Smithsonian 

Diversity and Inclusion 

Initiatives Report

Fiscal Year 2020

Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report

Fiscal Year 2020

Overview 3

Executive Summary 4

Secretary 14

Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 14

Under Secretary for Administration 18

Office of Sponsored Projects 18

Under Secretary for Education 18

Office of Fellowships & Internships 18

Smithsonian Center for Learning & Digital Access 23

Smithsonian Science Education Center 31

The Smithsonian Associates 36

Under Secretary for Museums & Culture 41

Archives of American Art 41

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum 55

National Air and Space Museum 58

National Museum of American History 59

Smithsonian American Art Museum 67

Under Secretary for Science & Research 87

National Museum of Natural History 87

National Zoological Park 88

Assistant Secretary for Advancement 89

Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity

2
Diversity and inclusion are integral to all aspects of the Smithsonian Institution's operations and key components of the Smithsonian Strategic Plan. 

The Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity (OEESD) developed and published the first Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report (DIIR) in 

FY2014. The purpose of this initiative is to capture and report on the multiplicity of diversity and inclusion related activities around the Institution. 

Published annually over the last six years, the DIIR has documented more than 3,380 Smithsonian Institution diversity and inclusion initiatives. 

The Report’s data is drawn from a SharePoint website that allows units to submit any and all efforts they identify as meeting the criteria of a diversity 

and inclusion initiative. To help identify what can be included in this report, units are encouraged to consider programs, activities, recruitment, and 

outreach efforts that fall under the following three categories:

• Program Diversity

• Supplier Diversity

• Workforce Diversity

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and Smithsonian facilities being closed this year, 14 units submitted more than 380 initiatives that also included 

virtual programs. The 90-page report consists of an executive summary and supporting information. For quick access to your unit’s information, 

please see the table of contents.

The DIIR demonstrates the Smithsonian’s ongoing commitment to reflect the nation’s pluralism in its workforces, programs and business 

relationships.

The OEESD staff expresses their appreciation to all the units who participated in the development of this report and for their support in fostering

diversity and inclusion and greater collaborations as One Smithsonian.

OVERVIEW

Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report

Fiscal Year 2020

Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 3
Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report

Fiscal Year 2020

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

ALL SMITHSONIAN

The goal was to increase the recognition of the Smithsonian brand to under-served communities and increase representation in the Smithsonian’s workforce, supplier base and public programming. 

More than 380 initiatives were submitted by 14 Smithsonian units with 81 classified as STEM initiatives. All historically underrepresented groups were represented in the diversity and inclusion 

initiatives. The highest percent of initiatives (19% and 14% respectively) targeted African Americans and Hispanics. The percentage of initiatives aimed at historically underrepresented groups 

greatly exceeded their representation in the Civilian Labor Force. This report also includes residents of under-resourced communities and LGBTQIA+. While these groups and others have no 

recognized percentage of reference, they are an important focus in the Smithsonian’s efforts to increase and diffuse knowledge across the United States and around the world.

Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 4

Secretary OUSA OUSE OUSMC OUSSR ASA

# of

Initiatives 18 1 88 265 12 5

# of STEM 4 0 50 16 11 0

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Initiatives by Direct Report

*Communities with limited and/or under-funded access to educational resources and technology.

**Includes: Alaskan Natives, Arab Americans, Jewish Americans, individuals with access only to analog publications to bridge the 

digital divide, Immigrants, other non-English-speaking individuals, and speakers of other languages.

19%

12%

14%

9% 7%

10%

7%

8%

13%

1%

Percent Served by Race and Ethnicity

(Units often target more than one group)

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals w/Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-Resourced Communities*

Women

Other **
Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report

Fiscal Year 2020

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

ALL SMITHSONIAN (CONT.)

Diversity and inclusion are categorized into three areas: Program, Supplier and Workforce Diversity. All three categories were represented. At 74%, program diversity was the largest category. 

While only 5% of the reported initiatives fell under supplier diversity, the Smithsonian exceeded 4 of 6 of its established supplier diversity goals despite large dollar projects, such as the NASM 

Revitalization Project*. Of the 28% awarded to small businesses, 4% was awarded to 8(a) small disadvantaged businesses, 11% was awarded to non-8(a) small disadvantaged businesses, and 11% 

was awarded to women-owned small businesses. The majority of initiatives targeted adults (25%). 

Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 5

74%

5%

21%

Initiatives by Category

(Units often choose more than one category)

Program Diversity

Supplier Diversity

Workforce

Diversity

10%

11%

13%

13% 16%

12%

25%

Audience Age Groups

(Units often target more than one group)

Elementary School (K -

5th Grade)

Middle School (5th - 8th

Grade)

High School (9th - 12th

Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

*Excluding NASM Revitalization Project and other larger dollar contracts, SI awarded 41% to small businesses with 6% awarded to 

8(a) small and disadvantaged businesses, 16% to non-8(a) small and disadvantaged businesses, and 16% to women-owned small 

businesses. 
Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report

Fiscal Year 2020

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

The Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity submitted 18 initiatives, of which 4 were STEM. All historically underrepresented groups were represented at a rate that either met or 

exceeded their percentage in the Civilian Labor Force. At 40%, program diversity was the largest category. The majority of initiatives targeted adults (63%).

*Communities with limited and/or under-funded access to educational resources and technology.

Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 6

11%

11%

12%

12% 12%

12%

12%

6% 12%

Percent Served by Race & Ethnicity

(Units often target more than one group.)

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals w/Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-Resourced Communities*

Women

40%

24%

36%

Initiatives by Category

(Units often choose more than one category.)

Program Diversity

Supplier Diversity

Workforce Diversity

4% 4%

4%

7%

11%

63% 7%

Audience Age Groups

(Units often target more than one group)

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (5th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults
Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report

Fiscal Year 2020

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

UNDER SECRETARY FOR ADMINISTRATION

The Office of Sponsored Projects submitted one initiative that focused on Hispanics. The initiative targeted high school students. 

Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 7

UNDER SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION

More than 80 initiatives were submitted by 4 OUSE units (OFI, SCLDA, SSEC, TSA). Fifty were STEM initiatives. All historically underrepresented groups were represented at a rate that either met or 

exceeded their percentage in the Civilian Labor Force. The highest percent (17%) of initiatives were geared towards African Americans. 

17%

12%

14%

8% 8%

9%

8%

12%

12%

0.5%

Percent Served by Race & Ethnicity

(Units often target more than one group.)

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals w/Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-Resourced Communities*

Women

OFI SCLDA SSEC TSA Other **

# of Initiatives 23 29 20 16

# of STEM 11 18 20 1

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Initiatives by Unit

* Communities with limited and/or under-funded access to educational resources and technology.

** Includes: Alaskan Natives, Arab Americans, and Jewish Americans
UNDER SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION (CONT.)

All three diversity categories were represented. At 73%, program diversity was the largest category. While only 1% of the reported initiatives fell under supplier diversity, OUSE awarded 52% of the 

dollars spent to small businesses, exceeding 3 of 6 supplier diversity goals. Of the 51% awarded to small businesses, 6% was awarded to non-8(a) small and disadvantaged businesses and 11% was 

awarded to women-owned small businesses. The majority of initiatives targeted adults (23%) and high school students (18%). 

Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report

Fiscal Year 2020

Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 8

73%

1%

26%

Initiatives by Category

(Units often choose more than one category.)

Program Diversity

Supplier Diversity

Workforce Diversity

16%

11%

18%

15%

10%

7%

23%

Audience Age Group

(Units often target more than one group.)

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (5th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults
Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report

Fiscal Year 2020

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

UNDER SECRETARY FOR MUSEUMS & CULTURE

More than 260 initiatives were submitted by 5 OUSMC units (AAA, CHNDM, NASM, NMAH and SAAM). Sixteen were STEM initiatives. All historically underrepresented groups were represented at 

a rate that either met or exceeded their percentage in the Civilian Labor Force. The highest percent (25%) of initiatives were geared towards African Americans. 

Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 9

AAA CHNDM NASM NMAH SAAM

# of Initiatives 51 20 6 54 134

# of STEM 0 4 1 8 3

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Initiatives by Unit

25%

12%

8% 15%

5%

10%

4%

5%

15%

1%

Percent Served by Race & Ethnicity

(Units often target more than one group.)

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals w/Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-Resourced Communities*

Women

Other **

* Communities with limited and/or under-funded access to educational resources and technology.

** Includes: Immigrants, Jewish Americans, Individuals with access only to analog publications to bridge the digital divide.
Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report

Fiscal Year 2020

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

UNDER SECRETARY FOR MUSEUMS & CULTURE (CONT.)

All three categories were represented. At 79% program diversity was the largest category. While 17% of reported initiatives fell under supplier diversity, the OUSMC exceeded 4 of 6 supplier 

diversity goals*. Of the 53% awarded to small businesses, 12% was awarded to 8(a) small disadvantaged businesses, 24% was awarded to non-8(a) small disadvantaged businesses, and 32% was 

awarded to women-owned small businesses. The majority of initiatives targeted adults (23%). 

*OUSMC achieved 4 out of 6 goals when not including the NASM Revitalization Project. 

Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 10

79%

4% 17%

Initiatives by Category

(Units often choose more than one category.)

Program Diversity

Supplier Diversity

Workforce Diversity

9%

11%

14%

14% 15%

14%

23%

Audience Age Group

(Units often target more than one group.)

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (5th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults
Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report

Fiscal Year 2020

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

UNDER SECRETARY FOR SCIENCE & RESEARCH

Twelve initiatives were submitted by two OUSSR units (NMNH and NZP). Eleven were STEM initiatives. All historically underrepresented groups were represented at a rate that either met or 

exceeded their percentage in the Civilian Labor Force. The highest percent (17%) of initiatives were geared towards Hispanics and Individuals with Disabilities. 

Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 11

NMNH NZP

# of Initiatives 9 3

# of STEM 8 3

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Initiatives by Unit

9%

8%

17%

17% 8%

11%

8%

8%

8% 6%

Percent Served by Race & Ethnicity

(Units often target more than one group.)

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals w/Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-Resourced Communities*

Women

Other **

* Communities with limited and/or under-funded access to educational resources and technology.

** Includes: Non-English-speaking individuals and speakers of other languages
Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report

Fiscal Year 2020

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

UNDER SECRETARY FOR SCIENCE & RESEARCH (CONT.)

All three categories were represented. At 75% program diversity was the largest category. While 19% of reported initiatives fell under supplier diversity, the OUSSR exceeded 4 of 6 supplier 

diversity goals. Of the 35% awarded to small businesses, 8% was awarded to 8(a) small disadvantaged businesses, 17% was awarded to non-8(a) small disadvantaged businesses, and 14% was 

awarded to women-owned small businesses. The majority of initiatives targeted adults and high school students (20%). 

Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 12

75%

6%

19%

Initiatives by Category

(Units often choose more than one category.)

Program Diversity

Supplier Diversity

Workforce Diversity

15%

15%

17% 20%

8%

5%

20%

Audience Age Group

(Units often target more than one group.)

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (5th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults
Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report

Fiscal Year 2020

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR ADVANCEMENT

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Advancement submitted 5 initiatives. One was STEM. All historically underrepresented groups were represented at a rate that either met or exceeded their 

percentage in the Civilian Labor Force. The highest percent (12%) of initiatives were geared towards African Americans and Asian Americans. All three categories were represented. At 45%, 

program diversity was the largest category. These initiatives targeted adults.

* Communities with limited and/or under-funded access to educational resources and technology.

Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 13

12%

11%

11%

11%

11%

11%

11%

11%

11%

Percent Served by Race & Ethnicity

(Units often target more than one group.)

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals w/Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-Resourced Communities*

Women

45%

22%

33%

Initiatives by Category

(Units often choose more than one category.)

Program Diversity

Supplier Diversity

Workforce Diversity
Direct

Report

SI

Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Secretary OEESD

FY20 Virtual Small 

Business Showcase

Hosted the FY20 Virtual Small Business Showcase featuring Service-Disabled 

Veteran-Owned Businesses (SDVOSB) and Historically Underutilized Business 

Zone (HUBZone) Small Businesses in the following business categories: 

Information Technology (Software Development, IT Consulting, Cyber Security 

and IT Hardware); Construction and Facilities Maintenance (Design/Build, 

General Construction, Building Repairs, Mechanical and Electrical Repairs 

Exhibition and Fabrication); Personal Protective Equipment (PPE); Marketing 

(Public Relations, Event Planning, Social Media and Event Marketing); 

Workforce Development (Training and Staffing); Janitorial/Custodial Services; 

Office Supplies and Equipment; and Archival/Collections/Cataloging.

08/19/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No

Supplier Diversity Outreach

Supporting Supplier Diversity 

Goals

Supplier Other Programming for Adults

Secretary OEESD

BELT Training for 

OPS Officers

Provided POWH training to incoming OPS officers at Pennsy MD facility to 

ensure they are aware of their rights and responsibilities as it relates to EEO. FY 2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Women

No

Education

Training

Program;

Workforce

Other Programming for Adults

Secretary OEESD

Operation 

Warfighter 

Education and 

Employment 

Internship/Career 

Fair 

Operation Warfighter (OWF) is a Department of Defense internship program 

that matches qualified wounded, ill and injured Service members with nonfunded federal internships in order for them to gain valuable work experience 

during their recovery and rehabilitation. This process assists with the Service 

members’ reintegration to duty, or transition into the civilian work 

environment where they are able to employ their newly acquired skills in a 

non-military work setting. 

FY 2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No

Internships

Recruitment

Program;

Workforce

College/University

Masters

Other Programming for Adults

Secretary OEESD

New Employee 

Orientation for SE

During FY 20, OEESD began participating in SE orientation session to ensure all 

new SE employees receive POWH training. FY 2020 Ongoing

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Women

No

Education

Training

Program;

Workforce

Other Programming for Adults

Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report - FY 2020 Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 14 
Direct

Report

SI

Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Secretary OEESD

National Science 

Foundation (NSF) 

Committee on 

Equal 

Opportunities in 

Science and 

Engineering

OEESD represented the Smithsonian at NSF's Committee on Equal 

Opportunities in Science and Engineering (CEOSE) and presents information 

regarding SI’s STEM related educational programs and initiatives to the 

committee. Participation is met with high praise and the Institution was 

commended by NSF for its efforts to further STEM education to 

underrepresented groups.

FY 2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Public Programming

Recruitment

Program;

Workforce

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Secretary OEESD

Affinity Group 

Council

OEESD sits on Affinity Group Council made up of the Chairs of SI's Affinity 

Groups. Council meets to discuss outreach initiatives and diversity / inclusion 

related topics. The goal is to maximize collaboration. .

FY 2020 Ongoing

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Women

No

Education

Employee Affinity Groups

Internships

Recruitment

Program;

Workforce

Other Programming for Adults

Secretary OEESD

CAREERS & the 

disABLED Career 

Expo

Participated in the CAREERS & the disABLED Career Expo. This OEESD outreach 

effort reached over 100 individuals with a disability. The Institution shared 

information regarding Schedule A hiring and Reasonable Accommodation 

practices. This resulted in numerous individuals with disabilities learning the 

Smithsonian is a place where they too can succeed and find careers or 

academic appointments.

11/22/2019 Completed Individuals with Disabilities Yes

Internships

Recruitment

Program Other Programming for Adults

Secretary OEESD

EEO for 

Supervisors 

Training

OEESD streamlined mandatory EEO supervisory training. The course is now 

delivered in-house by OEESD staff, is 1-day and incurs no cost to units. The 

updated course was met with high praise.

