museum will 

continue online cataloguing of its art and photographic collections, with a focus 

on recent acquisitions, the Museum’s collection of contemporary art, the Walt 

Disney-Tishman African Art Collection, and the Eliot Elisofon Photographic 

Archives. Digital access to these materials will facilitate research and study by 

students, teachers, scholars, conservators, and the public. The Museum will 

continue to integrate contextual photographs from the Eliot Elisofon Archives with 

related objects in the collection. 

Selected works from the Walt Disney-Tishman African Art collection are 

expected to appear in a new temporary exhibition in FY 2016 or FY 2017, and 

will also be on view throughout the Museum’s gallery and public spaces. The 

exhibition African Mosaic, which features selected highlights from the Museum’s 

permanent collection, will continue into FY 2016, although plans will be 

developed to revise the exhibition with new themes and interpretive strategies. 

The NMAfA will open one new temporary exhibition in FY 2016. Artists in 

Dialogue 3: Wangechi Mutu and Nora Chipaumire, developed by the Museum, is 

the third in a unique series in which innovative artists are invited to create new 

works of art in a call and response with one another: each artist responds to the 

work of the other, resulting in original, site-specific works at the Museum. 

Wangechi Mutu is a Kenyan-born artist; Nora Chipaumire is an acclaimed dancer 

and performance artist from Zimbabwe. Their exhibit will include a publication. 

Funds, schedule, and logistics permitting, the Museum may also complement this 

exhibition by commissioning an installation by the Nigerian artist Emeka Ogboh. 

In addition, the temporary exhibition Conversations: African and African 

American Artworks in Dialogue, which opened in early FY 2015, will remain on 

view in FY 2016. This exhibition includes a publication. 

The Museum will continue development of an exhibition and publication on 

Ethiopian devotional art, slated for FY 2016 or FY 2017. The Museum will also 

work toward opening a small exhibition on Senegalese jewelry in NMAfA’s Point 

of View (POV) gallery. It will feature selected works from the Senegalese jewelry 

collection of Marian Johnson, which was donated to the Museum in 2012. NMAfA 

staff will continue to develop exhibition plans for gallery space on the Museum’s 

third level, in a gallery that is jointly shared with the Freer Gallery of Art and the 

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. The Museum will also begin to outline permanent 

collection publications in support of its traditional and contemporary collections. 
116

In FY 2016, the Museum will also devote staff resources to the planning of 

exhibitions in FY 2017 and beyond, including possible exhibitions on Time, the 

Mechanics of Art, Visionary Leadership, African Minimalism, the Creativity of 

Work, and future reinstallations of selected works from the Walt Disney-Tishman 

African Art Collection. Staff members will also devote considerable effort to 

planning the installation of a reconfigured gallery devoted to the Museum’s 

permanent collection. This long-term display of selected works from the NMAfA’s 

permanent collection will attract general audiences, collectors, and scholars, as 

well as local school groups that rely on consistently available works of art for their 

themed tours and curriculum projects. The Museum will continue to develop 

rotating exhibitions from the permanent collection for the small Point of View

gallery. 

In addition, the Museum will plan for an exhibition focused on African 

contemporary women artists, which will open in FY 2017 or FY 2018. Finally, the 

Museum expects to host at least one traveling exhibition of African art in FY 2017 

or FY 2018, possibly Striking Iron, developed by the Fowler Museum at UCLA. 

To address the strategic goal of Broadening Access, the NMAfA is 

focusing resources in several areas: IT operations, staff performance and 

accountability, and relations with the media. The Museum’s IT plan has 

integrated information technology functions for administration, collections 

management, exhibitions, and public access. The IT plan will continue to be 

reviewed on an annual basis, with updates made as needed. Museum 

administrators will use the five-year strategic plan and feedback from visitor 

surveys to update the NMAfA’s operational plan and ensure quality public 

programs and experiences for all audiences. 

The Museum integrates its strategic goals and operational plans, in 

concert with the Secretary’s annual goals, into the performance plans for all 

NMAfA staff members. In addition, personnel and programmatic management 

responsibilities have been incorporated into the performance plans of all 

department heads to provide more effective review of programs, activities, and 

relevant projects. Educational brochures and special websites will increase the 

educational value of NMAfA exhibits. Finally, the Museum will continue to forge 

strong relationships with news media, corporations, foundations, community 

interest groups, and congressional representatives. The NMAfA staff will 

accomplish this by expanding the Museum’s contact base and distributing more 

information about NMAfA activities, events, and programs. 
117

EXPLANATION OF CHANGE 

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $405,000 and 1 FTE. 

The increase includes $75,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs 

for existing staff funded under this line item and programmatic increases of 

$180,000 and 1 FTE for Collections Scholarship, and $150,000 for Exhibits

Maintenance, as detailed below. 

Collections Scholarship (+$180,000, +1 FTE) 

The budget request includes an increase of $180,000 and 1 FTE for an 

additional curator. The Museum’s curatorial staff has significant gaps in their 

ability to research, interpret, exhibit, and care for the national collections. These 

gaps include critical subject areas, chronological periods, and program 

execution. Over time, the Museum has lost more than half of its curatorial staff, 

which has seriously limited the extent to which Museum curators can develop 

and execute public programs and contribute to the scholarly foundations that are 

at the heart of the Smithsonian Institution. 

The funds requested will help the Museum rebuild its curatorial strength to 

support excellent research, exhibitions, and digitized access to the nation’s 

important collections of African works of art. Specifically, this position will fill the 

highest priority gaps in our scholarly foundation and enable the Museum to 

regain its national and international prominence as the leading institution devoted 

exclusively to the arts of Africa. An additional curator on staff will address critical 

shortfalls in the Museum’s collection data and online collections access; yield 

new exhibitions and public programming, including a new and innovative 

permanent collection gallery; promote Smithsonian scholarship through 

increased research and scholarly publications; and support the Smithsonian’s 

mission of increased outreach and audience engagement both within and outside 

the United States. 

Exhibits Maintenance (+$150,000) 

 The requested increase of $150,000 for exhibits maintenance will ensure 

that the Museum’s exhibitions and public spaces are well maintained and are 

kept clean, well lit, and in good repair, and that the audio-visual and other media 

components connected to exhibition spaces are fully operational and up to date. 

The funding in support of exhibitions rarely covers the long-term upkeep of the 

galleries and the necessary costs to maintain and improve public spaces. 

 In addition, the Museum now has joint ownership (with the Freer and 

Sackler Galleries) of an additional third-level gallery, increasing operation and 

maintenance needs. Growing numbers of visitors result in increased wear and 

tear on displays within the galleries and in other public areas that the Museum 

now uses to place more of its collection on view. This, in turn, results in higher 
118

maintenance costs. The requested funds will allow NMAfA to maintain exhibits at 

a standard that benefits our visitors and will enable the Museum to adopt longerlasting, energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly measures that are in 

concert with the Institution’s goals. 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds support staff 

salaries, benefits, and travel. Funds raised from individual and corporate donors 

will support the NMAfA’s major exhibition efforts, including exhibition-related 

publications, educational programming, and outreach initiatives. Corporate and 

foundation sponsorships support the planning and development of exhibitions, 

including installation expenses and exhibition-related public programming, travel, 

and curatorial collaborations. 
119

Introduction, Understanding the American Experience

America is an increasingly diverse society that shares a history, 

ideals, and an indomitable, innovative spirit. The Smithsonian will use 

its vast resources across disciplines to explore what it means to be an 

American and how the disparate experiences of individual groups 

strengthen the country as a whole, and to share our story with the 

peoples of all nations. 

RESEARCH Goal: The Smithsonian advances and synthesizes 

knowledge that contributes to understanding the American experience, 

particularly with regard to its history, art, and culture, as well as its 

connections to the rest of the world. 

ACCESS Goal: The Smithsonian turns knowledge into awareness, 

action, and results, and encourages American cultural vitality. 

UNITS primarily associated with this Grand Challenge: 

 Anacostia Community Museum 

 Archives of American Art 

 National Museum of African American History and 

Culture 

 National Museum of American History, Behring Center 

 National Museum of the American Indian 

 National Portrait Gallery 

 National Postal Museum 

 Smithsonian American Art Museum 
120

ANACOSTIA COMMUNITY MUSEUM 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR 

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 18 2,079 3 622 0 203 0 33

FY 2015 

ENACTED 18 2,093 3 529 0 161 0 25

FY 2016

REQUEST 19 2,415 3 550 0 163 0 25

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

REVITALIZING EDUCATION; STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS; AND 

MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/ FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

Program Category FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Engage in research and discovery 2 322 2 327 0 5

Ensure the advancement of knowledge in the 

humanities 1 135 1 143 0 8

Broadening Access

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 3 400 3 406 0 6

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 3 381 3 487 0 106

Revitalizing Education

Education

Engage and inspire diverse audiences 1 72 1 74 0 2

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national collections 3 293 4 479 1 186

Mission Enabling

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is customer 

centered and results oriented 2 220 2 223 0 3

Ensure that the Smithsonian workforce is efficient, 

collaborative, committed, innovative, and diverse 1 88 1 90 0 2

Modernize the Institution’s financial management 

and accounting operations 1 91 1 93 0 2

Enhance the reputation of the Smithsonian by 

maintaining good relations with the news media and 

with federal, state, and local governments 1 91 1 93 0 2

Total 18 2,093 19 2,415 1 322
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BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

Founded on September 15, 1967 as the first federally funded, communitybased museum, the Anacostia Community Museum (ACM) has developed into a 

valuable cultural resource for the region and the country, setting a 

groundbreaking direction in terms of expanding on traditional museological 

thought and practice. The Museum’s mission is to enhance understanding of 

contemporary urban experiences and strengthen community bonds by 

conserving the past, documenting the present, and serving as a catalyst for 

shaping the future. Its vision is to challenge perceptions, generate new 

knowledge, and deepen understanding about the ever-changing concepts and 

realities of communities. The work of the Museum is steeped in the 

Smithsonian’s Grand Challenge initiatives of Understanding the American 

Experience, Valuing World Cultures, and Understanding and Sustaining a 

Biodiverse Planet.

The Museum focuses on community engagement and has adapted this 

philosophy in its approach to museum practices. From the Museum’s inception, 

local residents — predominantly African American (approximately 92 percent) —

have been concerned with the documentation, preservation, and interpretation of 

history and culture from a community-based perspective. Drawing on this 

background, ACM was the forerunner in developing collaborations with different 

sectors of its surrounding communities, including local historical sites, religious 

institutions, and arts, cultural, and civic organizations. Its mission resonates with 

similar communities throughout the region, nation and the world. Museum staff 

mobilize to provide technical assistance to help community entities organize, 

document, and preserve their cultural heritage through research, exhibitions, 

education, and training programs.

During the past decade, the Washington, DC area has seen subtle but 

dramatic shifts in local demographics. With input from a broad range of 

stakeholders, the focus of the Museum was revised. The current ACM mission 

moves from a specifically local ethnic focus to one that examines issues 

impacting urban communities from a global perspective. The Museum is focused 

on the documentation and interpretation of the impact of historical and 

contemporary social and cultural issues on communities east of the Anacostia 

River and similar urban communities throughout the region, the country, and the 

world. Although the Museum’s new identity is a return to its original charter as a 

community museum, the new direction defines the term “community” in much 

broader terms and addresses issues such as the environment, housing, health, 

education, urban development, and other cross-sections of community life that 

go beyond ethnicity.

The budget request includes an increase of $322,000, including $42,000 

for necessary pay and other related salary costs for existing staff funded under 

this line item, and programmatic increases of $180,000 and 1 FTE for Collections 

Scholarship and $100,000 for Exhibits Maintenance, as detailed below.
122

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

ACM will continue to work toward accomplishing the Institution-wide goal 

of inspiring generations through knowledge and discovery. ACM also continues to 

embrace the Smithsonian Grand Challenges and use its resources, strengthened 

through collaborative efforts, in research, exhibitions, collections, and public and 

other education programs. Using resources which engage the broad range of 

Smithsonian and external partners, ACM will draw upon specific things that bring 

groups of people together — social, ethnic, religious, geographic, and other 

commonalities. Specifically, the Museum will work with community partners to 

document and preserve local heritage, identify cultural materials at risk, 

document significant local cultural materials, and develop an interpretation and 

appreciation of them through regionally based educational activities, publications, 

and exhibitions. Through its website, the Museum will disseminate information on 

heritage and community preservation projects and provide access to its 

collections and research.

The Museum will mount three exhibitions in FY 2015. How the Civil War 

Changed Washington, will be on view in the main gallery from February 2 –

October 18, 2015. This exhibition examines how many of the changes in 

Washington, DC during the Civil War era mirror some of the events and social 

changes that have affected the city in modern times. This will have the advantage 

of giving viewers a personal connection to the exhibit as well as the historical 

context of events depicted. Visitors might see in the exhibit a personal 

experience that they might have lived or an event that impacted their own 

neighborhood. The second exhibit, Hand of Freedom: The Life and Legacy of the 

Plummer Family, will be mounted in the Community Gallery and centers on Civil 

War-era holdings from the Museum’s permanent collection. It will be on view from 

February 23 – November 2015. The third, Bridging the Americas: Community and 

Belonging from Panama to Washington, DC, opens on April 13, 2015 and will be 

a long-term exhibition mounted in the ACM Program Room. Using images and 

narratives, this exhibition presents the various ways in which former Canal Zone 

residents and Panamanians in the Washington metropolitan area think about 

home and belonging in and in-between Panama and Washington, DC. The 

exhibition shows the formal ties between the two nations but focuses on the 

human stories and migrations that underscore the connection.

Bridging the Americas replaces the current, semi-permanent exhibition, 

Separate and Unequaled: Black Baseball in the District of Columbia, which has 

been on display since 2009 and chronicles and celebrates the great 

achievements of African Americans in baseball in the nation’s capital despite, 

segregation. The exhibition was developed by ACM, presented at the Historical 

Society of Washington, DC, in 2008, and has been in a small format at the 

Anacostia Museum since 2009. In addition, ACM is working with the Washington 

Nationals baseball team to present an expanded indoor/outdoor version of this 

exhibition at Nationals Stadium for the opening of the season in April 2015.
123

Furthermore, ACM’s highly acclaimed exhibition Word, Shout, Song: 

Lorenzo Dow Turner Connecting Communities through Language has been 

traveling throughout the United States since October 2011. In FY 2014 and 

FY 2015, ACM received funding from the U.S. Department of State to send the 

exhibition to four major cities in Brazil. The exhibition will premiere in Rio de 

Janeiro in the late summer of 2015 and then be shown in Bahia, Brasília, and 

Sao Paulo through 2016.

Several research and collections access initiatives, facilitated by the ACM 

Community Documentation Initiative (CDI), are ongoing. The ACM partnership 

with the American University (AU) Graduate School of Communication on the 

“Community Stories” project continues, with AU students recording current and 

former residents of the city’s Wards 7 and 8 as they provide oral histories 

documenting their personal experiences and observations. The videos and other 

data collected from the CDI real-time documentation of community history are 

accessible to scholars, students, and the public through ACM’s Web-based 

media portals. Continued digitization of the ACM archival and material culture 

collections has exponentially increased public access to the Museum’s holdings.

One of the Museum’s current research projects, “Twelve Years that Shook 

and Changed Washington,” will culminate with an exhibition in October of 2015. 

Twelve momentous and tumultuous years, 1963–75, saw a generation take to 

the streets to demand greater equality, justice, and peace, and in the process 

change the government and alter the physical, cultural, and educational 

character of the nation’s capital. Against a national background of anti-war 

protests, black power, and feminism, this exhibition will focus on events and 

challenges that transformed Washington, DC, and provided the social, cultural, 

physical, and political bases for the city that exists today.

Another initiative, the “Unconventional Gateways” research project, takes 

a comparative look at contemporary Latino urban experiences. The project will 

investigate Latino urban experiences outside of traditional urban immigrant 

gateways, diverging from traditionally researched areas of Latino settlement in 

order to probe contemporary Latino urban issues of citizenship, racialization, and 

rights. This project will investigate the encounters between and among various 

cultural groups, concentrating on the dynamic human relationships and cultural 

products that emerge from Latino communities within these defined urban 

spaces. Research activities include interviews, oral histories, community 

meetings, photographic documentation, and focus groups, and will result in a 

Museum exhibition, publications, public programming, and other products. This 

project will be presented as an exhibition in December of 2016.

ACM is committed to applying a portion of its resources to engagement 

with the children and youth within the southeast Washington, DC community and 

beyond. Accordingly, the Museum Academy Program (MAP) out-of-school-time 

component will continue for students in the third through fifth grades at the Savoy 

Elementary School. There will be a menu of programmatic activities, from cultural 
124

enrichment to educational enhancement and career training, which can be 

tailored to meet the specific needs of each collaborative community partner.

ACM maintains substantive relationships with state and local governments 

through the regional partnership process. Museum staff will offer training and 

technical assistance to strengthen local, regional, and national partners’ abilities 

to preserve local heritage. In addition, the Museum will increase its public 

awareness efforts and expand access to its programs and collections via its 

website, social media, press outlets, and publications.

EXPLANATION OF CHANGE 

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $322,000. The 

increase includes $42,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for 

existing staff funded under this line item, and programmatic increases of 

$180,000 and 1 FTE for Collections Scholarship and $100,000 for Exhibits 

Maintenance, as detailed below.

Collections Scholarship (+$180,000, +1 FTE) 

The budget request includes an increase of $180,000 and 1 FTE for an 

additional curator. ACM curatorial staff has significant gaps in their ability to 

research, interpret, exhibit, and care for the national collections. These gaps 

include critical subject areas, chronological periods, and program execution. 

Over time, the Museum has lost more than half of its curatorial staff, which has 

seriously depleted the Institution’s scholarly foundation. The Museum seeks to 

rebuild its curatorial strength to support excellent research, exhibitions, and 

digitization of the nation’s vast collection of artifacts. Specifically, this position will 

fill the highest priority gaps in our scholarly foundation. For ACM, these are in the 

areas of research aimed at understanding how communities are viewed — not as 

socially isolated, but as part of the natural and built environment, and at the 

nexus of both local and global economic, political, and cultural forces. These 

areas represent the material collections of national importance and are the topics 

of planned future exhibitions.

Exhibits Maintenance (+$100,000) 

The requested increase of $100,000 for exhibits maintenance will ensure 

that the Museum’s exhibitions are clean and in good repair, and that the media 

components are fully operational and up to date. The mere presence of record 

numbers of visitors results in increased wear and tear to displays within the halls, 

and increases the cost to maintain them. In addition, the increasingly interactive 

nature of today’s exhibits increases maintenance needs. The requested funds will 

maintain ACM exhibits at a standard that is expected of a world-class museum. 

Specifically, the Museum requires funds to transport, document, conserve, 

handle and install objects in order to ensure the highest level of care and 

preservation of the collections. ACM requires support to ensure that exhibition 
125

environments and conditions are designed in a manner consonant with best 

practices in collections care and the highest standards of the Smithsonian.

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — FY 2016 general trust and other nondesignated trust funds support the salaries and benefits of the Museum director, 

director of advancement, and development officer. These trust funds also support 

donor cultivation and fundraising activities that assist efforts to reach the ACM’s 

Smithsonian Campaign fundraising goal. 
126

ARCHIVES OF AMERICAN ART 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 17 1,844 1 531 21 2,062 0 0

FY 2015 

ENACTED 17 1,859 1 544 20 2,162 0 0

FY 2016

REQUEST 17 1,898 1 549 20 2,220 0 0

STRATEGIC GOALS: BROADENING ACCESS; STRENGTHENING 

COLLECTIONS; AND MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/ FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

Program Category FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web support 3 271 3 248 0 -23

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 3 272 3 292 0 20

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 1 82 1 83 0 1

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national 

collections

8 926 8 962 0 36

Mission Enabling

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is 

customer centered and results oriented

2 308 2 313 0 5

Total 17 1,859 17 1,898 0 39

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT 

Founded in 1954, the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art (AAA) is the 

world’s pre-eminent and most widely used resource for original papers and other 

primary records documenting the visual arts in the United States. By collecting, 

preserving and making available more than 20 million unique letters, diaries, 

photographs, financial records, sketchbooks, scrapbooks, and the like, AAA 

shares and exemplifies the Smithsonian’s mission of “the increase and diffusion 

of knowledge.” 
127

To achieve the Institution’s goal of Broadening Access, AAA continues its 

ambitious digitization program, begun in 2005, to provide online access to a 

significant portion of its extensive holdings. AAA’s website will continue to improve 

delivery of unprecedented numbers of new digital files, the core of which 

represents AAA’s innovative work to digitize entire archival collections, 

representing hundreds of linear feet, along with descriptive information, engaging 

content, online exhibitions, and robust search and reference services. AAA’s 

Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery in the Donald W. Reynolds Center (DWRC) 

continues to reach new and diverse audiences. 

The strategic goal of Strengthening Collections will be achieved by 

continuing to implement preservation actions based upon results derived from 

comprehensive and systematic collection assessment surveys. Particular focus 

will be on decreasing the backlog of unprocessed collections and audiovisual and 

born-digital holdings. 

AAA will accomplish the goal of Mission Enabling through organizational 

excellence by continually assessing and enhancing staff development and 

maintaining conscientious oversight of internal controls. 

The budget request includes $39,000 for necessary pay and other related 

salary costs for existing staff funded under this line item. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY

AAA will achieve the Institution’s goal of Broadening Access by continuing 

to direct resources to optimize its presence in the DWRC and specifically by 

presenting compelling exhibitions in its Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery. The 

exhibitions planned for FY 2016 include one about the painter Robert Motherwell, 

drawn from primary sources in the Archives, in celebration of the centennial of 

his birth, followed by Little Black Books, an examination of social networks 

revealed through six separate address books. In addition, the Archives will also 

partner with the Dedalus Foundation to sponsor a one-day symposium on 

Motherwell, highlighting new research on his life and work. (The Dedalus 

Foundation was founded by Motherwell to foster public understanding of modern 

art and modernism.) 

In addition, AAA will reach new audiences with the book The Art of 

Handwriting, forthcoming from Princeton Architectural Press in 2016. The 

Archives will sponsor the last of four annual graduate student essay prizes, 

designed to promote the use of AAA’s online resources for a new generation of 

art historians. Through public programs, professional presentations, online 

exhibitions, and loans to other museums and institutions worldwide, AAA will 

continue to widen its audience and provide a greater understanding of the history 

of visual arts in the United States. 
128

In FY 2015, the Archives’ website was redesigned with a new visual 

identity and built using the flexible, open-source Drupal content management 

system. In FY 2016, the website will continue to be enhanced to promote public 

access and engagement. The staff, working with focus groups, will refine the 

collections search and browse interface and social media, incorporating 

emerging trends and technologies as well as responsive design. AAA will 

continue to encourage public visits to its website by adding finding aids for 

processed collections; tens of thousands of images of digitized documents; 

transcripts and audio of interviews conducted for the Archives’ Oral History 

Program; audio and video recordings; and online exhibitions. 

Also, in FY 2016, AAA will increase its development of the Terra 

Foundation Center for Digital Collections with collections digitized in their entirety 

as part of the continuing support from the Terra Foundation for American Art and 

from other funding streams in the private sector. This effort, in combination with 

digitization completed for reference requests, exhibitions, loans, and special 

projects, will add an estimated 150,000 digital image files and continue to bring 

increased public Web access to AAA collections. AAA will continue developing its 

internal digitization and Collections Information System (CIS) application to 

ensure proper collections documentation and to support increasingly complex 

workflows, including digitization on demand and use of the Aeon patron request 

management software launched in FY 2014 and FY 2015. These efforts will 

enable AAA to track the life cycle of the collections and oral histories from preacquisition to storage and access. AAA’s investment in the digitization of its 

collections will be preserved by fully participating in the Smithsonian’s Enterprise 

Digital Asset Network (EDAN) architecture, the Digital Asset Management 

System (DAMS), the Smithsonian Transcription Center, and other initiatives of 

the Smithsonian’s digitization program. 

In FY 2016, the Archives’ goal will be to process, following national 

archival standards and best practices, at least 10 percent of our backlog, or 

about 800 to 900 linear feet, resulting in new, fully searchable finding aids added 

to AAA’s website. This work will include processing numerous previously hidden 

and at-risk audiovisual collections. When possible, we will continue to apply 

minimal-level processing and preservation strategies to diminish AAA’s backlog 

and digitize new accessions within one year of receipt. In FY 2016, a primary 

goal will be to fully implement and document processing strategies for providing 

enhanced access to born-digital content through online finding aids, similar to our 

earlier, successful strategies with audiovisual content. 

AAA will continue to strengthen its collections stewardship through its 

ongoing, comprehensive collections assessment surveys, begun in 2004 for 

manuscript collections, and subsequently expanded to include at-risk audiovisual 

and born-digital holdings. Reports generated from this data provide valuable 

information about AAA’s backlog and holdings so that the Archives’ staff can 
129

make informed decisions about the best way to prioritize and allocate limited 

resources. 

AAA will continue to provide researchers with access to its collections and 

microfilm in its Washington, DC and New York research centers, as well as 

affiliated research centers throughout the United States, by providing remote 

reference services through its Web-based “Ask Us” form and interlibrary loan 

program. 

The goal of Mission Enabling through organizational excellence will be 

addressed by continuing to implement the strategic goals of the Smithsonian, 

thereby ensuring that the AAA workforce is efficient and skilled, and by adopting 

best practices to safeguard and make the most cost-effective use of Smithsonian 

resources. 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds support AAA’s 

development office, including salaries and benefits. Donor-designated funds 

support specific programs and projects, including exhibitions, internships, 

production of oral history interviews, collections and media processing, and 

publication of the Archives of American Art Journal. In FY 2016, the Archives will 

continue to position the Journal as the leading scholarly journal in the field of 

American art history, by working closely with its advisory board to increase the 

number of high-quality submissions and by strengthening its relationship with the 

University of Chicago Press for the distribution and online publishing of the 

Journal. 

In FY 2016, the Archives will continue to develop strategies for sustaining 

its digitization program by building an endowment to support critical staff and by 

implementing improved rapid-capture technologies and techniques. 

Funding from the Terra Foundation for American Art will support AAA’s 

digitization program, new oral history interviews, and website development. The 

Terra Foundation project manager for online scholarly and educational initiatives 

will develop online learning initiatives to spark new discoveries and create a 

dialogue between AAA staff and the Archives’ ever-expanding audience of Web 

visitors. AAA will continue to engage in fund raising as part of the Smithsonian 

Institution’s National Campaign, seeking to raise money for digitization, oral 

history projects, collections management, and general operating expenses.
130

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN 

HISTORY AND CULTURE 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR 

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014 

ENACTED 106 34,162 18 1,204 5 2,967 0 2

FY 2015 

ENACTED 139 40,648 12 1,344 8 1,764 0 0

FY 2016 

REQUEST 139 41,501 11 1,304 7 980 0 0

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

REVITALIZING EDUCATION; STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS; AND MISSION 

ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/ FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

Program Category FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Ensure the advancement of knowledge in the 

humanities 14 2,962 14 2,993 0 31

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web support 3 1,229 3 1,236 0 7

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 10 1,498 10 1,520 0 22

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 13 5,749 13 5,778 0 29

Revitalizing Education

Education

Engage and inspire diverse audiences 26 3,230 26 3,288 0 58

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national 

collections 28 7,468 28 7,531 0 63

Mission Enabling

Facilities

Improve the overall cleanliness and efficient 

operation of Smithsonian facilities 6 5,209 6 5,765 0 556

Information Technology

Modernize the Institution’s information technology 

systems and infrastructure 0 2,460 0 2,460 0 0
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Performance Objective/ FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

Program Category FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is 

customer centered and results oriented 9 1,721 9 1,741 0 20

Ensure that the Smithsonian workforce is 

efficient, collaborative, committed, innovative, 

and diverse 1 123 1 125 0 2

Modernize the Institution’s financial management 

and accounting operations 2 456 2 461 0 5

Enhance the reputation of the Smithsonian by 

maintaining good relations with the news media 

and with federal, state, and local governments 3 908 3 915 0 7

Modernize and streamline the Institution’s 

acquisitions management operations 6 557 6 570 0 13

Ensuring Financial Strength

Secure the financial resources required to carry 

out the Institution’s mission 18 7,078 18 7,118 0 40

Total 139 40,648 139 41,501 0 853

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) 

was established by Congress to document, collect, conserve, interpret, and display 

the historical and cultural experiences and achievements of Americans of African 

descent. When completed, the NMAAHC will provide a national meeting place for all 

to learn about the history and culture of African Americans and their contributions to 

every aspect of American life. This effort will encompass the period of slavery, the era 

of Reconstruction, the Harlem Renaissance, the civil rights movement, and other 

periods of the African American Diaspora. The mission of the NMAAHC is to help all 

Americans remember the past and, by remembering, stimulate a dialogue about race 

and to foster a spirit of reconciliation and healing. 

NMAAHC has strategically leveraged private and public support in the effort to 

open its doors to an eagerly awaiting public in FY 2016. Fully cognizant of the 

constrained economic environment of the last several years, the Museum has been 

conservative in its budgetary requests. Nevertheless, with a planned opening quickly 

approaching, the NMAAHC must continue to increase its programmatic and staffing 

resources to complete construction of the building and outfit the Museum on 

schedule. When it opens, NMAAHC will be the first environmentally sustainable, 

“green” museum on the Mall. 

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $853,000. The increase 

includes $310,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for existing staff 

funded under this line item, and $543,000 for increased lease costs, which is further 

justified in the Fixed Costs section of this budget submission. 

 As authorized by Public Law 108-184, these funds are requested to remain 

available until expended. 
132

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

NMAAHC’s first priority will be to finish the construction and outfitting of the 

building and open the Museum on the National Mall in FY 2016. This will include 

fabrication of inaugural exhibitions; acquisition and conservation of the collections for 

installation in the inaugural exhibitions; procurement of image rights and production of 

media components; purchase of furniture, equipment, and supplies; and movement of 

personnel from leased space in Capital Gallery to the new building. 

NMAAHC will implement an Information Technology (IT) program that will 

make the Museum the first fully digital museum on the Mall. For the grand opening, 

NMAAHC will implement an initial phase of interactive, online, and mobile offerings. 

The Museum will review user feedback and survey museum trends to refine its 

existing digital presence and to develop new offerings which will become part of the 

Museum’s comprehensive digital program. Museum-Wide Mobile, an innovative and 

engaging series of Web-based interactive programs, will be launched, which will 

connect visitors to collection objects and topics of interest. Both the digital program 

and the Web-based platform will disseminate information, provide outreach to wider 

audiences, preview exhibitions and public and educational programs, and serve as 

the principal platform for the Museum’s national membership program. 

The Museum will continue its capital campaign, including a successful national 

membership campaign, to raise the required matching private funds to finish 

construction of the new building. Through FY 2016, a major portion of the capital 

campaign will be directed toward gaining national visibility for the grand opening of 

the new building. An intensified marketing and public relations campaign will target 

the media and the general public in major cities across the United States. 

The Museum will work closely with Smithsonian Enterprises on the 

development of mission-related products, publications, and concessions so that 

NMAAHC will be a fully functioning entity with a cafeteria and shop by the time it 

opens. 

As part of the NMAAHC grand opening, a series of planned programs of highvisibility, public engagement and ceremonial events will occur as early as May of 

2015, beginning with the projected installation of the building’s corona. Grand 

opening events will take place throughout mid-2015 to mid-2016. 

NMAAHC’s second priority will be to engage in long-term planning for future 

operations. This will include the following activities: growing domestic and 

international partnerships to further generate support for the Museum; continuing 

development of Museum interactive, online, and mobile offerings; designing and 

developing traveling exhibitions for display throughout the United States; expanding 

scholarly research in all areas of African American history and culture, along with the 

acquisition of historical artifacts, fine art, archival materials, photographs, film and 

other media collection areas; and expanding the national collections. 
133

To achieve the strategic goal of Excellent Research, the Museum will use its 

resources to build on ongoing areas of research. 

In FY 2016, curatorial research will focus on in-depth study of the Museum’s 

historical artifacts, fine art, archival materials, photographs, film and other media 

collection areas. The Museum will share this research with scholars and the public 

through Web-based platforms; public and educational programs; and publications. 

Key initiatives include the following: 

 The Museum, collaborating on two separate, major collaborative projects, will 

share recent discoveries about the trans-Atlantic slave trade: the African Slave 

Wrecks Project and the Gorée Island Archaeological Digital Repository. Both 

are referenced under the strategic goal of Broadening Access and both 

partnerships have been instrumental in finding artifacts which will be displayed 

in the inaugural exhibitions. 

 The Museum is building on its collaboration with the National Archives and 

Records Administration and Family Search to digitize, index, and disseminate 

thousands of documents and a searchable database related to the 19th 

century Freedmen’s Bureau. The records afford unparalleled opportunities to 

research the African American experience during the Civil War and 

Reconstruction eras. In FYs 2015 and 2016, the Museum will receive and 

begin indexing millions of digital images of the original records of the 

Freedmen’s Bureau from Family Search. In addition, the Museum will receive 

a name-searchable database, including more than 1.5 million records that can 

be linked to the digital images. When complete, it will provide both on-site and 

online access to one of the largest searchable databases of the names of 

formerly enslaved individuals, and link those names to original Freedmen’s 

Bureau documents. 

 In June of 2014, NMAAHC completed its collaboration with the Library of 

Congress to collect 137 video interviews for the Civil Rights History Project, 

mandated by Public Law 111-19, the Civil Rights Project Act of 2009. In 

FY 2016, the Museum will continue to make this material available via its 

Center for African American Media Arts (CAAMA), the NMAAHC website, and 

the Smithsonian’s online Collections Search Center. 

 In FY 2016, the Earl W. and Amanda Stafford Center for African American 

Media Arts (CAAMA) will open in the new Museum. A physical and virtual 

resource within NMAAHC, the CAAMA was created to encourage the 

preservation and interpretation of photographs, film, video, and other media by 

and about African Americans. To help celebrate the Museum’s opening, the 

CAAMA will sponsor a city-wide African American film series. 

 The Museum will continue to foster new research via Fellows at the predoctoral, postdoctoral and senior level. Two publications by former 
134

Smithsonian Institution Fellows, with NMAAHC advisors, will be released in 

2016. 

 Curatorial staff sit on key standing scholarly committees within the 

Smithsonian Institution, including the Smithsonian Network Review 

Committee, the History and Culture Fellowship Committee, and the Advisory 

Committee for Understanding the American Experience. In FY 2016, Museum 

staff will lend their expertise to ongoing initiatives and special projects like the 

Yale/Smithsonian partnership, which will support active engagement with 

scientists, environmentalists, historians, and students from both institutions. 

To achieve the strategic goal of Broadening Access, the NMAAHC will direct 

its resources as follows: 

 Digitization and Web Support 

o NMAAHC will continue to create searchable and accessible digital records 

for collection objects and high-quality digital surrogates, especially for the 

wave of acquisitions expected in the second half of FY 2015 through 

FY 2016. The NMAAHC expects to make thousands of high-quality images 

available to the public via the Smithsonian’s Collection Search Center. 

o NMAAHC will launch a new Sojourner Mobile tour. The tour will increase 

access to scholarship and help translate inaugural exhibition content into 

engaging and personal experiences for visitors of all ages and knowledge 

levels. The tour offers customized way-finding, language translation, and 

accessibility tools. It will have scavenger hunts for families, children and 

teenagers. An outdoor walking tour will also be offered. 

o NMAAHC will implement a data strategy intended to ensure that digital 

content, both collections- and research-based, is properly formatted and 

tagged for use across all digital delivery platforms. The Museum-Wide 

Mobile (MWM) platform will increase access to scholarship and information 

about the Museum’s objects and help translate the inaugural exhibition 

content into engaging and personal experiences. 

o NMAAHC’s Education Department will continue to build upon its website, 

interactive, online, and mobile experiences to promote visitor engagement. 

The Museum will add to its list of gallery-based indoor mobile tours, 

including an outdoor Mall-based tour focused on local African American 

history. The Museum will augment and refine the website so that it acts as 

a full-service communications, engagement, experiential, educational, and 

outreach arm of the Museum. 

o NMAAHC will continue to use social media technology to inform and 

transform its “virtual visitors,” and to create and develop a sense of shared 

community among users. 
135

Exhibitions 

o Exhibition design is complete, and exhibition fabrication is under way. 

Installation of objects and media components will begin in mid-2016. 

o Exhibitions will document, examine, and display the history of African 

Americans from slavery to the present within three principal areas: History, 

Culture, and Community: 

 History will include three exhibitions: Slavery and Freedom; Defending 

Freedom, Defining Freedom: Era of Segregation; and Beyond 1968. 

 Culture will include four exhibitions: Cultural Expressions; Musical 

Crossroads; Taking the Stage: African Americans in Entertainment; and 

Visual Arts. 

 Community will include four exhibitions: Power of Place; Sports; 

Military History; and Making a Way Out of No Way. 

The NMAAHC has designed and installed the following temporary 

exhibitions to be presented in the Museum’s gallery at the National 

Museum of American History (NMAH): 

— Through the African American Lens (May 2015 – Summer 2016) 

will be the eighth and final temporary exhibition presented in the 

Museum’s gallery in NMAH. The exhibition will be a preview of 

objects in NMAAHC’s collection and will include selections from the 

photographic and film collections, works of art on paper, and the 

Black Fashion Museum Collection, among others. 

In preparation for the opening of the new Museum, NMAAHC will implement a 

series of activities and events that will engage constituents around the country and 

leverage visibility, establishing the Museum as an integral resource to the nation, 

building on its strong supporter base, and amplifying the opening of the Smithsonian 

Institution’s 19th museum. Other significant projects include: 

 Image Mapping of the Building

In 2015, there will be a public event and celebration of the building’s 

completion, kick-starting the countdown to the official 2016 opening of the 

building. This will garner visibility, national public awareness, and excitement 

for what is to come. It will consist of a special gathering of Museum supporters, 

followed by a wider public program and “video projection” on all four sides of 

the building. The video projection, also known as image mapping, will take 

place on three to four evenings and is expected to draw a broad range of 

public and media attention. 
136

 Grand Opening

The NMAAHC grand opening will include programs of high-visibility, public 

engagement and ceremonial events occurring as early as May of 2015, 

beginning with the projected installation of the building’s corona. The grand 

opening events will take place throughout mid-2015 to mid-2016. 

Programming will include musical events and public engagement events and 

VIP receptions. Included will be public and educational programming in the 

Oprah Winfrey Theater, with a seasonal repertoire of engagements to 

showcase spoken word performances, small-scale drama plays, literature 

readings, scholarly conferences, film screenings and musical concerts that will 

engage and educate the public about the Museum’s collections. Specifically 

envisioned are a series of TED Talks and the debut of the NMAAHC Live! 

series. 

 2016 Smithsonian Folklife Festival

As part of the Smithsonian Institution’s 2016 Folklife Festival, the NMAAHC 

will sponsor “Freedom Sounds: Music in Solidarity and Protest.” Since the first 

Africans landed on the shores of the Americas, music has been essential to 

the African American struggle for freedom and equality. Music, in its many 

forms, has always acted as a powerful voice in the fight against social injustice 

and racial oppression, and has pulled people together in the spirit of hope and 

affirmation. The music of solidarity and protest will be explored in a socialcultural context with performances, activities, narrative sessions and 

discussions. 

NMAAHC is leveraging its role as a national model for collaboration that 

strengthens institutional capacity and sustainability among African American and 

African diaspora museums and cultural heritage organizations. 

 Charter NMAAHC initiatives involve local, domestic and international 

stakeholders and constituents. A few include: 

 The Florida African American Heritage Preservation Network (FAAHPN), a 

state-level initiative. NMAAHC supports FAAHPN through collaborative 

programs and by providing capacity-building training and professional 

development in critical areas that impact the sustainability of the nearly 50 

member institutions in the state. Comparable state-level partnerships that 

include North Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia have been developed. 

 The Association of African American Museums (AAAM). This partnership 

allows the NMAAHC access to the collective field of African American 

museums and cultural institutions. NMAAHC was selected from a national bid 

to host the 2017 annual conference of the AAAM in Washington, DC. The 

2017 program is slated to attract the highest attendance in the organization’s 

nearly 40-year history. 
137

 NMAAHC continues to work in partnership with Historically Black Colleges and 

Universities (HBCUs). 

 Internationally, NMAAHC has formed the following partnerships worldwide: 

 The Museum is a core partner in the African Slave Wrecks Project (ASWP), 

along with George Washington University (GWU), National Park Service, 

National Association of Black Scuba Divers, Southern African Heritage 

Resources Agency, and the Associated Museums of Cape Town, South Africa. 

NMAAHC and ASWP support training of advanced graduate students from the 

University of Dakar (Senegal) in maritime archeology and archival research 

related to slave shipwrecks associated with the World Heritage Site at Gorée 

Island. 

 Having been a lead sponsor and presenter for the 2015 conference

Reinventado nuestros Museos / Reinventing our Museums, with AAM and the 

Argentine museum and arts organization Fundación TyPA, NMAAHC 

continues established work around strategic partnership and network 

development efforts with our South and Latin American sister organizations, 

focusing on African diaspora communities in particular. 

To achieve the strategic goal of Revitalizing Education, the NMAAHC will build 

on ongoing educational initiatives offered off site for students, educators, and the 

general public, and begin offering programs on site at the new Museum. The 

NMAAHC will: 

 target a variety of audiences. Specifically, the NMAAHC will continue to 

produce signature educational public programs in a variety of formats (e.g., 

musical performances, literary works, staged readings, dance programs, film 

series, poetry, food-ways, crafts, etc.) and will be able to host both large-scale 

and more intimate programs on site in the new building. The Museum will 

conduct Family Days and other programs that support federally mandated 

heritage celebrations. 

 open signature public programming to include NMAAHC Live! This program is 

in the style of a hosted variety program featuring leaders and provocative 

topics. NMAAHC will also host TED X Talks on history, culture, and community 

themes. 

 present an on-site and traveling version of the popular Save Our African 

American Treasures exhibit, which will enable the Museum to continue 

engaging the American public in discovering, collecting, preserving, and 

sharing the material culture of African American heritage. 

 continue pilot student programming on site and via videoconferencing. 

NMAAHC will offer unique youth programming that allows intimate access to 

the compelling stories highlighted in the exhibitions and which challenges them 
138

to be active and productive citizens. College on-site and virtual internships will 

be ongoing during the Museum’s opening year. 

 work with the staff of the Center for Teaching and Learning to begin building 

signature programming to support educators nationwide. NMAAHC will build 

upon successfully piloted educator programs to include the Learning Together 

Series. 

Visitor services staff and volunteers will advance visitor healing and 

reconciliation as visitors engage with often painful subject matter. In addition, 

Smithsonian support staff will distribute mobile tour devices, facilitate large crowds 

and conduct audience evaluation. The current Docent Program will offer the first inbuilding tours. 

To achieve the strategic goal of Strengthening Collections, the NMAAHC will 

use its resources as follows: 

 The Museum will identify, acquire, and process collections as NMAAHC 

continues to develop and refine its permanent collections. 

 The Museum will expand its oral history program to capture both immediate 

and in-depth recordings from individuals whose stories and recollections will 

enhance its collections and research. 

 As of FY 2015, the Museum has collected more than 31,000 items, which are 

housed in the Pennsy Drive facility in Maryland. When completely renovated, 

this facility will provide the Museum with a multipurpose conservation lab and 

mount-making shop, and cold-storage capacity. 

To achieve the strategic goal of Mission Enabling, the NMAAHC will use its 

resources to continue to develop its operating organizational structure and make 

organizational and staffing revisions as necessary to accomplish program goals. Staff 

will develop estimates of future personnel requirements, space and storage needs, 

and operating budgets and plans. This includes: 

 Information Technology 

o The Museum’s newly created Information Technology (IT) Department will 

support the NMAAHC’s mission to be a leader in providing accessible 

digital records of collections, interactive exhibitions, education outreach 

and accessible scholarly research. 

 Management Operations 

o The Museum will direct resources to efficiently administer and manage the 

expanded functions associated with increased staffing, purchasing and 
139

contracting, and budget and financial management, as well as implement 

and manage major new initiatives in IT and facilities management. 

o The Museum will fill the numerous staff openings required to ready the new 

building for its grand opening. 

o The Museum will work with Smithsonian Enterprises to develop missionrelated products, publications, and concessions so that the gift shop and 

cafeteria are operating during the grand opening. 

To achieve the strategic goal of Ensuring Financial Strength, the NMAAHC will 

continue to direct resources to support an expanded national visibility campaign and 

leverage fundraising. More specifically, 

 A key strategy in FY 2016 is leveraging the anticipated opening of the Museum 

to drive fund raising for the building. The funds used for cultivating and 

soliciting donors will help the Museum reach its goal in this final phase of the 

campaign. Funds used for pre-opening activities and events will heighten 

public awareness of the Museum and will serve as a catalyst for donors. 

 NMAAHC will continue to direct its resources to support an expanded national 

visibility campaign. In preparation for the grand opening, the Museum’s Public 

Affairs Department will engage two strategic communications firms to design 

and implement an intensified marketing and public relations campaign, 

targeting the media and the general public in major cities across the 

country. This would include a possible national advertising campaign and 

public events in targeted cities around the country. The Museum will also work 

with an acclaimed documentary producer who will document the “Making of 

the Museum,” capturing significant milestones in the Museum’s development. 

 The Museum will continue to expand its national membership program in 

preparation for the opening of the new building. The membership program 

currently has approximately 72,000 charter members across the country, and 

will continue to leverage this membership body in support of building the 

Museum. 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds support salary and 

benefit costs of the Museum director. Donor/sponsor-designated funds support staff, 

special events for exhibition openings, and costs related to specific programs and 

projects, including educational programs, donor-related special events, and outreach 

activities. 
140

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY, 

KENNETH E. BEHRING CENTER 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR 

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014 

ENACTED 158 21,381 25 3,655 43 8,393 0 1,191

FY 2015 

ENACTED 158 21,767 32 4,000 50 9,300 0 400

FY 2016 

REQUEST 163 23,117 35 4,250 55 9,600 0 0

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

REVITALIZING EDUCATION; STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS; AND 

MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/ FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

Program Category FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Ensure the advancement of knowledge in the 

humanities 20 2,865 20 2,915 0 50

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web support 13 1,685 13 1,735 0 50

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 12 1,845 12 1,895 0 50

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 46 6,212 46 6,220 0 8

Revitalizing Education

Education

Engage and inspire diverse audiences 8 1,030 8 1,130 0 100

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national 

collections 40 5,302 45 6,402 5 1,100

Mission Enabling

Facilities

Improve the overall cleanliness and efficient 

operation of Smithsonian facilities 1 222 1 229 0 7

Execute an aggressive, long-range revitalization 

program and limited construction of new facilities 1 226 1 181 0 -45

Security and Safety

Provide a safe and healthy environment 1 120 1 125 0 5
141

Performance Objective/ FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

Program Category FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Information Technology

Modernize the Institution’s information 

technology systems and infrastructure 4 775 4 780 0 5

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is 

customer centered and results oriented 2 342 2 347 0 5

Ensure that the Smithsonian workforce is 

efficient, collaborative, committed, innovative, 

and diverse 3 343 3 348 0 5

Modernize the Institution’s financial 

management and accounting operations 7 800 7 810 0 10

Total 158 21,767 163 23,117 5 1,350

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT 

The National Museum of American History (NMAH), Kenneth E. Behring 

Center, inspires a broader understanding of our nation and its people through 

research, exhibitions, collections activity, education, and public programs. The 

Museum’s primary goal is to tell an overarching American story that is inclusive of 

and respectful and compassionate to all the peoples in America who were here, 

who came here, and who were brought here. Through incomparable collections, 

rigorous research, and dynamic public outreach, the Museum explores the infinite 

richness and complexity of American history; NMAH helps people understand the 

past in order to make sense of the present and shape a more humane future. 

Looking toward the future, the Museum poses the question: What kind of people do 

we want to be? 

Approximately four million people visit the Museum every year, in addition to 

more than seven million people who visit the Museum online annually, making 

NMAH the most visited history museum in the world. We present our history as 

substantial and challenging, inviting and accessible, inspiring and wonderfully 

human. Together with the American people, we wrestle with the hardest issues that 

we have faced, and do so in an inspirational manner, aiming to make a difference in 

the current life of the nation. 

The physical revitalization of the NMAH continues in 2015 with the 

renovation of the Museum’s West Wing. The revitalization is a multiphased effort 

that includes constructing new public spaces, redefining the visitor experience, 

modernizing and clarifying circulation, providing amenities, and bringing the 

Museum into compliance with current building codes. Following some unexpected 

construction delays, the physical revitalization of the West Wing construction will be 

completed in 2015 and includes three public floors and a mechanical room located 

on the fourth floor, totaling approximately 120,000 square feet. 

The Museum will revitalize and refresh its presentation of the American 

Experience with new exhibits in the renovated West Wing. Each of the three exhibit 
142

floors will be focused on an overarching and inclusive theme representing the ideas 

and ideals of the American Experience. The first floor, which will open to the public 

in the summer of 2015, will focus on the theme of American innovation and 

enterprise; the second floor will focus on two essential American stories — the 

origins of the American people and the evolution of their democracy; and the third 

floor will provide an examination of American identity through our culture. 

Previously, the NMAH renovated the building’s central core and created a new 

chamber for the Star-Spangled Banner at the heart of the Museum, which reopened

to the public in 2008. 

The Museum is actively fund raising for the West Wing exhibits and 

programs that will captivate visitors with compelling stories, invaluable objects, 

state-of-the-art media, public plazas and new exhibitions to make American History 

vital, fascinating, and central to understanding and embracing the American 

Experience. The Museum’s private fundraising goal of roughly $89 million to 

$150 million for the West Wing exhibits and programs will leverage the federal 

investment in the building renovation. 

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $1,350,000 and 5 

FTEs. The request includes an increase of $450,000 for necessary pay and 

other related salary costs for existing staff funded under this line item, and a 

program increase of $900,000 and 5 FTEs for new curators to strengthen the 

Museum’s scholarly foundation. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

The NMAH is most closely aligned with the Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan 

Grand Challenge of Understanding the American Experience. Through its research, 

scholarship, public programs, exhibitions and collaboration, the Museum shares 

with the public scholarly insights and historical views that illustrate the richness and 

depth of the American Experience. The Museum engages people in the telling of 

America’s story — interweaving multiple stories of perseverance, triumph, and 

optimism with those of challenge and struggle. 

The Museum completed and issued a new strategic plan, establishing a vision 

and strategic direction from the present through 2018. The plan sets four key priority 

goals for the NMAH: 

1. Lead the nation in understanding the American Experience

2. Expand, strengthen and share our collections

3. Engage diverse national and international audiences

4. Strengthen our staff and Board, and revitalize our facilities
143

Goal: Lead the Nation in Understanding the American Experience 

The NMAH places a priority on engaging the public through scholarship and 

quality research in American history. Research is the foundation for our exhibits and 

all of our programs, which portray significant eras and events from American history 

in the context of social, cultural, economic, political, scientific, and technological 

themes. The Museum experiments with innovative ways to think about and present 

American history as an encompassing, multifaceted story, drawing on many 

strands, and illuminating a multitude of people, ideas, and experiences. 

For example, in partnership with the Maryland Historical Society, in 2014 the 

Museum brought together, for the first time, the Francis Scott Key manuscript with 

the garrison flag that inspired Key’s words “at dawn’s early light,” to commemorate 

the 200th anniversary of his writing “The Star Spangled Banner,” which is itself on 

permanent display at the NMAH. This uniting of flag and song for the first time 

inspired our visitors to learn more about the origins of our national anthem, as well 

as the events and objects that inspired Key on that early morning. 

To reach the entire nation with this compelling story, the Museum did 

extensive public outreach and public programming focused on the national anthem, 

titled Raise It Up! Anthem for America. This effort culminated in a live national 

concert by the Air Force band and multiple choruses, held on the National Mall and 

broadcast across the country. Together, individuals, organizations and 

municipalities from more than 115 American locations, including towns, 

associations, businesses, government, and religious organizations, and people 

from all walks of life joined in singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” on Flag Day, 

June 14. 

Several major new exhibitions on the first floor will open in July of 2015. 

These include the following: 

 An exhibition on Inventing in America, which we are developing jointly 

with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. It will highlight the role the 

federal Government plays in fostering innovation through the issuance of 

patents and trademarks. It will include objects related to significant 

innovations from the early history of the nation to the present. These will 

range from Samuel Morse’s telegraph and Thomas Edison’s light bulb to 

the Apple I computer and the first digital camera. Finally, it will show the 

actual workshop of Ralph H. Baer, the man who invented the first video 

game system. 

 American Enterprise will examine the business and consumer history of 

the United States from the 1770s to the 2010s. Visitors will learn how the 

nation’s economy has been shaped by the dynamic interplay between 

capitalism and democracy, which results in the common good. They will 

see that innovation, opportunity, competition and the common good play 
144

integral roles in the nation’s history and form the underlying themes of 

America’s business. 

 Places of Invention will feature six American communities representing 

a surprising array of people, places, time periods, and technologies. The 

exhibition examines what can happen when the right mix of inventive 

people, ready resources, and inspiring surroundings come together to 

create “hot spots” for invention and innovation. 

 The Value of Money will be a new permanent display to showcase 

objects from the National Numismatic Collection. The display will explore 

the many ways that money has been valuable to society throughout 

history: as an innovative medium of exchange for goods and services; as 

artifacts that document and communicate messages about the societies 

that produced them; and as objects of intrinsic value and artistic 

expression. The Museum plans to mount the exhibit so that visitors to the 

gallery will experience the sensation of stepping into a jewel box of 

captivating treasures and surprising stories. 

In addition, in 2015, consistent with the innovation and invention theme, the 

Museum will open a small exhibit about 19th century sound recording inventions 

from Alexander Graham Bell’s Volta Laboratory in Washington, DC. The gallery will 

offer an opportunity for the Museum’s visitors to see some of the laboratory notes 

and apparatus from the 1880s, and hear some of the earliest sound recordings ever 

made. The Museum’s ability to address the Volta Lab contributions in new ways is 

made possible by new sound recovery techniques developed by the Lawrence 

Berkeley Laboratory staff in partnership with the Library of Congress. Recovering 

sound from the six Volta discs is the first step in an ongoing project to preserve and 

catalogue the Museum’s early recording collection. 

Also in 2015, the NMAH is commemorating the 150th anniversary of the 

death of President Abraham Lincoln through a partnership with Ford’s Theatre. The 

carriage that the Lincolns and their guest rode to the theatre will be on display this 

spring at the Museum, and Ford’s Theatre and the Museum will collaborate on a 

series of public programs and the exhibit Silent Witnesses: Artifacts of the 

Lincoln Assassination. 

The NMAH will be opening the second floor of the West Wing in 2016. In 

preparation for that event, Museum staff are engaged in scholarly research, object 

collection and conservation, exhibit design and fund raising. The new exhibitions 

will examine the American Experience through explorations of our most enduring 

and defining declarations: “We the People” and “E Pluribus Unum.” The exhibits will 

affirm the nation’s shared belief in the sovereignty of the people and recognize our 

nation’s rich cultural diversity. Plans are under way for four programmatic spaces: 

American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith; Many Voices, One Nation; Liberty 

Square; and the Taubman Changing Gallery. 
145

In addition, the NMAH contributes to the discussion of the American 

Experience through its ongoing scholarship and research. In 2015, Museum 

scholars will produce more than 20 new publications, including books, articles and 

musical recordings. Listed below are four examples: 

 David K. Allison, Nancy Davis, Kathleen G. Franz, and Peter Liebhold. 

American Enterprise: A History of Business in America. Washington: 

Smithsonian Books. 

 Helena Wright. The First Smithsonian Collection: the European 

Engravings of George Perkins Marsh and the Role of Prints in the U.S. 

National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. 

 Paul Johnston. Cleopatra’s Barge in Hawaii. College Station, Texas: 

Texas A&M Press. 

 Matthew Hoffman, Harry Rubenstein, and David Ward. The Mind Behind 

the Mask: 3D Technology and the Portrayal of Abraham Lincoln. 

Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. Available in the iTunes store in 

February of 2015. 

In FY 2016, highlights of scholarly publications include: 

 Ellen R. Feingold. The Value of Money. Washington: Smithsonian 

Institution Scholarly Press. 

 Margaret Salazar-Porzio and Joan Fragaszy Troyano, editors. Many 

Voices, One Nation: A Material History of the Peopling of America. 

Washington: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. 

 William L. Bird, Jr., Lisa Kathleen Graddy, Harry R. Rubenstein, and 

Barbara Clark Smith. American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith. 

Washington: Smithsonian Books. 

 Steven Turner. The Science of James Smithson. Washington: 

Smithsonian Books. 

Goal: Expand, Strengthen, and Share Our Collections 

The NMAH is committed to sound collections stewardship through 

preservation, accountability, and increased digital access. 

In FY 2015, the Museum will continue executing its collection stewardship 

plan by completing collections inventories of 30,000 objects. Inventories will be 

performed for: 10,000 objects from the Firearms and Edged Weapons Collection; 

10,000 objects from the Ceramics and Glass Collection; 5,000 objects in the 
146

Musical Instruments Collection; and 5,000 objects in off-site storage. All records will 

be captured in the Museum’s collection information system. Through rapid data 

capture, the Museum will digitize between 200,000 and 250,000 certified proofs 

from the numismatics collection and create matching collections system records 

that meet inventory standards. Long-standing concerns about collections access 

and accountability issues, as well as staff health and safety concerns, will be 

addressed by remediating lead contamination and substandard storage of 

collections in Garber Building 15. NMAH will also start developing a plan to address 

object contamination, accountability issues, and storage deficiencies in Garber 

Building 18. The Museum will export 150,000 collection records to the Smithsonian 

Collections Search Center to be available to the public through the Web. 

 For FY 2016, the Museum will inventory 20,000 objects from the Ceramics 

and Glass Collection and the Medicine and Science Collection. The plan to address 

Garber Building 18 collections’ contamination, accountability, and storage issues 

will be completed, and implementation will start. In addition, 5,000 collection 

records will be exported to the Smithsonian Collections Search Center. 

Goal: Engage Diverse National and International Audiences 

The NMAH engages people of all ages on site and online, encouraging them 

to explore history through objects as well as programs, ideas, facts, and stories. 

In 2015, the Museum will open its groundbreaking learning space, “Object 

Project.” The new space, along with a high-tech conference center and 

demonstration stage, will provide visitors with active, hands-on experiences to help 

them develop a better understanding of the role objects, and their use by 

individuals, play in illustrating America’s ongoing story. It will be an inspiring 

experience that offers both adults and children new ways to think about everyday 

objects. The combined spaces make up the Museum’s Education Center, which 

represents a major commitment to improving history education and helping the 

nation understand the American Experience. 

The Museum will also be reopening Spark!Lab, a learning space for 

elementary school children and their families to engage in the history and process 

of invention and explore their inventive creativity. Visitors at Spark!Lab will be able 

to create, innovate, collaborate, and solve problems; in the process, developing the 

skills they need to succeed today and in the future. For the opening, activities and 

objects will focus on things that roll, make sound, and help us see. 

Each year the NMAH trains thousands of K–12 teachers to bring American 

history to life by using active teaching methods infused with the Museum’s rich 

collections. Outside evaluation has shown that the Museum’s workshops have had 

a positive, re-energizing effect on history education across the United States. The 

Museum continues to add to its library of thousands of free K–12 interactive 

resources available via History Explorer, the Museum’s acclaimed website for 
147

teachers. In 2015, the Museum will expand its outreach to teachers and students by 

launching its first iBook and its first learning game, Ripped Apart: A Civil War

Mystery. 

To encourage conversation and respectful dialogue about the past, the 

Museum expands its activities beyond exhibitions and education through public 

programming and outreach. 

The Museum will continue its successful Raise It Up! initiative in the summer

of 2015 with special programming highlighting American innovation and ingenuity to 

complement the opening of the new West Wing exhibits. The Museum will celebrate 

the diversity and creativity of the American people through events that explore 

America’s role in global innovation, a citizenship ceremony celebrating new ideas and 

energies contributed by our new citizens, and a digital outreach campaign that asks 

all Americans to consider what makes their community a place of invention and 

innovation. 

In FY 2015, the Museum will also explore the theme of innovation and 

invention through extensive programming focused on the areas of food, music and 

theater. The Museum’s first floor of the West Wing will include a demonstration 

kitchen that will feature food demonstrations, discussions about America’s food 

system—from field to table—and special cooking programs. The Museum’s music 

program will highlight the legacy of innovation through American music, particularly 

through its extensive jazz program. The theater program will include the premiere of a 

new Smithsonian film that provides a concise chronological overview of American 

history. In 2015, the Museum will also launch the groundbreaking What it Means to 

Be American series, a national, multi-platform conversation that will bring together 

leading thinkers, public figures, and Americans from all walks of life to explore 

questions about how America’s history of migration and democratic traditions have 

made us the nation we are today. 

In 2016, in conjunction with the opening of the second floor of the West Wing, 

Museum programming will focus on the themes of American democracy, immigration 

and migration. Signature program offerings that will explore and celebrate our 

American identity include Raise It Up! and the continuing What it Means to Be 

American series. 

The Museum will be opening Wonderplace, an early learning gallery, in 2016. 

The gallery will combine age-appropriate activities with Museum collections and 

touchable objects to provide a gateway to history and a place for children six and 

under to exercise their curiosity. 

The Museum makes special efforts to nurture lifelong learners online and via 

social media where people can contribute to and assess shared understandings of 

the past. In addition to a newly designed, mobile-friendly website, the NMAH offers a 

popular blog and social media channels, with innovative and targeted content that 
148

encourages people to explore the American Experience by making history relevant, 

interesting and thought-provoking. Through various forms of electronic and online 

outreach, the Museum expects to share its resources with more than seven million 

people. 

Goal: Revitalize and Expand Our Staff, Board, and Facilities 

The NMAH values every resource it has and is committed to making every 

expenditure and investment as productive as possible. The Museum is pursuing 

this goal with an eye to the future through careful administrative reviews of 

expenditures and staffing, and by fostering a culture that rewards collaboration, 

inclusion and creative partnerships. 

In November of 2012, the Museum closed its West Wing to allow for the 

construction and upgrade of its HVAC and other utility systems as well as a muchneeded renovation of the West Wing exhibit galleries. This construction is the next 

phase of the Museum’s master plan for renovation and improvement. Design and 

construction is being managed by the Smithsonian Office of Facilities Engineering 

and Operations. Construction of the West Wing is expected to be complete in the 

winter of 2015, allowing for the fabrication of new exhibits and public spaces that 

will reopen on the first floor of the West Wing in the summer of 2015 and the 

second floor in 2016. While the renovation is occurring, NMAH curators are 

researching and developing major new exhibitions that will explore the American 

Experience. 

Over time, the NMAH has sustained a serious loss of key staff positions. 

During the last 20 years, the Museum has lost 50 percent of its curatorial staff, 

which has dramatically reduced the scholarly talent and capability necessary to 

research and explain the broad sweep, chronological and intellectual, of American 

history to our nation. To offset this loss, the Museum has built relationships with 

other Smithsonian units and partnerships with outside organizations to increase 

available resources and leverage talents. For example, the Museum is collaborating 

with other Smithsonian units on a major research initiative on immigration to and 

migration from America, which will result in a new exhibit at the NMAH. 

Furthermore, the NMAH has extremely active internship and Fellowship programs, 

hosting more than 168 interns and 14 Fellows in FY 2014. The Museum is 

committed to raising funds for endowed curator positions as part of its continuing 

fundraising efforts for exhibits and programs. 

EXPLANATION OF CHANGE 

For FY 2016, the budget request includes an increase of $1,350,000 and 

5 FTEs. The request includes an increase of $450,000 for necessary pay and a 

programmatic increase of $900,000 and 5 FTEs for Collections Scholarship, as 

detailed below. 
149

Collections Scholarship (+$900,000, +5 FTEs) 

The budget request includes an increase of $900,000 and 5 FTEs for 

additional curators. The Museum’s curatorial staff has significant gaps in their ability 

to research, interpret, exhibit, and care for the national collections. These gaps 

include critical subject areas, chronological periods, and program execution. Over 

time, the Museum has lost more than half of its curatorial staff which has seriously 

depleted the Institution’s scholarly foundation. The Museum must rebuild its 

curatorial strength to support excellent research, exhibitions and digitization of the 

nation’s vast collection of artifacts. Specifically, these five positions will fill the 

highest priority gaps in our scholarly foundation. With the funds requested, the 

NMAH would conduct national searches for curators in the areas of Agricultural 

History, Asian Pacific American History, Engineering History, Labor History, and 

Military History. These are areas in which the Museum needs expertise to manage 

its current collections, expand its collections to new areas, and provide the scholarly 

capability to meet its goals for exhibitions, publications, and educational outreach. 

This investment in rebuilding the Museum’s collections scholarship foundation is 

proposed as a federal-private partnership. The Museum is seeking endowed 

positions, supported by private donors, to match the federal investment. 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds support salaries and 

benefits for 38 percent of NMAH staff — administrative, development, special 

events, actors, etc. — and other program-related costs. In addition to restricted 

gifts, grants, and endowments, trust revenue sources include donations from 

special events, revenue sharing from business operations, honoraria for speaking 

engagements, and tuition reimbursements. Donor/sponsor-designated funds are 

used to develop, install and promote new exhibitions, fund public programs and 

educational initiatives, and support research, travel and collection acquisitions. 

Donor-designated funds are vital to continuing the renovation of the public spaces 

in the Museum, including the design and fabrication of approximately 75,000 square 

feet of exhibit and program space in the ongoing West Wing renovation project. 
150

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR 

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014 

ENACTED 216 31,293 2 1,119 21 3,380 0 29

FY 2015 

ENACTED 216 31,444 2 1,674 21 5,757 0 1,412

FY 2016 

REQUEST 216 32,077 2 1,350 21 4,930 0 1,709

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

REVITALIZING EDUCATION; STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS; AND 

MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Ensure the advancement of knowledge in the 

humanities

15 2,274 15 2,332 0 58

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web support 6 1,081 6 1,099 0 18

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 25 3,543 25 3,619 0 76

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 34 5,883 34 5,983 0 100

Revitalizing Education

Education

Engage and inspire diverse audiences 41 4,889 41 4,988 0 99

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national 

collections 26 3,695 26 3,770 0 74

Mission Enabling

Facilities

Improve the overall cleanliness and efficient 

operation of Smithsonian facilities 13 1,864 13 1,888 0 24

Security and Safety

Provide world-class protection for Smithsonian 

facilities, collections, staff, visitors, and volunteers 1 121 1 124 0 3
151

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Information Technology

Modernize the Institution’s information technology 

systems and infrastructure 14 2,463 14 2,513 0 50

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is 

customer centered and results oriented 25 3,799 25 3,882 0 84

Ensure that the Smithsonian workforce is 

efficient, collaborative, committed, innovative, 

and diverse 2 180 2 185 0 5

Modernize the Institution’s financial management 

and accounting operations 8 930 8 954 0 24

Enhance the reputation of the Smithsonian by 

maintaining good relations with the news media 

and with federal, state, and local governments 2 291 2 298 0 8

Modernize and streamline the Institution’s 

acquisitions management operations 4 431 4 442 0 11

Total 216 31,444 216 32,077 0 633

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is committed to 

advancing knowledge and understanding of the Native cultures of the Western 

hemisphere — past, present, and future — through partnerships with Native peoples 

and others. 

The NMAI administers one Museum in three locations: NMAI-DC on the 

National Mall, NMAI-NY in lower Manhattan, and the Cultural Resources Center in 

Suitland, Maryland. The NMAI will focus its resources to support research and 

exhibits concerning the cultures and histories of Native communities and to present 

contemporary works of art to the public. These exhibits, along with educational and 

cultural arts programming, attract two million visitors annually. The offering of 

diverse exhibitions, cultural demonstrations, tribal festivals, educational 

presentations, and scholarly symposia ensures a meaningful visitor experience. Web 

content based on these programs will reach distant “virtual visitors” to the Museum, 

who may not be able to come to the East Coast but who can still avail themselves of 

content developed at NMAI. Through its exhibitions and public programming, the 

Museum continues to present the contemporary voices of Native peoples to educate 

and inform the public while countering widespread stereotypes. 

The NMAI will also focus on the stewardship of more than a million collection 

items entrusted to the Museum’s care — honoring the histories and promoting the 

cultural legacies of hundreds of Native nations throughout the Western hemisphere. 

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $633,000. This includes 

$583,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for existing staff funded 

under this line item and an increase of $50,000 for Exhibits Maintenance. 
152

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

To achieve the strategic goal of Broadening Access, the NMAI is directing its 

resources to: 1) activities that will result in increased visitation; 2) public programming 

and exhibits that will encompass information about the indigenous peoples of the 

Western hemisphere and Hawaii (as mandated in the NMAI legislation) and that will 

demonstrate the presence and cultural contributions of contemporary Native peoples 

today; 3) outreach to Native communities, tribes, and organizations through 

programming methodologies that include consultation, Web-based technologies, video 

conferences, internships, seminars, and symposia; and 4) expanding access to the 

NMAI collections online. 

Public engagement efforts will continue to bring the Museum and its resources 

to audiences through both traditional and the Web media and via innovative outreach 

and training programs. These contacts will link external communities to public 

audiences through technology and involvement in planning and programming. 

To achieve the strategic goal of Revitalizing Education, the Museum will 

continue to provide daily exhibit and educational programming about Native peoples of 

the Western hemisphere and Hawaii, thereby providing opportunities to correct 

stereotyping and expand public knowledge. The seven-day-a-week operation will 

include interpretive activities, film and video presentations, cultural arts performances, 

demonstrations, and resource materials about Native American history and cultural 

heritage. The NMAI will continue working with Native educators and cultural experts 

on the Museum’s National Education Initiative, “Native Knowledge 360o,” to create 

exemplary materials that reflect indigenous knowledge, and to develop model 

materials that schools across America can expand upon for their own purposes. To 

promote learning across generations, the imagiNATIONS Activity centers will 

introduce indigenous knowledge about Native peoples’ understanding of the natural 

world and about American Indian civics to a growing audience of school children and 

Museum visitors. In September of 2015, the Museum will open an imagiNATIONS 

Activity Center at NMAI in New York City. Various tribal educational resources, 

including curricula enhancement materials, will be made available to teachers. 

In addition, as part of the Excellent Research strategic goal to advance 

knowledge in the humanities, the NMAI will continue to hire and retain the highest 

quality research staff and collaborate with leading institutions of learning and 

community-based scholars. NMAI staff will make research for film, video, audio, and 

photographic content developed for exhibitions available at the Museum and to Native 

American communities and public audiences through the Web, printed materials, and 

collaborative activities with other groups and organizations. 

NMAI staff will continue to oversee group and school tour programs, and 

volunteers, and will also direct presentations in galleries and all public spaces and 

program areas to ensure maximum use of all the educational resources available to 

enhance the visitor experience. 
153

Through its ongoing dialogue with Native communities and cultural experts, 

NMAI’s collection stewards and scholars will also continue to advance the strategic 

goal of Strengthening Collections through judicious acquisition, documentation, 

digitization, inventory, preservation, research, security, storage renewal and 

enhancements, as well as increased Web access. 

The strategic goal of Mission Enabling will be addressed by efficiently and 

economically designating resources to meet the mission of the Museum, 

implementing the goals of the Smithsonian Institution, and enhancing the collections 

by acquiring works that document Native experiences and expressive cultures, 

including the representation of modern and contemporary arts. 

EXPLANATION OF CHANGE 

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $633,000. The increase 

includes $583,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for existing staff 

funded under this line item, and a programmatic increase of $50,000 for Exhibits 

Maintenance, as detailed below. 

Exhibits Maintenance (+$50,000) 

 The $50,000 for exhibits maintenance will ensure that the Museum’s 

exhibitions are clean and in good repair, and that the media components are fully 

operational and up to date. The mere presence of record numbers of visitors results 

in increased wear and tear to displays within the halls, and increases the cost to 

maintain them. In addition, the increasingly interactive nature of today’s exhibits 

increases maintenance needs. The requested funds will maintain our exhibits at the 

standard that is expected of a world-class museum. Specifically, the Museum will 

replace worn and dirty carpet and improve exhibit lighting by replacing outdated 

lighting tracks and fixtures with LED fixtures. The LED fixtures last longer and use 

less power, resulting in significant energy savings and reduced personnel costs. 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds support salary and 

benefit costs for the Museum director and other program-related costs. 

Donor/sponsor-designated funds support salaries and benefits for development staff; 

costs associated with reaching NMAI’s National Campaign fundraising goals; 

publications and special events for exhibition openings; costs related to specific 

programs and projects, including educational programs, advertising, production of 

fundraising proposals, and member- and donor-related special events; as well as 

outreach activities. 
154

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR 

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 55 5,943 3 1,014 9 1,964 0 0

FY 2015

ENACTED 55 5,997 3 1,119 16 2,434 0 0

FY 2016

REQUEST 56 6,448 3 1,544 16 2,652 0 0

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

REVITALIZING EDUCATION; STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS; AND 

MISSION ENABLING

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Ensure the advancement of knowledge in the 

humanities 3 357 3 362 0 5

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web support 2 276 2 279 0 3

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 4 555 4 559 0 4

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 18 1,798 18 1,926 0 128

Revitalizing Education

Education

Engage and inspire diverse audiences 7 707 7 722 0 15

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national 

collections 14 1,620 15 1,911 1 291

Mission Enabling

Information Technology

Modernize the Institution’s information 

technology systems and infrastructure 1 157 1 158 0 1
155

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is 

customer centered and results oriented 1 89 1 90 0 1

Ensure that the Smithsonian workforce is 

efficient, collaborative, committed, innovative, 

and diverse 1 128 1 129 0 1

Modernize the Institution’s financial 

management and accounting operations 2 169 2 170 0 1

Modernize and streamline the Institution’s 

acquisitions management operations 2 141 2 142 0 1

Total 55 5,997 56 6,448 1 451

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (NPG) inspires visitors from around 

the world by illuminating the American experience through powerful images that 

connect people and their stories. 

The NPG strives to bring visitors face to face, literally and figuratively, with 

exceptional Americans and their remarkable stories across time, place, and 

circumstance. The NPG uses diverse approaches in visual biography to focus on 

changing notions of American identity, and to track evolving ideas about who is 

significant and has an impact on American culture. The NPG aspires to be widely 

known as the place that sparks thought and conversation, and includes the audience 

as an active participant in defining American identity through portraiture and 

biography. 

The NPG devotes a major portion of its resources to Broadening Access, 

thereby increasing the availability and accessibility of the NPG’s collections through 

exhibitions, public programs, and publications. The exhibitions explore themes in 

history, biography, and art in a way that brings out new meaning and understanding 

of the American experience. Highlights of special exhibitions planned for the 

remainder of FY 2015 include: 

 Elaine de Kooning: Portraits — Elaine de Kooning (1918–1989) made both 

abstract and figurative paintings and drawings during the height of the Abstract 

Expressionism movement in New York City. Her colorful, fluid and gestural 

portraits include poet Allen Ginsberg, critic Harold Rosenberg, President John 

F. Kennedy, and her husband, painter Willem de Kooning. This exhibition will 

examine the gender dynamics surrounding her career, and will offer a new 

look at her work as well as her artistic process.