FY 2020 In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Women

No Training

Program;

Supplier;

Workforce

Other Programming for Adults

Secretary OEESD POWH SE

Smithsonian Enterprises requested in-person refresher session for several staff 

members. 1/21/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Women

Yes Training

Program;

Workforce

Other Programming for Adults

Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report - FY 2020 Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 15 
Direct

Report

SI

Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Secretary OEESD

SERC Women in 

Science ongoing 

conversations Bias 

discussion

In collaboration with EAP and SI Ombuds, facilitated a discussion about 

unconscious biases and micro inequities for the SERC Women in Science 

ongoing conversations series . Discussion was met with positivity and fostered 

great discussion on the topic. 

2/26/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes Training

Program;

Workforce

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Secretary OEESD

Bias Discussion 

with SERC 

Volunteers and 

Docents

In collaboration with EAP and SI Ombuds, facilitated a discussion about 

unconscious biases and micro inequities. 3/11/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Women

No Training

Program;

Workforce

Other Programming for Adults

Secretary OEESD

Developed Virtual 

EEO Courses

During March of FY 2020 OEESD moved all EEO courses to a virtual setting due 

to the COVID-19 pandemic. This included creating a virtual, pre-recorded 

POWH for new employees session and providing EEO training for new 

supervisors in a virtual environment. 

FY 2020 In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Women

No

Training

Virtual Programming

Program;

Supplier;

Workforce

Other Programming for Adults

Secretary OEESD

Virtual POWH 

Training Wilson 

Center

OEESD provided a virtual POWH session for Wilson Center staff. 6/22/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Women

No

Training

Virtual Programming

Program;

Workforce

Other Programming for Adults

Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report - FY 2020 Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 16 
Direct

Report

SI

Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Secretary OEESD

HUBZone Small 

Business Showcase

Twelve invited HUBZone firms will “showcase” their capabilities to SDP 

Liaisons and SI staff. 10/3/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No

Supplier Diversity Outreach

Supporting Supplier Diversity 

Goals

Supplier Other Programming for Adults

Secretary OEESD

Small Business 

Showcase

Held in the Quad and provided opportunities for 26 firms to feature their 

capabilities through exhibit tables and roundtable talks to Smithsonian staff. 10/31/2019 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No

Supplier Diversity Outreach

Supporting Supplier Diversity 

Goals

Supplier Other Programming for Adults

Secretary OEESD

Quarterly SDP 

Meetings with 

Directors

OEESD-SDP and OEESD Director met quarterly with Directors of OCon&PPM, 

OCIO, SE, and SF to discuss ways to further support the Smithsonian's supplier 

diversity goals.

Quarterly Ongoing

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No

Supplier Diversity Outreach

Supporting Supplier Diversity 

Goals

Supplier Other Programming for Adults

Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report - FY 2020 Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 17 
Direct

Report

SI

Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Secretary OEESD

SDP Liaison 

Meetings

Held monthly SDP Liaison meetings to assist the Smithsonian to achieve it's 

supplier diversity goals. SDP Liaisons to serve as the point of contact for OEESD 

and OCon&PPM regarding accomplishment of the Smithsonian Institution 

Supplier Diversity Program goals for the inclusion and use of various categories 

of small and underutilized business by unit procurement delegates. As small 

businesses are identified at workshops, seminars, and/or meetings the SDP 

and/or SDP Liaisons review small business capability statements that are 

provided and orient these firms on how to do business with the Smithsonian. 

The SDP Liaisons coordinate meetings between Smithsonian technical and 

professional staff and firms seeking to do business with the Smithsonian, to 

help the Institution contract with as many categories of small businesses as 

possible. They also periodically review and report on the extent of small 

business utilization by unit procurement delegates. 

Monthly Ongoing

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No

Supplier Diversity Outreach

Supporting Supplier Diversity 

Goals

Supplier Other Programming for Adults

Secretary OEESD We Are One

Released the “We Are One” video that tells the SI’s story of a One Smithsonian 

consisting of more than 13,000 diverse employees, contractors, fellows, 

interns, research associates, volunteers as well as a host of affiliates in 

locations all over the world. This was a result OEESD spearheading the 

Outreach and Recruitment (OAR) Committee (comprised of OHR, OFI, ASCEA, 

SA, Access Smithsonian, and SE) whose mission is to support the Smithsonian’s 

strategic EEO, diversity and inclusion goals. The video was developed to be 

used for branding and recruitment. The video's inaugural public presentation 

was at the start of the August 2020 Supplier Diversity Small Business Showcase. 

8/19/2020 Ongoing

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No

Recruitment

Branding

Internships

Volunteers

Supplier Diversity Outreach

Program

Supplier

Workforce

Other Programming for Adults

Administration OSP Internship Internship in partnership with the Urban Alliance Program. 11/11/2019 - 

8/30/2020 In-progress Hispanics No Internships Program High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Education OFI

Latino Initiatives 

Internship to 

Fellowship (I2F) 

Programming

With support from SLC, OFI managed programming for the 2018-2019 Latino 

Initiatives I2F Program

10/1/2019 - 

5/30/2020 Completed Hispanics No

Fellowships

Internships

Supplier; 

Workforce

College/University

Masters

Education OFI

Asian American 

Initiatives 

Internship to 

Fellowship (I2F) 

Programming

With support from APAC, OFI managed programming for the 2018-2019 Asian 

American Initiatives I2F Program

10/1/2019 - 

5/30/2020 Completed Asian Americans No

Fellowships

Internships Workforce

College/University

Masters

Education OFI

East Los Angeles 

College (ELAC) 

Open Doors 

Program

With colleagues from SLC, coordinated programming for a cohort of students 

doing internships at SI in January 2019 (in spite of the shutdown)

1/7/2020 -

1/25/2020 Completed

Hispanics

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Yes Internships Workforce College/University

Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report - FY 2020 Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 18 
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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education OFI

Conservation 

Internship for 

Broadening Access 

(CIBA)

OFI spearheaded programming for the CIBA internship, a pan-SI program that 

offers internship experiences to a diversity of early professional 

conservationists

10/1/2019 - 

9/30/2020 In-Progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Yes Internships Workforce

College/University

Masters

Education OFI SAAA Internship OFI is working with the Smithsonian African American Association (SAAA) 

towards creating an SAAA Internship Program

Summer 2020

Fall 2020 In-Progress African Americans No Internships Workforce College/University

Education OFI

The Minority 

Awards Internship 

and Fellowship 

Program

OFI managed program aimed at bringing interns and fellows from under 

represented communities to SI FY2020 In-Progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

No Internships Workforce College/University

Education OFI

Convening of the 

Academic 

Appointment 

Diversity and 

Publicity Taskforce 

(AADAPT)

Spearheading activities of AADAPT, a pan-SI group that works to bring 

diversity to SI through academic appointments

10/1/2018 - 

9/30/2019 In-Progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

No

Career Fairs

Conferences w/Colleges or 

Universities

Conferences w/Professional 

Organizations

Fellowships

Internships

Recruitment

Workforce

College/University

Masters

Education OFI

New Inclusion, 

Diversity, and AntiHarassment 

Training 

Requirement for 

Academic 

Appointees

OFI worked with units across SI to institutionalize a new training requirement 

for incoming academic appointees to help strengthen appointees' 

understanding about their rights and responsibilities regarding EEO and 

Prevention of Workplace Harassment.

11/1/2019 - 

9/30/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No

Fellowships

Internships

Training

Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education OFI

Meeting with 

NASM re: Inclusive 

Internship 

Initiatives

OFI staff met with NASM staff to advise/support NASM efforts to design and 

implement internship programs aimed at reaching a greater diversity of 

prospective interns.

1/9/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Yes Internships Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

Education OFI

Meeting with 

Portland 

Community College

OFI staff met with President of Portland Community College (PCC) to discuss 

potential partnership between SI and PCC around bringing a diversity of PCC 

students to SI as interns.

2/12/2020 In-Progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

No

Internships

Memorandums of 

Understanding Informal

Workforce College/University

Education OFI

Meeting with OA 

on Internship 

Diversity

OFI staff met with the Office of Advancement (OA) task force on diversity and 

inclusion to discuss options for developing OA internship programs aimed at 

reaching a greater diversity of prospective interns.

12/10/2019 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

No Internships Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Education OFI

Meeting with SIE 

on Internship 

Diversity

OFI staff met with colleagues from Smithsonian Institution Exhibits (SIE) to 

discuss ideas for strengthening SIE internship programs aimed at recruiting a 

greater diversity of prospective interns.

1/22/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

No Internships Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report - FY 2020 Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 20 
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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education OFI

Meeting with 

American Council 

of Learned 

Societies (ACLS)

OFI staff met with representatives from the American Council of Learned 

Societies (ACLS) to discuss ideas for partnering with SI on new fellowship 

programs related to highlighting challenges related to race and equal 

opportunity in the United States.

6/3/2020 In-Progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

No

Fellowships

Public Programming

Program;

Workforce

Masters

PhD

Education OFI

Meeting with 

National Museum 

of Natural History 

(NMNH) Task 

Force on Diversity

OFI staff met with colleagues from the National Museum of Natural History 

(NMNH) task force on diversity and inclusion to discuss ideas NMNH might 

strengthen their internship programs aimed at reaching prospective interns 

from an ever greater diversity of communities.

6/17/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes Internships Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Education OFI

Here to Career 

Webinar: SI 

Anthropologists

OFI broadcast a webinar with Anthropologist Colleagues from across SI. This 

program was designed to education a diversity of early professionals about 

opportunities in the field and especially at SI.

3/26/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Career Counseling

Digital Promotion of 

Academic Appointments

Digital Promotion of Job 

Opportunities

Fellowships

Virtual Programming

Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Education OFI

Here to Career 

Webinar: Meet the 

Conservators

OFI broadcast a webinar with Conservator Colleagues from across SI. This 

program was designed to education a diversity of early professionals about 

opportunities in the field and especially at SI.

4/2/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Career Counseling

Digital Promotion of 

Academic Appointments

Digital Promotion of Job 

Opportunities

Fellowships

Internships

Public Programming

Volunteer Opportunities

Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report - FY 2020 Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 21 
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Report

SI

Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education OFI

Here to Career 

Webinar: Meet the 

Marine Biologists

OFI broadcast a webinar with Marine Biologist Colleagues from across SI. This 

program was designed to education a diversity of early professionals about 

opportunities in the field and especially at SI.

4/16/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Career Counseling

Digital Promotion of 

Academic Appointments

Digital Promotion of Job 

Opportunities

Fellowships

Internships

Virtual Programming

Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Education OFI

Here to Career 

Webinar: SI Data 

Scientists

OFI broadcast a webinar with Data Science Colleagues from across SI. This 

program was designed to education a diversity of early professionals about 

opportunities in the field and especially at SI.

4/30/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Career Counseling

Digital Promotion of 

Academic Appointments

Digital Promotion of Job 

Opportunities

Fellowships

Internships

Virtual Programming

Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Education OFI

Here to Career 

Webinar: 

Conservation 

Genomics

OFI broadcast a webinar with Conservation Genomics Colleagues from across 

SI. This program was designed to education a diversity of early professionals 

about opportunities in the field and especially at SI.

5/7/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Career Counseling

Digital Promotion of 

Academic Appointments

Digital Promotion of Job 

Opportunities

Fellowships

Internships

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Education OFI

Here to Career 

Webinar: SI 

Librarians

OFI broadcast a webinar with Library Science Colleagues from across SI. This 

program was designed to education a diversity of early professionals about 

opportunities in the field and especially at SI.

6/4/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No

Career Counseling

Digital Promotion of 

Academic Appointments

Digital Promotion of Job 

Opportunities

Fellowships

Internships

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education OFI

Here to Career 

Webinar: SI 

Archivists

OFI broadcast a webinar with Archivist Colleagues from across SI. This program 

was designed to education a diversity of early professionals about 

opportunities in the field and especially at SI.

6/11/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Career Counseling

Digital Promotion of 

Academic Appointments

Digital Promotion of Job 

Opportunities

Fellowships

Internships

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Education OFI

Here to Career 

Webinar: SI 

Wildlife 

Veterinarians

OFI broadcast a webinar with Wildlife Veterinarian Colleagues from across SI. 

This program was designed to education a diversity of early professionals 

about opportunities in the field and especially at SI.

7/9/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Career Counseling

Digital Promotion of 

Academic Appointments

Digital Promotion of Job 

Opportunities

Fellowships

Internships

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Education OFI New Normal Survey

Worked with the New Normal Working group to survey recent, current, and 

prospective SI academic appointees re: participation in a survey to gauge their 

opinions re: diversity and inclusion in the new normal. 

6/1/2020 - 

7/31/2020 In-Progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No

Fellowships

Internships

Research Associates

Program;

Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Education SCLDA

The Black Panther 

Film and More: 

Using the 

Smithsonian 

Learning Lab to Go 

Global and Bring 

the World into 

your Classroom

In New Jersey, at William Paterson University's yearlong Diversity and Equity in 

Teaching and Learning professional development series, SCLDA facilitated a 

workshop demonstrating how to use African art and the Smithsonian Learning 

Lab to spark cross-cultural conversations, support interdisciplinary learning, 

and develop critical thinking and observation skills. Attendees included 20 preK-12 teachers and the university's Professors-in-Residence.

10/4/2019 Completed African Americans

Women

Yes Teacher Workshops Program Other Programming for Adults

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SI

Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education SCLDA

Norwood School: 

Leveraging Digital 

Museum 

Resources for 

Meaningful 

Classroom Learning

15 participants will learn how to spark inquiry, support interdisciplinary 

learning, and develop critical thinking and observation skills with digital 

museum resources from across the Smithsonian. The session will include a 

tutorial on how to use the Smithsonian Learning Lab (learninglab.si.edu) to 

create their own teaching collections that transfer session ideas and museum 

resources into the classroom.

10/16/2019 Completed Hispanics

Women

Yes Teacher Workshops Program Other Programming for Adults

Education SCLDA

2019 APAIP & LIP 

Supporting the 

Innovative 

Teaching of Ethnic 

Studies in Texas

This project is a collaborative educational initiative designed to develop in partnership with 19 leading 

Texas educators to disseminate instructional materials highlighting Asian Pacific American and Latino 

history, art, and culture for the state of Texas, high school Ethnic Studies courses. Accompanying 

Learning Lab Digital content, includes:

"Classroom Activity Using Images of Immigration and Identity from the National Portrait Gallery, the 

New York Times, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum" - <a href="<a 

href="http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/4VoqRgqWbxcB3MLH">http://learninglab.si.edu/q/llc/4VoqRgqWbxcB3MLH</a>">http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/4VoqRgqWbxcB3MLH</a>

"Digital Museum Resources for the High School Ethnic Studies Classroom (City of Austin Parks & 

Recreation)" - http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/44WqBJtvMHyVXzFB

"Facing Genocide: The US Response to the Holocaust" - http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/tMAT1dzv81aUq9NU

"Digital Museum Resources for the High School Ethnic Studies Classroom" (Irving Arts Center ) - 

http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/LpKBcT0V6aj5vibT

10/16/2019 - 

10/29/2019 Completed Asian AmericansHispanics

Yes

Education

Teacher Workshops Program Other Programming for Adults

Education SCLDA

Museums Go 

Global Creating 

Exemplary Global 

Competence 

Lessons for the 

Smithsonian's 

Learning Lab

Working collaboratively, 11 classroom teachers and museum educators will 

meet over the course of the semester to connect museum collections and 

global issues. Group will first learn about ways to leverage museum collections 

to educate for global competence, then build lessons using museum 

collections to be shared on the Smithsonian Learning Lab.