 Eye Pop: The Celebrity Gaze — Drawn from the NPG’s permanent collection, 

this exhibition will explicate celebrity through the lens of achievement, 

considering the separate roles of the subject, artist and viewer in creating, and 

experiencing, the celebrity gaze. The varying range of subjects includes
156

politicians Barney Frank, and Condoleezza Rice, Supreme Court Justice Sonia 

Sotomayor, entertainers Renée Fleming, Daniel Dae Kim, and Katy Perry, plus 

cultural entrepreneurs, scientists, and athletes. This exhibition also features 

the NPG premiere of two recently commissioned, time-based media portraits: 

Luke Du Bois’ generative video of Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry 

Page, and Bo Gehring’s video portrait of jazz musician and vocalist Esperanza 

Spalding. 

 From Token to Ornament: Indian Peace Medals and the McKenney-Hall 

Portraits — This exhibition pairs a selection of presidential peace medals with 

13 prints of Native Americans in traditional dress wearing the medals, along 

with their own cultural decorative elements. The hand-colored lithographs 

come from Thomas McKenney and James Hall’s History of the Indian Tribes of 

North America (1837–1844), an ambitious publication combining printed 

portraits with short biographical sketches of each individual. 

 One Life: Dolores Huerta — The mid-1960s saw the rise of the first successful 

farm workers’ movement in U.S. history. Led by Cesar Chavez (1927–1993) 

and Dolores Huerta (born 1930), farm workers from California organized to 

make their plight known across the country. This exhibition focuses on the 

years 1962–1975, bringing to the forefront Huerta’s particular contributions on 

behalf of the farm workers. 

 Dark Fields of the Republic: Alexander Gardner Photographs, 1859–1872 —

Gardner was the author of the first American photographic book and a leading 

contributor of photographic views to the illustrated press. The exhibition will 

encompass his earliest photographs, taken while employed with Mathew 

Brady, through his later work in the American West. As our final exhibition in a 

series of presentations commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, 

particular focus will be given to Gardner’s Civil War photographs and his 

special relationship with President Lincoln. 

 The NPG will also send on tour its acclaimed exhibition Portraiture Now: 

Staging the Self, exploring the art of portrayal as seen through the eyes of six Latino 

and Latina artists, to the Americas Society in New York City. From there, the 

exhibition will continue on to the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, 

New Mexico, with a possible third venue elsewhere as well. 

The NPG uses the Web as well as social media to build its virtual audience 

around the globe. NPG websites receive about 3.0 million visits annually, with new 

content added regularly. The NPG’s Face to Face blog has been viewed by 150,000 

readers since its launch in 2007, and the NPG continues its presence on a variety of 

social media platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, and 

Tumblr. Combined, these outlets reach more than 60,000 followers, a nearly fivefold 

increase in two years. Currently, the NPG has more than 130 videos available, adding 

25 new works annually, on YouTube, iTunes, iTunesU, and ArtBabble; these videos 
157

have been downloaded by 2.5 million viewers. The Google Art Project continues to 

bring highlights of the NPG’s collection to a vast worldwide audience, and the NPG is 

planning online exhibitions created in conjunction with Google’s Cultural Institute in FY 

2015. The NPG will implement Maphook, an application to show visitors the geographic 

diversity of artist entrants in the 2016 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. The NPG 

will supply two further releases of approximately 150 images to the Oxford University 

Press online edition of the American National Biography. In addition, the NPG will 

initiate the first phase of its “open-access” policy to provide public-domain, digital 

images free of charge and within 24 hours of a request. 

In the spring of 2015, the NPG will launch a redesigned website that is fully 

scalable and available across all platforms and browsers. Rooted in the underlying 

objective to develop a unified presence for all NPG websites, the redesigned website 

will also democratize access to the NPG’s collections and scholarship with a more 

accessible and user-friendly Collections Search. The new search engine will provide 

a gateway to the NPG collection, with best-of-class search aids and navigation 

successfully combined with social media tools for commenting, tagging and sharing. 

The NPG will partner with Apple to lay the groundwork for the future development of 

location-based technologies. 

In FY 2015, the NPG will produce a catalogue to complement its Elaine de 

Kooning exhibition, and publish an updated edition of its signature Portrait of a Nation

volume, a pictorial guide to highlights of its permanent collection. 

The NPG is implementing its Teen Museum Council. “For teens, by teens” is 

the mission of this program. At council meetings, teens will learn about museum 

careers while developing programs and social media strategies for engaging their 

peers. The NPG will reach more educators by offering two multi-day teacher 

workshops, with classroom-ready lessons and activities for teaching American 

history. This national outreach for educators continues with the NPG’s newly formed 

Teacher Advisory Board. These teachers contribute their professional perspective on 

new methods to reach beyond the NPG’s physical galleries and disseminate NPG 

collection images and lesson plans to educators throughout the United States. The 

NPG is coordinating efforts with the Smithsonian office of Accessibility to add training 

for floor staff and volunteer programs. The NPG is also increasing its production of 

artwork labels in large type fonts and producing special exhibition labels in Spanish. 

Strengthening Collections is also central to the purpose of the NPG as it 

gathers and preserves the nation’s collection of portraiture of a wide range of 

individuals and in many forms. The overall value of the collection is increased through 

the creation and distribution of digital images of the artworks. The NPG has 

approximately 7,700 high-resolution images of collection objects on the Smithsonian 

Digital Asset Management System (DAMS), a 50 percent increase from the previous 

year, and the NPG is a leader in the Institution for fully leveraging the capabilities of 

the DAMS. To increase the breadth and depth of digitized collection information, 

object condition reports and images are also being uploaded to make this information 
158

more accessible to the Smithsonian research community. NPG staff will also pursue 

a project to digitize more than 1,500 prints and photographs in collaboration with the 

Smithsonian’s Digitization Program Office, using new rapid-capture technologies. 

Budgetary resources are also used for Mission Enabling activities such as 

administration and operations. The NPG strives to understand the distinct and 

evolving needs of the public, communities, and stakeholders that the NPG serves, 

and then support the program delivery to meet these needs by honing its abilities in 

information technology, procurement, human resources and financial management, 

business activities, and strategic planning. 

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $451,000 and 1 FTE. 

The increase includes $121,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for 

existing staff funded under this line item, and programmatic increases of $180,000 

and 1 FTE for Collections Scholarship and $150,000 for Exhibits Maintenance. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

In FY 2016, the NPG will continue to concentrate its efforts and resources on 

exhibitions, developing and maintaining its collection, expanding public education 

offerings, and pursuing new research directions. 

The NPG will pursue the strategic goal of Broadening Access by making its

exhibitions more inclusive in subject and content, more accessible through translated 

texts, and more broadly available through development of traveling exhibitions. The 

NPG’s exhibition schedule in FY 2016 will feature the following: 

 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2016 — The fourth installment of this

triennial juried portrait competition will see the finalists from the more than

2,500 entrants selected in September 2015. The competition is open to all

visual art mediums and the top finalist receives a commission for the Portrait

Gallery collection. Venues are being sought for mounting a tour of the resulting

exhibition through 2018.

 Daguerreian Doubletakes — This themed installation in the Daguerreian

Gallery will highlight the depth of the NPG’s early photography collection by

presenting seven pairs of images for Jenny Lind, Zachary Taylor, Frederick

Douglass, and others. By showcasing two daguerreotypes of each sitter,

visitors will consider the ways artists approached the same subject, and how

different the resulting portraits could be for public consumption versus those

produced as personal keepsakes.

 One Life: Babe Ruth — An American legend whose name is synonymous with

baseball itself, this exhibition will explore Babe Ruth the man, the legend, and

the marketing frenzy his name and image fueled long before the

commercialization of sports superstars became routine. The exhibition will
159

include prints and photographs of Ruth, personal paraphernalia, and 

advertising memorabilia endorsed by Ruth, and conclude with a look at the 

baseball greats who chased and broke Ruth’s long-standing records. 

 Bill Viola and the Moving Portrait (working title) — An artist of international 

renown and one of the pioneers of video art, Bill Viola focuses on the human 

body to create searing works about universal themes and emotional 

experiences. The NPG’s exhibition will offer a new perspective of Viola by 

redefining certain aspects of his body of work, as well as our understanding of 

contemporary portraiture. This will be the first NPG exhibition devoted solely to 

time-based media in galleries newly renovated for the installation of timebased artworks. 

 In addition to the special exhibitions, the NPG will begin the preparations for a 

major reinstallation of the America’s Presidents galleries in 2017. The NPG will also 

continue to develop exhibition catalogues and organize shows into FY 2018 and 

beyond, with a focus on the NPG’s 50th anniversary celebration in fall 2018. 

In FY 2016, the NPG will address the strategic goal of Broadening Access by 

continuing to digitize imagery of most of its permanent collection. Those works of art 

in the public domain will be made available through the website in medium and high 

resolution. The NPG will align its image management practices with the “open 

access” policies being adopted by museums and universities worldwide. Images will 

be free to use, fully downloadable, and license-free, providing an immense benefit to 

scholars, artists, and educators across disciplines and around the world. The NPG 

plans to have all label material in its galleries available in Spanish, French and 

English via mobile websites accessed from portable digital devices. With Apple’s 

iBeacon technologies, the NPG will supplement a visitor's live experience with digital 

content, including curatorial interpretation, audio, and video. The NPG will also 

continue to work with the latest Google applications, including Google Hangouts that 

enables Smithsonian curators and historians to have fully interactive communications 

with their counterparts in other museums worldwide. 

The NPG annually upgrades its Collections Information System to better fulfill 

the research purposes of Smithsonian staff, diverse academics from around the 

world, and the public. Meanwhile, the NPG Catalog of American Portraits will add 

1,500 new portrait records to its research database and Web interfaces. 

In addition, the NPG will continue Strengthening Collections, further deepening 

its holdings of pre-1825 portraits of individuals, portraits of under-represented 

minorities, likenesses of significant contemporary figures, and portraiture made in the 

newest digital formats. The NPG will make further progress conserving its permanent 

collection of works on paper, photographs, and paintings; the latter will include 

beginning an 18-month conservation treatment of the George Washington 

Lansdowne portrait, related to the reinstallation of the America’s Presidents galleries. 
160

Building off the pilot project in 2015, NPG will commence a full-scale rapid-capture 

initiative for all collection objects, beginning with two-dimensional works. 

The NPG will bring innovative efforts to Excellent Research as it begins the 

Center for Visual Biography (CVB). Aimed at bolstering “intellectual capital” in the 

development of the NPG’s exhibitions and the expansion of its educational mission, the 

CVB will bring recent scholarship and new ideas from around the United States and 

abroad to the Smithsonian. In future years, its public offerings will expand to include a 

biannual award for excellence in biography, in both visual and verbal forms, and selfportrait series providing incisive interviews with living scholars and influential individuals. 

NPG efforts in Revitalizing Education in FY 2016 will develop and present new 

programs for different age groups and audiences. Expanding teen programs will 

revolve around themes of identity. Members of vision- and hearing-impaired 

audiences will be served by custom-designed tours and programs. For teachers and 

educators, NPG will design and conduct challenge-based professional development 

programs, with an emphasis on the practical application of multi-day and multidisciplinary workshops. The NPG’s Teacher Advisory Board will operate at its full 

capabilities in its second year, leveraging the expertise of these educators to expand 

the national reach of the NPG. The NPG will continue to present its other popular 

educational programming, including Pop Quiz, films in the courtyard, and Family 

Days events. The NPG will also continue presenting historians and artists in the 

galleries and in the McEvoy Auditorium, the latter enhanced with an audio induction 

loop hearing system to improve accessibility for hearing-impaired guests. 

The NPG will work on the Mission Enabling strategic goal by ensuring 

outreach to communities in different forms, both in print and online, to access diverse 

applicant pools for emerging recruitment needs. The NPG will also continue to 

streamline its internal project development process to incorporate innovative thinking 

in programming while also doing a better job of planning for budgetary requirements.

EXPLANATION OF CHANGE 

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $451,000 and 1 FTE. 

The increase includes $121,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for 

existing staff funded under this line item, and programmatic increases of $180,000 

and 1 FTE for Collections Scholarship and $150,000 for Exhibits Maintenance, which 

are detailed as follows. 

Collections Scholarship (+$180,000, +1 FTE) 

The increase includes $180,000 and 1 FTE for an additional curator. The 

National Portrait Gallery lost three curatorial positions in the last three years, out of an 

original total of seven positions. It is essential that the NPG replace these curators to 

maintain support for the highest level of research, exhibitions and publications. The 

NPG’s photographic collection is a key concern: currently growing at a greater rate 
161

than all other NPG collections combined; since 2003, photographic acquisitions alone 

have accounted for 57.5 percent of the total number of objects entering the Museum’s 

collections. This growth has been fueled by two goals: the NPG’s high-priority 

commitment to better reflect and portray the diversity of the American experience by 

collecting and exhibiting portraits of minorities and previously unrepresented individuals 

who have influenced the course of our history, and shaped our national identity, as well 

as our commitment to acquiring contemporary figures of achievement. Because 

photographs are often the best means by which such individuals can be effectively 

represented in the NPG, it is anticipated that the growth of the NPG’s photographs 

collections will continue to outdistance that of the Museum’s other collections. The 

significant expansion in the NPG’s photographic holdings is reflected in the increased 

use of photographs in the NPG’s core installations as well as special exhibitions. Only 

a replenishment of the NPG curatorial ranks and appropriate funding to support 

research and exhibition development will realize these important projects to advance 

the nation’s visual depictions of its citizenry. 

Exhibits Maintenance (+$150,000) 

An additional increase of $150,000 for Exhibits Maintenance will ensure that 

the NPG’s permanent collection galleries are in good repair, use the latest interior 

illumination devices to reduce energy consumption and expenses while doing the 

least harm to light-sensitive artworks, and keep the media components fully 

operational and up to date. Millions of visitors come to the NPG to see the countless 

portraits of Americans who have shaped the nation, including those in the moving 

and historically important artworks in American Origins and America’s Presidents

halls. Attendance in these numbers unavoidably results in increased wear and tear to 

displays within the halls, the walls, and floors and carpets. The NPG is also ahead of 

many museums in the collection of time-based media artworks, created with the 

latest video and digital technologies, to display portraiture by the current generation 

of artists. Most significantly, the NPG will upgrade its gallery lighting with LED fixtures 

that last longer and use less power, resulting in significant energy savings and 

rivaling natural light without the harmful effects to paintings and works on paper. The 

NPG will also redesign two of its galleries for the regular display of time-based media 

artworks, including contemporary portraiture that requires projection and computer 

hardware to be displayed. 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds support critical positions 

and help defray costs of special events for exhibition openings, loan exhibition 

development, outreach, fund raising, management, and research. The NPG must 

support exhibitions, publications, public lectures and gallery programs, symposia, and 

some collection acquisitions with donor/sponsor-designated funds. Private donations 

are thus critical to the NPG’s planning, programming, and ability to deliver on its 

public mission. It is through a public-private partnership that the National Portrait 

Gallery achieves its goals. 
162

NATIONAL POSTAL MUSEUM 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR 

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014 

ENACTED 6 1,052 6 629 4 629 18 3,218

FY 2015 

ENACTED 6 1,073 4 650 2 875 18 3,245

FY 2016

REQUEST 6 1,216 4 560 2 1,095 18 3,245

STRATEGIC GOALS: BROADENING ACCESS; STRENGTHENING 

COLLECTIONS; AND MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/ FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

Program Category FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web support 1 87 1 90 0 3

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 1 158 1 258 0 100

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national 

collections

4 513 4 520 0 7

Mission Enabling

Facilities

Execute an aggressive, long-range revitalization 

program and limited construction of new facilities

0 315 0 343 0 28

Information Technology

Modernize the Institution’s information 

technology systems and infrastructure

0 0 0 5 0 5

Total 6 1,073 6 1,216 0 143

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The National Postal Museum (NPM), with the world’s largest museum 

collection of stamps and postal artifacts, is dedicated to creating visitor experiences 

that educate, excite, entertain and inspire. With more than six million objects, the 

Museum is responsible for the Smithsonian’s second-largest collection. The Museum 

dedicates its resources to developing new and innovative ways to explore the vital 

role of the postal system in American life, and to make its vast philatelic and postal 
163

collections available to all visitors — both in person and online. The NPM uses its 

collections in exhibits and programs which educate the public on the history of 

America, transportation, economics, and commerce. 

In addition to the many activities and programs completed throughout the year, 

the NPM is focused on several major initiatives aimed at increasing visitation to both 

the Museum and its website. These initiatives include the design and fabrication of 

new history galleries; continued enhancements to the increasingly popular, Webbased, collection information system; and new rotating exhibitions in the recently 

completed William H. Gross Stamp Gallery. 

The budget request includes an increase of $143,000. The request includes 

$15,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for existing staff funded 

under this line item, and $28,000 for increased lease costs of existing space, which 

are both justified in the Fixed Costs section of this budget submission. The budget 

request also includes a programmatic increase of $100,000 for Exhibits Maintenance. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

The National Postal Museum’s primary activities are aimed at meeting the 

Smithsonian’s Grand Challenges of Valuing World Cultures and Understanding the 

American Experience through the prism of postal communications and philately. 

These challenges will be met by Broadening Access to the Museum’s collections, 

programs, and exhibitions; Revitalizing Education through the creation of new models 

and methods of innovative educational programs; Strengthening Collections through 

improved preservation, storage, and enhanced digital imaging; and Mission Enabling 

by working with other Smithsonian units and external partners to improve the 

operation of the Museum. 

In FY 2016, the Museum’s Education Center, part of the William H. Gross 

Stamp Gallery, will enter its third year of programming. Focusing on six target 

audience groups and several newly developed programs, the Center’s two education 

spaces provide enhanced learning opportunities that incorporate the newest media 

tools. NPM’s signature EdLab provides innovative training programs for educators 

and is designed to support the inclusion of digital media and project-based 

programming, using classroom teaching and field trips. The space is also used for 

Institution-wide Smithsonian meetings and provides other Smithsonian units with the 

opportunity to test new ideas for visitor participation, using the latest technologies. 

The second educational space supports the Museum’s on-site school tours, 

community engagement activities, and family programming such as NPM’s traditional 

programs, including Stamp Stampede and the Mail Art Workshops. 

 In FY 2016, the Museum will continue to display the one-cent Magenta British 

Guiana stamp, the rarest and most valuable stamp in the world. The stamp, which is 

on loan to the Museum for three years, will also be displayed at the International 

Stamp Show in New York City in May of 2016.
164

Also, in FY 2016, the Museum will open a temporary exhibition that will 

commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the National Park System. 

The story will be told through stamps and original art created for stamps 

commemorating National Parks. Objects include the 1935 series of imperforate 

sheets of National Park Service stamps that were obtained by Postmaster General 

James A. Farley from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The imperforate sheets, 

which were not available to stamp collectors, sparked a controversy in the philatelic 

world and became known as “Farley’s Follies.” The Bureau later reprinted the stamps 

in imperforate form and made them available to the public. The exhibit will also 

include the childhood stamp album of Ansel Adams, whose photographs of the 

American West and, in particular, Yosemite National Park, contributed to the 

expansion of the National Park System. The exhibit will also include many pieces of 

original stamp art from the Postmaster General’s collection. 

The NPM’s federal resources are primarily dedicated to improving the 

stewardship of the national collections for present and future generations. In 

FY 2016, the Museum will continue to process new acquisitions, which includes 

digitizing and cataloguing collection items using the automated collections information 

system (CIS). Enhanced cataloguing and digital records created for the African 

American exhibition will be placed online for access by the public. 

A major initiative to improve accessibility to off-site collections will remain a 

Museum priority. In FY 2016, the Museum will continue to coordinate with the staff of 

the National Museum of American History (NMAH) on the decontamination of NPM 

collection objects stored in Garber building number 15 in Suitland, Maryland. This 

project will result in the removal of hazardous lead from NPM collections that have 

been stored for many years in a building that also houses lead-based printing 

equipment from the NMAH collection. The project will eliminate a potential safety 

hazard for staff and make previously inaccessible collection items available for 

cataloguing and imaging. These collection items will subsequently be made available 

to the public in exhibitions and online through the Museum’s collections website. 

In FY 2016, the Museum will continue to catalogue, image, and conserve the 

Postmaster General’s (PMG) collection of original stamp art. The Postmaster 

General’s collection, transferred to the Museum from the United States Postal 

Service in FY 2012, represents one of the most important philatelic collections in the 

world. It includes the original artwork, as well as rejected designs and preliminary 

sketches, commissioned for more than 3,000 U.S. postage stamps between 1942 

and the present. The NPM will continue to re-house and conserve the collection, and 

make it available to the public through online exhibitions and through the Museum’s 

loan program to other museums across the country. In addition, the Museum will 

continue to process three archival collections related to the PMG collection. 

Also, in FY 2016, the Museum will continue to refine the national philatelic 

collection. Collections frequently requested by researchers will continue to be 

reorganized and re-housed to improve public access and long-term preservation. 
165

Collection items previously deaccessioned from the national philatelic collection will 

be donated to other museums or sold for the benefit of the national collection. 

Deaccessioned collection items include duplicate revenue stamps and various postal 

items which fall outside the scope of the collection or which have deteriorated beyond 

use. 

Finally, the NPM will continue to direct resources toward maintaining the 

Museum’s information technology (IT) systems and infrastructure requirements to 

meet the strategic goal of Mission Enabling. The Museum will continue to replace 

network hardware and software to meet requirements which support programmatic 

and exhibition needs, and to modernize its IT systems. The Museum will also begin 

the process of replacing its popular online collections program, which is now 10 years 

old and showing signs of obsolescence. 

EXPLANATION OF CHANGE 

The budget request includes an increase of $143,000. The request includes 

$15,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for existing staff funded 

under this line item, and $28,000 for increased lease costs of existing space, which 

are both justified in the Fixed Costs section of this budget. The budget request also 

includes a programmatic increase of $100,000 for Exhibits Maintenance, as detailed 

below. 

Exhibits Maintenance (+$100,000) 

 The $100,000 for exhibits maintenance will ensure that the Museum’s 

exhibitions remain clean and in good repair, and that the media components are fully 

operational and up to date. The requested funds will enable the NPM to maintain 

exhibits at a standard that is expected of a world-class museum. Specifically, the 

Museum will paint and refresh several of its gallery spaces and replace exhibition 

graphics, murals, and panels. Upgraded software changes will be made to several 

interactive exhibits, and outdated projectors will be replaced with large flat screens. 

Exhibit lighting will be improved by replacing outdated lighting tracks and fixtures with 

LED fixtures. The LED fixtures last longer and use less power, resulting in significant 

energy savings and reduced personnel costs. 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — The United States Postal Service provides 

the NPM with an annual grant, which supports nearly 75 percent of the Museum’s 

core functions and operational costs. These costs include salaries and benefits, 

utilities, facility maintenance, exhibitions, education, and collection management 

programs. Fundraising initiatives continue to generate increased support from the 

private sector to develop and support new exhibitions, research opportunities, 

educational initiatives, and special events. 
166

SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR 

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 88 9,391 7 1,753 30 6,452 1 107

FY 2015

ENACTED 88 9,474 8 1,453 31 10,656 2 125

FY 2016

REQUEST 89 10,005 8 1,347 35 8,567 2 125

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

REVITALIZING EDUCATION; STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS; AND MISSION 

ENABLING

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Ensure the advancement of knowledge in the 

humanities 7 680 7 728 0 48

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web support 6 615 6 628 0 13

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 14 1,513 14 1,545 0 32

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 22 2,494 22 2,671 0 177

Revitalizing Education

Education

Engage and inspire diverse audiences 3 300 3 325 0 25

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national 

collections 20 2,259 21 2,462 1 203

Mission Enabling

Security and Safety

Provide a safe and healthy environment 1 80 1 81 0 1

Information Technology

Modernize the Institution’s information 

technology systems and infrastructure 2 135 2 138 0 3
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Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is 

customer centered and results oriented 13 1,398 13 1,427 0 29

Total 88 9,474 89 10,005 1 531

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The Smithsonian American Art Museum (American Art) is the nation’s 

Museum dedicated to the arts and artists of the United States from colonial times to 

the present. It is the home of the largest and most inclusive collection of American 

art in the world, and its holdings of more than 42,000 works, spanning three 

centuries of the nation’s cultural development, tell the story of America through the 

visual arts. The Museum’s programs make the collection available to national 

audiences and beyond, as well as to those who visit its two historic landmark 

buildings in Washington, DC: the Donald W. Reynolds Center (DWRC) for American 

Art and Portraiture (shared by American Art and the National Portrait Gallery) and 

the Renwick Gallery, dedicated to American crafts and decorative arts. 

To achieve the strategic goal of Excellent Research, American Art curators 

and research Fellows-in-residence use the collection and other resources to develop 

new insights into America’s cultural and artistic legacy. The resulting knowledge 

informs collections development and serves as the basis for exhibitions, associated 

award-winning catalogues and scholarly publications, and material for online content 

and educational programs. The Museum’s peer-reviewed journal, American Art,

serves as an additional venue for scholarship in the field. The Museum hosts 

international symposia on topics of relevance in the field of American art. 

Broadening Access is achieved through a web of activities. The Museum is 

taking full advantage of the latest technologies (e.g., audio, multi-media, podcast 

tours, smart phones, tablets, and applications) as well as social media to engage 

audiences both online and on site. Three videoconference centers deliver the 

Museum’s programs around the world. Digitization of the collection continues apace, 

allowing the Museum to add new content and features to its online resources. 

An ambitious schedule of exhibitions developed in-house and complemented by 

shows obtained from other organizations attracts new visitors and encourages repeat 

visits. Large exhibition spaces, shops, and a restaurant greet visitors with a broad range 

of activities to maintain their interest. The Lunder Conservation Center provides a 

window on preservation of the nation’s collections, and the Luce Foundation Center for 

American Art displays 3,500 collection objects in an inviting visible storage center. The 

Renwick Gallery has additional space for exhibitions, public programs, and rotating 

displays of its permanent collection of American crafts. Multiple traveling exhibitions 

organized by the Museum are shared with museums throughout the United States, 

giving the public broad, direct access to the nation’s artistic and cultural heritage. 
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Public programs complement Museum exhibitions and collections through 

activities such as courtyard concerts, family days, heritage month programs, tours 

and gallery talks, scavenger hunts, and craft and sketching workshops. 

Diverse activities advance the strategic goal of Revitalizing Education. 

National education programs directly reach K–12 teachers and students. These 

include adoption of the latest technologies where most effective, as well as 

incorporation of art into core curricula. Resident teacher institutes are supplemented 

by online/on-demand courses for the K–12 community. The Museum regularly 

collaborates with private and public organizations to provide teachers with new tools 

and resources. Students are brought into the Museum as often as possible to 

provide that unique, direct experience with great art. The MacMillan Education 

Center, located in the galleries, benefits students in classrooms across the nation 

and U.S. military bases worldwide, as well as school groups touring the Museum, 

conservators, research Fellows, and educators. 

The strategic goal of Strengthening Collections is achieved through multiple 

activities. Scholarship and research help set acquisition objectives. Gifts of art and 

private funds raised through development activities pay for additions to the national 

collection. Conservators obtain new tools and training to preserve the artwork. The 

Lunder Conservation Center is an important locus for conservation training and 

colloquia of interest to the conservation community and the public. Conservation 

Fellowships ensure that experience and knowledge are shared within the larger 

community of conservation practitioners. 

Mission Enabling encompasses many activities. A proactive safety program 

ensures a safe and healthy environment for Museum staff and visitors. Information 

technology staff implement and maintain the information framework on which so 

many other efforts depend. This includes the exhibition space screens, kiosks, and 

optimizing online information for mobile devices. Managers carefully plan, promote, 

protect, and conserve the Museum’s resources. 

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $531,000 and 1 FTE. The 

increase includes $199,000 for necessary pay for existing staff and $2,000 for rent 

escalation. Both increases are included in the Fixed Costs section of this budget request. 

The total increase also includes programmatic increases of $180,000 for Collections 

Scholarship and 1 FTE and $150,000 for Exhibits Maintenance.

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

Research on the collections and related topics by curatorial staff continues in 

support of exhibitions and the permanent collection, including six new exhibition 

catalogues scheduled for publication in FY 2016. Endowments and multi-year 

private support have allowed the Museum to hire curators with specialties in 

sculpture, photography, and contemporary crafts. The Museum’s award-winning, 

peer-reviewed journal, American Art, will publish three issues of new scholarship. 

The Museum hosts approximately 20 research Fellows from throughout the country 
169

and internationally, thereby increasing the number of scholars using the collections. 

The resulting discoveries and interpretations by staff and Fellows help Americans 

understand and appreciate their rich cultural heritage as well as advance scholarship 

in American art. Research also will feed into educational programs as well as the 

Web and new media. 

Nearly three-fourths of American Art’s collection already is online and the 

Museum continues to digitize and post new images and content. The Museum 

makes images and content available through online image- and video-sharing sites 

and collaborative initiatives with other organizations and maintains an active online 

presence via social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) and hosts the art 

blog, Eye Level. The Museum continues to add podcasts and videos to its online 

library. All these assets are accessible regardless of the device used. In-house video 

production enables the Museum to expand its audience by webcasting events and 

hosting online discussions via instant messaging and blogs. Interactive exhibition 

components are used whenever appropriate to provide a richer, customized cultural 

experience. 

Six exhibitions are planned for FY 2016 at American Art. Major exhibitions at 

the DWRC include: Modernism in the US and Aboard, Irving Penn Retrospective, 

Romaine Brooks, and Martin Puryear. The Renwick Gallery will reopen in 2016 after 

a much-needed renovation. The opening exhibition, Wonder, will feature 

commissioned installations by eight artists spread over two floors. This will be 

followed by the next installment of the Renwick Craft Invitational. After the opening 

exhibition closes, items from the permanent collection will be installed. The wellreceived rotating exhibit Watch This! will showcase video and new media art from 

the Museum’s permanent collection. There also will be a major reinstallation from 

the folk art collection in the DWRC. 

As part of its ongoing efforts to make as much material as possible accessible 

to the public, the Museum regularly rotates artworks in the permanent collection 

galleries to show the many facets of American art and culture, as well as to 

encourage return visits. In FY 2015, the Museum completed the reinstallation of its 

third-floor permanent collection galleries, and will reinstall the folk art galleries on the 

first floor in FY 2016. The Luce Foundation Center for American Art displays an 

additional 3,500 collection objects in densely installed glass cases. 

National outreach includes touring exhibitions with The Art of Video Games, 

which finally ends its multi-year sojourn, and Our America: The Latino Presence in 

American Art that continues to crisscross the continent. The Irving Penn retrospective 

starts touring late in 2016. Interactive exhibition components continue evolving to keep 

pace with proliferating information conduits. In addition, whenever possible, American 

Art honors requests by other museums for loans from the national collection. 

American Art engages a diverse audience through a range of public programs 

and online resources. The Museum will continue its popular tours, gallery talks, 

demonstrations and workshops and now offers signed tours for the hearing impaired. 
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Individuals may bring in objects and talk with conservators about the proper care and 

handling of family heirlooms. Family Days and heritage month programs continue to 

create and sustain new relationships between the public and their cultural history. Our 

Chinese New Year celebration, held in conjunction with the Chinese Embassy, has 

quickly become a visitor favorite. Public programs in the galleries, McEvoy Auditorium, 

and Kogod Courtyard will be supplemented by new Web content, as well as by making 

such content accessible regardless of the device being used to access it. 

Education initiatives expand as the Museum takes advantage of new online 

tools and assets. American Art continues to develop its highly successful distancelearning program that reaches classrooms worldwide. A third videoconference center, 

within the MacMillan Education Center, enables American Art to serve more students 

than ever before. Partnerships with Government agencies such as the National Park 

Service and National Archives and Records Administration expand the Museum’s 

reach to more diverse audiences. The intern program, hosting 36 students this past 

year (from 22 states, Washington, DC, Denmark and Russia), will prepare the next 

generation of museum professionals. The Museum, as part of its educational initiative, 

again will host two institutes for nearly 60 teachers (last year representing 22 states 

and Washington, DC.) 

The safe storage and display of collection objects remains a top priority. 

American Art continues to develop public interest in and awareness of preservation 

issues through the Luce Foundation Center and the Lunder Conservation Center and 

their many public programs. The acquisition of new tools and instrumentation will allow 

more complete monitoring of the collection and application of leading-edge 

conservation techniques to preserve the collection. Leased cool-storage space 

ensures photographic material is preserved in ideal conditions. Artworks will be 

acquired to fill gaps in the collection identified through the Museum’s collections plan. 

Time-based media (i.e., works which exhibit a changing observable state, such as 

videos or light-emitting diodes [LEDs]) will continue to receive special attention. 

The Museum has been a lead partner, with the Department of Energy, in 

developing LED technology for use by museums, which will save the Institution 

thousands of dollars in energy costs. The renovation of the Renwick Gallery will make 

it the first all LED Museum in the United States. Information technology and 

administrative procedures will be strengthened through close monitoring of resources 

and processes, especially as lean budgets continue. Strong partnerships with 

Smithsonian central offices enable American Art to provide an end-user perspective 

on policy changes. Use of the Museum’s Wiki and SharePoint websites keeps staff 

current on the ever-changing procedural and regulatory environment. Continual review 

of work processes and conditions will be followed by proactive implementation and 

use of safer techniques and materials for both staff and the Museum environment. 

EXPLANATION OF CHANGE 

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $531,000 and 1 FTE. The 

increase includes $199,000 for necessary pay for existing staff and $2,000 for rent 
171

escalation. Both increases are included in the Fixed Costs section of this budget request. 

The total increase also includes programmatic increases of $180,000 for Collections 

Scholarship and 1 FTE and $150,000 for Exhibits Maintenance, which are detailed as 

follows.

Collections Scholarship 

The budget request includes an increase of $180,000 and 1 FTE for an 

additional curator. American Art’s curatorial staff has significant gaps in their ability to 

research, interpret, exhibit, and care for the national collection in critical subject areas 

as defined by national educational standards, and program execution. Over time, 

curatorial staffing levels have dramatically declined, seriously depleting the Museum’s 

scholarly foundation. With the requested funds, the Museum will rebuild its curatorial 

strength to support excellent research, exhibitions and digitization. Specifically, this 

position will fill the need for a Latino art curator to build the national collection as well 

as plan future exhibitions. 

Exhibits Maintenance 

The $150,000 request for exhibits maintenance will ensure that American Art’s 

exhibitions are clean and in good repair, and that media components are fully 

operational and up to date. However, the exhibition spaces take a beating and the 

increasingly interactive nature of today’s exhibits as well as collection items increases 

maintenance needs. The requested funds will maintain our exhibits at the standard 

expected of a world-class museum. Specifically, American Art will upgrade multimedia components and, more importantly, improve exhibit lighting by replacing 

outdated lighting tracks and fixtures with LED elements. American Art is a world leader 

in the use of LED lighting in art museums. LED fixtures last longer and use less 

power, resulting in significant energy savings and reduced labor costs. 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — Nearly all of American Art’s non-personnel 

costs, including those for exhibitions, educational and public programs, and additions 

to the national collection, are paid with funds provided by individuals, foundations, and 

corporations. Donor/sponsor-designated funds support specific programs and 

projects. American Art’s National Campaign is putting special emphasis on obtaining 

endowments to provide secure funding for these ongoing projects and activities. 

Additionally, trust funds support salaries and benefits for one-third of staff, as well as 

all fundraising activities and related costs. 

The Renwick Gallery’s renovations, started in 2014, will be completed in 

FY 2015. Following renovation of the Gallery, reinstallation of the permanent collection 

and new opening exhibitions will occur in FY 2016. The Museum has raised half of the 

funds for the renovation from the private sector. 
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Introduction, Mission Enabling

The backbone of the Smithsonian must remain a dedicated 

workforce of employees and volunteers with 21st century skills and 

perspectives. Strong, responsive support services — such as 

collections stewardship, facilities management, Web and new media, 

audience research, marketing, and financial management — are 

essential to accomplish the Smithsonian’s mission. Finally, we need 

to generate revenue in new ways to ensure that we can fund our 

vision for the future. 

UNITS primarily associated with Mission Enabling: 

 Outreach 

 Communications 

 Institution-wide Programs 

 Office of Exhibits Central 

 Museum Support Center 

 Museum Conservation Institute 

 Smithsonian Institution Archives 

 Smithsonian Libraries 

 Office of the Chief Information Officer 

 Administration 

 Office of the Inspector General 

 Facilities Maintenance 

 Facilities Operations, Security, and Support 
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OUTREACH 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR 

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 65 9,121 41 6,418 6 4,917 11 5,290

FY 2015

ENACTED 65 9,150 40 6,105 3 4,337 11 5,927

FY 2016

REQUEST 80 14,317 40 5,900 7 4,149 7 3,959

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

REVITALIZING EDUCATION; AND MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/ FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

Program Category FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Engage in research and discovery 3 1,298 3 1,304 0 6

Ensure the advancement of knowledge in 

the humanities 2 993 2 999 0 6

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web 

support 2 230 2 235 0 5

Public Programs

Provide reference services and 

information 1 120 1 125 0 5

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 40 4,690 40 4,784 0 94

Revitalizing Education

Education

Engage and inspire diverse audiences 12 1,381 27 6,409 15 5,028

Mission Enabling

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is 

customer centered and results oriented 5 438 5 461 0 23

Total 65 9,150 80 14,317 15 5,167

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

Broadening Access is a key component of the Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan. All 

of the Institution’s outreach activities link the Smithsonian’s national collections, 
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research, and educational resources with Americans from coast to coast. Its aims are 

to: 1) broaden the audiences who share in the nation’s rich cultural heritage; 2) enhance 

widespread research-based knowledge of science, history, and art; and 3) provide 

opportunities for educators and scholars to further increase and diffuse knowledge. 

Smithsonian outreach programs serve millions of Americans, thousands of 

communities, and hundreds of institutions in all 50 states, through loans of objects, 

traveling exhibitions, and sharing of educational resources via publications, lectures 

and presentations, training programs, and websites. Smithsonian outreach programs 

work in close cooperation with Smithsonian museums and research centers, as well 

as with 199 affiliated institutions and others across the nation. 

This line item includes the programs that provide the critical mass of 

Smithsonian Across America outreach activity: the Smithsonian Institution Traveling 

Exhibition Service (SITES); Smithsonian Affiliations; the Smithsonian Center for 

Learning and Digital Access (SCLDA); the Office of Fellowships and Internships 

(OFI); the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press (SISP); and the Science, 

Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) initiative. The Smithsonian 

Associates (TSA) and the Smithsonian Science Education Center (SSEC), which 

receive no direct federal funding, are also part of this national outreach effort. 

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $5,167,000. This 

increase includes $167,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for 

existing staff funded under this line item, and a programmatic increase of $5,000,000 

and 15 FTEs to improve the STEM engagement program. 

BACKGROUND AND CONTENT — STEM ENGAGEMENT 

Since its creation in 2010, the Smithsonian’s Office of the Assistant Secretary 

for Education and Access has been charged with the Institution-wide effort of 

Revitalizing Education, Broadening Access, Supporting Evaluation, and Creating a 

Learning Community for 19 museums and nine research centers. 

In implementing the Institution’s effort to Revitalize Education, more than 300 

museum educators, information technology (IT) staff, and public programmers have 

been creating content that specifically addresses the articulated needs of teachers; 

identifying, evaluating, and organizing assets that can be integrated into, or used to 

supplement, curriculum; tagging content that aligns with state and national standards; 

and supporting active learning that includes inquiry-based science learning in rich 

and immersive settings. 

 Broadening Access involves the Smithsonian’s development of educational 

assets for a national audience, many of which will be delivered via a Web-based 

Participant Access System (PAS) that facilitates our ability to share collections, 

images, lessons, and citizen-scholar activities. We are also strengthening our 

partnerships and sharing and exchanging resources with more than 199 Smithsonian 
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Museum Affiliates across the country, colleagues from federal agencies, and the 

private sector. 

We are Supporting Evaluation by training our staff and our peers, working with 

internal and external evaluators, and, when completed, our PAS will provide us with 

metrics and key information about our users and their interaction with our content. 

The Institution’s efforts to Create a Learning Community are linked to our 

strategies for knowledge transfer. In an Institution with more than 24 education 

departments, knowledge-transfer mechanisms enable us to better coordinate our 

collective assets, identify and solve common problems, broker collaborations, realize 

economies of scale, avoid redundancies, and learn from our successes and 

challenges. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (40 FTEs and 

$4,784,000) — For 64 years SITES has devoted its mission to sharing Smithsonian 

exhibitions and educational resources with people and places all across the country. 

More than 500 communities in all 50 states annually host SITES shows in formats 

ranging from large-scale interactive exhibits for mainstream art, history, and natural 

history museums to portfolio and poster sets tailored to school classrooms. 

Encompassing subjects that parlay the Smithsonian’s vast collection and research 

pursuits, SITES’ FY 2016 offerings will address such topics as artistic creativity, scientific 

exploration, and the mosaic of diverse cultures that have made America what it is today. 

SITES is a national leader in exhibitions that honor and celebrate the cultural 

heritages of African Americans, Latinos, Asian Pacific Americans, Native Americans, 

and the many other peoples who give our nation its unique vitality. FY 2016 

resources will continue to be dedicated to this focus, generating cross-cultural public 

engagement through such exhibition topics as migrant labor; a celebration of Asian 

American Pacific achievement; ethnic foodways; African American art; and crosscultural ties between African American and Native American communities. 

SITES’ landmark Museum on Main Street (MoMS) initiative will continue to 

enrich the underserved populations of rural America, whose access to national 

cultural programs is limited. SITES’ newest MoMS exhibit on hometown teams 

focuses on the central role of sports in sustaining community identity and local pride. 

Although the tangible experience is key to what SITES provides to visitors, the 

organization also focuses on ways to extend and engage audiences far beyond 

museum walls via multiple forms of technology, from mobile interactive applications 

(apps) to educator resources. 

While Americans may know the Smithsonian from one-time school trips or family 

visits, the presence of the Institution’s resources in their hometowns has a deeper 
176

resonance. SITES exhibitions represent the valuable public impact of the federal dollar. 

They are a source of immense local pride, bringing together people from diverse 

ethnic, age, and socio-economic groups to celebrate a shared national heritage at the 

local level. 

Smithsonian Affiliations (2 FTEs and $313,000) — The mission of 

Smithsonian Affiliations is to build a strong, national network of affiliated museums, 

educational, and cultural organizations that will facilitate the display of Smithsonian 

artifacts and dissemination of the Institution’s expertise in communities across 

America. By working with both emerging and well-established museums of diverse 

sizes, subject areas, audience bases, and scholarly disciplines, Smithsonian 

Affiliations creates the framework through which visitors unable to come to 

Smithsonian facilities can still experience the Smithsonian in their own communities. 

In addition, the Smithsonian is working closely with affiliated organizations to increase 

their audiences, expand their professional capabilities, and gain greater recognition in 

their local communities. There are currently 199 affiliate organizations in 44 states, 

Puerto Rico, and Panama. 

 

These strategies have resulted in the display of more than 8,000 Smithsonian 

artifacts in Affiliate locations, including such historic and topical items as U.S. spacecraft, 

First Ladies’ gowns, Civil War arms and uniforms, outdoor sculptures, scientifically 

significant collections, and many more. Smithsonian scholars have participated in science 

literacy, American history, and art education programs at Affiliate locations. Professional 

development workshops, internships, and visiting professional residencies have given 

Affiliate staff the opportunity to increase their knowledge and skills in areas such as 

collections management, exhibition planning, and museum administration. The 

Smithsonian Affiliations’ annual conference creates a forum for networking, information 

sharing, and future planning. New videoconferencing capabilities have also extended the 

reach of Smithsonian Affiliations. Current Affiliate projects build on and amplify the “Grand 

Challenges” outlined in the Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan. 

Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access (SCLDA) (13 FTEs and 

$1,456,000) — Smithsonian educators work with Smithsonian content experts to 

develop products and services that strengthen American education and enhance our 

ability to compete globally. The Smithsonian serves as a laboratory that creates 

methods and models of innovative informal education linked to our nation’s formal 

education system. SCLDA venues use a wide range of interactive, Web-based 

technologies; our programs encourage continual exploration by learners of all ages. To 

guide these educational efforts across the Smithsonian, SCLDA has created an 

Institution-wide approach to education that leverages resources, strengthens 

communications, coordinates programming, and rewards innovative thinking and 

collaboration.

Office of Fellowships and Internships (OFI) (6 FTEs and $1,976,000) — The 

OFI has the central management and administrative responsibility for the Institution’s 

programs of research, Fellowships, and other scholarly appointments. One of its 
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primary objectives is to facilitate the Smithsonian’s academic interactions with students 

and scholars at universities, museums, and other research institutions around the world. 

The Office administers Institution-wide research support programs, and encourages and 

assists other Smithsonian museums, research centers, and offices with diversifying and 

developing additional Fellowships and visiting appointments. 

The Smithsonian Institution offers Fellowships to provide opportunities for 

graduate students, pre-doctoral students, and postdoctoral and senior investigators to 

conduct independent research in association with members of the Smithsonian 

professional research staff, and to more effectively use the resources of the Institution. 

To achieve the strategic goal of Excellent Research and maintain the 

Smithsonian’s level of expertise in the research community, the Institution must 

continue attracting the best scholars. OFI is increasing Fellowship stipends to provide 

awards comparable to other prestigious programs so the Smithsonian can maintain a 

competitive edge. Since funding for stipends has remained flat, the Smithsonian has 

increased the value of each award, but has decreased the number of Fellowships 

awarded. The Smithsonian is trying to raise private funding for the Institution’s 

Fellowships and Scholarly Studies Program so that the Institution has the resources 

necessary to help today’s young scientists become the next generation’s top 

researchers. In addition, OFI continues to provide current staff with the financial 

support needed to develop new research initiatives, collaborate with other scholars, 

and determine the scope and feasibility of projects. 

 Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press (SISP) (4 FTEs and $788,000) —

Through the Smithsonian Contributions Series program, continually published since 

1875, SISP publishes and disseminates research conducted by Smithsonian staff 

and their collaborators. The federal funds support the production of first-class science 

results and widespread public distribution to libraries, universities, other 

organizations, and the public. The program publishes, in both print and electronic 

formats, monograph series in subject areas ranging from art, anthropology, botany, 

and marine sciences to paleobiology, zoology, museum conservation, and history 

and technology, as well as edited collections of interdisciplinary research and 

symposia proceedings. Furthermore, federal resources underpin the publishing of 

scholarly books written by Smithsonian staff or books closely related to Smithsonian 

collections as well as increased public access to peer-reviewed scholarly 

publications. This advances the Institution’s strategic goal of Broadening Access to 

scientific research and the national collections. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY — STEM ENGAGEMENT 

The reach of the Smithsonian — nationally and internationally — and its ability 

to motivate and inspire students and educators exceeds 100 million people annually. 

The Institution’s digital education assets are managed by the SCLDA, which 

aligns content with national and state education standards, pilots and coordinates 
178

Institution-wide initiatives, provides training opportunities for educators, and conducts 

evaluations. The SSEC provides school districts with tools and resources for initiating 

and sustaining effective science education programs. Using the SSEC model for 

science education reform, these school districts produce research- and standardsbased science instructional materials, provide professional development for their 

teachers, and continually assess student progress. They also develop a system-wide 

support structure that provides science materials to the classroom and builds support 

from school district administrations and communities nationwide. These programs 

have led to significant, documented improvement in student achievement. Researchbased STEM programs are also offered at the National Zoological Park, the 

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, the Smithsonian Tropical Research 

Institute, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the National Air and Space 

Museum, the National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of American 

History — specifically, with regard to the history of science and American Life — as 

well as the Smithsonian Gardens, and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design 

Museum — which offers design and technology education. 

EXPLANATION OF CHANGE — STEM (+$5,000,000, +15 FTEs) 

The Smithsonian requests $5 million and 15 FTEs to provide authentic and 

inspiring STEM experiences for teachers and students by drawing on the scientific and 

engineering assets of the federal Government — including scientists, labs, satellites, 

museums, and research centers. The Smithsonian will serve as a conduit between 

federal mission agencies and other non-profits — including the Smithsonian’s 199

Affiliate museums. The Institution will grow and support learning communities that 

include educators in schools and informal learning settings; assist with the identification 

of curriculum in a variety of modalities; and work with partners to identify, develop and 

disseminate STEM engagement materials and experiences. The STEM initiative will 

also advance professional development opportunities that take into consideration the 

Next Generation Science Standards and align with state education standards. 

The Smithsonian will work with federal agencies offering STEM programs so that 

we may identify and disseminate content that takes advantage of each agency’s unique 

assets, create complementary materials and avoid duplication of effort, and share a 

centralized portal for the broad dissemination of our combined resources. 

The Smithsonian will manage these endeavors by creating discipline- and subjectbased committees that coordinate the efforts of STEM engagement providers, including 

Smithsonian units, mission agencies, and other non-profit collaborators. The Institution 

will also increase the capacity of Smithsonian units to offer more programs, experiences 

and services in the creation, dissemination, and evaluation of STEM education content. 

The following chart details the requested STEM engagement increase: 
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Items ($000s) FTEs

SERVICES

Develop Infrastructure to Deliver Content 2,251353 3777

CREATING COMMUNITY

Teachers and Students 1,813574 10111

EVALUATION

Learning and Evolving 936073 2555

TOTAL $5,000000 15323

Developing and Maintaining an Infrastructure to Deliver Content (+$2,251,000, 

+3 FTEs) — The SCLDA is building the Smithsonian Digital Learning Laboratory — a 

platform that gives users broad access to Smithsonian experts, collections, and 

research, along with tools for customizing the experience and creating new content. 

In planning for this launch, SCLDA completed a review of best practices and 

conducted extensive user testing. External evaluators were employed to assess how 

educators and students work with Smithsonian resources. The information was used 

to develop requirements for building the Learning Laboratory, which will give 

teachers, parents and students access to: Smithsonian digitized collections (images, 

scientific specimens, historical artifacts and artworks); Smithsonian educational 

resources (lesson plans, educational games and videos); tools for adapting resources 

and creating new content (such as editing and annotating text, and building personal 

collections based on topics of interest); and ways to share these user-created 

resources with a larger audience. The Laboratory will be able to capture metrics on 

the use of digital assets. It will highlight and share content from other federal 

agencies and cultural organizations. 

 Additional federal funding will support collaboration with federal partners to 

identify existing STEM resources, develop new resources, create metadata, and offer 

online training and technical assistance to educators on how to use online STEM 

resources. The information compiled and the feedback generated will enable 

strategic planning and decision making for future STEM resources. The Smithsonian 

is requesting $2,251,000 and 3 FTEs to: work with other federal partners to identify 

relevant STEM content; create metadata; analyze metrics and provide online training 

and technical assistance; provide contractual services for user testing and evaluation; 

and provide for contractual services to develop refinements and create new 

interactive tools based on feedback and evaluation results. 

Creating Community/Teachers and Students (+$1,813,000, +10 FTEs) —

With the launch of Smithsonian X 3D, the Institution is a world leader in applying 3D 

technology to museum digital collections. A new education initiative is pairing 

educators (4 FTEs) and technology specialists (4 FTEs) to bridge the gap to the 

classroom, creating K–12 core curriculum STEM lesson plans. 

 

A cohort of educators and technology specialists will use 3D digitization to 

formalize, document and evaluate strategies for applied learning. Approaches include 

prototyping, deconstruction/reconstruction and biomimicry to bring STEM education to 

life and ignite the enthusiasm of the next generation of engineers, designers, and 
180

tinkerers. This will enable the STEM initiative to leverage the strength and diversity of 

Smithsonian collections and research assets, and empower teachers as both creators 

and consumers of curricula programs. 

 During the past decade, researchers at the Smithsonian Astrophysical 

Observatory have developed and tested a unique solution to the problem of providing 

engaging and authentic STEM learning at scale — a network of robotic telescopes, 

called Micro Observatory, specifically optimized for educational use by pre-college 

students in grades 5–12. Created with support from the National Science Foundation 

(NSF), National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Smithsonian, this 

network includes five automated telescopes ideally situated alongside major research 

instruments and controlled from the convenience of classrooms, homes, after-school 

centers, or even in transit, using smart phones. Requests to use the Micro Observatory 

are scheduled during the day, and the resulting images of planets, stars, galaxies, and 

even newly discovered exoplanets orbiting distant stars are used in learning activities 

and projects. Accordingly, the Institution requests $200,000 and 2 FTEs to aid in 

expanding the Micro Observatory network’s online community through museums 

affiliated with the Smithsonian, community-based partners, students earning digital 

badges, and NASA’s space science missions. This support will create resources aiding 

the professional development of middle and high school teachers, and greatly expand 

opportunities for exploration of the night sky by groups currently under-represented in 

STEM. 

Evaluation: Learning and Evolving (+$936,000, +2 FTEs) — The Smithsonian 

embraces evaluation as a tool for STEM learning and engagement in both formal and 

informal learning settings. Our learning spaces, exhibitions and programs for youth are 

constantly being evaluated and appropriately altered. Evaluation is designed into exhibits 

and curricula early in the development process to provide feedback for improvements 

and ascertain the intended impact. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory has 

provided research, development, and evaluation services that leverage STEM 

engagement efforts at federal agencies, thereby helping to ensure that federal efforts 

lead to learning outcomes that are rigorous, meaningful and substantive. Smithsonian 

researchers have developed valid and reliable assessments that measure changes in 

students’ interests in STEM careers and STEM content knowledge. Dozens of education 

and NSF math/science partnerships use Smithsonian instruments to measure increases 

in teachers’ subject-matter proficiency and pedagogical content knowledge, and to track 

changes that result in students’ classroom gains. The Institution requests $936,000 and 

2 FTEs to support evaluation training and develop various methods for assessment. 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds defray the costs of staff 

salaries and benefits, fund raising, exhibition design and production, publications, 

materials, outside specialists, and contractual services. Donor/sponsor-designated 

funds cover costs related to specific projects and programs. 
181

COMMUNICATIONS 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR 

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 22 2,556 29 3,858 0 5 0 0

FY 2015

ENACTED 22 2,567 32 4,272 0 0 0 0

FY 2016

REQUEST 22 3,945 32 4,272 0 0 0 0

STRATEGIC GOALS: BROADENING ACCESS AND MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/ FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

Program Category FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web 

support

0 0 0 1,325 0 1,325

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 8 624 8 633 0 9

Mission Enabling

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is 

customer centered and results oriented

1 116 1 119 0 3

Enhance the reputation of the Smithsonian by 

maintaining good relations with the news media 

and with federal, state, and local governments

10 1,479 10 1,512 0 33

Ensure that the Smithsonian workforce is 

efficient, collaborative, committed, innovative, 

and diverse

3 348 3 356 0 8

Total 22 2,567 22 3,945 0 1,378

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The Office of Communications and External Affairs (OCEA) consists of 

four departments: the Office of Public Affairs (OPA), the Office of Government 

Relations (OGR), the Office of Visitor Services (OVS), and the Office of Special 

Events and Protocol (OSEP). 

OCEA manages the Smithsonian brand strategy, coordinates brand 

marketing and oversees internal communications. The Office resources support 
182

the Strategic Plan by training staff about the Institution’s priorities and objectives, 

and informing them about important initiatives, thereby enabling the Institution to 

better execute its mission. OCEA is responsible for implementing the 

Smithsonian brand strategy, both internally and externally, so that the 

Smithsonian reaches and engages more people with its mission. By improving 

internal communications to more effectively and efficiently inform staff of 

Institution-wide policies, initiatives and events, OCEA encourages cross-unit 

collaboration. 

The OPA coordinates public relations and communications with museums, 

research centers and offices to present a consistent and positive image of the 

Institution. The Office supports the Strategic Plan by advancing the Institution’s 

objectives, connecting people with Smithsonian experts, research, exhibitions, 

and public programs, and by working with conventional media outlets and social 

media. The OPA connects to online audiences by overseeing content such as 

Visitor Information, Events, Exhibits, and Encyclopedia Smithsonian on the 

central website. The Office also administers content on Newsdesk, the 

Smithsonian’s online newsroom, and on the central Smithsonian social media 

accounts. In addition, The OPA works with units throughout the Institution to 

establish and maintain professional communications guidelines and standards. 

The OGR is the liaison between the Smithsonian Institution and the 

federal Government. This includes members and staff of the U.S. House of 

Representatives and Senate appropriations and oversight committees and other 

congressional offices, the White House, the Office of Management and Budget, 

and various federal agencies. The Office supports the Institution’s overall 

Strategic Plan by explaining the accomplishments, relevance, and wealth of the 

Smithsonian’s offerings to the Congress and the Administration. The OGR also 

works with other Smithsonian offices, informing them of federal-sector activities, 

tracking legislation pertinent to them, showcasing their exhibits, programs and 

discoveries for interested congressional offices, and managing their requests for 

high-ranking Government officials to participate in official Institution events. 

The OVS is the principal Office dedicated to designing, orchestrating, and 

improving visitors’ experiences with the Smithsonian. The Office enables the 

Smithsonian’s mission through its activities as the primary point of contact for 

Smithsonian visitors and volunteers. The Office resources support the Strategic 

Plan by administering products and services that broaden visitor access to 

Smithsonian public programs and services. 

The OSEP proactively participates in strategic decision making for 

advancing the Institution’s goals by identifying event opportunities which will help 

the Smithsonian achieve its objectives; and unusual events to extend the reach 

of the Institution and energize its representation.
183

The FY 2016 budget request includes a net increase of $1,378,000, which 

includes $53,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for existing 

staff funded under this line item and a programmatic increase of $1,325,000. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

The OPA allocates resources for national and international media publicity 

and to expand minority relationships through targeted media outlets. As the 

Smithsonian Office with primary responsibility for extending the Institution’s 

communications message to online audiences, the OPA manages content on the 

central website, Newsdesk, and on the central Smithsonian social media 

accounts. The OPA works with units throughout the Institution to establish and 

maintain professional communications guidelines and standards. The OPA also 

produces Smithsonian Science, an online blog devoted to scientific research. 

In addition, the OPA initiates and responds to all media inquiries in a 

timely manner with accurate, concise information, and generates story ideas for 

the media featuring Smithsonian experts, exhibitions, research, and programs. In 

terms of new initiatives, the OPA also has a leading role in coordinating the 

Smithsonian’s “Seriously Amazing” national branding campaign to educate the 

public about the Institution’s mission and many programs, as well as appeals for 

private support. 

The OVS designs and administers systems that visitors use regularly to 

plan and carry out visits, as well as systems that enable Smithsonian staff to 

better aid on-site visitors. The OVS administers the Smithsonian Information 

Center, the outdoor visitor information kiosks adjacent to all museums and 

galleries, Web applications, and selected publications. In addition, the OVS 

oversees a comprehensive visitor feedback system that includes the general 

Smithsonian email address, a telephone call center, comment cards, and 

surveys. 

The OVS also works with relevant units to deliver products and services 

that help their staff understand and meet the needs of their specific audiences. 

The OVS systematically analyzes visitor behavior, trends and insights, and 

delivers pertinent findings to teams whose projects will affect how visitors 

experience the Smithsonian. The OVS recruits and trains highly qualified, 

motivated and diverse volunteers to engage with visitors and help Smithsonian 

staff accomplish research projects. The OVS increases retention of volunteers by 

offering enrichment and recognition opportunities. 
184

EXPLANATION OF CHANGE 

The FY 2016 budget request includes a net increase of $1,378,000, which 

includes $53,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for existing 

staff funded under this line item and a programmatic increase of $1,325,000. The 

specific program increase is described below. 

Web Access (+$1,325,000) 

 The Institution’s goal is to broaden access to the Smithsonian and 

enhance the public’s experience of what the Institution has to offer. New tools 

and technologies will exponentially broaden our access worldwide. The nation’s 

growing diversity challenges us to reach new audiences and ensure that 

Smithsonian collections, exhibitions, and outreach programs speak to all 

Americans. The Institution also strives to remain relevant to visitors who come 

from around the world. 

 

To accomplish this goal, the Institution is building a robust, multi-channel 

platform that can support the Smithsonian’s digital presence into the future. The 

centerpiece of the project is a redesigned main Smithsonian website that makes 

it easy for the public to explore the Smithsonian, as well as plan a visit. 

 

The funds requested will redesign the current website to reflect the 

Institution’s mission strategy and consolidate Institution-wide websites into a 

stronger, more effective, and cost–efficient whole, including the Collections 

Search and Newsdesk (online newsroom). The Institution will conduct extensive 

research on how our customers use the current website; develop a content 

strategy for improved communications and content re-use, focused on public 

needs and internal efficiencies; and develop an open-source content 

management system that can grow to support all of our museums and unit 

websites by using a standardized technology platform. This platform will improve 

governance, increase economic efficiency, and allow for increased access to 

Smithsonian resources. 

The result will be a new media that creates interactive access and reaches

new audiences while allowing the Institution to use its vast collections and 

resources to influence the great debates of the day and engage millions more 

people than it does today. 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds support salaries and 

benefits of personnel and other related costs. In addition, these funds support 

information dissemination, outreach, publications, and general operations.
185

INSTITUTION-WIDE PROGRAMS 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR 

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 0 7,778 0 0 0 0 0 0

FY 2015 

ENACTED 0 10,505 0 0 0 0 0 0

FY 2016

REQUEST 0 14,784 0 0 0 0 0 0

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS; AND MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Engage in research and discovery 0 1,200 0 1,200 0 0

Broadening Access

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 0 1,121 0 2,400 0 1,279

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national 

collections

0 5,197 0 8,197 0 3,000

Mission Enabling

Information Technology

Modernize the Institution’s information 

technology systems and infrastructure

0 2,987 0 2,987 0 0

Total 0 10,505 0 14,784 0 4,279

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT 

Beginning in 1993, Congress has approved the creation of the following four 

Institution-wide funding programs: 

 Research Equipment Pool

 Latino Initiatives Pool 

 Collections Care and Preservation Fund.

 Information Resources Management Pool
186

In 1993, Congress approved the Smithsonian’s reallocation of funds to create 

two Institution-wide funding programs: the Research Equipment Pool to support the 

units’ needs for state-of-the-art research equipment, and the Information Resources 

Management (IRM) Pool to systematically address information technology (IT) needs 

throughout the Institution. The Institution first received funds in FY 1995 to support the 

development of a third Institution-wide program, this one for Latino initiatives, including 

research, exhibitions, and educational programming. In FY 1998, Congress approved a 

$960,000 increase to the IRM Pool specifically dedicated to collections information 

systems (CIS) needs. The FY 2006 appropriation included an increase of $1 million to 

establish the Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF). The CCPF provides 

resources for the highest priority collections management needs throughout the 

Institution to improve the overall stewardship of Smithsonian collections. 

In FY 2016, the Institution is requesting the establishment of an Asian Pacific 

American Initiatives Pool to explore and share the contributions of Asian Pacific 

Americans to the American Experience. The pool will fund competitively selected 

projects that support research, exhibitions, educational programs, collections, digital 

and media projects, and partnerships with local and regional cultural organizations. 

The budget request includes an increase of $4,279,000 for the Institution-wide 

programs. The budget request also includes an increase of $700,000 for collections 

needs for the National Zoological Park (NZP), which is justified here to strategically 

address collections care needs but is included in the NZP line item of this budget 

submission. 

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT — COLLECTIONS CARE INITIATIVE 

 

Collections stewardship is a key component and core priority of the Smithsonian’s 

Strategic Plan. Assembled over 169 years, Smithsonian collections are fundamental to 

carrying out the Institution’s mission and Grand Challenges, serving as the intellectual 

base for scholarship, discovery, exhibition, and education. As recognized by the America 

COMPETES Act reauthorization, the proper management, documentation, preservation, 

and accessibility of collections are important to the nation’s research and education 

infrastructure. Smithsonian collections have a unique and important role in addressing 

scientific and societal issues of the 21st century, enabling researchers to address such 

significant challenges facing society as the effects of global change, the spread of 

invasive species, and the loss of biological diversity and its impact on global ecosystems. 

 

As result, the Institution must substantially improve collections care to ensure that 

Smithsonian collections are properly preserved and made accessible for current and 

future generations to study and enjoy. The volume, characteristics, complexity, and age 

of Smithsonian collections, as well as the variety of discipline-specific standards that 

apply to their care, make their management, preservation, and digitization as 

unprecedented, challenging, and complex as the collections themselves. 
187

Currently, Smithsonian collections total 138 million objects and specimens; 

157,000 cubic feet of archives; and 2 million library volumes that include irreplaceable 

national icons, examples of everyday life, and scientific material vital to the study of the 

world’s natural and cultural heritage, covering subjects from aeronautics to zoology. 

Through its collections, the Smithsonian presents the astonishing record of American and 

international artistic, historical, cultural, and scientific achievement, with a scope and 

depth that no other institution in the world can match. As the steward of the national 

collections, the Smithsonian has the unique responsibility and historic tradition of 

preserving and making accessible its collections that are held in trust for the public. 

Collections stewardship — the systematic development, documentation, 

management, preservation, and use of collections — is not a single process or 

procedure, but a series of components which are interwoven, interdependent, and 

ongoing. The condition of facilities housing collections, the quality of storage equipment 

and preservation tools, and the ability to document collections in manual and digital 

formats directly affect the Smithsonian’s ability to make collections available to scholars 

and the general public worldwide. Collections care, storage, and digitization represent a 

continuum of activities which support the Smithsonian’s strategic goals to strengthen 

collections, broaden access, and revitalize education. Because collections stewardship is 

fundamental to the Smithsonian’s mission, there is a critical need for additional resources 

to accomplish basic collections management activities for accountability, preservation, 

storage, digitization, and accessibility of the collections. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY — RESEARCH EQUIPMENT POOL

The Smithsonian’s ambitious research agenda requires appropriate equipment to 

achieve its goal of Excellent Research. This basic equipment infrastructure requires 

regular maintenance, upgrades, and routine replacement. With the current allocation, 

the Institution will continue striving to prioritize and address the many research needs 

throughout the Smithsonian community. Research Equipment Pool funds have enabled 

Smithsonian museums and research centers to undertake groundbreaking research in 

numerous areas. For example, genomics is offering new opportunities for exploring 

biodiversity. To be successful, biodiversity genomics requires a set of cutting-edge 

genetic technologies like the transformational tools of next-generation sequencing 

(NGS). Similarly, the Institution’s efforts in materials conservation have been greatly 

enhanced by using highly specialized equipment that has enabled conservators to 

achieve refinements in identifying the age and provenance of artifacts as well as 

improvements in the preservation of fragile materials. Investing in equipment and 

maintenance contracts will allow the Smithsonian to leverage its collections and 

expertise in these important areas of research. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY — LATINO INITIATIVES POOL

 To achieve the goal of Broadening Access to Smithsonian research and 

programs, the Latino Initiatives Pool provides funding for projects that support Latino 

programs and focus on U.S. Latino contributions to science, history, art, music, and 
188

society. Pool funds have been used to support exhibition and collections development, 

public and educational programs, research and publications, and Fellowships and 

internships. 

 Projects are selected on a competitive basis from proposals that demonstrate 

cost-effective deployment of Pool funds, as well as coordination with other Smithsonian 

resources and external funding. Since its creation in 1995, the Latino Initiatives Pool 

has provided more than $20 million in funding to 400+ Smithsonian programs and 

projects. 

 In addition to a Latino Curatorial Initiative, launched in 2010 and aimed at 

increasing Latino representation and scholarship at the Smithsonian, expanded funding 

of the Latino Initiatives Pool will broaden outreach efforts throughout the country. This 

will include an increased number of traveling exhibitions, public and educational 

programs, and institutional partnerships. These funds will ensure that Smithsonian 

content is available to more visitors throughout the country and the world. 

 The Latino Initiatives Pool funding will continue to be directed to Smithsonian 

leadership and professional development programs as well. An example of this is the 

Smithsonian Latino Center’s Latino Museum Studies Program (LMSP), which now 

boasts a national alumni network of more than 250 professionals and scholars, some of 

whom are currently employed at the Smithsonian. Programs such as LMSP play an 

important role in creating an extensive pool of qualified arts and museum professionals 

who are represented in universities, art museums and cultural centers nationally and 

internationally. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY — COLLECTIONS CARE INITIATIVE 

To achieve the strategic goals of Strengthening Collections and Broadening 

Access, the Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF) provides critical resources 

to achieve targeted improvements in the documentation, inventory, preservation, 

storage, and accessibility of the Smithsonian’s vast and diverse collections. With this 

funding, the Smithsonian has made significant progress at raising the level of collections 

stewardship in a pragmatic, strategic, and integrated manner by prioritizing and 

systematically addressing collections care needs, based on sound collections 

assessment data, current collections care methodologies, economies of scale, and 

project-driven activities, including collections moves and digitization. Holistic collectionslevel management has enabled comprehensive improvements that benefit the greatest 

number of collection items and collecting units in an efficient, practical, and costeffective way. 

Smithsonian management acknowledges that an effective strategy for 

addressing collections challenges depends on a coordinated, Institution-wide approach. 

Therefore, the following initiatives inform our strategies, budget request, and allocation 

of resources throughout the Smithsonian community. 
189

Collections Physical Assessment 

In FY 2010, the Smithsonian conducted an Institution-wide collections physical 

condition assessment. As part of the assessment, Smithsonian collecting units grouped 

and evaluated their collections holdings based on their management and use, and 

characterized the quality of collections’ physical condition, housing materials, storage 

equipment, physical accessibility, and collections space. In FY 2012, the category of 

collections significance was added to the collections assessment methodology. Based 

on the collections’ physical assessment results, the Smithsonian has used the 

centralized CCPF to achieve targeted improvements in the preservation and 

accessibility of collections, ranging from national icons to biomaterials, in the most 

efficient and cost-effective manner possible. 

The National Collections Program has strategically directed central collections 

care resources to specific collections across the Institution to improve substandard 

aspects of collections care to an acceptable level and meet professional standards; 

correct specific collections management deficiencies identified in the Smithsonian’s 

Inspector General audit recommendations; facilitate collections moves from 

substandard facilities; and address the Institution’s highest priority collections 

management needs. 

Collections Space Survey and Planning 

During FY 2011, the Smithsonian launched an Institution-wide collections space 

planning initiative to document, analyze, and plan for addressing the Institution’s current 

and future collections space needs in a pragmatic, strategic, and integrated manner. 

With these goals in mind, the Smithsonian established an interdisciplinary Collections 

Space Steering Committee to assess current collections space conditions and needs, 

and develop a framework plan with near, intermediate, and long-term recommendations 

for addressing current and projected Institution-wide collections space requirements. 

As part of this planning initiative, the Smithsonian completed a first-of-its-kind 

survey of existing collections space — representing more than 2.1 million square feet of 

space, or 18 percent of total Smithsonian building space. The survey provided a 

snapshot of collections space conditions and characterized the quality of collections 

space, equipment, accessibility, environmental conditions, security, and fire safety. The 

Collections Space Framework Plan, completed in FY 2014, serves as a roadmap to 

guide short- and long-term facilities capital, real estate, and collections care projects, 

providing renovation and new construction strategies that address unacceptable 

collections space conditions, decompression of overcrowded collections, and future 

collections growth needs. 

To address near-term space requirements, the Smithsonian’s Facilities Capital 

request supports the planning and design of Pod 6 at the Museum Support Center 

(MSC); continued remediation of collections currently stored in contaminated conditions 

in Garber Buildings 15, 16, and 18; and various museum revitalization projects which 
190

will vastly improve collections storage, preservation, accessibility, and space efficiency. 

Construction of Pod 6 will complete the intent of the original 1994 MSC Master Plan and 

initiate the pan-Institutional Collections Space Implementation Plan for relocation of atrisk collections from the Garber Facility and several Mall museums. Completion of Pod 

6 is also necessary to maintain the critical path for the National Museum of American 

History’s (NMAH) East Wing public renewal project, which requires both temporary and 

permanent relocation of a significant volume of collections from the Mall building to 

accomplish the renovation. Constructed in the 1950s and 1960s, the Butler-style 

buildings at the Garber Facility were originally designed as temporary structures and 

have long passed their useful lifespan. The Garber Facility’s environmental conditions 

are inadequate and hazardous to collections, have asbestos and lead-containing dust 

contamination, and have overcrowding issues which severely restrict physical access to 

as well as preservation and use of the collections. Completion of the Garber 

decontamination project and the continued move of National Air and Space Museum 

(NASM) collections to the Udvar-Hazy Center are the first steps in a phased 

redevelopment plan for the Garber Facility. 

In FY 2016, the Smithsonian will continue to build on these collections care 

initiatives and follow an action plan for strategically addressing the preservation and 

storage space needs of collections, based on the results of the Institution-wide 

collections physical assessment and collections space survey. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY — INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT POOL 

Digitization funding directly supports the Smithsonian’s ambition to serve a 

national and international audience online, offering access to important collections that 

are not currently on exhibit, and fulfilling the need to document collections for improved 

inventory control. Creating a portfolio of rapid-capture prototypes to address some of 

the Institution’s most commonly held collection materials will help establish an 

infrastructure for standardized high-throughput digitization that brings the Smithsonian 

one step closer to sharing its vast collections with the world. 

IRM Pool funds support network operations and server administration. 

Specifically, funds are used for: 

 Upgrades and enhancements to the Smithsonian’s Information Technology (IT) 

infrastructure 

 Contractor support in the Network Operations Center 

 Provision of Active Directory and desktop migration technicians 

 Network hardware/software maintenance 

 Digitization of collections information and images 

 Public delivery of Smithsonian digital assets 
191

MEANS AND STRATEGY — ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN INITIATIVES POOL 

 To achieve the Institution’s goal of Broadening Access to its mission, and 

promoting the understanding of the full spectrum of the American Experience, the 

Smithsonian proposes creating an Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool. The 

Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, encourages the 

Smithsonian to develop a more robust program in this area, “which will promote a better 

understanding of the Asian Pacific American experience.” The pool will support 

research, exhibitions, educational programs, collections, digital and media projects, and 

partnerships with local and regional cultural organizations. Projects would be selected 

on a competitive basis from proposals that demonstrate effective deployment of the pool 

funds, coordination with other Smithsonian resources, and successful external fund 

raising from the private sector. 

EXPLANATION OF CHANGE 

The FY 2016 budget request for Institution-wide programs includes an increase of 

$4,279,000. This includes an increase in the Collections Care and Preservation Fund 

(CCPF) (+$3,000,000); the Latino Initiatives Pool (+$879,000); and establishment of the 

Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool (+$400,000), as outlined in the table below. These 

Institution-wide programs support the Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan. 

Program ($000s)

FY 2015

Base

FY 2016 

Increase

FY 2016

Total

Collections Care and Preservation Fund 5,197 +3,000 8,197

Research Equipment Pool 1,200 0 1,200

Latino Initiatives Pool 1,121 +879 2,000

Collections Information Systems Pool 766 0 766

Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool 0 +400 400

Totals $8,284 +$4,279 $12,563

The CCPF directly supports the Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan to continually 

improve the quality of collections preservation, storage space, management, and 

accessibility, while also leveraging internal resources to support Institution-wide initiatives 

that strategically address Smithsonian collections care. Collections care funding directly 

supports the Smithsonian’s overarching goal of improving the preservation and 

accessibility of collections which are vital to current and future scholarly research, 

education, and the nation’s scientific endeavors. 