10/16/2019 - 

11/21/2019 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Women

Yes

Education

Teacher Workshops Program Other Programming for Adults

Education SCLDA

2019 National 

Council for the 

Social Studies 

(NCSS) Annual 

Conference Booth

Shared content with 350 educators at the 2019 National Council for the Social 

Studies (NCSS) Annual Conference - Learning Lab, content from the Ethnic 

Studies program from SCLDA with SI Affiliate museums, and also content from 

NMAH, NPG, SAAM, and NMAI.

11/22/2019 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Conferences w/Professional 

Organizations

Program Other Programming for Adults

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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education SCLDA

Our Lives as Art / 

Nuestras vidas 

como arte: Art, 

Creative Writing, 

and Public 

Speaking: A 

Portraiture 

Workshop for the 

ESOL Classroom

A workshop for 22 English Language Learner parents whose children are at 

Fairfax County Public Schools - as part of their Family Literacy Program and 

training.

11/13/2019 Completed

Hispanics

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No Public Programming Program

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Education SCLDA

ACTFL 2019: 

People, Place, and 

Time: How Art 

Reflects Culture - 

Smithsonian 

Collections

Presentation given to 56 teachers in collaboration with two Spanish teachers 

from Norris School (MD) and Bullis School (MD) on using the Smithsonian 

Learning Lab, Harvard Project Zero thinking routines, and the U.N. Sustainable 

Development Goals to promote global competence in the world language 

classroom. Featured Learning Lab collections created by the teachers as part of 

the Latino Initiatives Pool grant, Teacher Creativity Studios: Fostering Global 

Competence in the Classroom.

11/23/2019 Completed Hispanics No

Conferences w/Professional 

Organizations

Program Other Programming for Adults

Education SCLDA

Becoming US: A 

New History 

Curriculum from 

Smithsonian 

(Webinar)

Becoming US is an inclusive curriculum that presents U.S. history through the 

prism of migration. In this webinar, museum educators will introduce 50 

teachers to "Becoming US" units that will support primary-source analysis and 

discourse strategies.

12/3/2019 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Yes

Teacher Workshops

Virtual Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Education SCLDA

Re-Imagining 

Migration DC 

Learning Seminar

A series of sessions with SI, National Gallery of Art, and 30 Washington, D.C. 

educators to explore key new ideas, tools and puzzles associated with 

educating immigrant-origin youth and their peers for a world on the move; 

support the design, implementation and analysis of re-imagining Fellows 

projects; reflect on our own and students learning to improve our practice; 

and refine our shared Re-imagining Migration framework and toolsets to 

inform theory and practice beyond our seminar group. Learning Lab digital 

content can be found here: Re-Imagining Migration DC Seminar Series, 2019-

2020: Session 1 (http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Lq6ditXx05TehVBe); Session 2, 

http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/k4EmCbcsANpgv1Vc.

12/17/2019, 

1/27/2020 In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No

Education

Teacher Workshops Program Other Programming for Adults

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SI

Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education SCLDA

2019 NAEA 

Webinar: 

Constructing 

Curriculum with 

the Smithsonian

322 participants joined three museum educators from the Smithsonian 

Institution to learn more about how digital museum resources at the new 

Smithsonian Learning Lab can support a more inclusive curriculum. From 

inquiry-based strategies in examining the American experience depicted 

through portraiture to unpacking the context of historical narratives 

communicated through art with your students, the Learning Lab holds 

potential for all grade levels. Teachers and students can create, customize, and 

adapt personal collections of resources, and use interactive tools to annotate 

resources noting details, pose discussion questions, and sort resources on a 

spectrum or categories to make connections between multiple artworks. 

12/11/2019 Completed

African Americans

Hispanics

Women

Yes

Education

Teacher Workshops

Training

Virtual Programming

Program Other Programming for Adults

Education SCLDA

NNSP 2020: 

Museums Go 

Global: Teachers 

Partnering with 

Museum Educators

At the National Network of Schools in Partnership (NNSP) 2020 Conference in 

Philadelphia, SCLDA co-presented a session for 13 school administrators on 

Museums Go Global, a collaborative project with Washington International 

School (WIS) focusing on using museum collections to educate for global 

competence. Presenters included the project leader from WIS and a literature 

teacher from Seneca Valley High School (MD) who showed the Learning Lab 

collection she created as part of the project.

1/27/2020 Completed

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Women

Yes

Conferences w/Professional 

Organizations

Program Other Programming for Adults

Education SCLDA

2020 Winter InService for Fairfax 

County Public 

School Librarians

How can learners curate digital resources of personal relevance? How might 

you support students curiosity in STEM? The Smithsonian Learning Lab 

(learninglab.si.edu) is a free digital platform that will support you in these 

goals. Examples were shared with 19 FCPS librarians covered a variety of 

topics and included content ideas and strategies that are transferable to a 

wide variety of age ranges.

1/28/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Women

Yes

Education

Training

Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Education SCLDA

Girlhood 

Leadership and 

Learning Resources 

for Middle School 

Students

SCLDA joined NMAH as a guest educator in their collaboration with an 

afterschool program of 10 middle school students at Excel Academy Public 

School (DCPS). The students will be developing Smithsonian Learning Lab 

collections that include Smithsonian and external resources of interest, as well 

as media that they create in response. Each collaborative collection will be 

focused on the five main themes of NMAHs Girlhood exhibit, opening in June 

2020. 

2/4/2020 In-progress

African Americans

Women

Yes Education Program Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education SCLDA

Digital Access to 

Community 

Knowledge and 

Smithsonian 

Collections for 

Alaska Native 

Education

The Smithsonian Institution’s Arctic Studies Center in Anchorage, Alaska (ASCAlaska, National Museum of Natural History), in partnership with the 

Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access (SCLDA), is building a 

dedicated space on SCLDA’s Learning Lab -- https://learninglab.si.edu/org/sascak -- to provide teachers and students in rural and urban Alaskan schools with 

access to instructional materials and digital resources on Alaska Native 

cultures, languages, arts, and Indigenous knowledge. This project is a 

collaborative educational initiative designed to develop and disseminate 

replicable, adaptable instructional materials and training for teachers in how 

to use them,

targeting school districts throughout Alaska, an "underperforming" state with 

a largely rural, underserved minority Alaska Native population. 

10/1/2019 - 

9/30/2020 In-progress

Native Americans

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Alaskan Natives

Yes Virtual Programming Program

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Other Programming for Adults

Education SCLDA

National History 

Day Learning 

Resources

Collaborated with Smithsonian educators to develop 20 Learning Lab units 

(#NHD2020) for National History Day (https://www.nhd.org/), a nation-wide 

educational opportunity for middle and high school students to engage with a 

history topic and create an in-depth research project, which is then judged at 

the local, state and national level. Smithsonian content includes units on 

Navajo Code Talkers, African-American soldiers, Race & Gender in the Military, 

Hispanic activists, Women's Suffrage and Women artists.

10/1/2019 - 

4/30/2020 In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Virtual Programming Program

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Education SCLDA

Learning Lab 

Collections created 

by SCLDA Fellows 

FY2020

SCLDA's research fellows created 3 diverse Learning Lab units. 

"Gender, Race and Sexuality" brings together resources from different Smithsonian units 

useful for investigations on gender, sexuality and LGBTQ+ issues. 

"Women and Science" discusses the challenges women faced when they entered male 

dominant institutions, such as employment in the fields of science, technology, 

engineering and mathematics. They faced struggle for gender inclusion, and in some 

cases, added racial discrimination. In many cases, the accomplishments of women and 

people of color were rendered invisible in the official histories of institutions. With the 

pioneering works of feminist activists and gender scholars, counter narratives are now 

emerging to illuminate the ongoing project of racial and gender inclusion in the 21st 

century. 

"Exploring the meaning of 'social inclusion' through Digital Storytelling" supported a 

workshop where college faculty and graduate students practiced storyboarding and 

editing audio/visual materials as well as discuss how narrative structure and modes of 

storytelling vary in the diverse culture contexts in which we work and live. 

10/1/2019 - 

4/30/2020 In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

LGBTQIA+

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Training

Virtual Programming

Program

College/University

Other Programming for Adults

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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education SCLDA

Learning Lab 

Collections about 

Ancient Chinese 

History

In this activity, students will analyze figures from the Terracotta Army, made 

for China's First Emperor, Qin Shihuang (259 – 210 BCE), in order to explore 

the artistic practices of a newly unified China during the Qin dynasty (221 – 

206 BCE). Students will explore the elements of art and principles of design 

used in the terracotta warrior figures before designing their own papercraft 

terracotta warrior. The Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum 

collaborated with the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access, and 

the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery to create 

the units. The collections can be viewed on the Learning Lab here: 

https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/20693. 

2018 through 

on-going 2020

In-progress Asian Americans No

Education

Virtual Programming Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

Education SCLDA

Introduction to the 

Smithsonian 

Learning Lab for 

George 

Washington 

University

This workshop introduced 12 GWU faculty to the Smithsonian Learning Lab. 

Participants learned how to find resources and develop collections to use with 

their students in the classroom. The collection, Teaching with the Smithsonian 

Learning Lab: A Workshop for George Washington University Faculty and 

Graduate Students is available in Learning Lab: http://learninglab.si.edu/q/llc/qB04kKcMKJMrMEct.

1/8/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Native Americans

Women

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Arab Americans, Jewish Americans

No

Education

Teacher Workshops Program

College/University

PhD

Education SCLDA

African American 

History Month 

Smithsonian Digital 

Resources on 

Learning Lab

These classroom resources, from different Smithsonian museums, focus on 

African American history and culture. 1/13/2020 Completed African Americans No

Heritage Month Programming

Virtual Programming Program

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Education SCLDA

LGBTQ Resources 

in the Learning Lab

Digital content produced by SCLDA highlighting the many societal 

contributions of LGBTQ Americans. Content includes: "Bessie Smith: Examining 

Portraiture" - http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/0a9rmJkTqbd3Nw3p and "Asian 

Pacific American Activists and Leaders" - http://learninglab.si.edu/q/llc/MR1jszd7YDA7gujx

10/1/2019 - 

9/30/2020 In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

LGBTQIA+

Women

No

Education

Teacher Workshops

Virtual Programming

Program Other Programming for Adults

Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report - FY 2020 Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 28 
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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education SCLDA

Hispanic Heritage 

Digital Resources 

in the Learning Lab

SCLDA creates a variety of digital content for teachers related to Hispanic 

Heritage, as well as supporting teacher workshops where free digital content 

for teachers is created. In the Learning Lab (https://learninglab.si.edu) search 

for #LatinoHAC #EthnicStudies. For example, you'll find: "Domingo Ulloa's 

'Bracero": and "Bittersweet Harvest': Using Art and Historical Documentation 

to Deepen Understanding" - http://learninglab.si.edu/q/llc/GYViiEATrgon0g3C; "Los Angeles Latino Families Photo Project" - 

http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/56cdKrxr63UVrGFp; "Artist and Archivist: The 

Papers and Legacy of Angel Suarez Rosado" - http://learninglab.si.edu/q/llc/3ojxNxs2mM6mku7P

10/1/2019 - 

9/30/2020 In-progress

Hispanics

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

No

Education

Teacher Workshops

Virtual Programming

Program Other Programming for Adults

Education SCLDA

Asian Pacific 

American History 

Month 

Smithsonian Digital 

Resources on 

Learning Lab

These classroom resources from different Smithsonian museums focus on 

Asian Pacific American history and culture - http://learninglab.si.edu/q/llc/qKd41d4dVAjTu5Xr.

10/1/2019 - 

9/30/2020 In-progress

Asian Americans

LGBTQIA+

Women

No

Education

Virtual Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Education SCLDA

American Indian 

Heritage Month 

Resources in the 

Learning Lab

These classroom resources from different Smithsonian museums focus on 

American Indian history and culture - http://learninglab.si.edu/q/llc/bj7awXU7isKVJU47.

10/1/2019 - 

9/30/2020 In-progress

Native Americans

Women

No

Education

Virtual Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

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SI

Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education SCLDA

Digital content in 

Learning Lab 

representing 

Women

Topical collections created by SCLDA staff for teachers explore women and 

their many contributions to history, art, and culture. Collections include 

content developed from the #BecauseOfHerStory and #5WomenArtists 

initiatives: "Nicholasa Mohr and New York's Puerto Rican Migration" - 

http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/nn9WtGbnVp8d5s5K; "Ruth Law: Breaking 

Barriers in Aviation and the War Effort" - http://learninglab.si.edu/q/llc/w0c1R4AV9nRY2BrV; "Learning about the Unconstitutional Deportation of 

American Citizens in the 1930s through an Individual's Experience: Emilia 

Castañeda" - http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/DGws3nP5CBMwekL8; "Athletes 

and Aviators: Women Who Shaped History" - http://learninglab.si.edu/q/llc/rp91qms01Rb49qpz; "Can you name #5WomenArtists" - 

http://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/C3b1R6wzdU3TAePh

10/1/2019 - 

9/30/2020 In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Virtual Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Education SCLDA

Building Digital 

Learning Content 

for Your Classroom

Workshop for 18 educators in Washington, D.C. on using the Smithsonian 

Learning Lab to access digital resources from the Freer|Sackler and create 

interactive learning experiences with them. First workshop features the work 

of Hokusai, while the second features the work of Tessai.

3/7/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Women

Yes

Education

Teacher Workshops Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Education SCLDA

Digital Resources 

for Distance 

Learning - District 

of Columbia Public 

Schools

In response to a direct request from the District of Columbia Public Schools to 

support their distance learning from home, SCLDA created a website and 

aggregated learning collections; Smithsonian educators identified Smithsonian 

resources aligned to the DCPS curriculum in English/Language Arts, Social 

Studies, and Science. These resources were distributed through an email link 

from the DCPS Superintendent on April 14 to all parents and caregivers of 

DCPS students, and have been posted to the DCPS website since mid-March. 

Resources for: Kindergarten | First Grade | Second Grade | Third Grade | 

Fourth Grade | Fifth Grade | Sixth Grade | Seventh Grade | Eighth Grade | 

Science K–12, April 14–April 24, 2020

3/11/2020 - 

4/24/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Yes

Education

Virtual Programming Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Education SCLDA

Smithsonian 

Distance Learning 

Website - Spanish 

Language 

Resources

Aggregated Smithsonian digital content and Learning Lab collections of 

Spanish language and bilingual educational resources aimed at supporting 

teachers for English/Language Arts, Social Studies, Science and Spanish 

Language for national audiences. Resources for: Spanish Language PK-12 

(https://s.si.edu/national-spanishlanguage)

4/10/2020 - 

5/10/2020 Completed Hispanics Yes Education Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Education SCLDA

2020 Albert 

Einstein Fellows 

Professional 

Development

--Introduction to the Smithsonian Learning Lab

--Overview of Innovation through Objects

--STEM Interactives

--Redesigning NMAAHC SLL collections

5/1/2020 - 

7/30/2020 Completed African Americans Yes

Teacher Workshops

Virtual Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education SCLDA

Choosing to See Reimagining 

Migration and 

Museum Education 

in Post COVID-19 

times

Human stories of migration permeate our daily lives. Forced and voluntary, 

international and internal, ancient and contemporary, migration stories live in 

our bodies and shape our cultural repertoires. They color our sense of self, our 

languages and our gaze, as well as our blind spots. COVID-19 has exposed the 

structural inequities that put our immigrant-origin and minority youth and 

families at risk.