The increases described below will assist in achieving the strategic goal of 

Strengthening Collections by improving collections management, mitigating collections 

deterioration, and supporting Smithsonian initiatives that strategically address the most 

critical collections care needs. 
192

 Collections Care and Preservation Fund (+$3,000,000) 

This budget increase provides resources to meet professional standards of 

collections care. These funds will support and maintain an integrated, strategic, 

and Institution-wide approach to collections care by prioritizing and systematically 

addressing collections care needs based on current collection care 

methodologies, sound assessment data, economies of scale, and project-driven 

activities, including collections moves. The increases are as follows: 

o (+$1,000,000) to support the continued move of the NASM’s collections from 

the Paul E. Garber Facility in Suitland, Maryland, to the Udvar-Hazy Center in 

Chantilly, Virginia. To date, the move of collections to the Udvar-Hazy Center 

has been primarily funded by the Collections Care Initiative as available 

funding permits. This increase will support the purchase and installation of 

storage cabinets and shelving, and the purchase of re-housing services to

prepare, move, and install small and medium collections at the Udvar-Hazy 

Center. This increase will also be used to prepare collections to be moved to 

Pod 6, which is scheduled to be completed in FYs 2019–2020. The funds 

requested will transfer NASM collections from substandard storage conditions 

at the Garber Facility to the Udvar-Hazy Center, thereby improving their 

management, care, and accessibility as well as contributing to the 

redevelopment potential of the Garber site to address long-term, Institutionwide collections space needs. 

o (+$1,200,000) to purchase storage units and drawers, and to replace storage 

cabinetry across the Institution that places collections at risk of loss or 

damage and is hazardous to collections, researchers, and staff. This increase 

will support the purchase of new storage cabinetry and the costs of required 

maintenance for specialized collections equipment such as compact storage 

and freezers for safety and operability. Providing sufficient, secure, and 

appropriate storage equipment is the most effective and efficient way to 

minimize physical and security risks to the collections and to improve overall 

accessibility. The purchase of such cabinetry is a lasting infrastructure 

investment for the long-term preservation of Smithsonian collections. 

o (+$800,000) to support the documentation, preservation, conservation, and 

management of collections for long-term preservation and accessibility. 

Collections, by their nature and use, are subject to deterioration and risk. This 

increase provides resources to strategically address deficiencies in 

collections management identified by recent Inspector General collectionsrelated audits, the collections physical and digitization assessments, and 

recommendations of the Collections Emergency Management Working 

Group. These resources will improve collections inventory control, processing 

and cataloguing, preservation, and emergency preparedness, response, and 

recovery capabilities, thereby improving collections accountability, 

preservation, and accessibility throughout the Institution. 
193

 In FY 2016, the Smithsonian will continue to take an integrated, strategic, 

and Institution-wide approach to collections care and improve substandard 

aspects of collections management to an acceptable level. This budget request 

provides essential resources to continue to build on important planning initiatives 

for strategically addressing critical collections management, emergency 

preparedness, and space needs. Without the requested resources, Smithsonian 

progress in strengthening collections care and accessibility will be greatly 

hindered, adversely impacting the Institution’s ability to ensure the longevity and 

accessibility of the national collections. 

 Latino Initiatives Pool (+$879,000) 

The Smithsonian requests an increase for the Institution’s Latino Initiatives. This 

pool, established in FY 1995, has not been significantly increased from its 

$1 million initial level. Yet, during that time, the U.S. Latino population has doubled 

and the collections of Latino artifacts and artworks in the Smithsonian’s collections 

have multiplied exponentially. These funds will allow the Smithsonian to: 

o increase and diversify areas of research, exhibition content, public and 

educational programs, Web content and digital assets, and collections and 

archives; 

o expand the number of participating Smithsonian units, scholars, curators, 

educators, collection specialists, and archivists addressing the area of Latino 

initiatives; 

o expand national outreach and access by supporting more traveling 

exhibitions, correlative public and educational programs, publications, and the 

packaging and promotion of Smithsonian digital assets, particularly in the 

rapidly growing field of Latino collections and archival materials; 

o increase the number of emerging scholars, cultural studies and museum 

professionals in the rapidly growing area of Latino studies — potential future 

Smithsonian employees — thereby ensuring a reasonable return on 

investment; and 

o increase the number of Latino curators and content experts in other 

Smithsonian museums, research centers, and service units. 

The increase will help create an infrastructure and mechanism for enabling a 

lasting Latino presence at the Smithsonian, thereby ensuring that the Latino 

experience and contributions to science, history, art, music and society, 

historically and in contemporary expressions, are comprehensively researched, 

presented, celebrated and preserved for current and future generations. 

 Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool (+$400,000) 

This budget increase provides resources to establish an Asian Pacific American 

Initiatives Pool to provide annual funding for Smithsonian programs that explore 

and share the contributions of Asian Pacific Americans to the American 

experience. Pool funds will support research, exhibitions, educational programs, 
194

collections, digital and media projects, and partnerships with local and regional 

cultural organizations. Projects would be selected on a competitive basis from 

proposals that demonstrate effective deployment of the pool funds, coordination 

with other Smithsonian resources, and successful external fund raising from the 

private sector. 

 Unit-Based Collections Care and Preservation (+$700,000) 

The National Zoological Park (NZP) is requesting an increase to support the 

Zoo’s medical team, primarily in the Pathology unit, and to ensure the health, 

safety, and welfare of the living collection. The requested funds would support 

pathology staffing to maintain animal care standards at NZP, continue the 

NZP’s board-certified veterinary residency program, and raise the standard of 

animal care. 

These additional funds will allow diseases and medical issues to be 

diagnosed more quickly. This will ensure the appropriate treatment of sick 

animals, thereby preventing an epidemic from taking hold in the collection. 

Additional details are provided in the NZP section of this budget submission. 
195

OFFICE OF EXHIBITS CENTRAL 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 28 2,950 6 198 0 83 0 11

FY 2015 

ENACTED 28 2,974 5 307 1 111 0 0

FY 2016

REQUEST 28 3,037 13 799 0 0 0 0

STRATEGIC GOALS: BROADENING ACCESS AND MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/ FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

Program Category FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Broadening Access

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 24 2,534 24 2,580 0 46

Mission Enabling

Management Operations

Ensure that the Smithsonian workforce is 

efficient, collaborative, committed, innovative, 

and diverse

4 440 4 457 0 17

Total 28 2,974 28 3,037 0 63

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT 

The mission of the Office of Exhibits Central (OEC) is to be a full-service 

design, editing, and production shop supporting Smithsonian public exhibitions; 

serving units within the Smithsonian that have no design, editing or production 

capabilities; providing the entire Smithsonian exhibition community with specialized 

skills and equipment; and supporting resource-sharing among units.

To achieve the strategic goal of Broadening Access, the OEC will continue to 

focus on its core mission of designing and producing exhibitions for the Institution. 

Clients with limited or no design or production capabilities can use the OEC for full 

exhibition services, including design, editing, graphics production, cabinetry, model 

making, and crating. The OEC fosters collaboration among units by providing 

consultations, especially in the early stages of exhibition planning. With their broad 

array of skills, the OEC team of experts can network across the entire Smithsonian, 

resulting in more compelling exhibits that connect the American people to their history 

and cultural and scientific heritages. For clients who need specialized services, the 

OEC will continue to develop its expertise in computer-controlled production and 
196

automated modeling technologies, such as 3D scanning and printing. In addition, the 

OEC will provide opportunities for Smithsonian colleagues to take advantage of its 

state-of-the-art facility, allowing trained staff to work with its specialized equipment. 

The OEC’s Object Storage Facility (OSF) offers secure, climate-controlled storage for 

artifacts during production. As part of its work to advance the strategic goal of 

Broadening Access to Smithsonian collections, the OEC will continue supporting 

exhibitions in the S. Dillon Ripley Center concourse, as well as in the Commons, 

Schermer, and Great Hall galleries in the Smithsonian Castle. 

The budget request includes an increase of $63,000 for necessary pay and 

other related salary costs for existing staff funded under this line item. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

As the Institution’s most comprehensive producer of exhibits, the OEC is 

dedicated to providing its Smithsonian clients with first-class exhibition design, editing, 

production, and installation services. Each year, the OEC designs and produces 

approximately 100 projects, large and small, for almost every office and museum in 

the Smithsonian. 

In FY 2016, most OEC resources will stay focused on achieving the strategic 

goals of Broadening Access and Mission Enabling by improving the quality of 

exhibition design and production at the Smithsonian. This will be done by: 

 improving the quality of exhibition design, consultation, production, and

installation services;

 increasing and maintaining staff knowledge and expertise in state-of-the-art

technology, techniques, and advances in the exhibition field, and upgrading

equipment to support emerging trends;

 cross-training staff within the OEC to share their expertise and maximize

efficiencies;

 providing demonstrations of new exhibition design technologies to Smithsonian

units; and

 playing a lead role in promoting exhibition excellence, unit sharing of resources,

and advancement of exhibitions as an interpretive medium throughout the

Smithsonian Institution.

The OEC will accomplish these objectives by focusing exclusively on exhibitrelated work, freeing up OEC staff with specialized experience to concentrate on the 

OEC’s core mission: the design and production of exhibits. Building on wellestablished, collaborative relationships with other Smithsonian design and production 

units, the OEC will continue to play a strong role in sharing its expertise with other 

Smithsonian units. These initiatives should result in a more informed and expert staff 

that can do more to promote collaboration in the museum community and make the 

Smithsonian a leader in the exhibition field. 
197

MUSEUM SUPPORT CENTER 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 18 1,836 0 0 0 0 0 0

FY 2015

ENACTED 18 1,848 0 0 0 0 0 0

FY 2016

REQUEST 18 1,884 0 0 0 0 0 0

STRATEGIC GOAL: STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national 

collections

18 1,848 18 1,884 0 36

Total 18 1,848 18 1,884 0 36

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The Museum Support Center (MSC) is the Smithsonian’s principal off-site 

collections preservation and research facility. Located in Suitland, Maryland, this 

facility houses more than 55 million objects, or 40 percent of the Institution’s 

irreplaceable national collections, primarily from the National Museum of Natural 

History (NMNH). Other Smithsonian museums that use MSC are the National 

Museum of American History, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the 

Freer and Sackler Galleries, the National Museum of African Art, the National 

Postal Museum, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, and the 

National Zoological Park. 

Pod 3 (collection storage facility) of the MSC, which was recently 

renovated, was awarded LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental 

Design) Silver certification. The MSC accommodates collections in a variety of 

state-of-the-art equipment: collections in cabinets; mobile shelving for biological 

specimens preserved in alcohol; meteorites in nitrogen atmosphere, and tissues 

and film in mechanical and nitrogen-vapor freezers; high-bay storage for very 
198

large objects such as totem poles, boats, and large mounted mammals; and 

large mobile racks for storing art. 

The facility also houses laboratories for molecular systematics, 

conservation, and other specialized research. The MSC supports contracted 

maintenance services and required calibration for much of the specialty 

collections preservation and laboratory equipment, such as environmental 

chambers, freezers, nitrogen systems, reverse osmosis water systems, and 

oxygen detection systems. The MSC staff provides disaster response and 

management services, including a hazardous response team; construction 

coordination and logistics support; safety and pest control; collections relocation; 

administrative, shipping and receiving services; and computer support services 

for administrative, research, and collections data management needs. 

The budget request includes an increase of $36,000 for necessary pay 

and other related salary costs for existing staff funded under this line item. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

To support the Smithsonian strategic goal of Strengthening Collections, 

the FY 2016 funding will be used to further enhance pest management, improve 

storage of hazardous collection materials, and assist museum staff in improving 

storage of collections at MSC. Staff will also continue working to recover from the 

earthquake of August 2011, taking necessary steps to allow contractors to repair 

structural damage, and stabilizing broken and unsecured collection objects to 

protect them and prevent future damage. 

In FY 2016, MSC staff will continue to support maintenance of the 

collections and the research equipment needed to protect staff and collections. In 

addition, the MSC will prepare for the multi-phased master plan renovations at 

the Center, which will improve and update support systems and laboratory 

spaces at the facility. Staff will also assist in the feasibility study for the addition 

of Pod 6 and necessary improvements to other Institution-wide collection 

facilities. 
199

MUSEUM CONSERVATION INSTITUTE 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR 

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 22 3,222 0 0 1 125 0 77

FY 2015

ENACTED 22 3,244 0 27 1 213 0 15

FY 2016

REQUEST 22 3,308 0 20 1 142 0 0

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

REVITALIZING EDUCATION; STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS; AND 

MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Engage in research and discovery 8 1,106 7 1,083 -1 -23

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web support 1 100 1 104 0 4

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 1 132 1 135 0 3

Revitalizing Education

Education

Engage and inspire diverse audiences 1 158 1 131 0 -27

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national 

collections

6 899 7 990 1 91

Mission Enabling

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is 

customer centered and results oriented

4 739 4 753 0 14

Modernize the Institution’s financial 

management and accounting operations

1 110 1 112 0 2

Total 22 3,244 22 3,308 0 64
200

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute (MCI), located in 

Suitland, Maryland, is the center for specialized technical collections research 

and conservation for all Smithsonian museums and collections. The MCI 

combines knowledge of materials and the history of technology with state-of-theart instrumentation and scientific techniques to provide technical research studies 

and interpretation of artistic, anthropological, biological, and historical objects. 

Through its Healthy Environments, Healthy Practices, Healthy Collections

initiative and participation in the Smithsonian’s Cultural Crisis Recovery Center, 

the MCI responds to the threats facing cultural heritage in multiple and complex 

ways, including by analyzing and consulting on preservation environments; 

developing less invasive and damaging storage, display, and conservation 

techniques; and by supporting U.S. agencies and the museum community in 

identifying illicitly trafficked cultural heritage artifacts and objects. 

The MCI, as the only Smithsonian resource for technical studies and 

scientific analyses for most of the Smithsonian’s collections, brings unique 

analytical capabilities to Smithsonian researchers, including a central mass 

spectroscopy instrument core and advanced technological capabilities. These 

services are available to Smithsonian units at no charge. In addition to requests 

for consultations from within the Smithsonian, the MCI responds to requests from 

affiliates and outside organizations, such as the White House, U.S. Congress, 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security — Immigration and Customs 

Enforcement, U.S. Department of State, and other federal, museum, and 

academic organizations. 

The budget request includes an increase of $64,000 for necessary pay 

and other related salary costs for existing staff funded under this line item.

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

To achieve the strategic goal of Excellent Research, the MCI will provide 

increased technical and research assistance to the museums and scientific 

research centers. The MCI will initiate, facilitate, and support collaborative 

research projects on biological isotopes and proteomics (i.e., the large-scale 

study of proteins; particularly, their structures and functions), nanoscale analysis 

of museum materials, modern museum and collection materials such as plastics, 

the mechanisms of degradation and biodeterioration, and historical and 

archaeological preservation and research technologies. The MCI will also use its 

website, publications, hosted symposia, presentations, invitation-only seminars, 

and lectures to disseminate the results of its research programs. 

The MCI’s technology transfer initiatives (digital and spectroscopic 

imaging, proteomics, modern materials, and biodeterioration) will cross all of the 

boundaries between Smithsonian units and support all of the Institution’s Grand 
201

Challenges and consortia. The MCI’s exploration of new technologies in 

spectroscopic imaging and proteomics will support the Grand Challenges of

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe through its signature project, Discovery 

Tools, and Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet through its 

signature project, BioGenomics, respectively. MCI’s exploration of materials 

science related to modern materials will support the Grand Challenge of 

Understanding the American Experience and its signature project on Living in the 

Anthropocene. Biodeterioration research will use technology from Understanding 

and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet to support the Grand Challenge of Valuing 

World Cultures. The MCI’s investigations of historical and archaeological 

materials and technologies will also support Valuing World Cultures and its 

signature project, Preservation of Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage. 

To achieve the strategic goal of Broadening Access, the MCI’s technical 

information office will continue serving the museum and cultural heritage 

management communities, museum studies students, and the public. The 

technical information office answers direct inquiries and distributes general 

guidelines in printed and electronic formats, handling more than 800 information 

requests annually. MCI’s website is being enhanced to increase the impact of the 

Institute’s research and outreach programs. In addition, the MCI is contributing to 

the Smithsonian’s initiative in digitization and new media by researching and

developing new digital imaging capabilities appropriate for Facebook, Twitter, 

YouTube, Flickr, blogs, mobile applications, and virtual reality in ways that use 

social media to broaden public access to collections, exhibitions, and outreach 

programs.

As part of this goal, the MCI is developing the Mecklenburg Materials 

Archive to house the valuable wood, fabric, and paint samples prepared and 

studied by Dr. Marion F. Mecklenburg, which he used to investigate the 

mechanical behavior of art materials. The resulting discoveries continue to have

a direct impact on the preventive and treatment efforts of collections 

professionals around the globe. The Archive will also provide researchers with 

access to the raw materials, such as custom-made paints, from which those 

samples were created; the equipment used during the course of Dr. 

Mecklenburg’s career; information to help researchers interested in building 

similar equipment; a library of notes; books; publications related to the 

environmental, lighting, and material mechanics research of Dr. Mecklenburg and 

his colleagues; correspondence related to the archived samples; the commercial 

production of art materials; and the application of engineering principles to the 

study of material behavior in artwork. 

The MCI will achieve the strategic goal of Revitalizing Education by 

continuing to promote career development for Smithsonian conservators and 

other collections care providers through Grand Challenge consortia participation, 

colloquia, symposia, and workshops, as well as distance-learning opportunities. 

The MCI, in collaboration with Smithsonian museums and affiliates, will offer 
202

public programs to present the results of MCI research, heighten awareness of 

the problems of preserving cultural heritage, and gain information about the 

nature and scope of problems that the Institute’s clients encounter. The MCI will 

also collaborate with Smithsonian museums and affiliates to offer media events, 

printed and Internet materials, presentations, workshops, and demonstrations to 

reach new audiences, especially those that will be targeted by the Institution’s 

newest museums. The MCI will continue to offer internships for students 

pursuing careers in conservation and conservation science. Through its 

partnership in Science and Engineering in Arts, Heritage, and Archaeology 

(SEAHA), housed at the University College London, the University of Oxford, and 

the University of Brighton, the MCI is supporting advanced training for museum 

professionals who want to learn new methods of digital documentation for 

cultural heritage collections and obtain new tools for evaluating museum storage 

environments. 

To achieve the strategic goal of Strengthening Collections, the MCI will

support Smithsonian museums and research centers in their efforts to care for 

the national collections and disseminate that information to the larger museum 

community and the public. The MCI will continue its study of the assessment and 

remediation of collection hazards. In addition, the MCI will focus on developing 

and using less invasive and damaging materials and procedures for collection 

conservation, reflecting the importance of incorporating energy-efficient and 

“green” materials and practices into the Institute’s work. The MCI will pursue 

collaborative conservation treatment projects with other Smithsonian units to

provide conservation guidance and art history technical consultations to the art 

and history museums for their more challenging and unique objects. Through 

continuing communication and interaction with museum conservators, the MCI 

will identify special training needs and research projects, and will develop

research and symposia to address the most urgent collections preservation 

needs, such as museum environments (involving light, temperature, and 

humidity), museum hazards (such as pests and pesticides), and collections 

storage.

The MCI’s umbrella theme, Healthy Environments, Healthy Practices, 

Healthy Collections, directly supports the Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan priorities 

in all four Grand Challenge areas, although its primary impact will be in 

Understanding the American Experience and Valuing World Cultures. 

To achieve the strategic goal of Mission Enabling, the MCI will use the 

Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan and its own strategic plan to properly allocate its 

budgetary and human resources, and to secure additional financial resources for 

its high-priority programs. Resource allocations will be tracked against 

performance metrics in each of the strategic areas, and against the needs and 

goals of the Smithsonian’s museums and research centers. The MCI will 

encourage staff to participate in budget-performance integration, succession 

management, and leadership development programs. In addition, the MCI will 
203

continue to implement and communicate efficient, rational, and creative 

operational and administrative practices which enable staff to advance the 

Smithsonian mission in a manner that reflects transparency and the 

Smithsonian’s status as a public trust. The MCI will maintain an efficient, 

collaborative, committed, innovative, and accountable workforce through 

leadership, development, evaluation, and support of staff and the recruitment, 

selection, and development of diverse, highly skilled employees. The MCI will 

promote diversity in all aspects of working with the Institution’s operations, 

employees, Fellows, interns, volunteers, and vendors. Finally, the MCI will 

continue to improve communications with internal and external stakeholders in 

both public and private sectors. 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — Annually, the MCI receives 

non-appropriated resources from gifts and endowments, grants and contracts, 

discretionary income, and business ventures. These sources provide funds for 

specific programs and projects in research, education, and outreach designated 

by the donor/sponsor and for general activities at the discretion of the director of 

the MCI. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation challenge grant provides a restricted 

endowment of $5 million, with an annual payout of approximately $250,000. The 

funds generated by the endowment will remain in the MCI budget for 

strengthening conservation science research. 
204

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION ARCHIVES 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 20 2,149 4 430 0 0 0 5

FY 2015

ENACTED 20 2,167 4 423 0 0 0 0

FY 2016

REQUEST 20 2,223 5 434 0 0 0 0

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS; AND MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research

Ensure the advancement of knowledge in the 

humanities

2 181 1 161 -1 -20

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web support 2 232 3 272 1 40

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 3 355 4 405 1 50

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national 

collections

10 1,000 9 978 -1 -22

Mission Enabling

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is 

customer centered and results oriented

3 399 3 407 0 8

Total 20 2,167 20 2,223 0 56

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The Smithsonian Institution Archives (SIA) serves as the institutional 

memory of a unique cultural organization. The history of the Smithsonian, in 

many ways, is the history of scientific enterprise in America, particularly in the 

19th century. SIA supports the Smithsonian community, scholars, and the public 

by acquiring, evaluating, and preserving the records of the Institution and related 
205

documentary materials, as well as by making them accessible online and on site. 

SIA manages the care, storage, packing, and retrieval services for most of the 

Institution’s records. The permanent records are safeguarded and preserved in 

leased facilities in Washington, DC and Iron Mountain in Boyers, Pennsylvania. 

Electronic records are supported on SIA-owned computer servers and at the 

Institution’s data center in Herndon, Virginia. In addition, SIA develops policies 

and provides guidance for managing and preserving the Institution’s vast archival 

collections, offers a range of reference, research, and record-keeping services, 

and creates products that promote understanding of the Smithsonian and its 

history and mission. 

The budget request includes an increase of $56,000 for necessary pay 

and other related salary costs for existing staff funded under this line item. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

In FY 2016, SIA will continue to focus on capturing, preserving, and 

providing access to research materials on Smithsonian history. SIA will continue 

to support the needs of thousands of researchers seeking information from the 

Archives; provide online access to ever more information from or about the 

holdings via its robust website; collaborate fully with Smithsonian units serving 

broad external audiences (such as The Smithsonian Associates and the 

Smithsonian Affiliations Program); set archival collections-management 

standards; and assist all Smithsonian units with the proper disposition of their 

records. 

SIA’s major challenge is to balance existing resources with the increased 

costs associated with archiving in a digital world. The costs of maintaining basic 

operations, such as acquiring up-to-date software, properly running servers, and 

renewing mass-Web-capture contracting services, have increased significantly 

over the years. As the Institution’s reach into this ever-expanding realm 

continues to grow, it is essential that the Archives be equipped with the 

necessary tools and technologies to continue capturing, preserving, and ensuring 

access to these digital materials, which are a vital part of the Institution’s 

continuing history. 

SIA is dedicated to improving the stewardship of the Smithsonian’s 

historical photographic collection that documents the visual history of the 

Institution. In 2015, SIA will re-house and relocate its nearly three million 

negatives and color transparencies from an aging cold storage vault located in 

the National Museum of American History to a newly built cold storage vault at 

the Pennsy Drive collections-storage facility in Landover, Maryland. The new 

vault will ensure the continued care and preservation of the Institution’s 

photographic collection. 
206

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds support SIA’s basic 

operational costs, such as office, archival, and conservation supplies; software 

licenses; and maintenance of high-end equipment. Trust funds also support the 

salaries and benefits of archivists and conservators, their work to manage and 

preserve the collections of the Institution, and their efforts to provide professional 

conservation expertise throughout the Smithsonian, to other institutions, and to the 

public. Additionally, general trust funds support SIA’s Web and new media 

outreach program that seeks to expand the awareness, use, and accessibility of 

SIA’s collections and resources. Greater knowledge about these collections and 

other resources will illuminate the Smithsonian’s catalytic role in American history, 

world cultures, scientific research, and the arts. 
207

SMITHSONIAN LIBRARIES 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR 

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED

86 10,337 10 1,695 4 1,073 0 0

FY 2015

ENACTED

86 10,399 10 1,694 7 1,023 0 0

FY 2016

REQUEST

86 10,748 10 1,713 7 1,074 0 0

STRATEGIC GOALS: EXCELLENT RESEARCH; BROADENING ACCESS; 

STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS; AND MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Excellent Research

Research 

Engage in research and discovery 19 2,871 19 2,995 0 124

Ensure the advancement of knowledge in the 

humanities 

21 2,650 21 2,743 0 93

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web support 9 980 9 987 0 7

Public Programs

Provide reference services and information 0 62 0 62 0 0

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 1 62 1 62 0 0

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national 

collections

27 2,470 27 2,524 0 54

Mission Enabling

Management Operations

Ensure that the Smithsonian workforce is 

efficient, collaborative, committed, innovative, 

and diverse

1 84 1 84 0 0

Strengthen an institutional culture that is 

customer centered and results oriented

8 1,220 8 1,291 0 71

Total 86 10,399 86 10,748 0 349
208

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The Smithsonian Libraries (SIL) promotes new ideas through knowledge 

sharing and plays a dynamic role in advancing scientific and cultural 

understanding and preserving America’s heritage. Its expert staff and extensive 

collections are a crucial resource for research and education communities at the 

Smithsonian, within the United States, and around the world. 

The budget request includes an increase of $349,000. The increase 

includes $199,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for existing 

staff funded under this line item, and an increase of $150,000 for inflationary 

increases in library subscriptions. Both of the above increases are included in the 

Fixed Costs section of this budget submission. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

Smithsonian Libraries’ strategic plan, Focus on Service: Advancing 

Knowledge at Home and Around the World, demonstrates the Libraries’ 

dedication to providing information and creating innovative services and 

programs for the Institution and general public. SIL offers a variety of information 

resources, unique collections, and discovery tools to improve research 

productivity in support of the four Grand Challenges and Smithsonian Strategic 

Plan goals. In FY 2016, SIL will continue to broaden interactive engagement with 

users — through continuing experimentation, projects that include digital 

transcription of manuscripts, and Web-based communities — thereby making SIL 

collections and other Web content available for use by scholars, students, 

teachers, researchers, and interested users worldwide. SIL will continue to 

expand its use of social media by making more information available on mobile 

and tablet devices and by using blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and other 

emerging social media tools to promote services and broaden access to 

collections. 

SIL will achieve the strategic goal of Broadening Access by offering more 

useful collections information on networked resources. Initiatives include 

implementing Web-based management tools for electronic collections and 

resources management and continuing to add new information to the 

Smithsonian Institution Research and Information System (SIRIS). For example,

through the Smithsonian Collections Search Center, SIL provides access to 

research collections covering more than 460,000 pieces of trade literature and 

commercial catalogues, representing more than 27,000 manufacturers, 

corporations, and companies. The Collections Search Center also provides 

access to at least 2,400 National Postal Museum (NPM) design files; now, when 

searching for the stamp “$2.40 Raising the Flag on Lunar Surface, July 20, 1969

Design Files,” one will see the history of that specific design in the NPM library as 

well as the stamp in the Museum. In addition, SIL provides metadata guidance 
209

and incorporates, as appropriate, emerging national metadata standards on an 

Institution-wide basis for SIL and Smithsonian digital publications and products. 

SIL collaborates with other Smithsonian units and external organizations 

in many ways. The Libraries creates and publishes digital research products to 

give scholars the documentation they need for their research in all fields. These 

products include republication of significant out-of-print books and articles, 

original diaries and manuscripts, collections of archival literature, illustrations, 

topical exhibitions, and bibliographic guides and databases. With private funding, 

SIL hosts the Secretariat for the Biodiversity Heritage Library, an international 

project to improve the research process by digitizing and making easily available 

the literature of biodiversity, involving partners in the United States, United 

Kingdom, China, Egypt, the European Union, Australia, Brazil, Singapore, subSaharan Africa, and Mexico. SIL supports these efforts by continuing to digitize 

its own biodiversity literature to contribute to this global digital library. In FY 2016, 

SIL will increase digitization projects in history, arts, and culture as part of the 

Smithsonian Libraries initiative — the Cultural Heritage Library. As a new 

member of the Consortium for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine, 

SIL contributed all of the rare/special collections records for the Consortium’s 

search hub. This project combines the holdings of many specialized libraries into 

a powerful research tool in the history of science and related fields. 

In addition, SIL partners with the Smithsonian Scholarly Press to produce 

the electronic SI Contributions series and other publications, including 

conference proceedings, and also hosts and maintains the Scholarly Press’s 

website. SIL constantly expands and maintains the Smithsonian Research Online 

(SRO) database (http://research.si.edu/), which is made up of the Smithsonian 

Digital Repository (SDR) and the Smithsonian Research Bibliography (SRB), to 

preserve and provide permanent access to the published results of the 

Institution’s scholarly research. Data from the SRO are used as Smithsonian key 

performance indicators. As part of its collaborative operations, SIL will continue 

working with the Institution’s art and history museums to expand the content of 

the SRO system, with the goal of eventually providing a complete record of 

Smithsonian research productivity. Furthermore, to achieve better control over 

Smithsonian authors, researchers, and scientists, SIL is implementing a beta 

version of Smithsonian Profiles to trace additional work related to Smithsonian 

scholarly output. 

SIL continues to provide scholarly, often rare, material in both print and 

digital forms. This involves acquiring, preserving, cataloguing, and managing 

print and digital collections, with particular attention to Smithsonian research 

centers and areas of interdisciplinary research. The staff of SIL’s Book 

Conservation Laboratory preserve and stabilize damaged volumes to ensure 

their availability for exhibition and future research. Through the Libraries’ expert 

interlibrary lending service, SIL also provides information directly to individual 
210

researchers and members of the public in every state and many foreign 

countries. 

As a resource for learners everywhere, SIL responds to staff and on-site 

visitor needs by redesigning facilities to retain tightly focused, local collections 

integrated with collaborative, congenial spaces, while relieving overcrowded 

libraries by providing environmentally sound off-site shelving and housing at the 

Pennsy Drive facility in suburban Maryland. 

In FY 2016, renovations will continue in the libraries at the National 

Museum of American History (NMAH). At the same time, SIL is working with the 

National Museum of African American History and Culture to plan for its library 

space needs before that Museum’s anticipated opening date in 2016. 

By helping to advance the strategic goal of Excellent Research, the SIL 

Resident Scholar Program builds collaborative partnerships worldwide with 

scholarly programs and individuals who find the Libraries’ collections vital to their 

research. An active internship program amplifies work experiences for emerging 

Library science professionals and exposes them to the research library 

environment. 

Also, in FY 2016, SIL will provide programming to augment Reading 

Color: Paging Through Our Spectrum, taking visitors on a marvelous journey 

through the colors we see every day, in an entirely new way, using the 

collections of the Smithsonian Libraries — from dye books to paint catalogues, 

and from colorblind tests to camouflage. All of the Libraries’ exhibitions have an 

online component to reach a larger audience and allow staff to keep the 

exhibitions updated for future learning. In FY 2015, the Libraries will open 

Fantastic Worlds: Science and Fiction, 1780 – 1810 in its NMAH public gallery. 

The exhibition looks at the intersection of science and fiction, as well as 

innovation and invention. 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds help defray the 

costs of providing information services to Smithsonian units and support 

publications, public programs, and fundraising efforts. In FY 2016, SIL will 

continue its efforts to raise funds through the Smithsonian’s comprehensive 

national fundraising campaign. In addition, the Libraries will emphasize education 

in established priorities: acquisitions, conservation, digitization, internships and 

Fellowships, and exhibitions. 
211

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 93 47,856 18 3,329 0 411 0 0

FY 2015

ENACTED 93 48,929 18 3,425 0 0 0 0

FY 2016

REQUEST 93 53,395 18 3,425 0 0 0 0

STRATEGIC GOALS: BROADENING ACCESS AND MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web support 9 3,415 9 5,215 0 1,800

Mission Enabling

Information Technology

Modernize the Institution’s information 

technology systems and infrastructure

84 45,514 84 48,180 0 2,666

Total 93 48,929 93 53,395 0 4,466

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT 

The Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) provides vision, leadership, policy, 

and oversight associated with managing and operating information technology (IT) for the 

Institution’s many museums and research centers. 

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $4,466,000. The increase 

includes $376,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for existing staff funded 

under this line item; $2,290,000 for increased communication costs, which is further 

explained in the Fixed Costs section of this budget submission; and $1,800,000 in 

programmatic increases for digitization. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY

The OCIO will use best practices in the management and operations of 

information technology to enhance the “increase and diffusion of knowledge” and 

achieve the Institution’s goals of Broadening Access and Mission Enabling. The 
212

following strategies are cross-cutting and central to the Smithsonian’s mission of 

connecting Americans to their history and heritage, as well as to promoting innovation, 

research, and discovery in science: 

 Use state-of-the-art, secure information systems to modernize financial, human 

resources, facilities management, collections, education, and research processes 

 Replace network equipment, servers, desktop computers, and scientific workstations 

on an industry best practice life cycle to increase reliability and improve the security 

of information systems and the data that they contain 

 Leverage commercially available technology to enhance existing IT systems at the 

Smithsonian so that they will increase public access to and use of digital surrogates 

of collection objects and research data; and implement an Institution-wide 

Digitization Strategic Plan that addresses the creation, management, and use of 

these digital assets 

 Maintain the Institution’s telecommunications infrastructure to provide reliable, 

secure, and cost-effective voice and data communications systems that support 

Smithsonian missions 

 Meet federal requirements for providing timely and accurate financial information 

 Improve the Institution’s ability to integrate financial and performance management 

systems as part of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) effort. 

Digitization Assessment and Planning 

 The Digitization Program Office (DPO) leads the implementation of the first-ever 

Institution-wide digitization strategic plan. The DPO has implemented a framework of 

digitization policies; made assessments to account for the state and progress of 

digitization; and set Institution-wide digitization priorities to guide resource allocation 

and planning. The FY 2012 Digitization Assessment showed that the Smithsonian 

needs to create 17 million digital inventory records and 53 million digital images for its 

museum, archival, and library collections holdings to successfully digitize high-priority 

collections. Executing on Smithsonian Directive (SD) 610, Digitization and Digital Asset 

Management Policy, Smithsonian units have articulated their implementation of 

Institution-wide priorities in unit digitization plans (UDPs) and created foundational 

digital asset management plans (DAMPs) to ensure that the Smithsonian can effectively 

manage the digital content created as part of digitization activities as well as for 

scientific studies. 

The DPO has strategically invested in rapid digitization prototype projects which 

showcase a replicable, cost-effective, high-throughput, high-quality process for 

addressing the Smithsonian digitization challenge. Open-house prototypes visited by 

more than 200 staff and senior management leaders have established a model that can 

be scaled up to capture entire collections as additional funding becomes available. In 

addition, the launch of the Smithsonian X 3D pilot project has established the 

Smithsonian as an international leader in 3D digitization of museum collections. The 

effort provides compelling evidence that 3D data enhances the effectiveness of 

curators, educators, scientists, and conservators in fulfilling the Smithsonian’s mission, 
213

and has captured the imagination of educators, learners, and policy makers around the 

nation by providing access to 3D printable data of priceless collection objects. 

This budget request supports strategic and cost-effective digitization by building 

on the proven track record of the successful rapid capture prototypes and the 

Smithsonian X 3D pilot project. The new rapid capture workflows and techniques will 

become the foundation for executing on UDP priorities, thereby increasing the quality 

and quantity of digital records and images at specific collecting units and supporting 

Smithsonian units in their continued implementation of SD 610. 

EXPLANATION OF CHANGE 

The FY 2016 budget request includes an increase of $4,466,000. The increase 

includes $376,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for existing staff 

funded under this line item; $2,290,000 for increased communications costs; and 

$1,800,000 for programmatic increases for the digitization program. The pay and other 

related salary costs and communications increase requests are justified in the Fixed 

Costs section of this budget submission. 

The programmatic summary of $1,800,000 for the requested budget increase is 

described in greater detail below: 

 (+$1,200,000) — to continue implementing cost-efficient models for digitizing

Smithsonian collections. The requested funding increase will unlock economies

of scale, implement capture workflows and methodologies which can be

leveraged across units, and target digitization of collections which are crucial to

broader Smithsonian strategic objectives. These basic techniques ensure the

maximum return on investment for Smithsonian digitization funding.

 (+$200,000) — to expand the number of collections under digital inventory

control. Creating adequate digital records for collections is essential to

appropriately manage collections, as well as provide public access to them. The

requested increase will upgrade existing stub records and create standardized

new records.

 (+$300,000) — to enhance the Institution’s capacity for applying 3D technology

to collections digitization. This increase builds on the significant progress the

Smithsonian has made in this area through high-profile public/private

partnerships, and ensures a basis for leveraging future fund raising.

 (+$100,000) — to support a platform that helps units create DAMPs and

minimizes the burden on Smithsonian units in implementing the SD 610 mandate

to prioritize collections objects to be digitized.