5/1/2020 Completed

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No Virtual Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Education SSEC

WiSTEM2D 

Classroom 

Activities

WiSTEM2D or Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, 

Manufacturing and Design is a Johnson & Johnson (J&J) led initiative to reach 

1 million girls by 2020. The initiative aims to promote girls and women in the 

sciences with a focus on reaching students and having them consider early on 

the potential benefits of a career in STEM2D. SSEC continued to activity 

support the WiSTEM2D initiative in 2019 by developed lessons and activities, 

training volunteers, assisting with event planning and procurement of material 

supplies. We have engaged a number of SI stakeholders as part of the work 

including the help of NMAAHC to provide a hands-on STEM activity based 

around diversity and inclusion themes. We have also leveraged SSEC’s 

Smithsonian Science for Global Goals and international outreach to maximize 

the initiative’s reach globally. Events and activities include classroom 

engagements in cities across the United States with additional international 

engagements in Costa Rica.

10/1/2019 - 

1/31/2020 Completed

African Americans

Hispanics

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Public Programming Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Education SSEC

WiSTEM2D Career 

Poster 

Dissemination

WiSTEM2D or Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, 

Manufacturing and Design is a Johnson & Johnson (J&J) led initiative to reach 

1 million girls by 2020. The initiative aims to promote girls and women in the 

sciences with a focus on reaching students and having them consider early on 

the potential benefits of a career in STEM2D. As part of these efforts, SSEC has 

developed a career poster for dissemination at STEM and youth-based events. 

To date in FY 2019-2020, SSEC has distributed 5,487 posters. Venues include 

the Smithsonian Affiliate Museum: Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 

Greater Cincinnati STEM Collaborative, Ciencia Puerto Rico, Johnson & 

Johnson LATAM in Costa Rica, and other special outreach efforts involving SI 

stakeholders. Johnson & Johnson, has been well engaged in the sponsored 

effort. 

10/1/2019 - 

1/31/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Public Programming Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report - FY 2020 Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 31 
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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education SSEC

Dissemination 

Webinars for 

COVID-19! How 

can I protect 

myself and others? 

To support the release of the Smithsonian Science for Global Goals module, 

COVID-19! How can I protect myself and others? the Smithsonian Science 

Education Center hosted four dissemination webinars May-July 2020. These 

webinars were intended to support educators, parents and caregivers to 

engage young people in their lives with the module, and to help young people 

better understand COVID-19 and how to keep themselves safe. 

5/20/2020

5/27/2020

7/1/2020

7/14/2020

Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Program Other Programming for Adults

Education SSEC

International 

Visitor Leadership 

Program visit to 

SSEC Office

Professionals from across the globe came to visit the SSEC offices to meet with 

professional services, curriculum, and the digital team to experience hands on, 

inquiry- based science education resources and techniques. This program was 

arranged by the Graduate School USA as part of the International Visitor 

Leadership Program.

10/9/2020 Completed Women Yes

Education

Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Education SSEC

2019 Family Night 

#6 in Colorado

Approximately 350 family members from 12 schools in the Denver Metro area 

enjoyed an evening at the Museum, free of charge, to explore the “Extreme 

Sports” exhibit, one of four Planetarium showings, and select museum 

exhibits. The Denver Museum of Nature & Science is dedicated to welcoming 

everyone and has put forth an effort to provide information in both English 

and Spanish, creating a welcoming format for our dual-language families. The 

theme of the exhibits support the students’ learning in the classroom with the 

STC science units provided through the Colorado LASER Initiative.

11/18/2019 Completed

African Americans

Hispanics

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Public Programming Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Education SSEC

Smithsonian 

Science for Global 

Goals at New York 

City Public Schools’ 

Sustainability in 

Society Training

On December 13, SSEC Program Manager, Leadership Development and 

International Programs, Katherine Blanchard and Publishing Assistant, 

Curriculum and Communications, Hannah Osborn presented at Sustainability 

in Society. Sustainability in Society was a full day professional development for 

New York City public school teachers run by the New York City Department of 

Education Office of Sustainability and held at Teachers College, Columbia 

University. Katherine and Hannah presented four one-hour sessions on SSEC’s 

Smithsonian Science for Global Goals and the new Food! module. They spoke 

to over 100 teachers on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and how to 

implement this free curriculum in their classrooms to further their goals in 

sustainability.

12/13/2019 Completed

African Americans

Hispanics

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Public Programming

Teacher Workshops

Training

Program Other Programming for Adults

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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education SSEC

Zero Barriers In 

STEM Education 

Advisory 

Committee 

Meeting

On Friday, January 31st the Smithsonian Science Education Center hosted an 

Advisory Committee meeting for the Zero Barriers in STEM Education initiative 

that is supported through funding provided by General Motors. The meeting 

was attended by the 17 Advisory Committee members, who are subject 

matter experts in accessibility and represent universities, the private sector, 

non-profits, DC Public Schools, General Motors and three Smithsonian units 

including SCLDA, Cooper Hewitt and SI Access. The Advisory committee 

provided input on the direction on the initiative as well as began curate an 

Accessibility and Inclusion in STEM Classrooms workbook which will include 

strategies to ensure that STEM classrooms are inclusive and accessible to all 

learners along the continuum of human ability and experience. Through this 

work the SSEC will work directly with 28 schools in DCPS to provide them 

curricular resources and supporting professional development that will 

incorporate the strategies identified by the advisory committee while 

highlighting accessibility efforts within the Smithsonian.

1/31/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Advisory Boards

Education

Public Programming

Program Other Programming for Adults

Education SSEC

STEM Education 

Summit: Building a 

Coalition for 

Attracting and 

Retaining a Diverse 

STEM Teaching 

Workforce

On March 6-8, the Smithsonian Science Education Center, supported by Shell 

Oil Company, hosted its fourth summit and second at Xavier University in New 

Orleans, Louisiana. The STEM Education Summit convened 19 teams of 

educators and their mentors from across the nation to create plans for 

attracting or retaining a diverse STEM teacher workforce in their schools, 

districts, or regions. Teams were paired with a mentor to support the creation 

of their logic model and each group will continue to work together over the 

next eighteen months to implement the activities outlined in their plans and 

move the work forward. In preparation for the weekend’s work, a series of 

three webinars were provided for participants and mentors on topics including 

project management and implicit bias in the weeks leading up to the summit.

3/6/2020 - 

3/8/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Public Programming

Teacher Workshops

Training

Program;

Workforce

Other Programming for Adults

Education SSEC

How to Best 

Support Your 

Child’s Science 

Learning in the 

Time of COVID-19

Webinar hosted by American University to share distance education resources 

produced by the Smithsonian. Resources that focus on phenomenon and 

science and engineering practices were especially highlighted.

5/6/2020 Completed Women Yes

Education

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Program Other Programming for Adults

Education SSEC

STEM for All Video 

showcase

The Smithsonian Science Education Center hosted a video in the STEM for All 

Showcase to communicate the work done with the Office of English Language 

Acquisition on English Language Learner supports for teachers. The Showcase 

had a 171 videos of projects funded by government organizations. Each video 

was hosted by the researching organization and provided opportunities for 

comments and discussion.

5/5/2020 - 

5/12/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Program Other Programming for Adults

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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education SSEC

More Smithsonian 

Exploration

On Wednesday, May 20th, SSEC Program Specialist Kat Fancher presented a 

webinar hosted by Noble Education Initiative on distance educational tools 

developed by the SSEC. Tools discussed included games, simulations, and the 

new COVID19! module.

5/20/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Program Other Programming for Adults

Education SSEC

Smithsonian K-12 

Science Education 

Action Planning 

Institute

Teachers, administrators, community and business partners, informal 

educators, and parents from 22 countries virtually participated in three-day 

institute from July 28-30. The Smithsonian K-12 Science Education Action 

Planning Institute supported the efforts of teams and individuals to plan 

strategically for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) 

instruction in the coming months in spite of uncertainties resulting from the 

COVID-19 pandemic. Attendees shaped their own experiences by choosing 

from 16 coaching sessions and 13 different content sessions on topics ranging 

from social emotional learning to equity and accessibility. The program 

included presentations from the Acting Undersecretary for Education, SI 

Gardens, FONZ, SERC, NASM, Access Smithsonian, SCLDA, Cooper Hewitt, and 

many external partners including funder Johnson & Johnson. Information from 

these sessions was used to inform the writing of participants’ action plans to 

guide their work in the coming months.

7/28/2020 - 

7/30/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Program Other Programming for Adults

Education SSEC

 Zero Barriers in 

STEM Education 

Professional 

Development

On August 17 – 20, 2020 the Smithsonian Science Education Center hosted the 

Zero Barriers in STEM Education virtual professional development, for 14 

District of Columbia Public School (DCPS) 4th and 8th grade teachers. The Zero 

Barriers initiative is supported through funding by General Motors and Access 

Smithsonian’s Smithsonian Accessibility Innovation Fund (SAIF). As part of the 

professional development, teacher leaders used the, Zero Barriers in STEM 

Education Accessibility and Inclusion Workbook, to support their basic 

understanding of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and strategies that 

promote accessible and inclusive classrooms. Teacher leaders also participated 

in group work and live discussions to review Smithsonian Science Education 

Center physical science curriculum and begin collaborative planning for 

implementation of the curriculum, and UDL strategies, in their classrooms 

throughout the 2020-2021 school year.

8/17/2020 - 

8/20/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Public Programming

Teacher Workshops

Training

Virtual Programming

Program Other Programming for Adults

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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education SSEC

 Smithsonian 

Science Summer 

School (S4)

Between June 22nd and August 30th, the SSEC supported Smithsonian Science 

Summer School (S4) for local DC students. A total of 90 students participated 

in the S4 program. SSEC trained 5 STEM teachers through virtual professional 

development on June 22nd and June 24th. Teachers and students were 

provided curriculum and materials adapted to be used in a virtual summer 

school program. Students and teachers also attended virtual, highlyimmersive STEM experience through both NMAAHC and SI Gardens. 4th grade 

students learned about energy and 7th grade students learned about water 

conservation. Each of these topics aligned with the materials and curriculum 

provided for their summer learning activities.

6/22/2020 - 

8/30/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Public Programming

Training

Virtual Programming

Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Education SSEC

South Carolina 

Science Education 

Leadership 

Association 

Meeting

O’Donnell presented at the SCSELA meeting on March 13, 2020. The major 

goal of SCSELA is to enhance the quality of science education for elementary, 

middle, and secondary and college students in South Carolina through the 

improvement of science leadership.

3/13/2020 Completed

African Americans

Hispanics

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Program Other Programming for Adults

Education SSEC

Council of State 

Science 

Supervisors Annual 

Conference 

O’Donnell presented with Office of Science & Technology Policy on the 

CoSTEM Federal STEM Strategic Plan at the Council of State Science 

Supervisors (CSSS) Annual Conference “Building Capacity for Creating 

Equitable Systems through Transformational Leadership” held virtually March 

30th – April 1st.

3/30/2020 Completed

African Americans

Hispanics

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Program Other Programming for Adults

Education SSEC

The Global 

Classroom

The Global Classroom launched by Scarisbrick Hall School in Lancashire UK in 

partnership with the World Health Organization and UNICEF aims to bring 

together the world’s school children across the globe to connect and have a 

voice during the COVID-19 global pandemic. This monthly series features 

world-recognized speakers, celebrities and distinguished guests including Bear 

Grylls, one of the most recognized faces in terms of survival and outdoor 

adventure, Captain Dave Henson OBE who helped to found the Invictus Games 

which is also championed by Prince Harry, multi-music award winner, Heather 

Small who achieved massive success with M People and the mother of Lady 

Gaga, Cynthia Germanotta, Goodwill Ambassador for Mental Health from the 

WHO. Dr. Carol O'Donnell, Dr. Brian Mandell, and Ms. Katherine Blanchard of 

SSEC use their "teacher" voices to engage the students who log on in active 

hands-on learning. Over 14,000 students participate live in each Global 

Classroom event.

5/5/2020

6/5/2020

7/9/2020

Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Women

Yes

Employee Affinity Groups

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education SSEC

National PTA 

Podcast

With remote learning wrapping up and summer camps canceled, many 

families are at a loss for what to do with their children this summer. The 

National Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) spoke with two experts, Dr. 

Rebecca Silverman and Dr. Carol O’Donnell, who offered creative ideas for 

keeping kids entertained and learning this summer. Dr. Silverman offered 

ideas for cultivating a love of reading in the Growing Great Readers podcast. 

Dr. O’Donnell talked about fostering curiosity through science projects and 

everyday opportunities to ask questions in the Raising Curious Kids podcast. 

This article provides a summary of these interviews.

5/7/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Program Other Programming for Adults

Education SSEC

21st CCLC Summer 

Symposium

O’Donnell presented at the 21st CCLC Summer Symposium on "COVID-19: 

How Can I Protect Myself and Others?" Guide for Youth through 21st-Century 

Community Learning Centers. The 21st CCLC program supports the creation of 

community learning centers that provide academic enrichment opportunities 

during non-school hours for children, particularly students who attend highpoverty and low-performing schools. The program helps students meet state 

and local student standards in core academic subjects, such as reading and 

math; offers students a broad array of enrichment activities that can 

complement their regular academic programs; and offers literacy and other 

educational services to the families of participating children.

6/11/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Education SSEC

GirlUp! COVID-19! 

Module Webinar X 

Girl Up STEM for 

Social Good

O’Donnell presented at the GirlUp event. The workshop purpose is to enhance 

your knowledge on the science of COVID-19 and how to best protect yourself 

and others. Expect to gain an understanding of what’s happening in the world 

right now, how the virus spreads, how the virus disproportionately affects 

different communities, and how staying informed about COVID-19 can make a 

difference. The COVID-19 guide for Youth was developed by the Smithsonian 

Science Education Center in collaboration with the World Health Organization 

and the Inter-academy Partnership.

7/13/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Education TSA ¡¡CUENTOS!!

Cuentos means stories, and this delightful Discovery Theater original offers a 

fresh bilingual take on three magical tales. The Little Red Hen asks the 

question “Who will help?” Jack and the Beanstalk proves that small is mighty. 

And as for The Gingerbread Man, well, he’s just one bad cookie. Filled with 

delightful songs, puppets, and audience participation, this story-time 

spectacular is not to be missed! 

10/9/2019 - 

10/11/2019 Completed African Americans No Public Programming Program Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report - FY 2020 Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 36 
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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education TSA

Hoop of Life with 

Ty Defoe

With his vivid presence as a performer, Ty Defoe recounts an eloquent story of 

life though movement, music, and words rooted in his Oneida and Ojibwe 

heritage. He uses the athletic form of the ritual Hoop Dance to explore Native 

American stories framed by traditional and contemporary culture, history, and 

values. As the colorful interlinked hoops move, they speak of the unity and 

interdependence of all living things—and offer lessons for our everyday lives.