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds support salaries and 

benefits costs of personnel and other related costs of the OCIO. 
214

ADMINISTRATION 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 185 34,185 201 36,557 5 2,959 0 379

FY 2015

ENACTED 181 34,067 200 35,741 7 2,484 3 902

FY 2016

REQUEST 182 34,977 213 37,722 7 2,453 4 1,005

STRATEGIC GOALS: BROADENING ACCESS; REVITALIZING EDUCATION; 

STRENGTHENING COLLECTIONS; AND MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Broadening Access

Digitization and Web Support

Provide improved digitization and Web support 1 139 1 144 0 5

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 1 120 1 122 0 2

Revitalizing Education

Education

Engage and inspire diverse audiences 3 236 3 295 0 59

Strengthening Collections

Collections

Improve the stewardship of the national 

collections

2 275 2 311 0 36

Mission Enabling

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is 

customer centered and results oriented

41 7,181 41 7,382 0 201

Ensure that the Smithsonian workforce is 

efficient, collaborative, committed, innovative, 

and diverse

57 10,933 58 11,273 1 340

Modernize the Institution’s financial 

management and accounting operations

45 9,361 45 9,527 0 166

Modernize and streamline the Institution’s 

acquisitions management operations

31 5,822 31 5,923 0 101

Total 181 34,067 182 34,977 1 910
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BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The Smithsonian Institution Administration program provides vision, 

leadership, policy, and oversight associated with managing and operating the 

Institution’s museums and research centers. Administration includes executive 

leadership provided by the offices of the Secretary; the Under Secretary for 

Science; the Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture; the Under Secretary 

for Finance and Administration/Chief Financial Officer; the Assistant Secretary for 

Education and Access; and the Deputy Under Secretary for Collections and 

Interdisciplinary Support. Administration also includes the central activities of 

human resources, diversity, financial and contract management, and legal 

services. 

The budget request includes a net increase of $910,000 and 1 FTE. This 

request includes: 

 +$669,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for existing

staff funded under this line item, which are justified in the Fixed Costs

section of this budget submission;

 +$36,000 for Workers’ Compensation, which is justified in the Fixed Costs

section;

 +$50,000 for the Project SEARCH program, which is justified in the Fixed

Costs section; and

 +$155,000 and 1 FTE in program increases to implement a regular and

comprehensive audit process for identifying barriers to Equal Employment

Opportunity (EEO) hiring and promotion.

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

The Smithsonian will use best practices in management to enhance its 

mission of the “increase and diffusion of knowledge” and to achieve the 

Institution’s goals while translating James Smithson’s 19th century vision into a 

modern 21st century reality. The following strategies are cross-cutting and 

central to performing the Smithsonian’s mission and also help promote 

innovation, research, and discovery: 

 Ensure the financial strength of the Smithsonian and provide the Institution

with effective and efficient financial, contracting, and management support

services, including reliable financial evaluation, auditing, and reporting.

 Provide oversight of the Smithsonian budget process as it is developed and

executed to support the operating and facilities capital programs of the

Institution, establish and enforce budgetary policies and procedures, and

ensure that sufficient resources enable the Institution to achieve its goals and

objectives.
216

 Provide leadership and guidance for Institution-wide collections initiatives,

policies, and programs to ensure the proper stewardship of the national

collections.

 Support the Institution’s Board of Regents and its committees.

 Develop and implement necessary internal controls as recommended by the

Board of Regents’ Governance Committee, which involves strengthening noncollections property management and meeting increased demands for

acquisition of goods and services.

 Provide legal counsel to the Institution on various issues, including museum

administration, intellectual property, collections management, contracts,

employment, ethics, conflicts of interest, and requests for information.

 Manage human resources, foster diversity, hire a skilled workforce in a timely

manner, and align human capital with the Institution’s goals and performance

objectives. Conduct ongoing workforce and performance gap analyses,

strengthen training policies, develop succession planning, and evaluate and

improve assessment tools for human resources performance.

 Provide leadership and oversight for all policies, programs, and activities of

the Institution’s museums and research centers by attracting, recruiting, and

retaining leaders with superior talent.

 Increase the Latino Center’s public and educational outreach at the

Smithsonian and affiliated institutions by developing exhibitions and programs

on Latino culture, history, art, and scientific achievement; supporting Latino

research, collections, exhibitions, and related projects at various Smithsonian

museums and research centers; promoting the leadership development of

Latino youth and the professional development of emerging Latino scholars

and museum professionals; and continuing innovation in new media such as

the Latino Virtual Museum, social media, mobile applications, educational

games, and other strategies that use rapidly growing and accessible

technologies and permit expanded delivery of programs and services to

increasingly diverse audiences.

 Support the Smithsonian’s commitment to teaching Americans about their rich

heritage by increasing the capacity and resources of the Asian Pacific American

Center (APAC) to produce exhibitions and programs on Asian Pacific American

history, art and culture; continue innovative online initiatives that provide

educational, programmatic, and outreach materials nationwide; and form national

partnerships with museums and research centers that enrich the Smithsonian’s

collections, research, and activities relating to Asian Pacific America.

 Establish and maintain partnerships with the various Administration agencies

and initiatives related to under-represented groups, such as Asian Americans

and Pacific Islanders, Hispanic Serving Institutions, Historically Black

Colleges and Universities, the American Association of University Women,

and Tribal Colleges and Universities, and perform the necessary public

outreach to enhance the Smithsonian presence in these communities.
217

 Coordinate efforts among the Secretary’s executive diversity committee,

Office of Human Resources, and Office of Equal Employment and Minority

Affairs to ensure compliance with federal Equal Employment Opportunity

Commission mandates, promote the Smithsonian’s Equal Employment

Opportunity (EEO) and workforce diversity policies, and advocate for the use

of small and disadvantaged businesses throughout Smithsonian operations.

EXPLANATION OF CHANGE 

The Administration budget request includes a net increase of 1 FTE and

$910,000, which includes $669,000 for necessary pay and other related salary 

costs for existing staff funded under this line item, an increase of $36,000 for the 

Workers’ Compensation bill for FY 2016, and an increase of $50,000 for the 

Project SEARCH program. These amounts are justified in the Fixed Costs 

section of this budget submission. 

The programmatic summary of 1 FTE and $155,000 for the requested 

budget increase is described as follows: 

Diversity (+$155,000, +1 FTE)

Diversity is one of the expressed values in the Smithsonian Strategic Plan. 

This increase for the Office of Equal Employment and Minority Affairs is requested to 

hire one affirmative employment specialist to conduct regular and comprehensive 

audits of Smithsonian units to identify barriers to Equal Employment Opportunity 

(EEO), including in the Institution’s hiring and promotion practices. The specialist will 

also focus on retention and extension of term appointments; reviews of internal 

policies and practices regarding leave and telework, as well as display of EEO 

posters; and implementation of a comprehensive barrier analysis protocol that 

includes the presentation of findings, appropriate action, and reports. Taken 

together, all of these actions will significantly strengthen the Smithsonian’s 

commitment to ensuring a diverse workforce.

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds support salaries and 

benefits of personnel and other related costs. General trust funds are also used to 

support administrative activities, information dissemination, outreach, publications, 

and fund raising. Donor/sponsor-designated funds support costs related to programs 

and projects such as scientific research. For example, the Seward Johnson and 

Hunterdon endowment funds are used to improve basic support and strengthen 

important research efforts carried out at marine stations, and for pursuing scientific 

opportunities in oceanographic research. 
218

OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL 

STRATEGIC GOAL: MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/ FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

Program Category FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Mission Enabling

Management Operations

Strengthen an institutional culture that is 

customer centered and results oriented

24 3,416 24 3,476 0 60

Total 24 3,416 24 3,476 0 60

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, requires the Office of the 

Inspector General (OIG) to conduct and supervise audits and investigations relating 

to programs and operations of the Smithsonian Institution (SI) that are, in the 

judgment of the Inspector General, necessary or desirable. 

The OIG fulfills its mandate by engaging in audits of SI operations and 

programs, and by conducting administrative and criminal investigations. The OIG’s 

audits include annually required reports, such as the quality assurance review of the 

Smithsonian’s annual financial statement audits and Federal Information Security 

Management Act (FISMA) reviews. The OIG also conducts audits and reviews as 

listed in its annual Audit Plan. 

The budget request includes an increase of $60,000 for necessary pay and 

other related salary costs for existing staff funded under this line item. 

The Inspector General Act also requires that the budget request detail the 

amount of funds requested by the OIG for staff training and to support the Council of 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR 

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014

ENACTED 24 3,392 0 15 0 0 0 0

FY 2015

ENACTED 24 3,416 0 0 0 0 0 0

FY 2016 

REQUEST 24 3,476 0 0 0 0 0 0
219

the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE). The OIG has requested 

$40,000 for training and to support CIGIE, which is funded in the base resources. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

The resources requested will be used to fund salaries, benefits, and support 

costs for staff engaged in audits, investigations, and other activities necessary to 

accomplish the OIG’s mission. To balance its oversight responsibility with available 

resources, the OIG selects mission-critical areas for evaluation that: 

 figure prominently in the Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan and annual

performance plans and reports;

 are the focus of congressional and executive branch attention;

 have high public interest or large dollar outlays; or

 have known performance or accountability risks.

The OIG’s annual Audit Plan includes three mandatory audits: (1) the annual 

audits of the Smithsonian’s financial statements, which the OIG oversees; (2) the 

assessment of the Smithsonian’s information security program under FISMA; and (3) 

an audit of the travel of the Regents, which is conducted at their request to fulfill a 

statutory requirement. In addition, the OIG audit staff conducts audits of collections 

care, animal care and safety at the National Zoological Park, the deferred 

maintenance program, and controls over purchase orders. 

The investigative staff conducts administrative and criminal investigations, 

resolves complaints, and proactively engages the SI staff to detect and prevent 

waste, fraud, and abuse. 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — The Office of the Inspector General does 

not receive any nonappropriated funds. 
220

FACILITIES MAINTENANCE

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014 

ENACTED 357 69,032 0 0 0 0 0 0

FY 2015

ENACTED 382 71,403 0 0 0 0 0 0

FY 2016

REQUEST 446 86,695 0 0 0 0 0 0

STRATEGIC GOAL: MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Mission Enabling

Facilities

Implement an aggressive and professional 

maintenance program

382 71,403 446 86,695 64 15,292

Total 382 71,403 446 86,695 64 15,292

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The mission of the Office of Facilities Engineering and Operations (OFEO) 

is to provide world-class services and stewardship by building, operating, 

maintaining, and ensuring a safe, secure, and healthy environment to enhance 

the Smithsonian experience for all visitors. More than 30 million people visit the 

Smithsonian annually. 

OFEO is responsible for the maintenance and repair of an infrastructure of 

approximately 12 million square feet of owned and leased buildings and 

structures, including 19 museums and galleries, nine research centers, and the 

National Zoological Park (NZP). The buildings and structures range from the 

well-known museums to supporting structures such as guard booths, animal 

shelters, and hay barns. Facilities Maintenance focuses on facility preservation 

activities and encompasses the upkeep of property and equipment. This work is 

necessary to realize the originally anticipated useful life of facility assets. 

 

As new and renovated museum spaces and major exhibitions open, 

maintenance requirements rise due to increased square footage, technological 
221

advances, and an increase in the number of systems supporting the 

Smithsonian’s infrastructure. For example, the renovation of the Elephant House 

at NZP resulted in a 30 percent increase in the number of assets requiring 

maintenance in that facility. 

OFEO has undertaken a number of initiatives to increase maintenance 

efficiencies, including a resource allocation study currently under way. OFEO

benchmarks its maintenance staffing levels with other museums and professional 

organizations, including the Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers 

(APPA), to ensure that resources are being effectively deployed. The Smithsonian 

is a past recipient of the prestigious Award of Excellence from APPA in recognition 

of the Institution’s excellence in facilities management and its efforts to establish 

measurable performance standards and staffing levels for maintenance and 

efficient operations. To build on these efforts, OFEO is exploring ways to more 

effectively identify and group requirements. The long-time, well-documented goal is 

to maintain Smithsonian facilities at APPA’s highest recommended Level 1 

standard for building maintenance, which is referred to as “Showpiece Facility.” 

 To do this, the National Research Council recommends an annual 

maintenance budget in the range of 2 to 4 percent of the physical plant’s 

aggregate current replacement value (CRV) to avoid adding to a deferred 

maintenance backlog. The CRV at the end of FY 2013, which does not yet include 

the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Mathias Lab or 

the Gamboa Lab, was $6.6 billion. These requirements have been validated 

through the Facility Condition Assessment process and Reliability Centered 

Maintenance (RCM) analysis. OFEO’s goal is to achieve a maintenance funding 

level of 2 to 4 percent of the CRV for the Institution’s facilities. 

The budget request includes an increase of 64 FTEs and $15,292,000. 

The increase includes $582,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs 

for existing staff funded under this line item, and a programmatic increase of 64

FTEs and $14,710,000. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

 

 To support the Institution’s goal of Mission Enabling, OFEO continues an 

aggressive, long-range facilities maintenance and minor repair program, using 

the RCM approach that includes benchmarking efforts with organizations such as 

the APPA. The RCM approach is a widely accepted maintenance industry 

philosophy that incorporates a cost-effective mix of predictive, proactive, 

preventive, and reactive maintenance practices. With existing resources, the 

Smithsonian will operate at the lower end of APPA’s maintenance Level 3 

“Managed Care” service, which provides a minimal level of preventive 

maintenance and building system reliability to ensure that proper conditions are 

maintained for collections and public expectations are met. 
222

 The Smithsonian’s goal is to reduce its maintenance backlog through the 

coordinated efforts and appropriate funding of its maintenance and facilities 

capital programs. Proper maintenance funding prevents the accelerated 

degradation of building systems and components that would increase the number 

and cost of major repairs. Through increased preventive maintenance and by 

addressing deficiencies in a timely manner, the Institution can realize the 

originally anticipated useful life of facilities systems and avoid the accelerated 

degradation of its infrastructure, and the associated costs, mentioned above. 

 OFEO will continue to identify efficiencies in managing its existing 

resources to improve its current level of maintenance service in the most costeffective manner possible. In addition, OFEO will continue to improve electronic 

security systems and physical security measures which provide protection for the 

Institution’s facilities, collections, staff, visitors, and volunteers. 

EXPLANATION OF CHANGE 

The budget request includes an increase of 64 FTEs and $15,292,000. 

The increase includes $582,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs 

for existing staff funded under this line item, and a programmatic increase of 64 

FTEs and $14,710,000 to support high-priority maintenance requirements, 

provide security systems maintenance, and develop a maintenance program for 

the new National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). 

The specific increases are detailed as follows: 

 Facilities Maintenance (+$10,875,000, +40 FTEs) — The Smithsonian’s 

goal is to achieve APPA’s Level 1 “Showpiece Facility” service for all of its 

facilities. To move toward a solid Level 3 “Managed Care” service, the 

Smithsonian requests $10,875,000 and 40 FTEs to support maintenance of 

existing facilities and systems. The Institution’s facility footprint has increased 

by three million square feet during the past 14 years, which includes the 

addition of new systems. Moreover, replacement systems installed during 

building renovations are more sophisticated and complex. Increased funding 

is requested to attract additional skilled maintenance workers who can 

perform the more complex maintenance throughout the Institution’s facilities. 

The budget request includes funding for salaries and benefits of 17 utility 

systems repair operators, six electricians, four engineering technicians, three 

painters, two carpenters, two masons, two plumbers, two machinists, one 

pipefitter, and one maintenance project supervisor (+$3,031,000). The new 

staff will help improve the preventive maintenance program and slow the 

increase in the Smithsonian’s deferred maintenance, which, at the end of 

FY 2014, totaled $733 million. 

Also included is funding for contract support costs, including partial funding 

to support a roofing repair program, and for supplies and materials, and 
223

equipment (+$7,844,000). Collectively, the Institution’s roofs are in the worst 

condition of the eight building systems tracked by Facility Condition 

Assessments, which generate Facility Condition Index ratings. The overall 

rating for the Smithsonian’s four million square feet of roofs was 73.2 percent 

at the end of FY 2013. A rating under 90 percent is considered poor. The 

state of the roofs poses a risk to staff and visitor safety as well as the 

preservation of the national collections. The requested funding will begin to 

address the roofs in the greatest need of repair, which include those at the 

Udvar-Hazy Center, Natural History Museum, National Zoological Park 

(including the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute), the Smithsonian 

Tropical Research Institute, and Museum Support Center. The roofing repair 

program will also advance the Institution’s efforts to comply with federal 

initiatives on energy efficiency and sustainable buildings. 

 Support for NMAAHC (+$3,600,000, +24 FTEs) — The 400,000-squarefoot National Museum of African American History and Culture is slated to 

open in 2016. The Smithsonian requests $3.6 million and 24 FTEs to 

establish a maintenance program for the new Museum and to maintain 

systems as they come on line during construction. The budget request 

includes funding for salaries and benefits of 14 staff and to annualize 10 

positions appropriated in FY 2015. The new staff includes two utility systems 

repair operators, three engineering technicians, one painter, one pipefitter, 

one mason, one security system administrator, one electronics mechanic, 

one craft leader, one irrigation specialist, one door mechanic, and one

maintenance project supervisor ($2,637,000). Also included is funding for 

contractual support and for supplies and equipment ($963,000).

 Security Maintenance (+$235,000) — Security maintenance responsibilities 

have also increased as a result of the larger physical footprint of the 

Smithsonian, and an increase in the number and complexity of security 

systems. Accordingly, the Institution requests $235,000 to provide electronic 

security maintenance services to Smithsonian facilities. The request 

represents funding to move security maintenance from a predominantly 

reactive to a more balanced approach of preventive, reactive, and life-cycle 

improvement maintenance activities. The requested funds will help provide 

equipment, material, supplies and contract services for the life-cycle 

replacement of antiquated security systems, equipment and infrastructure, 

barrier and bollard systems, and anti-terrorism mitigation. 

The requested funds provide the maintenance coverage required to keep 

facility systems fully functioning. Through diligent maintenance of facilities and 

systems, the Smithsonian can prolong the operational life of the equipment while 

maintaining reliable output to protect the national collections. Additionally, proper 

maintenance reduces the potential for unplanned equipment shutdowns which 

have a negative impact on visitors, staff, and collections — including the possible 

closure of exhibits, galleries, or entire facilities. 
224

FACILITIES OPERATIONS, SECURITY, AND SUPPORT 

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES

FEDERAL 

APPROPRIATIONS

GENERAL 

TRUST

DONOR/SPONSOR

DESIGNATED

GOV’T GRANTS

& CONTRACTS

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

FY 2014 

ENACTED 1,357 185,401 14 1,350 4 335 0 0

FY 2015

ENACTED 1,476 197,879 15 2,184 4 371 0 0

FY 2016

REQUEST 1,591 214,429 15 2,200 4 380 0 0

STRATEGIC GOALS: BROADENING ACCESS AND MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/

Program Category

FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

FTE $000 FTE $000 FTE $000

Broadening Access

Exhibitions

Offer compelling, first-class exhibitions 4 460 4 460 0 0

Mission Enabling

Facilities

Improve the overall cleanliness and efficient 

operation of Smithsonian facilities

700 126,744 768 137,124 68 7,859

Security and Safety

Provide world-class protection for Smithsonian 

facilities, collections, staff, visitors, and 

volunteers

732 64,635 779 70,745 47 6,110

Provide a safe and healthy environment 40 6,040 40 6,100 0 60

Total 1,476 197,879 1,591 214,429 115 16,550

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The mission of the Office of Facilities Engineering and Operations (OFEO) 

is to provide world-class services and stewardship by building, operating, 

maintaining, and ensuring a safe, secure, and healthy environment to enhance 

the Smithsonian experience for all visitors. The Smithsonian receives more than 

30 million visits annually. 

The Facilities Operations, Security, and Support (OSS) program within 

OFEO operates, secures, and supports the Smithsonian’s physical infrastructure 

in partnership with Smithsonian program staff. OFEO provides operational 

security and support services for approximately 12 million square feet of owned 
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and leased facilities, including 19 museums and galleries, nine research centers, 

and the National Zoological Park. 

Resources within OSS support facilities operations, including activities 

such as custodial work; fire protection; building system operations; grounds care 

and landscaping; snow removal; pest control; refuse collection and disposal; fleet 

operations and maintenance; security services; and safety, environmental, and 

health services. Resources also support facilities planning, architectural and 

engineering design, as well as postage, utilities, and central rent costs. 

The budget request includes an increase of 115 FTEs and $16,550,000. 

The increase includes $1,329,000 for necessary pay and other related salary 

costs for existing staff funded under this line item, and $2,521,000 for utilities, 

postage, and rent, all of which are justified in the Fixed Costs section of this 

budget. The request also includes programmatic increases of 115 FTEs and 

$12,700,000 to address high-priority operating, safety, and security 

requirements. 

MEANS AND STRATEGY 

OFEO will achieve the Institution’s strategic goal of Broadening Access by

continuing to develop exhibits and public programs for horticulture, architectural 

history, and historic preservation. 

To achieve the Institution’s strategic goal of Mission Enabling, OFEO’s 

base resources will focus on meeting the growing operational requirements of the 

Institution’s facilities. OFEO will continue its efforts to efficiently use its resources 

to operate and secure facilities and grounds, and to provide safe, attractive, and 

appealing spaces to meet program needs and public expectations. In addition, 

OFEO will continue benchmarking the Institution’s custodial staffing and service 

levels with other museums and professional organizations, including the 

Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers (APPA). As a past recipient of 

the prestigious APPA Award of Excellence, OFEO is committed to measuring 

performance and staffing levels to ensure that the highest affordable levels of 

appearance and cleanliness, as well as efficient operations, are maintained. 

The Institution is committed to achieving APPA’s appearance Level 2 (out 

of 5) cleaning standard, referred to as “Ordinary Tidiness.” This level of 

appearance will provide an acceptable level of cleanliness that meets public 

expectations. With current resources, on average, OFEO achieves appearance 

Level 3, “Casual Inattention.” This level of appearance will ensure a generally 

clean and odorless environment. 

 Just as OFEO is committed to providing the highest levels of facility care, 

it is equally committed to providing the highest levels of security. OFEO will 

continue to provide protection for the Smithsonian’s facilities, collections, staff, 
226

visitors, and volunteers, while also permitting an appropriate level of access to 

the national collections. The Institution will continue to focus on security 

measures required to address any identified risks. 

 OFEO continues its commitment to ensure that Smithsonian employees 

have a safe and healthy workplace by creating a culture that embraces and 

promotes zero injuries; provides professional services promoting a culture of 

health and wellness; and ensures that all Smithsonian facilities comply with 

environmental regulations and best practices. 

EXPLANATION OF CHANGE 

 The budget request includes programmatic increases of 115 FTEs and 

$12,700,000 to address high-priority operating, safety, and security 

requirements. The increase will fund high-priority needs, including funding to 

annualize support for facilities and security operations for the new National 

Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). The request will 

also provide additional support for facilities operations, security and disaster 

preparedness as follows: 

 Facilities Operations (+$3,700,000, +33 FTEs) — The Smithsonian’s 

ultimate goal of achieving APPA’s Level 2 “Ordinary Tidiness” standard will 

require an increase over the current investment. The Institution requests 

$3,700,000 and 33 FTEs to augment existing staffing and funding shortfalls in 

facilities operations. The requested funds will allow the Smithsonian to make 

significant progress towards the goal. The Smithsonian’s operations and 

physical footprint has grown in recent years, creating additional, unfunded 

requirements. The budget request will fund the pay and benefits of 24 building 

service workers, three service leaders, three service supervisors, two 

biological technicians, and a horticulturalist (+$1,765,000). The request 

includes funding for contract support costs and the purchase of supplies, 

materials, and equipment (+$1,935,000).

 National Museum of African American History and Culture (+$6,900,000, 

+80 FTEs) — The 400,000-square-foot National Museum of African American 

History and Culture is slated to open in 2016. The Smithsonian requests 

$6,900,000 and 80 FTEs to establish facility operations and security 

programs for the new Museum. The addition of a national museum creates a 

significant responsibility. The NMAAHC will be a major museum with high 

traffic and major security responsibilities. The budget request represents l 

funding to support the pay and benefits of seven building service workers and 

to annualize 73 positions appropriated in FY 2015 that are crucial to the 

museum’s operations (+$5,700,000). Additionally, the request includes 

funding for contractual support, and the purchase of supplies and materials 

(+$1,200,000). 
227

 Other Security Requirements (+$2,100,000, +2 FTEs) — As the footprint of 

the Smithsonian Institution has increased, and as facilities are revitalized, the 

security and law-enforcement needs have also increased. Generally, the new 

construction, revitalization, and leased acquisitions have not resulted in 

increased security resources, which have led to challenges in executing the 

security base budget. In addition, an internal control risk management 

assessment recently revealed that the Smithsonian’s disaster management 

program requires additional disaster management specialists. Therefore, the 

Institution requests $2,100,000 and 2 FTEs to address this requirement. The 

budget request will fund the pay and benefits of a disaster management 

specialist and a management support specialist (+$165,000), and provide 

funding to address the required security positions (+$1,935,000). 

NONAPPROPRIATED RESOURCES — General trust funds support salaries 

and benefits, and other related costs. Donor/sponsor-designated funds cover 

costs related to Smithsonian programs, such as horticulture operations, and 

architectural history and historic preservation projects. 
228 
229

FACILITIES CAPITAL 

FY 2014 Enacted $158,000,000

FY 2015 Enacted $144,198,000

FY 2016 Request $200,000,000

STRATEGIC GOAL: MISSION ENABLING 

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective and Program Category 

Performance Objective/ FY 2015 FY 2016 Change

Program Category FTEs $000 FTEs $000 FTEs $000

Mission Enabling

Facilities

Execute an aggressive, longrange revitalization program 

and limited construction of new 

facilities 

48 136,698 48 183,150 0 46,452

Security and Safety

Provide world-class protection 

for Smithsonian facilities, 

collections, staff, visitors, and 

volunteers

0 3,850 0 5,250 0 1,400

Provide a safe and healthy 

environment

0 3,650 0 11,600 0 7,950

Total 48 144,198 48 200,000 0 55,802

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The Facilities Capital Program underpins the Smithsonian’s mission and 

represents an investment in the long-term interest of the nation. It is intended to 

provide modern facilities that satisfy public programming needs and facilitate 

world-renowned research efforts. 

In the Facilities Capital Program, revitalization involves making major repairs 

or replacing declining or failed infrastructure to address the problems of advanced 

deterioration. Once completed, these projects will enable the Smithsonian to avoid 

the failures in building systems that can create hazardous conditions for visitors and 

staff, harm animals, damage collections, and cause the loss of scientific data. 

The Institution uses the National Research Council (NRC) Facility Condition 

Assessments (FCAs) to calculate a Facilities Condition Index (FCI) rating. The FCA 

is the industry standard for the analysis of the condition of a facility or group of 

facilities that may vary in terms of age, design, construction methods, and materials. 

The FCI is calculated by dividing the total assessment scores of the eight building 

systems (roofs, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, conveyance — elevators and 
230

escalators, interior, exterior, and structure) by the Current Replacement Value (CRV) 

of the facilities. The current overall FCI rating for Smithsonian facilities is 89.1 

percent, which is considered “poor.” The NRC’s recommended goal is to have a 

rating equal to or greater than 95 percent. To achieve that standard, the Smithsonian 

requests $200 million for its Facilities Capital Program. 

Funding for facilities’ routine maintenance and minor repairs is included in 

the Institution’s Salaries and Expenses request. These resources are applied to 

realize the intended design life and full economic value of Smithsonian facilities 

and to protect the Institution’s investment in revitalization. 

EXPLANATION OF CHANGE 

The Institution requests $200,000,000 and 48 FTEs for the Facilities 

Capital Program in FY 2016. Major renovation efforts will continue at the National 

Zoological Park and other priority areas, including revitalizing the National 

Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of American History. This 

request also provides funding for pre-construction activities in preparation for the 

building systems and envelope renovation project at the National Air and Space 

Museum; to begin renovation of the Museum Support Center (MSC) labs; and to 

begin planning for construction of Pod 6 at MSC. Other priorities include funding 

to complete rebuilding Contees’ Wharf Road at the Smithsonian Environmental 

Research Center; renovation of the Freer Gallery humidification system; 

replacement of the cooling plant at the National Museum of American Indian — 

New York; and mitigation of safety and security issues throughout the Institution. 
231

The chart that follows summarizes the Institution’s full request for the highest 

priority FY 2016 projects. 

Federal Federal Trust* Congress Trust*

Received Trust* Received Estimate Request Estimate

$Millions

REVITALIZATION 

Major Projects

Anacostia Museum

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum 4.6

Freer Gallery of Art 6.0 4.0

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden 4.4

National Air and Space Museum 1.0 10.8

NASM Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center 1.8

National Museum of American History 24.2 26.0 18.5 15.0

National Museum of the American Indian 3.4 2.5 5.4

National Museum of Natural History 17.7 10.0 22.9 10.0 23.0 10.0

National Postal Museum

National Zoological Park 15.0 2.7 15.8 2.5 29.6 6.0

Quadrangle: NMAA, Sackler Gallery, Ripley Center

Renwick Gallery 8.0 7.0 7.5 7.5

DWR Center for American Art and Portraiture

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center 2.0 5.9

Smithsonian Institution Building (Castle)

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute 1.6 1.7 0.8

Collections Space & Support Program (Multiple Locations) 2.1 4.7 2.5 2.4 18.4

Multiple Site Projects and General Capital Support 22.2 26.8 20.0

Facilities Planning and Design 13.8 22.6 55.4

SUBTOTAL 103.0 55.4 109.6 40.9 200.0 16.8

National Museum of African American History & Culture 55.0 29.2 24.0

Anacostia - Gallery/Office Expansion 0.3 3.0

Collections Space & Support Program (Multiple Locations)

National Air and Space Museum

National Zoological Park 4.5

SAO 0.5 29.0

SERC − Master Plan Facilities 5.5 2.0

SUBTOTAL 55.0 35.0 24.0 2.5 0.0 36.5

EMERGENCY REPAIRS

Museum Support Center & National Air and Space Museum 10.6

TOTAL PROGRAM 158.0 144.2 200.0

CONSTRUCTION

FY 2015 FY 2016

CATEGORY

FY 2014

FY 2014 − FY 2016

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

Facilities Capital Program Summary
232

SUMMARY TABLES 

REVITALIZATION 

Investment in revitalization projects provides for the replacement of failing or 

failed major building systems and equipment, and for major renovation projects to 

preserve the buildings. It primarily includes the exterior envelope, HVAC, electrical, 

and other utility systems at the buildings. Projects also entail modifications to ensure 

compliance with life-safety regulations, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 

and other code compliance, restoration of historic features, and modernization of the 

buildings to support current program requirements and to sustain the viability of the 

Institution’s physical plant. Items listed on the Multiple Locations line are projects 

that cover multiple museums or where the total cost of the museum projects is less 

than $1.0 million. These projects usually involve capital repair or replacement of 

individual systems or components. 

Facility Project $000

National Museum of Natural History Revitalize Public and Non-Public Spaces 23,000 

National Zoological Park Upgrade Fire Suppression, Life-Safety, and 

Infrastructure Systems 

Renovate Police Station

Renew Bird House

20,590

7,000

2,000

National Museum of American History Roof Repair Projects

Processing & Permanent Collections Space 

Replace Fifth-Floor Windows/Blast Mitigation

Replace North/South Entrance Doors

6,600

4,500

3,000

900

National Air and Space Museum Major Capital Renewal

Construct Chiller Plant Upgrades (Udvar-Hazy)

10,850

1,800

National Museum of the American 

Indian 

Replace Cooling Plant (NY)

Mitigate Exterior Stone Algae and Mold

Upgrade Emergency Generator/Switchgear

Upgrade Storm Water Control Systems (NY)

2,500

1,300

900

650
233

Facility Project $000

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design

Museum

Replace Mansion Chillers

Restore Entrance Canopy & Conservatory

Replace Fire/Smoke Dampers 

2,000

1,850

750

Freer-Sackler Gallery of Art Replace Humidification System

Restore Building Exterior

3,000

1,000

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture 

Garden 

Correct Conservation Lab Code Deficiencies

Improve Collection Storage Fire Suppression

Improve Exterior Components

Improve Vertical Transportation 

1,300

1,200

1,000

950

Museum Support Center Renovate Labs 1–4 & Collections Care Lab 1

Earthquake Damage Repairs

10,700

6,000

SI Environmental Research Center Rebuild/Realign Contees’ Wharf Road

Improve Java Farm Road

Stabilize Mansion Ruins

3,300

1,600

1,000

Suitland Collections Facility Collections Storage Swing Space

Replace Sprinklers Valves/Heads 

Upgrade Smoke Detectors and Fire Alarms 

400

750

600

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Tupper Building Repairs 

Tupper Building and Site Improvements 

900

750

Multiple Locations Building Projects less than $1,000,000 12,950

Construction Supervision Administration 7,000

TOTAL, REVITALIZATION PROJECTS $144,590

FACILITIES PLANNING AND DESIGN $55,410

FY 2016 TOTAL REQUEST $200,000
234

REVITALIZATION PROJECTS 

Major Projects: 

PROJECT TITLE: Revitalize Public and Non-Public Spaces 

INSTALLATION: National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) 

LOCATION: Washington, DC 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): 

Continue HVAC/Utility System Replacement and $23,000 

Building Renovation 

PRIOR-YEAR FUNDING: $296,354 

FUTURE-YEAR FUNDING: 

Ongoing HVAC Replacement and Code Improvements $216,300* 

Total $535,654 

* Does not include funding in Planning and Design account to complete future design of revitalization projects.

BUILDING BACKGROUND: 

The NMNH building opened to the public in 1910. The East and West Wings 

were added in the early 1960s. Two infill buildings were constructed in the original 

building’s East and West courtyards in the late 1990s. The gross interior square footage 

of the building is approximately 1.5 million square feet. The building includes 300,000 

square feet of public museum space, with collections, laboratory, office, and building 

service spaces filling the remainder. NMNH is one of the most visited museums in the 

world and hosted more than seven million visitors in FY 2014. 

PROJECT JUSTIFICATION: 

The building’s mechanical and electrical systems were installed in the early 

1960s. At more than 50 years of age, they are in need of major replacement. 

Breakdowns of the mechanical systems are frequent, repair parts are often difficult to 

find, and the system does not provide the environmental air quality necessary for 

visitors or collections. The reliability of the electrical system is compromised by the 

deteriorated condition of the building’s three main electrical switchgears, and the 

antiquated distribution system poses a safety hazard. In addition, main stairwells and 

auditorium exit corridors are dark, violating building codes, and are insufficiently served 

by smoke-evacuation fans. Asbestos-laden pipes in the utility tunnels are a potential 

health hazard and hamper proper maintenance and response to utility failures. In 

addition, the windows in the original portion of the building have deteriorated and do not 

comply with current security standards. 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

Based on the master implementation plan completed in 1987, and revised in 

2006, the Institution is slowly completing a comprehensive renovation program in the 

NMNH building, which will replace the HVAC equipment, ductwork, electrical equipment 

and wiring, piping systems, and windows of the main building. Asbestos and lead will be 
235

abated or encapsulated; the fire-protection, communications, alarm, and emergency 

power systems will be upgraded; and storm-water systems and a hazardous-chemical 

control facility will be installed. 

The Institution requests $23.0 million in FY 2016 to continue the renovation. 

Specific work will include the continuation of several construction projects: renovation of 

Halls 2–6 ($18.0 million); replacement of the East and West Wing roofs ($2.5 million); 

replacement of the main building windows ($2.0 million); and attic structure 

improvements above Hall 2 ($0.5 million). 

PROGRESS TO DATE: 

Recent projects completed include the East Wing ground floor HVAC system 

renovation (Phase 1), which is the staging area for deinstallation of the Paleontology 

exhibit in Halls 2–6. The HVAC system renovations of the southeast main building 

ground floor, a two-year project, which includes replacing 13 ground-floor monumental 

windows and utility components such as switchgears and transformers that serve the 

entire building, was started this year. Design work for the replacement of East and West 

Wing roofs will be complete in summer 2015. Design for the renovation of Halls 2–6 is 

nearing completion; the construction contract will be awarded in the summer of 2015. 

The master plan provides the basis for prioritizing future infrastructure renovations so 

that the NMNH building can continue to serve the public. 

IMPACT OF DELAY: 

If funding is delayed, building systems will continue to deteriorate and 

environmental conditions required for the Museum’s collections and the visiting public 

cannot be maintained. In addition, the Museum’s exhibit re-installation program would 

not proceed according to the planned schedule, causing the continued closure of 

several important exhibition areas to the public, including the popular Dinosaur Halls.
236

PROJECT TITLE: Upgrade Life-Safety and Infrastructure Systems 

INSTALLATION: National Zoological Park (NZP), Rock Creek and Front Royal

LOCATIONS: Washington, DC and Front Royal, Virginia

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $20,590 

PRIOR-YEAR FUNDING: $44,800 

FUTURE-YEAR FUNDING: $26,160 

Total $91,550 

PROJECT JUSTIFICATION:

Much of NZP’s current utility, safety, and fire-protection infrastructure is obsolete and 

failing, and does not meet the needs of the National Zoo to protect and support the safety of 

animals, staff, and visitors. Correcting deficiencies in water and electrical service mains and 

distribution is crucial to provide critical fire-suppression systems in many of the unprotected 

areas of the Zoo, and to supply adequate water for the animals’ welfare. 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The Smithsonian requests $20.59 million in FY 2016 to upgrade critical fireprotection and life-safety systems, and improve visitor safety and animal containment 

systems at both the Rock Creek Park and Front Royal, Virginia facilities. This includes 

upgrading utility, water, sewage, and storm-water management, as well as the power

distribution system and security infrastructure; correcting structural deficiencies; and 

installing smoke-evacuation equipment in areas where animals are kept. 