11/1/2019 Completed African Americans

Native Americans

No Public Programming Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Education TSA

Hear me say my 

name

"I am not your mascot, and I don't live in a tipi. See me for who I am, hear me 

say my name." How do American Indian stereotypes, prejudice, and identity 

shape the discussion of what it means to be a young person in our country 

today? This original multimedia play, created by Smithsonian Associates 

Discovery Theater in collaboration with the American Indian Museum, tackles 

America's assumptions about American Indians and starts a conversation with 

audiences reclaiming rich history, challenges, hopes, and dreams. After the 

play, students are invited to explore the exhibition galleries with self-guided 

materials to learn more. 

11/21/2019 - 

11/23/2019

12/5/2019 - 

12/7/2019

12/12/2019 - 

12/14/2019

12/26/2019 - 

12/31/2019

2/6/2020 - 

2/7/2020 

2/13/2020 -

2/14/2020

2/20/2020

2/27/2020 - 

2/28/2020

3/5/2020

3/26/2020

5/21/2020

5/29/2020

In-progress

African Americans

Native Americans

No Public Programming Program

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Education TSA

Discovery Play 

Series Grandma’s 

Thanksgiving Visit

Back by popular demand! Grandma has arrived for the holiday—and that can 

only mean making puppets, cooking together, washing the car, and learning 

lots of fun new things. This musical play with a great big heart brings the 

whole audience into the family with singing, finger play, and call-and response 

as we all give thanks for being together.

11/21/2019 - 

11/22/2019

11/26/2020

Completed African Americans No Public Programming Program Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Education TSA Seasons of Light

Joy, warmth, and community illuminate seasonal holiday celebrations the 

world over. Back for its 20th season, this signature Discovery Theater show 

celebrates the history and customs of Diwali (Devali), Chanukah, Las Posadas, 

Ramadan, Sankta Lucia Day, Kwanzaa, Christmas, and the First Nations’ 

tradition of the Winter Solstice in an interactive event that bridges 

communities and cultures. This show sells out early, so get your tickets now!

12/2/2019 - 

12/19/2019 Completed African Americans No Public Programming Program Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

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Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education TSA

Special Holiday 

Movie Screening 

The Snowy Day

Join us for a holiday-season screening of the award-winning Amazon Original 

Special The Snowy Day, winner of two Daytime Emmy Awards including 

Outstanding Pre-School Children’s Animated Program. Based on Ezra Jack 

Keats’ classic 1962 story. Narrated by Laurence Fishburne and with character 

voices by Regina King, Angela Bassett, and Jamie-Lynn Sigler, the film follows 

young Peter’s magical snowy walk to his Nana's house to bring home their 

Christmas Eve dinner. One the way, he meets some new (and diverse) friends 

who come together to celebrate many traditions. A very special day indeed!

This program made possible by the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation and Amazon 

Studios.

12/11/2019 - 

12/18/2019 Completed African Americans No Public Programming Program Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Education TSA

Once Upon a 

Moon at UdvarHazy

Let’s go to the moon! Celebrate the spirit of the Apollo landing in this exciting, 

interactive show for our youngest audiences. Performers and exquisite 

puppets spin new and old stories about the moon’s magic, create a “living 

exhibit” of its phases, and introduce the amazing science that brought us to its 

surface. You might even get the chance to be a moonwalking astronaut.

Generously underwritten by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and presented in 

partnership with the National Air and Space Museum.

1/16/2020 - 

1/17/2020 In-progress African Americans No Public Programming Program Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Education TSA

Discovery Play 

Series Here We Go, 

Team!

This Discovery Theater original scores big with a musical play about sharing 

and taking turns, the importance of personal space, and the awesome power 

of teamwork. Five-year-old Bobby and Casey are aspiring soccer stars and best 

friends—but they’ve ended up on separate teams! Through a mishap on the 

field, they discover that helping people is cool, thanks to another kind of 

team—their favorite teacher and coach who make it all OK.

1/22/2020 - 

1/23/2020 In-progress African Americans No Public Programming Program Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Education TSA

The ABC’s of 

Percussion with 

Uncle Devin

Join Uncle Devin on a musical journey through the wide, wonderful, and 

boisterous world of percussion instruments. From West African agogo bells to 

a Chinese lithophone (made of stone!) to Brazil’s zabumba drum, learn how 

each unique instrument brings global beats to vibrant life. Uncle Devin makes 

the sounds and rhythms of percussion the perfect way to reinforce the 

alphabet for the youngest learners.

2/6/2020 - 

2/7/2020 Planned African Americans No Public Programming Program Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education TSA

Into the Great 

Unknown: African 

American 

Adventurers and 

Explorers

Leadership, courage, and adventure take center stage in this inspiring 

Discovery Theater original. From Matthew Henson, co-discoverer of the North 

Pole, to astronaut Mae Jemison, meet a century’s worth of bold men and 

women who challenged the Western frontier, the highest of mountains, and 

the vastness of outer space—and triumphed. In the histories and heroism of 

these explorers and adventurers, young audiences find models to help them 

reach their own highest goals.

2/11/2020 - 

2/13/2020 Planned African Americans No Public Programming Program Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Education TSA Going the Distance

Race to the finish line with two black Olympians who changed history! Soaring 

music and the exhilaration of world-class sorts motivate us to greatness in this 

vivid portrayal of the lives of Jesse Owens and Wilma Rudolph. Join them as 

they them overcome childhood illness, infirmity, and poverty to become the 

world’s fastest man and woman, winning the greatest honor in all athletics: 

the Olympic gold medal. The John Cornelius II score speaks to the heart and 

soul of the winner in all of us.

This production is made possible by a grant from the DC Commission on the 

Arts & Humanities.

2/20/2020 - 

2/21/2020

2/26/2020 - 

2/28/2020

Planned African Americans No Public Programming Program Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Education TSA Gear Up!

As part of a Department of Education GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and 

Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) grant, five Smithsonian presenters 

visited four Lafayette, LA high schools for three days each in November (11/5-

7/19) , where they conducted in-class presentations and led hands-on 

activities. Topics included intermolecular forces and cell differentiation, and 

reached 743 eleventh grade chemistry and tenth grade environmental science 

students. 

11/5/2019 - 

11/7/2019 Completed Residents of Under-resourced Communities

Yes Education Program High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Education TSA

Creative 

Curriculum: 

Grandma's 

Thanksgiving Visit

Discovery Theater’s innovative arts/education program for DCPS early 

education teachers and their students who were implementing the “Creative 

Curriculum” in their classrooms. The Creative Curriculum for Preschool is a 

comprehensive, research-based curriculum that features exploration and 

discovery as a way of learning, enabling children to develop confidence, 

creativity, and lifelong critical thinking skills. Smithsonian-trained 

actor/educators present these developmentally appropriate, content-rich 

programs as part of in-school residencies that promote creativity and enriched 

play in the early childhood classroom. Playing pretend characters in stories 

encourages sequencing, verbal skills, math, and problem solving. “Grandma’s 

Thanksgiving Visit” brings the whole audience into the family with singing, 

finger play, and call-and response as we all give thanks for being together. 

11/2019 Completed African Americans No Education Program Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report - FY 2020 Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 39 
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Report

SI

Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Education TSA

Creative 

Curriculum: Here 

We Go, Team!

Discovery Theater’s innovative arts/education program for DCPS early 

education teachers and their students who were implementing the “Creative 

Curriculum” in their classrooms. The Creative Curriculum for Preschool is a 

comprehensive, research-based curriculum that features exploration and 

discovery as a way of learning, enabling children to develop confidence, 

creativity, and lifelong critical thinking skills. Smithsonian-trained 

actor/educators present these developmentally appropriate, content-rich 

programs as part of in-school residencies that promote creativity and enriched 

play in the early childhood classroom. Playing pretend characters in stories 

encourages sequencing, verbal skills, math, and problem solving. “Here We 

Go, Team!” is about sharing and taking turns, the importance of personal 

space, and the awesome power of teamwork. 

1/2020 Completed African Americans No Education Program Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Education TSA

Creative 

Curriculum: 

Beautiful Day in 

the Neighborhood 

Discovery Theater’s innovative arts/education program for DCPS early 

education teachers and their students who were implementing the “Creative 

Curriculum” in their classrooms. The Creative Curriculum for Preschool is a 

comprehensive, research-based curriculum that features exploration and 

discovery as a way of learning, enabling children to develop confidence, 

creativity, and lifelong critical thinking skills. Smithsonian-trained 

actor/educators present these developmentally appropriate, content-rich 

programs as part of in-school residencies that promote creativity and enriched 

play in the early childhood classroom. Playing pretend characters in stories 

encourages sequencing, verbal skills, math, and problem solving. “Beautiful 

Day in the Neighborhood” introduces students to their community helpers, 

such as firefighter, police officer, postal worker, baker, grocer, etc.

3/2020 In-progress African Americans No Education Program Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Education TSA

Creative 

Curriculum: JoJo's 

Backyard Safari

Discovery Theater’s innovative arts/education program for DCPS early 

education teachers and their students who were implementing the “Creative 

Curriculum” in their classrooms. The Creative Curriculum for Preschool is a 

comprehensive, research-based curriculum that features exploration and 

discovery as a way of learning, enabling children to develop confidence, 

creativity, and lifelong critical thinking skills. Smithsonian-trained 

actor/educators present these developmentally appropriate, content-rich 

programs as part of in-school residencies that promote creativity and enriched 

play in the early childhood classroom. Playing pretend characters in stories 

encourages sequencing, verbal skills, math, and problem solving. By bringing 

together, science, math and literacy, “Jojo’s Backyard Safari” takes students on 

a backyard adventure where they meet creatures hiding close to home! 

5/2020 Planned

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Individuals from Under-resourced 

Communities

No Education Program Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report - FY 2020 Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 40 
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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Museums & 

Culture AAA

The bulk of Carrillo’s papers relate to his long career at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), 

on whose faculty he served from 1972 to 1997. Carrillo developed an extensive studio art curriculum 

there, including courses in drawing, mural painting, native pottery, and even shadow puppetry. His 

classes connected with the historical traditions that concerned him, allowing students to engage art 

forms that were, as he described in his papers, “common to all cultures.” Carrillo also developed 

courses in art history, such as his popular survey “Mexican Art 1000 BC to Cortez,” represented in the 

collection by maps, readings, slide lists, notes on ancient deities, student evaluations, and an artistdesigned flyer. Researchers will discover in Carrillo’s papers his abiding ambition not only to connect 

with his Mexican heritage but also to share it with others through art and education. In 1982, for 

example, the artist organized an important exhibition and conference at UCSC entitled Califas: Chicano 

Art and Culture in California. The project, as Carrillo outlined in a report at the Archives, created a 

forum for discussing “the complex relationships found between the art and cultural history of 

California’s Chicano population.” 

11/13/2019 Completed Hispanics No

Collections

Education Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture AAA

Rhizomes National 

Advisory Council 

Convening

Joshua T. Franco participated in the Rhizomes National Advisory Council at the University of Minnesota 

in Minneapolis. NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL: The National Advisory Council is a growing network of 

prominent humanities scholars, librarians, archivists, curators, and technical advisors with expertise in 

Mexican American art history. It provides interdisciplinary and multi-institution perspectives on the 

planning stages of Rhizomes to ensure a broad, inclusive methodological foundation for the project. 

The Council provides feedback on all stages of the project, specifically protocol to determine how 

relevant content comes into Rhizomes from small-budget institutions, identification of search 

strategies, and the creation of new metadata and controlled vocabularies.

10/1/2019 - 

10/2/2019 Completed Hispanics No

Advisory Boards 

Conferences w/Professional 

Organizations

Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture AAA

Collective 

Responsibility 

Forum in Tampa, 

Florida

Rayna Andrews participated in the Collective Responsibility Forum in Tampa, Florida. The project seeks 

to address the specific problems of precarity created and reproduced by grant-funded positions, and 

how those impact the lives and careers of the workers, particularly workers from marginalized and 

underrepresented populations. This work is essential for understanding the effect of investments made 

in national digital library, archival, and museum infrastructures and services. In two forums over 2019, 

the project brought together representatives and stakeholders from the three primary groups 

involved—workers, funders, and management (to include administrators). In the meetings, the 

intension is to develop a more systematic understanding of the labor conditions created by grants and 

collaboratively develop benchmarks and recommendations toward the development and evaluation of 

proposed positions which funders and institutions may adopt.

10/16/2019 - 

10-17-2019

Completed African Americans No

Digital Promotion of Job 

Opportunities

Education

Internships

Public Programming

Supporting Supplier Diversity 

Goals

Program;

Supplier

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture AAA

Memo of 

Understanding 

with SAAM to 

collaborate on the 

Subversive, Skilled, 

Sublime: Fiber Art 

by Women"

Fiber art refers to fine art whose material consists of natural or synthetic fiber and other 

components, such as fabric or yarn. It focuses on the materials and on the manual labor 

on the part of the artist as part of the works' significance, and prioritizes aesthetic value 

over utility.

10/2020 In-progress Women No

Exhibitions

Memorandums of 

Understanding Formal

Public Programming

Program;

Workforce

Other Programming for Adults

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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Museums & 

Culture AAA

Exhibition: What is 

Feminist Art? 

Organized by Curator of Manuscripts Mary Savig, the exhibition revisits a 1977 exhibition at Los 

Angeles’ Woman’s Building, a feminist art school, gallery, and community space founded by Judy 

Chicago, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, and Arlene Raven in 1971. The Archives, which holds the 

Woman’s Building papers in its collections, will reconsider this exhibition by showing responses from 

the 1977 show alongside new submissions by both original participating artists as well as a new 

generation of diverse artists. Approximately 75 works will be on view. The genesis for the original 

exhibition was a 1976 project by activists Ruth Iskin, Lucy Lippard, and Arlene Raven in which they 

issued pink postcards to hundreds of artists across the country with the following prompt: “If you 

consider yourself a feminist, would you respond by using one 8 1/2” x 11” page to share your ideas on 

what feminist art is or could be.” At the time, the term “feminism” was new to the art world and Iskin, 

Lippard, and Raven hoped to stimulate discussion. They received more than 200 responses in the form 

of collage, poetry, photographs, prints, drawings, and manifestos. These responses were exhibited the 

following year in the original “What is Feminist Art?” exhibition at the Woman’s Building. All of the 

responses were preserved in the Woman’s Building records, which were donated to the Archives of 

American Art in 1991 and have recently been digitized and made available on the Archives’ website.

11/26/2019 In-progress Women No

Collections

Exhibitions

Public Programming

Supporting Supplier Diversity 

Goals

Program;

Workforce

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture AAA

Panel: "When, 

Where, and How 

We Enter: A 

Conversation on 

Amplifying the 

Legacies of Black 

Women Abstract 

Painters."

Erin Gilbert participated in the panel “When, Where, and How We Enter: A Conversation 

on Amplifying the Legacies of Black Women Abstract Painters” at Spelman University in 

Atlanta. A landmark conversation with women curators who are leading the charge to 

increase the visibility of Black women abstract artists. Panelists include curator Valerie 

Cassel Oliver, Lauren Haynes, Melissa Messina, and Hallie Ringle. Andrea Barnwell 

Brownlee, Ph.D., Director, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, will moderate the 

conversation.

11/7/2019 Completed African Americans

Women

No

Supplier Diversity Outreach

Supporting Supplier Diversity 

Goals

Other

Program;

Workforce

College/University

Museums & 

Culture AAA

Collecting the 

Papers of Women 

Artists"

Erin Gilbert and curator of manuscripts Mary Savig spoke on the panel “Collecting the Papers of 

Women Artists” at Swann Auction Galleries in New York City. See also: Advancement Report, “Events 

and Programs.” Curators Erin Jenoa Gilbert & Mary Savig

On November 19, 2019 for the third in a series of events highlighting The Archives of American Art. 