PROGRESS TO DATE: 

The 2008 NZP comprehensive facilities and utility master plans are used to 

coordinate work by directing implementation in priority order of critical infrastructure and 

safety projects. Through FY 2014, many critical infrastructure and fire-protection projects 

have been completed with federal funding. Projects include: replacement of the mediumvoltage electrical distribution system; replacement of the fire-protection water supply from 

the Adams Mill gate to the Great Ape House (phases 1 and 2 of the utility master plan); 

installation/replacement of fire hydrants; upgrades to fire-alarm, smoke-detection, and firesuppression systems throughout animal facilities; and upgrades to central fire alarmmonitoring system and fire protection for several facilities at NZP-Front Royal. Design 

continues for smoke-evacuation systems in animal facilities, and phased implementation of 

fire protection is under way for remaining Front Royal facilities. Fire protection improvements 

will be completed at the Front Royal Vet Hospital and Auditorium in early 2015. Phase two 

of the Front Royal central post utilities is under contract, with a scheduled March 2016 

completion date, and the Zoo will continue implementing utility master plans for both the 

Rock Creek and Front Royal facilities. Visitor safety improvements are complete at the 

Lions/Tigers exhibit. Design is complete for visitor safety improvements at the Ape House, 

with construction planned for FY 2015, to be followed by safety improvements for the 

Orangutans’ enclosure at Think Tank, and Giant Panda House. 

IMPACT OF DELAY: 

A delay in completing this work would endanger the animals, visitors, and staff, and 

would hamper the care, safety, and security of the live animal collections. 
237

PROJECT TITLE: Renovate Police Station 

INSTALLATION: National Zoological Park (NZP) 

LOCATION: Washington, DC 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $7,000 

BUILDING BACKGROUND: 

The Police Station, formerly called Police Building, opened to the public on 

March 15, 1956 to house the Zoo Police, gardener’s storage, and public restrooms. It 

was designed by the Department of Buildings and Grounds of the District of Columbia 

(1956 Annual Report, 35). The building is approximately 8,800 square feet, split evenly 

between two levels. The lower level is currently occupied by the NZP police offices, 

locker rooms, and police support spaces, and the NZP Health Unit. The upper level 

contains a small, public-facing police officer work room and visitor information counter, 

with the remainder of the floor being public restrooms and mechanical rooms. 

PROJECT JUSTIFICATION: 

The building infrastructure components, including electrical, HVAC, plumbing, 

life-safety, and security systems, have failed and/or are failing, and are beyond their 

anticipated life expectancy. In particular, the upper floor contains public restrooms, the 

only public restrooms in the lower half of the Zoo. The restrooms are outdated and 

insufficient for the millions of visitors the Zoo receives each year. The plumbing waste 

and vent pipes are severely deteriorated beyond the point of further maintenance repair 

and are in need of complete replacement due to constant sanitation leaks into the police 

offices, ready-room, locker rooms, and support rooms on the lower level. Additionally, 

the Zoo’s staff Health Unit is located on the lower level, and the leaks frequently disrupt 

and displace the operations of the Health Unit. The existing stair that connects the two 

levels is a non-code-compliant metal spiral stair. The project will allow relocation of the 

Zoo’s security control room back into the Police Station. 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The Smithsonian requests $7.0 million in FY 2016 to renovate and upgrade the 

building core, shell, and systems, and to provide revitalized space for police operations 

and the Health Unit, along with new public restroom facilities. Combined with a planned 

$1.0 million (private donation) project to raze and rebuild the adjacent, dilapidated Great 

Cats gift shop, these projects will facilitate a more efficient layout to meet the demand 

caused by increased public visitation and the larger police force. The Police Station 

renovation will include a new elevator and code-compliant egress stair to connect the 

two levels. The project requires continued, uninterrupted availability of public restrooms 

at the lower half of the Zoo, and uninterrupted Zoo Police and Health Unit services for 

the safety and health of the staff, volunteers, and the visiting public. Therefore, 

temporary swing space for these three critical Zoo operations is also part of this project. 
238

PROGRESS TO DATE: 

An architect/engineer (A/E) team has completed the programming and concept 

design. Design development will continue in FY 2015 so that a construction contract can 

be awarded during FY 2016. 

IMPACT OF DELAY: 

If funding is delayed, building systems will continue to fail beyond the point of 

maintainability, and the building will ultimately become unfit for human occupancy. This 

would result in a significant negative impact on critical operations and services, severely 

compromising the Zoo’s ability to provide basic restroom amenities, health and firstresponse services, safety, and security for visitors and staff.
239

PROJECT TITLE: Renew Bird House 

INSTALLATION: National Zoological Park (NZP) 

LOCATION: Washington, DC 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $2,000 

FUTURE-YEAR FUNDING: $38,200 

Total $40,200 

BUILDING BACKGROUND: 

The NZP’s Bird House was designed by architect Albert Harris and opened in 

1928, with an addition completed in 1938. In 1965, Daniel, Mann, Johnson, & 

Mendenhall renovated and modernized the Bird House by removing the roof, ornate 

entries, and elaborate brick decorative details, and replacing them with compromising 

simple concrete and glass. The flight cage was added and connected to the building, 

using a sleek, modern concrete bridge, in sharp contrast to the Harris design. In the 

1970s and beyond, the bird plateau site was outfitted with multiple exterior animal 

exhibits, holding facilities, ponds, boardwalks, and asphalt sidewalks. 

PROJECT JUSTIFICATION: 

With the exception of relatively recent upgrades to fire-suppression systems, the 

infrastructure is well beyond its expected lifespan and most of the equipment dates back 

to the 1970s. Animal containment systems are also outdated and in urgent need of new 

design and replacement. This project renews a 4.4-acre parcel, containing the Bird 

House and Great Flight Cage, with a new Marvelous Migrations exhibit that emphasizes 

the global importance of migration to species survival by using innovative conservationbased education. Using leveraged donor funds along with federal appropriations, facility 

improvements will include new site utilities, as well as total replacement of failed 

chillers, outdated HVAC equipment, obsolete storm and waste water management 

systems, and animal/human life-safety, electrical, plumbing, security and data systems. 

This project is consistent with the Zoo’s comprehensive facilities master plan (2008) and 

implementation strategy. 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

This phased project will renew and renovate the Bird House, Great Flight Cage, 

exterior bird yards, and surrounding landscape and paths. The Smithsonian requests 

$2.0 million in FY 2016 to create swing space to hold the animals in the current 

collection as part of the renewed Bird House and grounds, and for quarantine of new 

animals prior to reopening the Bird House. The project will renew the congressionally 

established Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center to provide a transformational visitor 

experience with the goal of creating and sharing knowledge to save wildlife and habitats 

across the globe. 
240

PROGRESS TO DATE: 

The project is currently in design. A consolidated concept was completed in 

May 2014. Design will be completed in 2015 to enable construction of temporary 

holding and swing space for the living collections during FY 2016. Renovation of the 

Bird House and Great Flight Cage will begin in FY 2017 immediately after the living 

collection is relocated into the swing space. 

IMPACT OF DELAY: 

If funding is delayed and the swing-space holding facilities are not ready to 

receive the living collections, the Bird House renovation planned to begin in FY 2017 will 

have to be postponed. Such a delay in renovating the Bird House and environs would 

place the living collection at risk as the facilities continue to deteriorate and the 

worsening conditions threaten the environment for birds, staff, and visitors. 
241

PROJECT TITLE: Roof Repair Projects 

INSTALLATION: National Museum of American History (NMAH) 

LOCATION: Washington, DC 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $6,600 

FUTURE-YEAR FUNDING: $2,700 

Total $9,300 

BUILDING BACKGROUND: 

Built in 1964, the National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring 

Center (NMAH) is one of the Smithsonian’s most visited museums. The NMAH building 

is rectangular in shape, with a series of terraces and roofs over levels one, four, and 

five, and the mechanical equipment penthouse. This modern classical building (752,000 

gross square feet) houses various exhibitions that explore America’s technological, 

scientific, cultural, and political history. The collections on display include the StarSpangled Banner that inspired Francis Scott Key, an exhibit on the gowns of the first 

ladies, and a new exhibition focused on the American presidency. Since its re-opening 

in 2008, the Museum’s yearly attendance has increased by two million since before its 

closure for the renovation of its central core areas. 

PROJECT JUSTIFICATION: 

In recent years, breaches in the building roof and terrace systems exposed 

valuable collections to water damage from leaks, and damaged stone terrace pavers 

created tripping hazards. In addition, the roof and terrace levels lack adequate 

fall-protection for maintenance staff and contractors, posing a life-safety risk, and the 

existing lighting and security cameras do not provide adequate coverage, thereby 

creating a security risk. 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The Smithsonian requests $6.6 million in FY 2016 for Phase 1 repairs and 

improvements to the first floor roof and second floor terrace to address leaks, improve 

drainage, and eliminate tripping hazards from broken terrace pavers. This will include 

work to raise expansion joints and repair or replace areas of roofing and stone terrace 

pavers, parapet walls and coping, including incidental repairs of the electrical service 

infrastructure. Work on this level is a priority because of existing tripping hazards from 

terrace pavers and the risk of water damage from roof leaks onto objects in exhibit 

areas below. Additional funds will be requested in later years for similar repairs on and 

improvements to the rest of the roof and terrace levels, as well as to add security 

cameras, fall protection, and lightning protection systems. 

PROGRESS TO DATE: 

In 2014, a study was completed, documenting the condition of roof, terrace, and 

drainage materials and systems, itemizing repairs and improvements needed for these 

systems, recommending fall-protection, lightning protection, additional security camera 

coverage, electrical service infrastructure repairs, and estimating the associated costs. 

With the funds requested, design will begin in FY 2015. 
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IMPACT OF DELAY: 

Should repairs to the roof and drainage system be delayed, the building will 

continue to experience numerous and increasingly frequent leaks during major rain and 

snow events, exposing valuable artifacts in exhibit areas to water damage. Delays in 

installing a fall-protection system and repairing roof terrace pavers will allow life-safety 

hazards to terrace occupants and maintenance contractors and staff to persist. Likewise, 

delays in improvements to the electrical infrastructure and additional security camera 

installation will leave the roof and terrace areas without adequate security coverage. In 

addition, delays to the lightning protection system upgrades will continue to put the 

building at risk for this type of damage. 

PROJECT TITLE: Processing and Permanent Collections Space 

INSTALLATION: National Museum of American History (NMAH) 

LOCATION: Washington, DC 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $4,500 

PROJECT JUSTIFICATION: 

The collections processing area on the lower level and a permanent collections 

storage space on the fifth floor are overcrowded, inefficient, and have inadequate and 

inconsistent storage equipment, making it difficult for the staff to store, manage and 

control collections to appropriate standards. 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The Smithsonian requests $4.5 million in FY 2016 to create additional space for 

collections within the building by renovating and installing appropriate equipment to 

increase storage capacity, improve circulation, and allow more efficient work flow. Six 

contiguous collections processing rooms (with a total of 3,130 square feet) on the lower 

level of the building and seven contiguous permanent collections storage rooms (with a 

total of 5,545 square feet) on the fifth floor will be renovated and fitted with appropriate 

storage equipment. 

PROGRESS TO DATE: 

An Institution-wide Collections Space Framework Plan, completed in 2014, 

included conceptual plans for improvements to these rooms as prototype designs for 

processing and permanent collections storage spaces within existing Smithsonian 

museum buildings. With the funding requested, design work for these renovations will 

begin in FY 2015. 

IMPACT OF DELAY: 

A delay in improving these spaces will subject the collections, as well as 

collections management staff, to substandard conditions for the storage and control of 

collections as they are received in the building and placed into these permanent storage 

spaces. Since the permanent collections storage space is already full, it will not be 

possible to store additional objects in these areas. 
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PROJECT TITLE: Replace Fifth Floor Windows — Blast Mitigation 

INSTALLATION: National Museum of American History (NMAH) 

LOCATION: Washington, DC 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $3,000 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The NMAH building fifth floor windows have been allowing rain water to penetrate 

into the interior of the building for more than a decade, resulting in water damage to 

interior finishes as well as mold growth. Furthermore, these windows do not comply with 

current Smithsonian security standards, which require that all buildings on the National 

Mall be equipped with blast-protection windows. This project will replace the aluminumframed glass windows and doors, reinforce blast protection, and eliminate leaks into the 

building interior. This project will also include repointing and caulking of the stone 

surrounding each window. 

PROJECT TITLE: Replace North and South Entrance Doors 

INSTALLATION: National Museum of American History (NMAH) 

LOCATION: Washington, DC 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $900 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The heavily used public entrance doors on the North (Constitution Avenue) and 

South (National Mall) sides of the NMAH building have experienced increasingly frequent 

failures in recent years, coming out of alignment and sometimes falling off of the hinges 

and therefore posing a public safety hazard. In addition, the frameless glass-panel design 

allows rain, snow, humidity, and extreme temperatures to penetrate the interior 

environment of the Museum. This project will replace the existing frameless glass doors 

and pivot hinges with metal-framed glass doors and heavy-duty hardware, and will include 

a design trial phase to ensure the durability and weather-tightness of the new design. 
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PROJECT TITLE: Revitalize Building Envelope and Infrastructure 

INSTALLATION: National Air and Space Museum (NASM) 

LOCATION: Washington, DC 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $10,850* 

FUTURE-YEAR FUNDING: TBD 

Total TBD 

* Does not include funding in Facilities Planning and Design.

BUILDING BACKGROUND: 

NASM was built in 1976 to memorialize the national development of aviation and 

space flight. The 516,688-square-foot building (including approximately 161,145 square 

feet of exhibit galleries) preserves and displays artifacts, aeronautical and space flight 

equipment, significant historical data, and related technologies. The exhibit galleries 

hold the largest collection of historic air and spacecraft in the world and, in recent years, 

the Museum has hosted an average of more than 7 million visitors annually. 

PROJECT JUSTIFICATION: 

The exterior Tennessee Pink Marble façade of the NASM building is a feature of 

the original construction and forms the primary exterior weather seal for the envelope on 

all surfaces other than at the roofs, terraces, skylights and window walls. The panels are 

porous, show signs of aging, and, in some cases, damage through visible cracks and 

warping, creating the possibility of structural failure. The current marble primary weather 

seal assembly does not provide a continuous vapor barrier across the entire façade and 

the R-value (measure of thermal resistance) is not consistent with current sustainable 

best practices and energy conservation. There is no secondary weather seal on the 

marble wall assembly, creating condensation and energy conservation problems. 

The building’s mechanical systems are original to the 1976 building and have 

exceeded their useful lifespans. The mechanical systems are further burdened by the 

condition of the exterior façade and condensation and moisture that the exterior 

envelope is allowing into the building. In addition, a program of improvements for 

restrooms, vertical transportation (elevators and escalators), and other interior 

infrastructure needs to continue.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The multi-year, multi-phase building systems and envelope renovation project will 

replace the building’s marble façade, improve the Museum’s blast and earthquake 

resistance, upgrade the energy efficiency of the exterior envelope, and replace the 

mechanical systems. A primary goal for the planned HVAC replacement portion of the 

project is to provide the collections area and all occupied spaces with appropriate 

temperature and humidity controls. In addition, interim revitalization of restrooms, 

vertical transportation, and other infrastructure improvements must continue to keep the 

Museum open to the public and staff. The Smithsonian requests $10.85 million in 

FY 2016: $850,000 to bring staff restrooms into code and accessibility compliance; and 

$10.0 million to fund pre-construction activities; i.e., swing space and artifact collection 
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moves and protection, and to continue preparation work for the future building systems 

and envelope renovation project. 

PROGRESS TO DATE: 

A final feasibility study for the building systems and envelope renovation was 

received in mid-December 2013. The recommendations and conclusions confirmed the 

need to replace the exterior stone, make seismic structural upgrades, replace the 

heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, and replace the outdated sprinkler fireprotection system. Design work began in June 2014 with the award of the concept/ 

schematic design contract. The estimated timeline for design is 30 months. The 

construction timeline will depend on whether the project is completed in a single phase 

or broken up into multiple phases. The budget, scope of work, and implementation 

schedule will be further refined as design work progresses. Design for the staff restroom 

project is 100 percent complete and ready for contracting. 

Due to the extremely poor condition of the exterior stone panels, the Smithsonian 

constructed a temporary covered walkway under the most vulnerable portions of the 

building. The covered walkway will remain in place until the façade replacement is done. 

IMPACT OF DELAY: 

If funding is delayed, NASM’s stone façade, exterior envelope, and building 

systems will continue to deteriorate, placing this iconic landmark on the National Mall, 

one of the world’s most visited museums, at risk of complete closure. A delay in renewal 

of the building envelope and environmental conditions will severely impair the 

Institution’s ability to maintain the safety and security of the Museum’s collections and 

the visiting public. 

PROJECT TITLE: Construct Chiller Plant Upgrades 

INSTALLATION: National Air and Space Museum (NASM, Udvar-Hazy Center) 

LOCATION: Chantilly, Virginia 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $1,800 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

Starting in 2012, with the completion of Udvar-Hazy Phase 2 and the tie-in to the 

Udvar-Hazy central utility plant (CUP), the chiller plant has struggled in the summer months 

to maintain the refrigeration load and building temperatures. This is caused by the lack of 

capacity of the cooling tower cells to support the chillers, along with a problematic gravity 

flow to the condenser water pumps and lack of cooling capacity at several air handling units 

(AHUs). This project will raise the cooling tower, add more cells to the cooling tower to 

increase capacity, and replace or retrofit the inefficient AHUs. A design contract has been 

awarded and is scheduled to be completed in late FY 2015. 
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PROJECT TITLE: Replace Cooling Plant 

INSTALLATION: National Museum of the American Indian, 

George Gustav Heye Center (NMAI-GGHC) 

LOCATION: New York, New York 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $2,500 

PRIOR-YEAR FUNDING: $2,500 

Total $5,000 

BUILDING BACKGROUND: 

The National Museum of the American Indian — New York, the George Gustav 

Heye Center, is located within the historic Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, 

designed by Cass Gilbert (1859–1934) and completed in 1907. Rich in architectural and 

historic significance, the Custom House is a National Historic Landmark. The Museum 

occupies 80,000 square feet of dedicated leased space in the basement, first, and 

second floors. 

PROJECT JUSTIFICATION: 

The Museum’s cooling plant is approximately 20 years old and uses R22 

refrigerant that must be phased out due to environmental concerns. Additionally, the 

cooling tower, chillers, and pumps routinely fail and outages of steam service from the 

municipal power company (such as during Super Storm Sandy in 2012) also threaten 

the reliable operation of the plant. The facility is in great need of a high-efficiency 

solution that provides for ease of maintenance, redundancy, environmental controls, 

and planned program expansion. 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

Replacement of the cooling plant will be phased, based on priorities established 

as part of the design development of the project. Anticipated phasing, in priority order, 

includes replacing the cooling towers, chillers, and pumps, and evaluating whether to 

replace piping and support elements. Electrical redundancies will also be evaluated to 

ensure continual operation in the event of primary service failure. 

PROGRESS TO DATE: 

A Logistics and Sustainability Workshop held in 2013 established preliminary 

priorities and phasing for the project. Construction will begin in FY 2015, with additional 

funding required in FY 2016 to complete the project. 

IMPACT OF DELAY: 

 If funding is delayed, building systems will continue to deteriorate and the 

environmental conditions required to protect the Museum’s collections and serve the 

visiting public cannot be maintained. Existing equipment and system components are at 

the end of their useful lives and will begin to fail at increasing rates, demand increasing 

maintenance staff time, and be more expensive to replace if this project is delayed. 

Additionally, leaking rooftop cooling plant units negatively affect Smithsonian 

agreements with GSA for proper maintenance of the dedicated systems. 
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PROJECT TITLE: Mitigate Stone Algae and Mold 

INSTALLATION: National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) 

LOCATION: Washington, DC 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $1,300 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

Due to construction methods and environmental conditions, blue-green algae has 

developed on areas of the Museum’s masonry façade. This effect appears to visitors as 

black mold and has negatively affected the Museum. Maintenance procedures for proper 

care and cleaning of the stone have been developed and have partially reduced the 

recurring algae growth and stone staining. This project will abate the staining and 

implement processes for periodic non-destructive interventions. 

PROJECT TITLE: Upgrade Emergency Generator/Switchgear 

INSTALLATION: National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI-CRC)

LOCATION: Suitland, Maryland 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $900 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

Several critical areas, such as the collections storage room, and major systems 

equipment are currently without backup power, and the existing generator does not 

have enough capacity for expansion. The switchgear, with outmoded buckets and large 

fuse racks, poses a potential safety risk if not placed properly. This project would 

upgrade both the generator and switchgear to meet current service levels and 

standards of redundancy. 

PROJECT TITLE: Upgrade Storm Water Control Systems (Disaster Preparedness) 

INSTALLATION: National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI-GGHC) 

LOCATION: New York, New York 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $650 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

Flooding during Super Storm Sandy revealed water protection deficiencies at the 

facility. Proactive measures are needed to prevent water infiltration into Smithsonian 

spaces. Design solutions, not yet complete, will be implemented to divert water to 

benign locations around or in the building. Options may include, but are not limited to, 

sumps, flood barriers, or retention areas, some of which may require coordination with 

the local government of the City of New York.
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PROJECT TITLE: Replace Mansion Chillers 

INSTALLATION: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (CHSDM)

LOCATION: New York, New York 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $2,000 

BUILDING BACKGROUND: 

The 64-room Carnegie Mansion, designed by the architectural firm of Babb, 

Cook & Willard, was built between 1899 and 1902. It was the first private residence in 

the United States to have a structural steel frame and one of the first in New York to 

have a residential Otis passenger elevator (now in the collection of the Smithsonian’s 

National Museum of American History). The Mansion was transferred to the 

Smithsonian in 1972 and the Museum opened there in 1976. 

PROJECT JUSTIFICATION: 

The two primary chillers are more than 18 years old and approaching the end of 

their useful service lives. Increased demands on these critical interior environmental 

system components, with the Museum’s 2014 reopening and expanded visitation, will 

accelerate the frequency of service calls and rate of component deterioration. The 

chillers and associated equipment need to be replaced and modernized to increase the 

reliability and efficiency of the HVAC system. 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The Smithsonian requests $2.0 million in FY 2016 to replace two primary chillers, 

two cooling towers, and associated pumps with new, energy-efficient equipment. 

PROGRESS TO DATE: 

Design has progressed to the 35 percent stage, and is scheduled to be 

completed in the summer of 2015. 

IMPACT OF DELAY: 

A delay in completing this project will result in continued degradation of HVAC 

system efficiency and reliability, thereby degrading the collections environment as well as 

increasing utility costs.
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PROJECT TITLE: Restore Entrance Canopy and Conservatory 

INSTALLATION: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (CHSDM) 

LOCATION: New York, New York 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $1,850 

FUTURE-YEAR FUNDING: $4,500 

Total $6,350 

BUILDING BACKGROUND: 

The 64-room Carnegie Mansion, designed by the architectural firm of Babb, 

Cook & Willard, was built between 1899 and 1902. It was the first private residence in 

the United States to have a structural steel frame and one of the first in New York to 

have a residential Otis passenger elevator (now in the collection of the Smithsonian’s 

National Museum of American History). The Mansion was transferred to the 

Smithsonian in 1972 and the Museum opened there in 1976. 

PROJECT JUSTIFICATION: 

The copper and leaded glass canopy (designed in the style of Louis Comfort 

Tiffany) at the front entrance to the building is an original element of the building. It was 

last restored in the mid-1970s and now many of the structural elements, fasteners, and 

drainage systems are failing. The Conservatory, another original building element, was 

most recently repaired in the mid-1990s. However, the acrylic dome element and 

laylight structures do not provide sufficient support, the ventilation system is inefficient 

and failing, and the drainage system does not perform properly. In order to protect 

against potential failure of the compromised ceiling laylight supports and attachments, 

the glass elements have been removed, salvaged, and stored. 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The Smithsonian requests $1.85 million in FY 2016 to begin repairs on the 

canopy and Conservatory. The project will completely repair and/or restore all historic 

glass metalwork elements of the canopy off site, repair exterior drainage structures, and 

replace existing lighting with new energy-efficient fixtures. The Conservatory work will 

restore all historic fabric, repair structural elements so that the laylights can be reinstalled, replace exterior acrylic panels with new glass, and upgrade environmental 

conditions to reduce condensation and improve gallery HVAC performance. 

PROGRESS TO DATE: 

Canopy design is substantially complete. A lighting mock-up will be reviewed in 

March of 2015. The Conservatory schematic design was completed in August of 2014. 

The contractor will prepare design-assist package in early 2015. 

IMPACT OF DELAY: 

A delay in performing this work will lead to continued deterioration and ultimate 

failure of the historic fabric contained in each of these structures. Environmental 

conditions in adjacent galleries will be negatively affected by substandard conditions in 

the Conservatory, limiting what can be displayed. The salvaged laylight, an integral part 
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of the historic Conservatory ceiling, will continue to be stored in crates off site, and 

visitors will continue to experience this unique, historic space in an unfinished, 

unrestored state. 

PROJECT TITLE: Replace Fire/Smoke Dampers 

INSTALLATION: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (CHSDM) 

LOCATION: New York, New York 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $750 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

Conversion of out-of-date pneumatic controls in the fire-protection system to digital 

controls requires upgrading the fire dampers as well as achieving life-safety code 

compliance. Some of the dampers were replaced during the recent Miller-Fox and 

Mansion renovation projects. The remainder of the fire/smoke dampers, in areas that were 

outside the scope of the recent renovations, will be replaced to integrate and 

comprehensively commission the entire system. 
251

PROJECT TITLE: Upgrade Freer Humidification System

INSTALLATION: Freer Gallery of Art (FGA) 

LOCATION: Washington, DC 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $3,000

PRIOR-YEAR FUNDING: $6,000 

Total $9,000

BUILDING BACKGROUND: 

The Freer Gallery of Art opened to the public in 1923 and was the Smithsonian’s 

first art museum. In 1990, the ground floor was completely renovated and the basement 

expanded to consolidate the collections storage. Constructed in granite and marble, the 

Gallery and its central courtyard are among the most peaceful and serene spaces in 

Washington, DC. 

PROJECT JUSTIFICATION: 

The existing steam reheat and humidification systems for the Freer Gallery are 

more than 25 years old and are nearing the end of their useful life expectancy. The 

systems are deteriorating in performance and reliability, creating conditions that 

compromise the environmental conditions necessary for the proper preservation of the 

priceless art collection. Failures of duct-mounted, steam-heating coils and humidifiers have 

resulted in periodic leaks above ceilings and loss of temperature and humidity control. All 

of the steam-heating coils and humidifiers and the associated steam and condensate 

piping must be replaced to re-establish long-term system reliability. 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

Installation of a new steam-to-steam generating system will produce “clean” steam 

for building humidification. A dedicated low-pressure steam system will extend from the 

steam generator to new humidifiers at air-handling units. Existing air-handling units will be 

replaced. The existing low-pressure steam piping and condensate-return piping will be 

replaced with a new hot water heating system, with electric reheat used in collections 

areas to reduce the risk of water damage, along with electrical upgrades to support the 

new equipment. The Smithsonian requests $3.0 million in FY 2016 to complete 

construction of the project. 

PROGRESS TO DATE: 

The construction contract has been awarded and work is anticipated to start in 

February of 2015. 

IMPACT OF DELAY: 

Without the funds requested, temporary repairs would continue to be applied to a 

humidification system that is more than 25 years old and increasingly unreliable. 

Although past repairs have kept the system minimally operational, it is imperative that the 

humidification system be upgraded to provide a stable indoor environment, which is 

critical for the preservation of the priceless Museum collections, the building, and the 

comfort of visitors and staff. 
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PROJECT TITLE: Restore Building Exterior 

INSTALLATION: Freer Gallery of Art (FGA) 

LOCATION: Washington, DC 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $1,000

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The stone exterior of the Freer Gallery requires cleaning, repointing, and limited 

repair to arrest active leaks around openings (e.g., doors and windows) and extend its 

performance into the building’s second century. 
253

PROJECT TITLE: Improve Exterior Envelope Components 

INSTALLATION: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (HMSG) 

LOCATION: Washington, DC 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $1,000 

FUTURE-YEAR FUNDING: $4,000 

Total $5,000 

BUILDING BACKGROUND: 

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Smithsonian’s Museum of 

contemporary art, opened to the public in 1974. The Museum building is a cylindrical 

shape raised 14 feet above the ground on massive concrete piers. The center of the 

concrete drum is a large oval courtyard, containing a large, shallow, bronze fountain. 

The featureless outer shell is contrasted by the walls of the inner courtyard, which are 

divided into equal, glazed cells, which light the interior sculpture galleries. The Museum 

building has four above-ground stories and a basement, which sits below the plaza that 

surrounds the building. 

PROJECT JUSTIFICATION: 

The building shell performs poorly with respect to moisture infiltration and thermal 

performance, with the problems increasing as the building ages. A comprehensive 

analysis of the building envelope will begin in FY 2015, but there is an immediate need 

to address active leaks and other vulnerabilities, including the roof and the shallow 

balcony on the Mall side of the building. 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The Smithsonian requests $1.0 million in FY 2016 to replace the paving, flashing, 

and glazed assemblies at the North balcony and begin replacing the building roof 

membrane and inadequate fall-protection systems. 

PROGRESS TO DATE: 

Detailed studies of the balcony repairs and fall-protection system improvements 

have been completed and will form the basis of final decisions about scope and design. 

IMPACT OF DELAY: 

Continuing leakage at the balcony endangers the building fabric and the 

collections, and makes public access to the balcony impossible. Inadequate fallprotection infrastructure poses a danger to staff and contractors who require access to 

the roof, windows, and perimeter walls. 
254

PROJECT TITLE: Correct Conservation Lab Code Deficiencies 

INSTALLATION: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (HMSG) 

LOCATION: Washington, DC 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $1,300 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The Lab’s lack of code-compliant exhaust of hazardous chemicals, used in limited 

quantities in the assessment, repair, and preservation of works of art in the Hirshhorn 

collection, limits the conservation staff’s ability to care for the collection. Separating the 

“clean” and “dirty” lab activities and providing appropriate means of ventilation will protect 

both the staff and the collection. 

PROJECT TITLE: Improve Fire Suppression in Collection Storage 

INSTALLATION: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (HMSG) 

LOCATION: Washington, DC 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $1,200 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The collection storage areas within the Hirshhorn Museum do not have a fireprotection sprinkler system. This project will install fire protection in those critical areas 

for the first time. 

PROJECT TITLE: Improve Vertical Transportation

INSTALLATION: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (HMSG) 

LOCATION: Washington, DC 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $950 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The elevators and escalators at the Museum are integral elements of the 

architecturally significant building design but are no longer adequate to serve current 

demands. Funding is requested for upgrades that, within the context of the facility’s 

master plan for development, will meet both code and aesthetic requirements.
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PROJECT TITLE: Renovate Labs 1–4 and Collections Care Lab 1 

INSTALLATION: Museum Support Center (MSC) 

LOCATION: Suitland, Maryland 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $10,700

FUTURE-YEAR FUNDING: $12,300 

Total $23,000 

BUILDING BACKGROUND: 

Designed and built in 1983, the modern, pre-cast concrete Center is a research, 

conservation, and collection storage facility providing optimum environments for the 

storage, preservation, and study of Smithsonian collections. The original 524,000-

square-foot facility has four large collection storage bays, referred to as pods, and an 

office-laboratory complex. The recently constructed 120,000-square-foot fifth pod 

provides code-compliant housing and laboratory space for natural history specimens 

stored in alcohol. 

PROJECT JUSTIFICATION: 

Since the facility’s initial construction in 1983, Labs 1–4 have been occupied by 

various departments and units of the Smithsonian, and in 2008 an additional lab and 

Pod 5 were adjoined to the original MSC building. Labs 1–4, consisting of 113,000 net 

square feet over two floors, have undergone a series of patchwork renovations over the 

last 25 years in response to a general shift from wet chemistry to dry instrumentation 

research. As a result, large portions of the facility have become disjointed, outdated and 

underused. Moreover, renovations to Pod 3 have brought new collections and 

associated staff from additional Smithsonian museums and National Museum of Natural 

History departments, putting further strain on MSC’s existing resources. The lab 

renovations will support the Institution-wide Collections Space Framework Plan and 

serve multiple units. 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The MSC Laboratory Wing 1–4 Programming and Space Planning Study, 

completed in 2009, established a framework for renovating the lab space at MSC in a 

logical sequence that fits in with the Center’s functional program and HVAC renewal 

strategy. The renovation of Collections Care Lab 1 is the first phase of what will 

eventually be the renovation of four labs over the next decade. The Smithsonian 

requests $10.7 million in FY 2016 to begin the first phase of the project. 

PROGRESS TO DATE: 

The MSC Laboratory Wing 1–4 Programming and Space Planning Study was 

completed in 2009. Swing space for Lab 1 occupants was completed in 2010. The final 

construction documents for the Lab 1 renovation are complete and ready for the 

contracting process. Design for Lab 2 is scheduled to begin in FY 2017. 
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IMPACT OF DELAY: 

Delaying this critical collections care initiative would prevent the Institution from 

responding effectively to a large backlog of collections space deficiencies, leaving 

valuable collections at risk. Former occupants of Lab 1 have already relocated to 

temporary swing space (which is inadequate for long-term use) in preparation for the 

renovation work. 

PROJECT TITLE: Earthquake Damage Repairs 

INSTALLATION: Museum Support Center (MSC) 

LOCATION: Suitland, Maryland 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $6,000

PRIOR-YEAR FUNDING (including funds for NASM): $10,600 

Total $16,600 

BACKGROUND: 

The earthquake of August 2011 damaged multiple Smithsonian buildings. Along 

with structural damage, various collections in each building were also damaged due to 

floor and wall movement. MSC and the National air and Space Museum (NASM) were 

especially hard hit by the earthquake, with either major building envelope breaches or 

structural damage. The MSC is the main collections storage location for many 

Smithsonian museums. Three of the five concrete reinforced collections pods, due to 

the method of constructing interior floors using steel structures, experienced large 

movements of structural steel footings and slippage of the main girders holding the 

roofs. Their current condition, although safe for present use, requires repairs and 

seismic upgrades to prevent future damage. NASM is the most visited Smithsonian 

museum and one of the most visited in the world. The damages to the building envelope 

have left it with many leaking skylights, wall connections, rain leaders, and façade joints. 

PROJECT JUSTIFICATION: 

At MSC, engineering surveys of the structure have demonstrated an immediate 

need for repairs that entail a seismic upgrade of the existing structure and roofing 

systems. Footings have been ripped from their anchors and roof beams slipped up to 

four inches away from their initial support seating. Although the structure performed as 

designed during the earthquake, with damages instead of failure, this movement has 

compromised the original seismic design criteria for the structure. This is similar to an 

automobile that protected its occupants during a crash, but then requires repairs to 

enable it to perform that function again. In addition, the structure must be upgraded so 

that, if another earthquake occurs, collections damages will be reduced. 

At NASM, the skylight system has sustained numerous leaking frames and 

connections which cannot be repaired without extensive construction support involving 

interior scaffolds, suspended work platforms, phasing, lighting and lifts. The multi-jointed 

stone façade and flat built-up roof of the building were jolted and twisted by the 

earthquake, resulting in cracks and openings for leakage of water and air. Maintenance 
257

crews continue to repair leaks when found, but the multiple major leaks can only be 

temporarily patched and continue to reopen. As a result, public, administrative, and 

collection areas must constantly be surveyed for water and water damage. 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The MSC repairs entail reseating the roof beams and interior structural floor 

systems of the pods, seismic upgrading for the connections of both the roof beams and 

the floor systems, to secure them to the main building structure, and repairs to sections of 

the roof and walls that were damaged or may have to be rebuilt during the repair work. 

The NASM scope of work consists of exterior façade restoration, repairs to 

damaged marble cladding, anchors, and clips, re-insulation and waterproofing of the 

cavity between the interior/exterior walls, roof repairs to corners, flashing, parapets, and 

coping, and repairs to the frames and associated connections in the skylight system. This 

effort will be coordinated with the Building Envelope and Revitalization project. 

For FY 2015, the Institution received $5.25 million for NASM and $5.35 million for 

MSC to perform this work. The Institution requests $6.0 million in FY 2016 to complete 

the MSC repairs and structural upgrades. 

PROGRESS TO DATE: 

Damage surveys, pre-project planning, and cost estimates have been completed to 

help assess the specific repairs and necessary seismic upgrades. This information was 

used to prepare design specifications in FY 2012. The Smithsonian redirected funds 

during FY 2012 to cover minor stabilization and design costs. The MSC earthquake 

damage repair design was completed in January of 2015. 

IMPACT OF DELAY: 

The MSC pods, although considered safe in their present state, have sustained 

structural damage and must be restored to current local seismic code criteria. Without 

this work, the structure may be even more severely damaged in a future earthquake, 

resulting in the catastrophic loss of national collections. 
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PROJECT TITLE: Realign and Rebuild Contees’ Wharf Road 

INSTALLATION: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) 

LOCATION: Edgewater, Maryland 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $3,300 

PRIOR-YEAR FUNDING: $2,000 

Total $5,300 

BACKGROUND: 

SERC conducts long-term research addressing such issues as global climate 

change, the effects of nutrients and chemicals passing through our landscapes, 

maintenance of productive fisheries, changes to our environment from invasive species, 

and protection of fragile wetlands and woodlands. SERC is situated on an 

approximately 2,650-acre site along Rhode River on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay. 

PROJECT JUSTIFICATION: 

Contees’ Wharf Road is the primary entry to SERC’s 2,600-acre campus in 

Edgewater, Maryland. This “road” is a one-mile-long, narrow, twisting, two-lane path made 

up of temporary asphalt bindings over dirt, which provides access to 300 vehicles per day, 

including those of SERC employees, visiting researchers, and delivery trucks ranging in 

size from pickups to 53-foot tractor-trailers. In addition, 12,000 school children visit SERC 

each year in large school buses, which must navigate this narrow road, competing with 

other traffic while traversing numerous blind turns and brows. Most significantly, Contees’ 

Wharf Road includes many steep slopes up to 15 feet deep and lacks shoulders and 

guardrails. This safety concern is highlighted by the fact that there are no drainage systems 

or storm-water management practices in place, which makes the road especially slippery 

and treacherous during rain, snow, and ice events. 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

This project involves widening and straightening the road, eliminating obstacles, 

creating sustainable storm-water management, eliminating dangerous adjacent slopes, 

creating “pull-off” passing zones, re-designing dangerous intersections, and using 

sustainable paving. The Smithsonian requests $3.3 million in FY 2016 to complete 

construction. 