Curators Erin Jenoa Gilbert and Mary Savig discussed upcoming programming for the Archives, feminist 

collecting initiatives, and the importance of preserving and providing access to almost 1,000 collections 

created by women artists, critics, scholars, collectors and dealers, such as Nancy Spero, Elaine de 

Kooning, Hedda Sterne, Alice Neel, Alma Thomas, Louise Nevelson, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Lucy 

Lippard, Linda Nochlin, Dore Ashton, Aline Saarinen, Virginia Zabriskie, Edith Halper, Betty Parsons and 

Andrea Rosen. The Archives is a rich and enduring source of knowledge about the history of women’s 

artistic practice in the United States.

11/19/2019 Completed Women No Collections Supplier; 

Workforce

College/University

Other Programming for Adults

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SI

Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Museums & 

Culture AAA

Association of 

Research Institutes 

in Art History 

(ARIAH)

Liza Kirwin attended the Association of Research Institutes in Art History’s fall meeting in Fort Worth, 

Texas, where she presented on diversity and internships. The Association of Research Institutes in Art 

History (ARIAH) was incorporated in 1988 to promote scholarship by institutes of advanced research in 

the history of art and related disciplines; to provide general information about the scholarly activities of 

its member institutes; and to develop cooperative projects and programs. It currently consists of 28 

member institutions. Each ARIAH member institution grants residential fellowships of varying duration 

to senior and junior scholars in the history of art and related disciplines. See Member Institutions for 

information about these programs. One of ARIAH's earliest cooperative projects was a fellowship 

program in the history of art and architecture and related fields for scholars from Latin America. This 

pilot program provided research fellowships at ARIAH institutions to scholars from Mexico, Central and 

South America, and the Caribbean, and ran from 1994 through 1999. ARIAH continues to look for new 

initiatives that will promote art historical research throughout the world, and encourage interchange 

and collaboration among research centers internationally.

11/21/2019 - 

11/23/2019 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No

Advisory Boards

Fellowships

Internships

Workforce

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture AAA

Meet and Greet at 

Yale's AfroAmerican Cultural 

Center 

Erin Gilbert participated in a meet-and-greet at Yale’s Afro-American Cultural Center, where she shared 

information about the Archives’ Henry Luce Foundation-funded collecting initiative and internship 

program. The Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art announced that it has received a $575,000 grant 

from the Henry Luce Foundation to support a three-year African American Collecting Initiative. While 

the Archives has collected the papers and oral histories of important figures in African American art 

from its founding in 1954, the grant will advance the process of building and strengthening the 

collection. The Henry Luce Foundation is a long-time supporter of the Archives’ mission to foster 

research by collecting, preserving and making available a diversity of primary source material 

documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. 

11/22/2019 Completed African Americans No Public Programming Program;

Workforce

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture AAA

Oral Histories 

documenting the 

AIDS epidemic in 

the art world

Oral history archivist Jennifer Snyder spoke about the Archives’ oral histories documenting the AIDS 

epidemic in the art world on a panel at the Day With(out) Art video screening and discussion at the 

Eaton in Washington, DC. Film Screening and Discussion, Day With(out) Art, 30 Years On Thursday, 

December 5, 2019. In 1989 the New York–based nonprofit Visual AIDS (https://visualaids.org/) 

organized the first Day With(out) Art, a call to the art world for mourning and action in response to the 

AIDS crisis. The Yale University Art Gallery is proud to partner with Visual AIDS for the 30th annual Day 

With(out) Art by presenting Still Beginning (52 mins.), a program of seven newly commissioned videos 

responding to the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic by Shanti Avirgan, Nguyen Tan Hoang, Carl George, Viva 

Ruiz, Iman Shervington, Jack Waters/Victor F. M. Torres, and Derrick Woods-Morrow. A panel 

discussion follows the screening, including featured artist Viva Ruiz in conversation with Gregg 

Gonsalves, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health, and Associate (Adjunct) 

Professor of Law, Yale Law School; Roderick Ferguson, Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality 

Studies and American Studies; and Alex Fialho, Ph.D. student in the History of Art and African American 

Studies, to consider the continued urgency of HIV/AIDS in the contemporary moment while revisiting 

resonant cultural histories from the past three decades. Presented in conjunction with the Yale Office 

of LGBTQ Resources, the Yale School of Public Health, and the Yale University Art Gallery‘s Martin A. 

Ryerson Lectureship Fund.

12/5/2019 Completed African Americans

LGBTQIA+

No

Education

Public Programming

Supporting Supplier Diversity 

Goals

Program;

Workforce

College/University

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture AAA

Guest Speaker for 

Latinx art

National collector Josh Franco was a remote guest speaker for a course on Latinx art taught by Rose 

Salseda at Stanford University. Given the historical exclusion of U.S. Latinx visual art in major museums 

and collections, artists, scholars, curators, and patrons have taken grassroots measures to preserve the 

cultural contributions of Latinx artists by forming community art organizations, research centers, artist 

collectives, websites, and databases. However, to date, there does not exist a comprehensive list of 

where these entities exist, how they were formed, and who they serve. What are the organizations 

that actively support Latinx visual artists via funding, advocacy, and/or archival means on local, 

regional, and national levels? Furthermore, where is Latinx visual art supported online, in what ways, 

and by whom?

1/29/2020 Completed Hispanics No

Conferences w/Colleges or 

Universities

Research Associates

Supplier Diversity Outreach

Supporting Supplier Diversity 

Goals

Program;

Supplier;

Workforce

College/University

Masters

PhD

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Category

Audience

Museums & 

Culture AAA

Published a new 

comprehensive 

guide to the 

papers of African 

American Artists.

Erin Gilbert published a new comprehensive guide to the papers of African American 

Artists. 1/29/2020 Completed African Americans No

Education

Supplier Diversity Outreach

Supporting Supplier Diversity 

Goals

Program;

Supplier;

Workforce

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture AAA

Panel Discussion: 

"Decolonize the 

Archive: Black 

History Imagery 

and Narrative

Erin Gilbert participated in a panel discussion “Decolonize the Archive: Black History, 

Imagery and Narrative at Hunter College Campus Schools for Mosaic, is a K-12 parent 

diversity committee addressing issues of race, gender, sexuality, religion, and 

socioeconomic difference. 

2/10/2020 Completed African Americans No

Education

Public Programming

Program;

Workforce

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture AAA

Conference in 

Chicago: US Latinx 

Art Forum Business 

Meeting

Josh Franco moderated the US Latinx Art Forum Business Meeting at the College Art 

Association annual conference in Chicago. The CAA Annual Conference brings together 

over 5,000 art historians, artists, designers, and visual arts professionals in all stages of 

their careers, Joshua Franco presided over the us Latinx Art Forum Business Meeting at 

this conference.

2/13/2020 Completed Hispanics No

Conferences w/Professional 

Organizations

Research Associates

Supplier Diversity Outreach

Supporting Supplier Diversity 

Goals

Supplier; 

Workforce

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture AAA

Tour and 

Presentation: 

Academia Sinica 

Center for Digital 

Cultures, Taiwan

The Head of Processing Erin Kinhart gave a tour and presentation to archivists and 

curators from Academia Sinica Center for Digital Cultures in Taiwan. Since the launch of 

the Digital Museum Project in 1998, Academia Sinica has devoted itself to digitizing 

Taiwan’s cultural heritage. To facilitate innovation and foster cross-domain collaboration, 

it has been intensely involved in two programs: National Digital Archives Program (NDAP; 

2002-2007) and Taiwan e-Learning and Digital Archives Program (TELDAP; 2008-2012), 

both commissioned by the National Science Council (today’s Ministry of Science and 

Technology) and presided over by the Academia Sinica Vice-President for the Humanities. 

Academia Sinica functioned as the headquarter of these programs for 11 years, 

responsible for integrating resources, coordinating cross-institution collaboration, 

developing and maintaining tools and technology for the operation of these projects, and 

supporting the nationwide access to the key software and hardware. As TELDAP came to 

an end in 2012, the National Science Council commissioned Academia Sinica to execute 

“The Sustainable Management of Taiwan Digital Archives Project” from 2013 to 2015. 

Throughout this project, over 5.6 million data were preserved across more than 760 

websites and databases.

2/13/2020 Completed Asian Americans No

Collections

Public Programming

Supplier Diversity Outreach

Supporting Supplier Diversity 

Goals

Program;

Supplier

Other Programming for Adults

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Report

SI

Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Museums & 

Culture AAA

Panel: "Research 

Institutes and New 

Initiatives"

The Interim director Liza Kirwin chaired the panel, “Research Institutes and New 

Initiatives” (including diversity initiatives) at the College Art Association’s annual 

conference in Chicago. The CAA Annual Conference brings together over 5,000 art 

historians, artists, designers, and visual arts professionals in all stages of their careers, Liza 

Kirwin chaired the panel, “Research Institutes and New Initiatives”, including diversity 

initiatives at this conference.

2/15/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No

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Interview: 

University of 

Nebraska Omaha's 

ArteLatinx 

Josh Franco was interviewed for the University of Nebraska Omaha’s ArteLatinx 2019, published in 

February 2020. "THE VOICE OF OUR ROOTS" The mission of Arte LatinX is to create a biennial art 

exhibition bringing together LatinX artists from all over Nebraska. 

OLLAS CHARLA | The “X” in the Archives 

Josh T. Franco, PhD, National Collector, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution 

Tuesday, September 17, 2019 | 6:00 - 7:30 PM

El Museo Latino | 4701 S. 25th St., Omaha, NE 68107

The “x” in “Latinx” short-circuits meanings and jumpstarts conversations about gender, language 

legitimacy, North-South dynamics in the Americas, generational transformation and political solidarity. 

“What does it mean?” is an important question. Another question is “What does it do?”

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Interim Director, 

Liza Kirwin 

interview by the 

Smithsonian 

Magazine

Liza Kirwin was interviewed for Smithsonian Magazine about the exhibition What is 

Feminist Art?, published in March 2020. Organized by Curator of Manuscripts Mary Savig, 

the exhibition revisits a 1977 exhibition at Los Angeles’ Woman’s Building, a feminist art 

school, gallery, and community space founded by Judy Chicago, Sheila Levrant de 

Bretteville, and Arlene Raven in 1971. The Archives, which holds the Woman’s Building 

papers in its collections, will reconsider this exhibition by showing responses from the 

1977 show alongside new submissions by both original participating artists as well as a 

new generation of diverse artists. Approximately 75 works will be on view.

3/2020 Completed Women No

Exhibitions

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Museums & 

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New African 

American Board 

Member

February 2020, Bennie Johnson, joined the Archives Board of Trustees, he is African 

American and committed to African American art and philanthropy. 2/2020 In-progress African Americans No

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Atlanta Curatorial 

Studies Collective

On March 11, archivist Rayna Andrews gave a presentation and tour to the Atlanta Curatorial Studies 

Collective, comprised of students from Morehouse and Spelman Colleges. Future curators, art 

historians, museum professionals, and artists all come together at The Atlanta University Center Art 

History + Curatorial Studies Collective. Enrolling students from Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse 

College and Spelman College, this innovative curriculum seeks to shape the future of art history and 

position the Atlanta University Center as the leading incubator of African American professionals in 

these fields. In addition to strong liberal arts programs at each campus, we have firsthand access to 

Clark Atlanta University Art Museum, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, The Spelman Innovation 

Lab and Robert W. Woodruff Library. The Atlanta University Center Collective for the Study of Art 

History & Curatorial Studies is an initiative that, over the course of the next decade and beyond, will 

position the Atlanta University Center as the leading incubator of African-American museum and art 

world professionals in the United States and abroad. Spelman College will build the program, which 

will enroll students from Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University who desire degrees in art 

history and curatorial studies. This innovative undergraduate program will offer a dynamic new 

curriculum that makes use of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Arts, Clark Atlanta University Art 

Museum, and the strong liberal arts programs on all three campuses

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Guest Speaker for 

a course on 

Chicanx Cultural 

Productions

On March 31, Josh Franco was a remote guest speaker for a course on Chicanx cultural 

productions taught by Jenn Shook at Penn State University. Chicanx Cultural Productions 

covers a range of media: literature, theatre, art, film, tv, and music. Students will primarily 

contribute to expand existing articles such as "Chicano Literature." 

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Blog: Walter 

Pach’s 

Engagements with 

Mexican Art and 

Artists

Among the salvaged archival materials many relate to Pach’s relationship with Mexican artists. To me, 

the most eye-popping of these primary sources is Pach’s thirty-three pages of notes, hand-written in 

Spanish, that outlined his art history courses at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 

(UNAM), in Mexico City, including one on modern art. I wanted to explore Pach’s 1922 notes and their 

relationship to those for his 1918 class on modern art that he taught at the University of California, 

Berkeley. It had been that earlier course that prompted Dominican author and philosopher Pedro 

Henríquez Ureña, who Pach met in California, to invite him to teach the summer course in Mexico City, 

as Pach wrote in Queer Thing, Painting, “on the lines of those in Berkeley.” 

2/4/2020 Completed Hispanics No Research Associates Program

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Blog: Renee V. Cox 

Papers

The papers of Renee V. Cox (b. 1956) contain photographs, academic records, awards, exhibition files, 

printed materials, correspondence, diaries, sketchbooks, and datebooks. The datebooks record 

rigorous tennis, skiing, surfing, and scuba diving routines, revealing the relationship between Black 

aesthetics, Black agency, and the theme of athleticism in Cox’s work, epitomized by her superhero 

alter-ego, Rajé. The controversial US reception of her oeuvre, moreover, is documented through 

correspondence and newspaper and magazine articles, demonstrating that critics hypersexualized 

Cox’s nude body, simultaneously fetishizing and fearing it. A late 1970s photograph of Cox with her 

husband and in-laws at a naturist camp in Corsica, France, however, captures her understanding of a 

nudity that is neither pornographic nor a political statement, but rather grounded in physical and 

psychological freedom. 

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Blog and 

Smithsonian 

Voices: Watching 

Howardena Pindell

In 1980, painter, curator, and mixed-media artist Howardena Pindell debuted a short film entitled Free, 

White, and 21 at A.I.R. Gallery in New York. Her first work with moving images—and a stark diversion 

from her career as an established abstractionist—this film marked Pindell’s embrace of a new medium 

and the creation of what has been considered a seminal work in the history of American video art. 

Recounting her lived experiences as both a target and a neglected object of racism and misogyny, Free, 

White, and 21 features Pindell in the art of testimony. At once, she is a narrator, actor, and artist. As 

Pindell materializes in “whiteface,” playing the part of a newswoman interviewing Pindell the artist, 

and then, as Pindell the artist, wraps herself with medical bandages, viewers bear witness to the ways 

that oppression subsumes and swathes the identities of both the oppressed and their oppressors. 

Looking at once like a burn victim and a caricature of the “white liberals” of the art world and the 

women’s movement, Pindell here establishes herself through video performance as a deft storyteller. 

With Free, White, and 21, she embodies the role of a cultural critic, undergoing and performing a kind 

of social surgery. Her work pushes us to imagine what it would look like to attend to and notice not 

only what an artwork is but also what it is doing.

1/15/2020

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Blog: The Charles 

and Frances White 

letters and 

photographs to 

Melvin and Lorrain 

Williamson

The Charles W. and Frances White letters and photographs to Melvin and Lorraine Williamson measure 

0.2 linear feet and date from 1956 to 1961. The collection includes twenty-eight letters written by 

Charles and Frances White to Melvin (Mel) and Lorraine Williamson shortly after their arrival in 

California. The letters refer to financial and personal struggles, as well career triumphs and current 

events. In addition to their shared Chicago background, both the Whites and Williamsons were 

interracial couples. The letters include references to racial and social dynamics, especially comparing 

California to New York. Approximately half of the letters are written by Charles, the other half by 

Frances, and two letters are written jointly. Most are signed from "Chas & Fran."

 The collection also contains photographs, negatives, and slides depicting Charles and Frances with 

friends, their home, and Charles' studio.

5/2020 Completed African Americans No

Collections

Education

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Blog: How a Once 

Hidden Cache of 

Art and Archives 

Expand Narratives 

of Walter Pach and 

Mexican 

Modernism

Among the salvaged archival materials many relate to Pach’s relationship with 

Mexican artists. To me, the most eye-popping of these primary sources is 

Pach’s thirty-three pages of notes, hand-written in Spanish, that outlined his 

art history courses at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), 

in Mexico City, including one on modern art. I wanted to explore Pach’s 1922 

notes and their relationship to those for his 1918 class on modern art that he 

taught at the University of California, Berkeley. It had been that earlier course 

that prompted Dominican author and philosopher Pedro Henríquez Ureña, 

who Pach met in California, to invite him to teach the summer course in 

Mexico City, as Pach wrote in Queer Thing, Painting, “on the lines of those in 

Berkeley.”

8/5/2020 Completed Hispanics No Collections Workforce

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Blog: Acquisitions: 

Chiura Obata 

Papers

In 1903, at the age of seventeen, the artist Chiura Obata (1885–1975) 

emigrated from Japan to the United States. He first found work in San 

Francisco as an illustrator, then, in 1932, joined the faculty at the University of 

California, Berkeley, where he taught courses ranging from brush techniques 

to Japanese art history. Obata’s papers include extensive lecture notes, source 

materials, and syllabi for his courses. In a syllabus for “Free Brush Work,” 

offered in the fall of 1933, Obata lists the required materials (brushes, paper, 

pigments, water) as well as the required attitude: “In training and producing 

art, our mind must be as peaceful and tranquil as the surface of a calm, 

undisturbed lake.”

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Blog: Emilio 

Sanchez's 

Photographic 

Sources

In 1952, the Cuban-born artist Emilio Sanchez settled in New York City, where 

he lived a comfortable life dedicated to painting. In the winter, he made 

habitual getaways to locations with warmer temperatures, preferably islands 

in the Caribbean. Recording idiosyncratic architectural elements and the 

striking effects of sunlight occupied a great part of these trips, from which 

Sanchez would return with batches of sketches and photographs that served 

as sources for artworks. Among the Emilio Sanchez Papers at the Archives of 

American Art, I found a group of folders with photographs taken between the 

1950s and 1970s at various locations across the West Indies—former Spanish, 

English and Dutch colonies—such as the US Virgin Islands, Saint Lucia, and 

Puerto Rico, and soon I began to notice how these random snapshots register 

something beyond peculiar architectural arrangements.

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NALAC Advocacy 

Leadership 

Institute 

presentation re: 

AAA

Virtual National Association Latino Arts and Culture - 20 people attended, 

Congressman Joaquin Castro attended the Leadership Institute as well. 5/6/2020 Completed Hispanics No Virtual Programming Workforce

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Latinx Presence in 

the Archives of 

American Art

Virtual, Vincent Price Art Museum (Getty-funded interns), organized by Joseph 

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Juneteenth Social 

Media Campaign

The Archives of American Art’s Social Media Working Group developed a daylong campaign to honor Black legacy and storytelling. On Juneteenth, we 

flooded our social media platforms—Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter—with 

powerful quotes from our oral history interviews of African American artists, a 

new post every half hour from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., from Gordon Parks in 

1964 to David Driskell in 2009, highlighting the value of the Archives’ history 

program that preserves the voices of African American artists telling their life 

stories, in their own words. (Mindful of recent critiques of social media posts 

by cultural institutions, we did not include quotes from living artists, even 

though the entire transcripts are available on our website and in the public 

domain.) There was a post every half hour on Instagram, Twitter, and 

Facebook. The following artists where recognized: Jacob Lawrence, Jack 

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Pandemic oral 

history project 

While our traditional practice of conducting face-to-face lengthy oral history 

interviews is on pause, we have adapted, seizing the communications platform 

of the day—Zoom—to conduct 20-minute, remote video interviews of 

approximately 60 individuals* to capture a broad and diverse sweep of the art 

world at this unprecedented time. All interviews will be closed captioned. All 

unrestricted interviews will be available on the Archives’ YouTube channel, 

and ultimately on our website. Having searched for evidence in the Archives 

of American Art for the 1918 influenza pandemic and found precious little, our 

“Pandemic Project” of 2020 promises to be significant historical record for the 

future. *The Archives recently received funding from the Latino Pool Initiative 

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Archives of 

American Art 

Journal, “In 

Conversation: 

Archives and the 

Pandemic”

In an effort to respond to the current public health crisis, the journal plans to publish a set of short 

responses to the question, “What role can the Archives play in the pandemic?” On July 2, nine 

scholars—a cross-section of the field—will join executive editor Tanya Sheehan in a Zoom meeting to 

brainstorm together possible ways into that question and select topics. Each participant will write up to 

250 words by late August, drawing from or highlighting some aspect of the Archives in their response. 

Some might talk about artists in the Archives whose work offers a model for addressing the social and 

political challenges of the current moment. Others might reflect on using the Archives’ digital content 

in remote teaching and/or research. Still others could take a creative approach and imagine the 

Archives as doing new work post-COVID. Everyone is encouraged to think deeply about Archives 

materials and outside the box. Participants: Sarah Burns, Indiana University—on historical epidemics in 

the Archives; Erika Doss, University of Notre Dame—teaching and researching remotely with digitized 

Archives materials; Brenna Greer, Wellesley College; Suzanne Hudson, USC; Steffani Jemison, artist; 

Jonathan D. Katz, curator—the Archives’ Oral Histories on the AIDS epidemic; John Ott, James Madison 

University; Daniel Peltz, artist, RISD; Lisa Uddin, Whitman College

5/2020 In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No

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Guide to the 

Papers of African 

American Artists 

and Related 

Resources

The Archives of American Art is pleased to make this new resource available 

for download. With contributions by Rayna Andrews, Thomas Edwards, Erin 

Gilbert, Erin Kinhart, Liza Kirwin, Mary Savig, and Emily Shapiro this 

comprehensive guide provides collection descriptions about these significant 

resources for the study of African American art. Explore the materials relating 

to African American Artists on the Archives' website. 

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Teaching with 

Primary Sources 

(TWPS) project 

Due to the pandemic, we have had to radically rethink the logistics and content of the 2nd and 3rd 

workshops that were to be held on-site at the Lunder Institute in Maine, and the Cleveland Museum of 

Art. From its inception, TWPS aimed to share its outcomes widely by requiring that participants agree 

to share the lesson plans developed in the workshops through an open source platform such as the 

Smithsonian’s Learning Lab. Now, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Archives is seeking funds 

to move our planned workshops to a virtual platform and, importantly, to adapt and expand our TWPS 

project, adding public workshops and online resources for college level educators and others interested 

in innovative uses of archives in teaching and learning. We have not secured funding. Now, with a 

national call to confront racism, we are once again trying to retool our project to respond to the needs 

of our cohort. Working with them, we are exploring how to use these workshops might respond to the 

current moment of reckoning with white supremacy, anti-black and structural racism, and police 

violence and what it means for educators. Specifically, how might we productively discuss how 

decolonial and anti-racist approaches are shaping/can shape our work and outcomes in this workshop. 

Our cohort: Katie Anania, Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Sarah Archino, Assistant 

Professor, Furman University; Melody Deusner, Assistant Professor, Indiana University; Melanee 

Harvey, Assistant Professor, Howard University; Tess Korobkin, Assistant Professor, University of 

Maryland, College Park; Austin Porter, Assistant Professor, Kenyon College; Annie Ronan, Assistant 

Professor, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Emma Silverman, Visiting Assistant 

Professor, Smith College; Allison Stagg, Curator, Mark Twain Center for Transatlantic Relations, 

Kurpfälzisches Museum, Heidelberg, Germany; Bernida Webb-Binder, Assistant Professor, Spelman 

College

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A Declaration of 

War: the Archives 

of American Art 

Celebrates 

Women’s History 

Women artists have long been at the forefront of new media and movements that push the 

boundaries of artmaking and the industry, working tirelessly and often without due recognition. In 

honor of Women’s History Month, we’re taking a moment to celebrate the intrepid, pioneering women 

in our collections, with a look at one document tying together two key figures in the development of 

feminist art. In 1971, artist Nancy Spero sent a brief, decisive letter to critic and activist Lucy Lippard, 

calling for war against the enemies of women’s liberation. Finding ourselves once again in a pivotal 

time for feminism and women’s rights, we gathered other iconic feminist artists to call out this 

declaration once more. The artists represented in this film, and countless collections at the Archives of 

American Art, help us better understand both Nancy’s and Lucy’s work and allow for their legacies to 

live on for future generations. We have been the guardians of the archives of important women in the 

artworld since our inception in 1954 and we remain at the forefront of preserving and promoting the 

legacies of female artists, gallerists, educators, and leaders. To explore the thousands of other digitized 

treasures by and about women in the Archives, click here . To see more documents from the Lucy R. 

Lippard papers, and to view our various holdings relating to Nancy Spero.

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“Do you consider 

yourself a Black 

visual artist, an 

American visual 

artist, or an artist, 

period?” 

In 1967, visual artist and educator Jeff Donaldson (1932–2004) sent an open letter to his peers in the 

Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC). Donaldson was setting the agenda for their upcoming 

meeting, centered on what he saw as eight critical questions for black artists. Those eight 

questions—and the power in their answers—formed the centerpiece of the Black Arts Movement and 

a through-line for a new wave of African American artists. In 1968, Donaldson co-founded the African 

Commune of Bad Relevant Artists, or AfriCOBRA, a revolutionary collective of African American artists 

in Chicago. Their tenets of empowerment and creativity helped usher in the Black Arts Movement, an 

influential art movement that still resonates today. 

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Celebrating the 

Resilient Spirit of 

Asian Pacific 

American Artists 

From art and music to design and cuisine, the rich heritage of Asian American and Pacific Islander 

immigrants continues to shape all aspects of American culture. However, this influence has not been 

without significant struggle. War, prejudice, and state-sanctioned incarceration have dramatically 

upended the lives of these Americans who overcame tremendous adversity, thrived, and enriched the 

culture and arts in this country. The month of May commemorates two important dates in Asian 

American history: the first Japanese immigrants arriving in the United States on May 7, 1843, and the 

completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869, built by railroad workers who were 

primarily Chinese immigrants. This month, the Archives of American Art honors the legacy of Asian 

Pacific American artists in our collection, with a focus on their survival in Japanese American 

incarceration camps during World War II—a black mark on American history, and a defining experience 

for more than 100,000 Japanese Americans. Below, we’ve highlighted remarkable stories from a few 

artists, including a rarely seen internee-published magazine. For more information on these artists and 

many more, explore our digitized collections. 

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Black History 

Month campaign 

(February) on 

social media 

On Wednesdays and Fridays in February, the Social Media Working Group posted about important 

African American artists, educators, and gallerists in the Archives’ collection.

1.	Feb. 11 Ruth Jett

2.	Feb. 17 Romare Bearden

3.	Feb. 19 Alma Thomas

4.	Feb. 21 Senga Nengudi

5.	Feb. 24 Jeff Donaldson

6.	Feb. 26 Maren Hassinger

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Women’s History 

Month campaign 

(March) on social 

media 

The Social Media Working Group shared content on all platforms related to women artists, dealers, and 

collectors in March. Posting content almost everyday in March and sometimes twice a day on 

Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

1.	March 3 Jacqueline Gourevitch

2.	March 5 Mary Frank

3.	March 6 Women’s Building

4.	March 6 Janice Lowry Transcription Center project

5.	March 9 Jaune-Quick-to-See-Smith

6.	March 10 Lucienne Bloch

7.	March 12 Elaine de Kooning

8.	March 17 Carmen Lomas Garzas

9.	March 18 Emily Hall Tremaine

10.	March 19 Joan Mitchell

11.	March 20 Anna Walinska

12.	March 20 Minnie Evans

13.	March 21 Lia Cook

14.	March 22 Worden Day

15.	March 24 Julia Herzberg

16.	March 25 Nanette Laitman

17.	March 27 Ana Mendieta

18.	March 28 Ruth Jett

19.	March 29 Diane Arbus

20.	March 30 Janice Lowry

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Women’s History 

Month campaign 

(March) on social 

media 

The Social Media Working Group shared content on all platforms related to women artists, dealers, and 

collectors in March. Posting content almost everyday in March and sometimes twice a day on 

Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

1.	March 3 Jacqueline Gourevitch

2.	March 5 Mary Frank

3.	March 6 Women’s Building

4.	March 6 Janice Lowry Transcription Center project

5.	March 9 Jaune-Quick-to-See-Smith

6.	March 10 Lucienne Bloch

7.	March 12 Elaine de Kooning

8.	March 17 Carmen Lomas Garzas

9.	March 18 Emily Hall Tremaine

10.	March 19 Joan Mitchell

11.	March 20 Anna Walinska

12.	March 20 Minnie Evans

13.	March 21 Lia Cook

14.	March 22 Worden Day

15.	March 24 Julia Herzberg

16.	March 25 Nanette Laitman

17.	March 27 Ana Mendieta

18.	March 28 Ruth Jett

19.	March 29 Diane Arbus

20.	March 30 Janice Lowry

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Asian Pacific 

American Heritage 

Month campaign 

(May) on social 

media

Throughout the month of May, the Social Media Working Group shared content by Asian Pacific 

American artists on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, pointing followers to fully and partially digitized 

collections.

1.	May 7 Patti Warashina

2.	May 13 Reuben Tam

3.	May 14 Ruth Asawa

4.	May 16 Val Laigo

5.	May 17 Miye Matsukata

6.	May 21 Kamekichi Tokita

7.	May 26 Jun Kaneko

8.	May 27 Isamu Noguchi

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More Than Forty 

Years Later, Artists 

Answer a StillRelevant Question: 

‘What Is Feminist 

Art?’

The dollhouse-pink postcard appeared in artists’ inboxes in 2019 with the 

same prompt that had been sent via snail mail in 1976: “If you consider 

yourself a feminist, would you respond by using one 8 1⁄2” x 11” page to share 

your ideas on what feminist art is or could be.” “I haven’t a clue what feminist 

art is,” scrawled Martha Lesser, one of the 200-plus creatives who responded 

to the prompt in the 1970s. Others typed out five-paragraph essays, sketched 

a self-portrait, or even submitted an image of an umbilical cord magnified 

under a microscope. Their responses became part of a 1977 exhibition in Los 

Angeles organized by feminist activists for the Woman’s Building.