PROGRESS TO DATE: 

Design for the first phase of work is 100 percent complete and has full Maryland 

Department of the Environment (MDE) approval, with construction expected to begin in 

March 2015. Design documents for the next phase are 95 percent complete and have 

preliminary approval from MDE. 

IMPACT OF DELAY: 

Continued deterioration of Contees’ Wharf Road would increase the risk to staff, 

visiting scientists, school children, and the public who must use the road to access 

SERC’s facilities. 
259

PROJECT TITLE: Improve Java Farm Road 

INSTALLATION: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) 

LOCATION: Edgewater, Maryland 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $1,600 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The Java Farm Road leads from the Contees’ Wharf Road directly to the Mathias 

Lab and Administration Building, and is deteriorating rapidly due to heavy usage by staff, 

the public, contractors, and visitors. Rebuilding this road will increase safety and save 

considerable maintenance funds in the future. The three-eighths-mile section is to be 

rebuilt, including sub-base, shoulders, storm-water management, and paving. 

PROJECT TITLE: Stabilize Mansion Ruins 

INSTALLATION: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) 

LOCATION: Edgewater, Maryland 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $1,000 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

An important cultural and historic landmark, the Contee Farm Mansion ruins are 

required to be stabilized as part of the purchase agreement for the Contee Farm in 

2007. The temporary stabilization done in 2008, designed to last five years, has since 

failed, leaving the structures totally unsupported. The design to permanently stabilize 

these structures is 100 percent complete and ready for construction award.
260

PROJECT TITLE: Construct Collections Storage Swing Space

INSTALLATION: Suitland Collections Facility 

LOCATION: Suitland, Maryland 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $400

PRIOR-YEAR FUNDING: $7,630 

FUTURE-YEAR FUNDING: $6,000 

Total $14,030

BACKGROUND: 

An exhaustive evaluation of the Smithsonian’s collections storage space has 

identified the Suitland Collections Facility, specifically the Garber collections storage site, 

as having almost half of the Smithsonian’s below acceptable collections space. Much of 

the more than 230,000 square feet of space is either not up to code requirements for 

structural support or is compromised by hazardous materials in and around the collections. 

PROJECT JUSTIFICATION: 

Buildings 15, 16, and 18 contain asbestos and/or lead, and the collections therein 

have been contaminated. Encapsulation and containment fields of heavy polyethylene 

sheeting, which are more than 10 years old, are beginning to fail, further contaminating 

the collections. The August 2011 earthquake and hurricane exacerbated this problem by 

causing the sheeting to split in many locations. Only a few highly trained and qualified 

Smithsonian staff, properly outfitted in full hazmat suits with respirators, are permitted in 

the buildings. Otherwise, they are closed and locked, and the collections within the three 

buildings are not available for research, exhibition, display, or loan, and are off limits to 

academia and the public. In addition to hazmat concerns, the structural designs of the 

buildings have been evaluated and found to be structurally inadequate to withstand 

current code-required combination wind and snow loads. This project will provide swing 

space, permitting cleanup and temporary storage of collections, and allow for remediation 

and removal of the contaminated facilities. 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The first phase creates swing space to store cleaned collection items, by erecting a 

temporary, pre-manufactured 20,000-square-foot building on the adjacent concrete pad of 

recently removed Building 21. The next step will be to build a decontamination chamber 

within Building 15, and begin decontaminating the collections. This labor-intensive process 

includes accounting and inventory assessments, stabilizing the collection, and moving 

cleaned collections into the new temporary swing space at Garber. This swing space will 

serve as the area for emergency conservation and treatment, packing and crating, and will 

be the new shipping and receiving hub for Garber. The collections will then be shipped to 

the leased space for short-term storage. Once its contents are removed, Building 15 will 

be demolished. Phases two and three will repeat this process for Buildings 16 and 18. For 

FY 2016, the Smithsonian requests $0.4 million to prepare the swing space for the next 

phase of temporary artifact processing and holding. 
261

PROGRESS TO DATE: 

The project to erect a temporary structure on the site of Building 21 is under way, 

with completion scheduled for April of 2015. This temporary swing space structure is now 

referred to as Building 37. A contract for decontamination work in Building 15 was awarded 

in early December of 2014, with a notice to proceed expected in February of 2015. 

IMPACT OF DELAY: 

Temporary fixes to Buildings 15, 16, and 18, which were originally constructed as 

10–15 year temporary buildings in the 1950s, continue to be required at increasing 

frequencies. The temporary fixes are holding the facilities stable, but prudent 

stewardship of our national collections demands that action be taken to protect, 

preserve, and provide access to these trapped collections before the facilities are 

further contaminated or the structures collapse and potentially spread hazmat 

contamination in the surrounding area. Aside from the risk to the public that this 

situation presents, the Smithsonian cannot proceed with the remainder of the master 

plan improvements at the Garber and Suitland collection facilities without continued and 

substantial progress in removing Buildings 15, 16, and 18. 

PROJECT TITLE: Replace Sprinkler Valves/Heads 

INSTALLATION: Suitland Collections Facility (SCF) 

LOCATION: Suitland, Maryland 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $750 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The existing sprinkler pipe systems in several of the Garber buildings are more than 

30 years old, in poor condition, and need replacement. This project will ensure the safety 

of staff and collections by replacing sprinklers and piping to meet current code 

requirements and restoring proper functioning of the system. 

PROJECT TITLE: Replace Smoke Detectors and Fire Alarms 

INSTALLATION: Suitland Collections Facility (SCF) 

LOCATION: Suitland, Maryland 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $600 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The existing fire-alarm systems in several of the Garber buildings are more 

than 30 years old, in poor condition, and need replacement. This project will ensure the 

safety of staff and collections by replacing smoke detectors and fire alarms to meet 

current code requirements and restoring proper functioning of the system. 
262

PROJECT TITLE: Tupper Building Repairs 

INSTALLATION: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) 

LOCATION: Panama 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $900 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

This project will replace the main mechanical equipment of the Tupper Building, 

including chillers, air-handling units, and the potable water pump system, as well as 

refurbish the existing elevator and repair the roof. The existing equipment is original 

from the Tupper Building construction (1990) and therefore requires replacement due to 

age, difficulty in finding replacement parts, and the need to reduce maintenance 

costs. Design and specification of replacement equipment will commence in FY 2015 so 

that the replacement program can begin in FY 2016. 

PROJECT TITLE: Tupper Building and Site Improvements 

INSTALLATION: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) 

LOCATION: Panama 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $750 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

The Tupper Complex in Ancon, Panama is the headquarters of the Smithsonian 

Tropical Research Institute (STRI), with the laboratory building serving as the Institute’s 

core worksite. In addition to staff working at Tupper, numerous visitors come to the 

complex both during and after business hours, for research, conferences, and other 

activities. The Tupper Building and site improvements project will revitalize the Tupper 

Complex and enhance its functionality. New, more efficient entrances and internal 

walkways will be built, with improved landscaping and aesthetic elements that enhance 

the structure. In addition, an elevator will be added to the Tupper Building to improve 

accessibility for staff and visitors. 
263

PROJECT TITLE: Building Projects Less than $1,000,000 

INSTALLATION: Multiple Locations 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $12,950

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

This request includes smaller, individual projects of less than $1 million each, 

which usually involve capital repair or replacement of individual systems or components. 

These projects include work at the Anacostia Community Museum; Freer Gallery of Art; 

National Museum of the American Indian; Quadrangle Building; Smithsonian 

Environmental Research Center; the Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle); 

Suitland Collections Facility; National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center; and

the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. In addition, these projects support other 

Smithsonian operations, such as reprographic and library services, guard services, 

collections upgrades, conservation studies, and unplanned emergency repairs. 

PROJECT TITLE: Construction Supervision and Administration

INSTALLATION: Multiple Locations 

LOCATION: Institution-wide 

FY 2016 COST ESTIMATE (Thousands of Dollars): $7,000

PRIOR-YEAR FUNDING: $6,200 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

This request includes staff costs for permanent cost-estimating staff, the 

construction management staff required to supervise and administer construction 

contracts, as well as term and temporary staff required to perform specialized work 

associated with revitalization projects. A total of 48 FTEs will be funded from the $7.0 

million. The construction managers directly supervise construction contractors to ensure 

that quality work is performed safely. In addition, they resolve issues that arise during 

construction, negotiate change orders, approve payments, and perform other 

administrative functions as contracting officers’ technical representatives (COTRs). 

These necessary “owner functions” are essential to ensure that quality work is completed 

safely, on time, and within budget. 

This request also funds five contract specialists who support all aspects of the 

procurement process for acquiring the necessary contract services to execute the 

Smithsonian’s Capital Program. These five positions provide essential expertise to 

ensure the timely award of planning, design, and construction contracts for the Capital 

Program. 
264

FACILITIES PLANNING AND DESIGN 

 Feasibility studies, needs assessments, and design for capital projects are 

required before site work can take place. This category includes all costs for contract 

facility master planning, preliminary and final design for all revitalization and construction 

projects, special studies, and a small amount for facility engineering, capital leveraging, 

and research activities, similar to operations at the Department of Defense and the 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The funding will enable 

development of project baselines, including costs, scope, and schedules, prior to 

receiving funds to perform the work. 

In order to plan and design ahead of Capital Program execution, funding of 10 to 

15 percent of the following year’s program is required each year. The funding requested 

for FY 2016 will provide necessary planning and design to the 35 percent stage for most 

projects included in the planned FY 2018 program, and will complete design for projects 

planned for FY 2017. This will move the Institution closer to meeting the National 

Academy of Public Administration’s (NAPA) recommendation that firm baselines be 

established before funding requests to provide more accurate cost estimates and to 

enable timely award of construction contracts upon receipt of future-year funding. 

 The Institution requests a total of $55,410,000 for planning and design in 

FY 2016. These funds will be used to design several major revitalization projects at the 

National Air and Space Museum ($22 million); Museum Support Center ($6.3 million); 

National Zoological Park ($3 million); National Museum of Natural History ($2.5 million); 

Udvar-Hazy Center ($2 million); Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden ($1.4 million); 

National Museum of American History ($1 million); and the Smithsonian Castle ($2 

million). The request also includes funding to prepare designs for numerous smaller 

revitalization projects, including security upgrades and master planning ($15.21 million). 

This budget request will also enable the Smithsonian to prepare comprehensive master 

planning studies to guide future facilities decisions, and other studies to ensure more 

effective use of existing space. 

Additional justification for the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) and the 

Museum Support Center (MSC) Pod 6 planning and design projects follows: 

 NASM: The Institution requests $22.0 million to fund design of the envelope and 

building systems renovation project. 

The exterior Tennessee pink marble façade of the NASM building is a feature of 

the original construction and forms the primary exterior weather seal for the 

envelope on all surfaces other than at the roofs, terraces, skylights, and window 

walls. The panels are porous, show signs of aging, and, in some cases, damage 

through visible cracks and warping, creating the possibility of failure. The current 

marble primary weather seal assembly does not provide a continuous vapor 

barrier across the entire façade and the insulation R-value is not consistent with 

current sustainable best practices and energy conservation guidelines. There is 

no secondary weather seal on the marble wall assembly, which creates 

condensation and energy conservation problems. 
265

A final feasibility study for the building systems and envelope renovation was 

received in mid-December 2013. The recommendations and conclusions 

confirmed the need to replace the exterior stone, make seismic structural 

upgrades, replace the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, and 

replace the outdated sprinkler fire-protection system. Design work began in June 

of 2014 with the award of the concept/schematic design contract. The estimated 

timeline for design is 30 months. The construction timeline will depend on 

whether the project is completed in a single phase or broken up into multiple 

phases. The budget, scope of work, and implementation schedule will be further 

refined as design work progresses. 

 MSC: The Smithsonian requests $6.3 million in FY 2016 to prepare design 

documents for construction of a three-story, 104,000-square-foot addition to the 

MSC building. 

A key part of the Institution’s Collection Space Framework Plan is to replace 

inadequate space at the Suitland Collections Facility with facilities that meet best 

practice collections storage standards for environmental conditions, accessibility, 

and security. The 1994 master plan included a project to expand the MSC 

footprint to the west of the existing building. Construction of Pod 6 in this area will 

complete the intent of the master plan and will initiate the Institution-wide 

Collection Space Implementation Plan for relocation of at-risk collections from the 

Garber facility and several Mall museums. Completion of Pod 6 is also necessary 

to maintain the critical path for the National Museum of American History’s 

(NMAH) East Wing project (i.e., Public Space Renewal Package IV), which 

requires both temporary and permanent relocation of a significant volume of 

collections from the NMAH building to accomplish the renovation work within the 

Museum. 

If these essential resources are not provided, the Institution will be unable to 

proceed with vital planning and design activities to ensure the successful execution of the 

Smithsonian’s long-range Capital Program. 
266 
Anacostia Commu

Museum 

American Histor

Museum 

African American H

& Culture 

Folklife & Cultura

Heritage 

Latino Center 

National Museum o

American Indian 

Asian Pacific Amer

Center 

Postal Museum 

General Counsel 

BOARD OF REGENTS 

SECRETARY 

Equal Employment & 

Minority Affairs 

Communications & 

External Affairs 

Advancement 

Under Secretary for 

Science 

Un

Hist

Consortia on 

▪ Universe 

▪ Biodiversity 

Consortia on 

▪ World Cultures 

▪ Am Experience 

Under Secretary for 

Finance & Admin. / 

Chief Financial Officer 

Chief Information Officer 

Admin Units: 

Policy & Analysis, 

Ombudsman, Accessibility 

Facilities, Engineering & 

Operations 

Finance and Accounting 

Investments 

P

C

P

Museum Conservation 

Institute 

Astrophysical 

Observatory 

Tropical Research 

Institute 

National Zoological 

Park 

Air & Space Museum 

Natural History Museum 

Environmental 

Research Center 

Deputy Under Secretary 

for Collections & 

Interdisciplinary Support 

Smithsonian Libraries Smithsonian Archives 

Office of the Regents 

Inspector General 

Assistant Secretary for 

Education & Access 

Science Education 

Center 

Center for Learning and 

Digital Access 

Traveling Exhibition 

Service 

Affiliations Program 

Associates Program 

National Collections 

Program 

Fellowships 

& Internships 

International Relations Scholarly Press 

Human Resources 

Deputy Under Secretary for 

Finance and Admin. 

Public Affairs 

Government Relations 

Visitor Services 

Special Events & 

Protocol 

Advancement Services 

Individual Giving 

Institutional Giving 

National Campaign 

Operations & Systems Exhibits Central 

Sponsored Projects 

February 2015

267
268

VISITS TO THE SMITHSONIAN 

FY 2010–FY 2014 

MUSEUM FY 2010 FY 2011 FY 2012 FY 2013 FY 2014

MALL

SI Castle 1,813,818 1,599,986 1,453,220 1,405,651 1,158,617

A&I Building1

0 0 0 0 0

Natural History 6,969,616 6,768,580 7,378,612 8,281,983 7,047,560

Air and Space/ 

Silver Hill 

8,013,000 7,283,019 6,907,969 7,167,075 6,377,840

American Indian 1,365,915 1,326,457 1,605,547 1,444,279 1,260,756

Freer Gallery 516,164 542,792 567,183 401,101 357,282

Sackler Gallery 307,732 373,800 400,950 225,053 192,132

African Art 333,342 369,635 405,441 227,547 180,608

Ripley Center 365,580 447,224 519,878 226,052 140,701

American History 4,237,760 4,588,853 4,764,131 4,978,559 3,971,987

Hirshhorn 612,460 617,751 722,008 717,663 514,922

OFF MALL

DW Reynolds 

Center (AA/PG)

1,010,876 1,080,177 1,078,774 1,063,299 1,075,866

Renwick 145,555 161,765 175,183 138,951 17,199

Anacostia 52,552 50,785 37,952 37,611 37,440

Cooper Hewitt

2

180,852 233,732 328 0 0

American Indian3

(Heye Center/CRC)

295,862 352,463 422,665 602,056 554,063

National Zoo 2,217,060 1,825,329 2,237,922 2,092,824 2,304,129

Postal 330,453 334,039 325,571 284,971 363,802

Udvar-Hazy Center 1,106,804 1,198,873 1,324,297 1,366,322 1,214,284

TOTAL 29,875,401 29,155,260 30,327,631 30,660,997 26,769,188

1 The Arts and Industries (A&I) Building closed to the general public in January 2004.

2 The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum closed to the public in October 2011 for phase two of the 

Carnegie Mansion renovation project. 

3 Includes the George Gustav Heye Center in New York City and the Cultural Resources Center in Suitland, 

Maryland. 
269

TRUST FUNDS 

In addition to support provided by federal appropriations, the Smithsonian 

Institution receives and generates trust funds to expand and enrich its programs. 

Trust funds are used to leverage the Smithsonian’s research capacity through 

partnerships with federal agencies, universities, non-Governmental 

organizations, industry, and other private organizations, both national and 

international. Trust funds will also be raised to meet the Institution’s funding 

commitment with Congress to build and open the new National Museum of 

African American History and Culture. In addition, trust funds will be used to 

renovate and modernize exhibits throughout the Institution. The following 

provides an overview of the current sources of trust funds. 

 The Institution’s trust funds include general trust funds with limited or no 

restrictions on their use, funds restricted by the donor or sponsor, and 

Government grants and contracts. Projections are subject to the uncertainty of 

the size of donations, grants, and contracts; to fluctuations in visitor attendance; 

and to the volatility of the economy, which together directly affect the return on 

the endowment, short-term interest income, and donor giving, as well as 

restaurant, magazine, catalogue, and museum shop revenues, memberships, 

and other business activities. The Institution’s gross operating revenue, less the 

expenses of the auxiliary activities, represents the net operating revenue 

available for programmatic and related purposes. The following table 

summarizes the sources of trust operating funds. 

(Dollars in Millions)

FY 2014

Actuals

FY 2015

Estimates

General Trust 80.5 82.0

Donor/Sponsor-Designated 260.3 238.9

Government Grants and Contracts 151.3 156.0

Total Available for Operations $492.1 $476.9

SOURCE AND APPLICATION OF TRUST FUNDS — The following sections 

describe the sources of each category of trust funds as well as a general account 

of how they are used. 

General Trust Funds — The sources of general trust funds are 

investment income; payout from unrestricted endowments; net proceeds from the 

museum shops, catalogues, and food service concessions; sales of Smithsonian 

books, records, and other products based on designs and objects in the 

collections; theater/planetarium operations at the National Air and Space 

Museum and the Samuel C. Johnson IMAX Theater in the National Museum of 

Natural History; licensing fees from the Smithsonian Channel and student travel 

programs; rental of exhibitions of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition 

Service; membership programs (including subscriptions to Smithsonian and Air 

and Space magazines); the sale of posters, exhibition brochures, catalogues, 
270

and other publications; and admission fees. Projected sources of FY 2015 

general trust funds total $82,000,000. These funds are used to support 

administrative programs such as central management, legal counsel, accounting, 

personnel, contracting, and budget, as well as fund raising, education, research 

and public programs, scholarly studies, and exhibitions. 

Donor/Sponsor-Designated Funds — Designated trust funds include 

gifts, grants, and earnings on endowments from individuals, foundations, 

organizations, and corporations which specify the purpose of the funds. 

Designated funds in FY 2015 are projected to total $238,900,000. Generally, 

these funds support a particular exhibition or program, or are used to manage the 

Smithsonian collections and/or support research projects in accordance with the 

Institution’s mission. 

 Government Grants and Contracts — Various Government agencies 

and departments provide grants and contracts for specific projects that align with 

the Smithsonian’s expertise in a particular area of science, history, art, or 

education. For FY 2015, Government grants and contracts are projected to total 

$156,000,000. Of this amount, $99,400,000 would be available for astrophysical 

research and development of programs carried out by the Smithsonian 

Astrophysical Observatory. 
271

APPROPRIATION LANGUAGE AND CITATIONS 

The Act of August 10, 1846, codified within 20 U.S.C. §§ 41–70, established 

the Smithsonian Institution “for the increase and diffusion of knowledge,” and provided 

the organizational structure for the Institution’s administration. The mission of the 

Smithsonian Institution has remained unchanged throughout its 169-year history, 

although additional authority for many of the Institution’s programs and operations has 

been enacted over the years. Selected provisions of those statutes, along with 

selected provisions of the Smithsonian charter and prior-year appropriations acts, are 

cited below as authority for the Smithsonian Institution’s FY 2015 appropriations 

language. 

Appropriation: Salaries and Expenses 

1. For necessary expenses of the Smithsonian Institution, as authorized by law, 

including research in the fields of art, science, and history; 

20 U.S.C. § 50 provides that “...all objects of art and of foreign and 

curious research, and all objects of natural history, plants, and geological 

and mineralogical specimens...shall be so arranged and classified...as 

best to facilitate the examination and study of them...” 

20 U.S.C. § 53a provides that “Appropriations are hereby authorized 

for...the making of solar observations at high altitudes...” 

20 U.S.C. § 69 provides that “The Secretary of the Smithsonian 

Institution is hereby authorized...to continue independently or in 

cooperation anthropological researches among the American Indians 

and the natives of lands under the jurisdiction or protection of the United 

States...” 

20 U.S.C. § 75b(b) provides that “The [National Portrait] Gallery shall 

function as a free public museum for the exhibition and study of 

portraiture and statuary depicting men and women who have made 

significant contributions to the history, development, and culture of the 

people of the United States and of the artists who created such 

portraiture and statuary.” 

20 U.S.C. § 76bb(c) provides that “The Joseph H. Hirshhorn Museum 

and Sculpture Garden...shall be used for the storage, exhibition, and 

study of works of art...” 

20 U.S.C. § 77a provides that “Said national air and space museum 

shall...provide educational material for the historical study of aviation and 

space flight.” 
272

20 U.S.C. § 78 provides that “The Secretary of the Smithsonian 

Institution is hereby authorized to cooperate with any State, educational 

institution, or scientific organization in the United States, for continuing 

paleontological investigations...” 

20 U.S.C. § 80m(a)(3) provides that “(a)...the Board [of Regents] may--

...(3) conduct programs of research and education [in the Museum of 

African Art]...”

20 U.S.C. §§ 80q-1(b)(1) & (3) provide that “(b)The purposes of the 

National Museum [of the American Indian] are to-- (1) advance the study 

of Native Americans, including the study of language, literature, history, 

art, anthropology, and life;...(3) provide for Native American research 

and study programs...”

20 U.S.C. § 80r-2(b)(1) provides that “(b) The purpose of the [National] 

Museum [of African American History and Culture] shall be to provide 

for-- (1) the collection, study and establishment of programs relating to 

African American life, art, history and culture that encompass [certain 

periods of the African American diaspora]...” 

2. development, preservation, and documentation of the National Collections; 

20 U.S.C. § 50 provides that “...all objects of art and of foreign and 

curious research, and all objects of natural history, plants, and geological 

and mineralogical specimens...shall be delivered to such persons as 

may be authorized by the Board of Regents to receive them, and shall 

be so arranged and classified...as best to facilitate the examination and 

study of them...” 

20 U.S.C. § 50a provides that “The Smithsonian Institution is . . . 

authorized to include in its estimates of appropriations such sums as 

may be needful for the preservation and maintenance of the [John 

Gellatly art] collection.” 

20 U.S.C. § 59 provides that “All collections of rocks, minerals, soils, 

fossils, and objects of natural history, archaeology, and ethnology...when 

no longer needed for investigations in progress shall be deposited in the 

National Museum.” 

20 U.S.C. § 69 provides that “The Secretary of the Smithsonian 

Institution is hereby authorized...to continue independently or in 

cooperation...the excavation and preservation of archaeological 

remains.” 
273

20 U.S.C. § 75e(1) provides that “...the Board [of Regents] may-- (1) 

purchase, accept, borrow, or otherwise acquire portraiture, statuary, and 

other items for preservation, exhibition, or study.” 

20 U.S.C. § 76c(b) provides that “...the Regents are hereby 

authorized...to acquire (by purchase or otherwise) and sell contemporary 

works of art or copies thereof...” 

20 U.S.C. § 76cc(a) provides that “There is established in the 

Smithsonian Institution a Board of Trustees...which shall have the sole 

authority (i) to purchase or otherwise acquire (whether by gift, exchange, 

or other means) works of art for the Joseph H. Hirshhorn Museum and 

Sculpture Garden...” 

20 U.S.C. § 77a provides that “Said national air and space museum 

shall...collect, preserve, and display aeronautical and space flight 

equipment of historical interest and significance...” 

 

20 U.S.C. § 80a(a) provides that “...the Smithsonian Institution shall 

collect, preserve, and exhibit military objects of historical interest and 

significance.” 

20 U.S.C. §§ 80m(a)(1) & (2) provide that “(a)...the Board [of Regents] 

may-- (1) purchase, accept, borrow or otherwise acquire additional 

works of art or any other real or personal property for the Museum [of 

African Art]; (2) preserve, maintain, restore...or otherwise hold any 

property of whatsoever nature acquired...” 

20 U.S.C. § 80q-1(b)(2) provides that “(b) The purposes of the National 

Museum [of the American Indian] are to--...(2) collect, preserve, and 

exhibit Native American objects of artistic, historical, literary, 

anthropological, and scientific interest...” 

20 U.S.C. § 80r-2(b)(3) provides that “(b) The purpose of the [National] 

Museum [of African American History and Culture] shall be to provide 

for-- ...(3) the collection and study of artifacts and documents relating to 

African American life, art, history, and culture...” 

20 U.S.C. § 81 provides that “The National Zoological Park is placed 

under the direction of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, who 

are authorized to transfer to it any living specimens, whether of animals 

or plants, in their charge, to accept gifts for the park...[and] to make 

exchanges of specimens...” 
274

3. presentation of public exhibits and performances; 

20 U.S.C. § 75b(b) provides that “The [National Portrait] Gallery shall 

function as a free public museum for the exhibition and study of 

portraiture and statuary...” 

20 U.S.C. § 76c(b) provides that “In order to encourage the development 

of contemporary art and to effect the widest distribution and cultivation in 

matters of such art, the Regents are hereby authorized to...conduct 

exhibitions...” 

20 U.S.C. § 76bb(c) provides that “The Joseph H. Hirshhorn Museum 

and Sculpture Garden...shall be used for the storage, exhibition, and 

study of works of art...” 

20 U.S.C. § 77a provides that “Said national air and space museum 

shall...collect, preserve, and display aeronautical and space flight 

equipment of historical interest and significance...” 

20 U.S.C. § 80a(a) provides that “...the Smithsonian Institution shall 

collect, preserve, and exhibit military objects of historical interest and 

significance.” 

20 U.S.C. § 80m(a)(2) provides that “(a)...the Board [of Regents] may--

...(2)...display...any property of whatsoever nature acquired [for the 

Museum of African Art]...” 

20 U.S.C. § 80q-1(b)(2) provides that “(b) The purposes of the National 

Museum [of the American Indian] are to--...(2) collect, preserve, and 

exhibit Native American objects of artistic, historical, literary, 

anthropological, and scientific interest...” 

20 U.S.C. § 80r-2(b)(3) provides that “(b) The purpose of the [National] 

Museum [of African American History and Culture] shall be to provide 

for-- ...(3) the collection and study of artifacts and documents relating to 

African American life, art, history, and culture...” 

4. collection, preparation, dissemination, and exchange of information and 

publications; 

20 U.S.C. § 53a provides that “Appropriations are hereby authorized 

for...preparation of manuscripts, drawings, and illustrations for 

publications.” 
275

5. conduct of education, training, and museum assistance programs;

20 U.S.C. §§ 65a(a)(1),(3) & (4) provide that “(a)The Director of the 

National Museum under the direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian 

Institution shall-- (1) cooperate with museums and their professional 

organizations in a continuing study of museum problems and 

opportunities, both in the United States and abroad;... (3) prepare and 

distribute significant museum publications; (4) perform research on, and 

otherwise contribute to, the [development of] museum techniques....” 

20 U.S.C. § 77a provides that “Said national air and space museum 

shall...provide educational material for the historical study of aviation and 

space flight.” 

20 U.S.C. § 79a provides that “The purpose of setting aside such an 

area [Barro Colorado Island] is to preserve and conserve its natural 

features...thus providing a place where duly qualified students can make 

observations and scientific investigations for increase of knowledge, 

under such conditions and regulations as may be prescribed by the 

[Smithsonian Institution].” 

20 U.S.C. § 79e provides that “There are authorized to be appropriated 

annually...such sums as are necessary for the administration of [the 

Canal Zone Biological Area] ... and for the maintenance of laboratory or 

other facilities...” 

20 U.S.C. § 80m(a)(3) provides that “(a)...the Board [of Regents] may--

...(3) conduct programs of research and education [in the Museum of 

African Art]....” 

6. maintenance, alteration, operation, lease agreements of no more than 30 

years, and protection of buildings, facilities, and approaches; 

20 U.S.C. § 53a provides that “Appropriations are hereby authorized for 

the maintenance of the Astrophysical Observatory and...for repairs and 

alterations of buildings and grounds occupied by the Smithsonian 

Institution in the District of Columbia and elsewhere...” 

20 U.S.C. § 76ee provides that “There is authorized to be 

appropriated...such additional sums as may be necessary for the 

maintenance and operation of such [Hirshhorn] museum and sculpture 

garden.” 

20 U.S.C. § 79b(c) provides that “The ...[Smithsonian Institution] 

shall...(c) be responsible for the construction and maintenance of 

laboratory and other facilities on the area provided for the use of 

students authorized to carry on studies within the confines of the area...” 
276

20 U.S.C. § 80m(a)(2) provides that “(a)...the Board [of Regents] may--

...(2) preserve, maintain...any property of whatsoever nature acquired 

[for the Museum of African Art]...” 

20 U.S.C. § 81 provides that ”The National Zoological Park is placed 

under the direction of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, who 

are authorized...to administer and improve the said Zoological Park for 

the advancement of science and the instruction and recreation of the 

people.” Public Law 101-512 making appropriations for the Department 

of the Interior and Related Agencies for the fiscal year 1991 extended 

the maximum term for federal leases from ten years to thirty. 

7. not to exceed $ for services as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109; 

5 U.S.C. § 3109(b) provides that “When authorized by an appropriation 

or other statute, the head of an agency may procure by contract the 

temporary (not in excess of 1 year) or intermittent services of experts or 

consultants or an organization thereof, including stenographic reporting 

services.” 

8. and purchase, rental, repair, and cleaning of uniforms for employees, 

5 U.S.C. § 5901(a) provides that “There is authorized to be appropriated 

annually to each agency of the Government of the United States...on a 

showing of necessity or desirability, such sums as may be necessary to 

carry out this subchapter. 

40 U.S.C. § 6306(c) provides that “The employees designated as special 

police under subsection (a) [covering the Smithsonian Institution] may be 

provided, without charge, with uniforms and other equipment as may be 

necessary for the proper performance of their duties...” 

9. $_______, to remain available until September 30, 2016, except as otherwise 

provided herein; 

 

 Wording added by the Congress in Public Law 111-88 making 

appropriations for the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies 

for fiscal year 2010 to extend the availability for the Salaries and 

Expenses account from one year to two years unless otherwise 

provided. 

10. of which not to exceed $________ for the instrumentation program, collections 

acquisition, exhibition reinstallation, the National Museum of African American 

History and Culture, and the repatriation of skeletal remains program shall 

remain available until expended; 
277

Wording added by the Congress in Public Law 100-446 making 

appropriations for the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies 

for fiscal year 1989 to permit the Institution to establish no-year funding 

within the Salaries and Expenses account for the development of major 

scientific instrumentation. Public Law 101-512, making appropriations for 

the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies for fiscal year 1991, 

allowed no-year funding to be used for the instrumentation program as 

well as purchases for museum collections and the repatriation of skeletal 

remains. Public Law 108-447 making appropriations for the Department 

of the Interior and Related Agencies for fiscal year 2005 allowed 

additional no-year funding for exhibition reinstallation; and the National 

Museum of African American History and Culture. 

31 U.S.C. § 1301(c)(2) provides that “(c) An appropriation in a regular, 

annual appropriation law may be construed to be permanent or available 

continuously only if the appropriation--... (2) expressly provides that it is 

available after the fiscal year covered by the law in which it appears.” 

11. and including such funds as may be necessary to support American overseas 

research centers: 

Wording added by the Congress in Public Law 99-190 making 

appropriations for Other Related Agencies for fiscal year 1986. 

12. Provided, That funds appropriated herein are available for advance payments 

to independent contractors performing research services or participating in 

official Smithsonian presentations. 

31 U.S.C. § 3324(b)(1) provides that (b) “An advance of public money 

may be made only if it is authorized by-- (1) a specific appropriation or 

other law...”

Appropriation: Facilities Capital 

1. For necessary expenses of repair, revitalization, and alteration of facilities 

owned or occupied by the Smithsonian Institution, by contract or otherwise, as 

authorized by section 2 of the Act of August 22, 1949 (63 Stat. 623), 

20 U.S.C. § 53a provides that “Appropriations are hereby authorized...for 

repairs and alterations of buildings and grounds occupied by the 

Smithsonian Institution in the District of Columbia and elsewhere...” 

20 U.S.C. § 81 provides that “The National Zoological Park is placed 

under the direction of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, who 

are authorized...to administer and improve the said Zoological Park for 

the advancement of science and the instruction and recreation of the 

people.” 
278

Public Law 108-108, making appropriations for the Department of the 

Interior and Related Agencies for fiscal year 2004, established the 

Facilities Capital appropriation. The appropriation includes activities 

formerly financed through the Repair, Restoration and Alteration of 

Facilities appropriation and the Construction appropriation. 

2. and for construction, 

20 U.S.C. § 53a provides that “Appropriations are hereby authorized...for 

repairs and alterations of buildings and grounds occupied by the 

Smithsonian Institution in the District of Columbia and elsewhere...” 

3. including necessary personnel, 

Wording added by Congress for clarification in Public Law 108-7 making 

appropriations for the Department of Interior and Related Agencies for 

fiscal year 2003. 

4. $ _________ to remain available until expended, 

31 U.S.C. § 1301(c)(2) provides that “(c) An appropriation in a regular, 

annual appropriation law may be construed to be permanent or available 

continuously only if the appropriation--... (2) expressly provides that it is 

available after the fiscal year covered by the law in which it appears.” 

5. of which not to exceed $ shall be for services as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 

3109, 

5 U.S.C. § 3109(b) provides that “When authorized by an appropriation 

or other statute, the head of an agency may procure by contract the temporary (not in excess of 1 year) or intermittent services of experts or 

consultants or an organization thereof, including stenographic reporting 

services.” 

6. and of which $ shall be for construction of the National Museum of 

African American History and Culture. 

 

20 U.S.C. § 80r-6(a)(2) provides that “The Board of Regents, in 

consultation with the [National Museum of African American History and 

Culture] Council, may plan, design, and construct a building for the 

Museum...” 
Adjustments for FY 2015

(Dollars in Thousands)

FY 2015 

Appropriation

Reorganizations 

and 

Reprogrammings

Adj

Unit $000s $000s 

MUSEUMS AND RESEARCH CENTERS

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe

National Air and Space Museum 18,603 0 

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory 23,957 0 

Major Scientific Instrumentation 4,118 0 

Universe Consortium 184 0 

Subtotal, Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe 46,862 0 

Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet

National Museum of Natural History 47,992 0 

National Zoological Park 25,420 0 

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center 3,909 0 

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute 14,175 (150) \1, 2 

Biodiversity Consortium 1,520 0 

Subtotal, Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet 93,016 (150) 

Valuing World Cultures

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery/Freer Gallery of Art 6,049 0 

Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage 2,503 0 

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum 4,755 0 

Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden 4,301 0 

National Museum of African Art 4,227 0 

World Cultures Consortium 284 0 

Subtotal, Valuing World Cultures 22,119 0 

Understanding the American Experience

Anacostia Community Museum 2,093 0 

Archives of American Art 1,859 0 

National Museum of African American History & Culture 40,648 0 

National Museum of American History, Behring Center 21,767 0 

National Postal Museum 1,073 0 \3 

National Museum of the American Indian 31,444 0 

National Portrait Gallery 5,997 0 

Smithsonian American Art Museum 9,474 0 

American Experience Consortium 593 0 

Subtotal, Understanding the American Experience 113,875 0 

TOTAL, MUSEUMS AND RESEARCH CENTERS 276,945 (150) 

279
Adjustments for FY 2015

(Dollars in Thousands)

FY 2015 

Appropriation

Reorganizations 

and 

Reprogrammings

Adj

Unit $000s $000s 

MISSION ENABLING

Program Support and Outreach

Outreach 9,150 0 

Communications 2,567 0 

Institution-wide Programs 10,505 0 

Office of Exhibits Central 2,974 0 

Museum Support Center 1,848 0 

Museum Conservation Institute 3,244 0 

Smithsonian Institution Archives 2,167 0 

Smithsonian Institution Libraries 10,399 0 

Subtotal, Program Support and Outreach 42,854 0 

Office of the Chief Information Officer 48,929 0 

Administration 34,067 0 

Office of the Inspector General 3,416 0 

Facilities Services

Facilities Maintenance 71,380 23 \1 

Facilities Operations, Security, and Support 197,752 127 \2 

Subtotal, Facilities Services 269,132 150 

TOTAL MISSION ENABLING 398,398 150 

GRAND TOTAL, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 675,343 0 

Footnotes for FY 2015 Appropriation:

\1 Transfer of $23,000 from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute to Facilities Maintenance to support salary costs for facilities s

in Panama.

\2 Transfer of $127,000 from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute to Facilities Operations, Security, and Support to support sa

facilities staff located in Panama.

\3 The National Postal Museum (NPM) was originally a department within the National Museum of American History. However, for man

the NPM has operated and functioned as a separate and distinct Smithsonian museum with its own resources.

280