3/7/2020 Completed Women No

Education

Heritage Month Programming

Virtual Programming

Program;

Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture AAA

 Smithsonian 

Scholars 

Recommend 

Books, Films and 

Podcasts About 

Race

Six days after George Floyd died while in police custody, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch wrote 

of the “multiple incidents of deadly violence against black people. . . that have left us feeling 

demoralized and distraught, aghast, and angry.” Bunch, who is the founding director of the 

Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, extolled Americans to 

address racism at this pivotal moment. Building on the Secretary’s statement, this week the 

Smithsonian Institution announced a major initiative, “Race, Community and Our Shared Future.” 

Backed by a $25 million donation from the Bank of America, the project, says Bunch, will “help our 

nation to better understand the challenges that arise from racism.” In concert with that effort, the 

African American History Museum debuted an online teaching tool, “Talking About Race,” as an 

impetus for prompting difficult conversations about race. The museum’s interim director, Spencer 

Crew, voiced the frustration of black protestors taking to the city streets to make an “important 

statement . . . about the way we have been treated, about the way we worry about traversing this 

society and the worry that somehow we might be singled out because of our color.” While thousands 

continue to assemble in the streets demanding change, a new awareness is growing as many white 

Americans seek to practice antiracism and give voice and power to marginalized communities. As a 

result, the New York Times reported that titles like How to Be an Antiracist, White Fragility and So You 

Want to Talk About Race have surged to the top of the nation’s best-seller lists. Within that 

framework, Smithsonian magazine invited a cast of Smithsonian scholars, historians, curators, 

scientists, researchers and museum directors to make recommendations of meaningful readings, 

podcasts, websites and books that have informed their own quest to understand racism as it affects all 

persons of color across the nation and the types of bias that permeate their own lives. (See “Twelve 

Books to Help Children Understand Race, Antiracism and Protest” by Smithsonian educators Candra 

Flanagan and Anna Forgerson Hindley for more inspiration.) We offer this list of titles old and new with 

links to Amazon.com. By buying a product through this link, Smithsonian magazine may earn a 

commission; one hundred percent of our profits support research and scholarship at the Smithsonian 

Institution.

6/11/2020 Completed African Americans No

Education

Virtual Programming Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Museums & 

Culture AAA

NO ROOM FOR 

ERROR! WOMEN 

OF COLOR AND 

CEILINGS, CLIFFS & 

AND TABLES IN 

THE SECTOR

Sarah Bohannan attended a virtual session of AFC ICON Virtual on March 30 - 

31, 2020. The following panelist shared their experiences in the fundraising 

sector as well as suggestions for making the field more diverse. Kishshana 

Palmer, CFRE, Founder, The Rooted Collaborative CEO, Kishshana & Co; 

Adetola Olatunji, Associate Partner, Learn to Earn Fund New Profit; Terri 

Broussard Williams, CEO, Williams Strategies, LLC; Cherelle Duncan, President 

and CEO, Duncan Impact Solutions

3/30/2020 - 

3/31/2020 Completed African Americans No

Conferences w/Professional 

Organizations

Education

Virtual Programming

Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture AAA

Fate of JapaneseAmerican artists 

held in US 

internment camps 

during the Second 

World War 

brought to light 

online 

To commemorate Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month in the US, the Archives of American Art has 

launched a focus honoring the legacy and influence of Japanese-American artists who were among the 

more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans incarcerated in internment camps in the US during the Second 

World War. The multi-platform initiative—which is available through social media, weekly newsletters 

and the archives’ blog—includes poignant and rarely-seen documents related to artists such as Ruth 

Asawa and Miné Okubo. Some materials include a recorded 2002 interview in which Asawa explains 

how she coped with the isolation of being in an internment camp in Arkansas, and how the 

experienced influenced her practice, and more than 2,000 sketches Okubo made during her 

incarceration at the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah. Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month 

marks two pivotal dates in Asian-American history: the arrival of Japanese immigrants in the US on 7 

May 1843 and the completion of the transcontinental railroad on 10 May 1869, an industrial feat built 

with significant labor from immigrant Asian workers. The memorial “presented the opportunity to raise 

the visibility of these artists represented in our collection”, says Liza Kirwin, the interim director of the 

Archives of American Art. In the coming weeks, the initiative will feature posts about the artists Patti 

Warashina, Reuben Tam, Val Laigo, Miye Matsukata, Kamekichi Tokita, Jun Kaneko and Kay Sekimachi. 

While its research centers in Washington DC and New York are closed due to the coronavirus 

pandemic, the organization has “made an additional push to share digitized content, and have 

increased our efforts to point to resources available on our website while our researchers and 

followers are unable to visit us in person”, Kirwin adds. The archives recently received private financial 

support for the digitization of papers of under-represented artists and other overlooked parts of its 

archive. Kirwin says the grant “has allowed us to renew our efforts to share this material with the 

public".

5/14/2020 Completed Asian Americans No

Education

Heritage Month Programming

Virtual Programming

Program;

Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture AAA

Race, Money, and 

Wall Street 

(webinar; 

Bloomberg 

Equality)

One in a series of uncomfortable conversations amidst a national reckoning 

with systemic racism, creating true equity and building a more just world. 8/6/2020 Completed African Americans No

Conferences w/Professional 

Organizations

Education

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture AAA

Racial Equity in 

Fundraising and 

Philanthropy 

(webinar; 

Chronicle of 

Philanthropy)

Panel of Black female philanthropists and leader offered advice on how to 

seize this moment of heightened awareness to advance change for 

communities of color, shine a spotlight on charitable giving among Black 

people, and build a pipeline of Black leaders, donors, and fundraisers.

8/12/2020 Completed African Americans No

Advisory Boards

Conferences w/Professional 

Organizations

Education

Virtual Programming

Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture AAA

The Black 

Experience 

(Webinar; Artsy)

What is the Black experience in the art world? Watch the live recording of our 

recent webinar to hear the perspectives of six prominent Black business 

leaders and creators.

8/13/2020 Completed African Americans No

Conferences w/Professional 

Organizations

Education

Virtual Programming

Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Museums & 

Culture AAA

Designing EquityCentered 

Organizational 

Values (Webinar; 

Candid)

Organizational values guide the ways in which organizations commit to 

showing up in the world. On the webinar, we discussed organizations 

considering what it might look, feel, and sound like to intentionally create or 

reimagine a values statement through an Equity lens—that is, a lens that 

invokes history and confronts notions of power and action. We currently find 

ourselves in the middle of a movement that calls on us to consider the 

meaninglessness of words that aren’t underpinned by commitment and 

accountability. This forces us to recognize the ways in which our values can’t 

operate outside of history but rather are informed by it.

8/13/2020 Completed African Americans No

Conferences w/Professional 

Organizations

Education

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Workforce

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture AAA

Anti-racism 

training outreach

Nora Daniels, Jennifer Snyder, and Elizabeth Botten have been tasked with 

researching and contacting anti-racism training organizations about facilitating 

a training for the Archives. Preliminary outreach emails have been sent and 

the group will meet again to discuss the results once responses from all 

organizations have responded. A report with all the requested information will 

be submitted to Liza and senior staff soon after. 

July 2020 In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

No

Education

Virtual Programming Workforce

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture CHNDM

Morning at the 

Museum CHSDM

Morning at the Museum is a project of the Smithsonian Institution's 

Accessibility Program and the Smithsonian Museums. Guided by a Community 

Advisory Committee comprised of museum educators, exhibit designers, 

professionals who work with children with cognitive or sensory processing 

disabilities, parents, and self-advocates, the Smithsonian has developed a 

series of pre-visit materials designed to help children with cognitive and 

sensory processing disabilities and their families enjoy a visit to the 

Smithsonian Museums.

10/1/2019 - 

9/30/2020 Completed Individuals with Disabilities No Public Programming Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Museums & 

Culture CHNDM Design Dialogue

Free program for individuals with Alzheimer’s or other dementias and their 

care partners to experience and discuss design objects and exhibitions in a 

small group.

10/1/2019 - 

9/30/2020 Completed Individuals with Disabilities No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture CHNDM

Verbal Description 

+ Sensory Tours

Verbal description tours of exhibitions are offered the first Friday of every 

month.

10/1/2019 - 

9/30/2020 Completed Individuals with Disabilities No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture CHNDM

Design Career Fair 

for Young Adults 

with Autism and 

other forms of 

Neurodiversity

Workshop for teens with autism on the design process, visit to exhibitions, and 

participation in the National Design Week's Teen Design Fair.

10/1/2019 - 

9/30/2020 Completed Individuals with Disabilities Yes

Career Fairs

Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture CHNDM

Interaction Lab 

Event: 

Bodystorming 

Access

In an evening hosted by Cooper Hewitt's Interaction Lab: visitors and members 

of the museum community were invited to explore museum spaces led by 

disabled dancers to begin to develop a bodystorming workshop surrounding 

knowledge building and diverse bodies in the museum environment. 

12/9/2019 Completed Individuals with Disabilities No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Museums & 

Culture CHNDM

Ongoing Exhibition 

Affordances

Large Print Labels, Captioning, and Audio Description available for all 

exhibition labels and videos during FY20. 

10/1/2019 - 

9/30/2020 Completed Individuals with Disabilities No Exhibitions Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture CHNDM

Inclusive Design 

Roadmap

Cooper Hewitt developed a roadmap to address efforts of disability inclusion 

and accessibility across museum functions alongside upcoming priority 

projects and exhibitions. 

12/9/2019 Completed Individuals with Disabilities No Strategic planning Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture CHNDM

Neurodiversity 

Transitions 

Internship Program

Hosted an intern 2x weekly as part of a transitions program (pre-college) for a 

young adult with neurodiversity-- worked on accessibility related projects. 

10/1/2019 - 

04/1/2020 In-progress Individuals with Disabilities No Internships Workforce College/University

Museums & 

Culture CHNDM

Times Square Arts 

Heart Design 

Competition

Cooper Hewitt partnered with Time Square Arts Alliance for their annual Heart 

Design Competition - signage is translated into four languages—English. 

Spanish. French, and Chinese, all languages in braille—and includes a tactile 

image of the installation. CH spearheaded accessibility of the installation, and 

will be leading a visual description tour for individuals with low or no vision 

during February.

2/1/2020 - 

2/28/2020 Completed Individuals with Disabilities No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture CHNDM

Cooper Hewitt 

"Culture of 

Belonging" 

Cooper Hewitt partnered with consultant duo, Culture Society, for a threepronged engagement aimed at developing CH's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion 

approach. Work with Culture Society addresses internal alignment and visitorfacing materials. Work includes: an ongoing training program for all-staff 

focusing on cultural competency, intersectionality, gender & sex, power & 

privilege; developing strategic partnerships with historically underrepresented 

groups; and creating authentic messaging about CH's efforts around inclusion.

12/01/2019 - 

Present

In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No

Advisory Boards

Education

Employee Affinity Groups

Training

Program;

Workforce

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture CHNDM

Virtual Morning at 

the Museum

Morning at the Museum is a project of the Smithsonian Institution's 

Accessibility Program and the Smithsonian Museums. Guided by a Community 

Advisory Committee comprised of museum educators, exhibit designers, 

professionals who work with children with cognitive or sensory processing 

disabilities, parents, and self-advocates, the Smithsonian has developed a 

series of pre-visit materials designed to help children with cognitive and 

sensory processing disabilities and their families enjoy a visit to the 

Smithsonian Museums. This program was held on Zoom, and was the first 

virtual Morning at the Museum among the Smithsonian museums. 

6/20/2020 Completed Individuals with Disabilities No

Education 

Public Programming Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Museums & 

Culture CHNDM

Virtual Visual 

Description Tour

Verbal description tours of exhibitions are offered the first Friday of every 

month. This program was held on Zoom and focused on Black Lives Matter. 7/3/2020 Completed Individuals with Disabilities No

Education 

Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Museums & 

Culture CHNDM

Image Description 

Production 

Cooper Hewitt staff across departments have met multiple times a week to 

discuss the best way to describe images for people using screen readers. On 

their own, they have described thousands of images. 

3/10/2020 - 

Present

In-progress Individuals with Disabilities No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture CHNDM Virtual Pride Event

Annual event hosted on YouTube in partnership with the House of Bushwig. 

Event included Drag Queen and Drag King performances in celebration of 

Pride Month

6/25/2020 Completed

LGBTQIA+

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

No Virtual Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture CHNDM

Willi Smith: Street 

Couture Publication

Book published March 2020 celebrating the life and work of the Black fashion 

designer Willi Smith. This is a companion to the Cooper Hewitt exhibition of 

the same name, which tells the story of Smith's place in the fashion canon as a 

cultural producer laying the roads for fashion before dying of AIDS-related 

complication in 1987 at the age of 39. 

N/A Completed

African Americans

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

No

Exhibitions

Publications Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture CHNDM Design At Home

Published an analog design activity book during the shutdown and 

quarantining period to provide content to communities who do not have 

online access to help bridge the digital divide. Distributed through community 

partnerships in the greater NYC region (4,000 copies).

06/2020 Completed

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Individuals with access only to analog 

publications to bridge the digital divide.

Yes

Education

Publishing Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture CHNDM

Diseña en Casa 

(Design At Home, 

Spanish translation)

Translated and published a Spanish edition of an analog design activity book 

providing content to communities who do not have online access to help 

bridge the digital divide. Distributed through Spanish-speaking community 

partnerships in the Tri-State area (5,000 copies).

09/2020 Completed

Hispanics

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Individuals with access only to analog 

publications to bridge the digital divide.

Yes

Education

Publishing Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture CHNDM

Design At Home, 

Detroit Design 

Month Edition

Published an analog design activity book to provide content to communities 

who do not have online access to help bridge the digital divide. Distributed 

through community partnerships in the greater NYC region.

09/2020 Completed

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Individuals with access only to analog 

publications to bridge the digital divide.

Yes

Education

Publishing Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture CHNDM House Style Guide

Ongoing editorial project to amend and revise Cooper Hewitt's house style 

guide. The goal is to provide a tool for use by staff and external collaborators 

to create content with fairness, integrity, and respect that is inclusive, 

accurate, and consistent.

06/2020 - 

Present

In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No

Education

Exhibitions

Training

Internal Resource 

Development 

Program Other Programming for Adults

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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Museums & 

Culture CHNDM Interpretation Plan

Interpretive planning working group is drafting a master plan and project 

interpretation guidelines to ensure that the museum's design narratives 

connect with the needs and wants of diverse audiences. 

08/2020 In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No

Education

Exhibitions

Internal Resource 

Development 

Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NASM

Diversity and 

Inclusion Charrette

NASM has hired the firm Cook Ross to assist us with the drafting of our 

Diversity and Inclusion Plan, a critical and high-priority item for the Director. 

11/13/2019 - 

11/14/2019 Planned

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Women

No Charrette Workforce Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NASM

 Smithsonian 

American Women: 

Remarkable 

Objects and Stories 

of Strength, 

Ingenuity, and 

Vision from the 

National Collection

As a part of the American Women’s History Initiative, Matthew Shindell and 

Margaret Weitekamp were both on the five-person editorial committee for 

the publication of: Victoria Pope and Christine Schrum, eds., Smithsonian 

American Women: Remarkable Objects and Stories of Strength, Ingenuity, and 

Vision from the National Collection. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 2019.

FY 2020 Planned Women Yes Publication Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture NASM

NASM 

Contemporary 

History Seminar 

lecture

NASM Contemporary History Seminar featured André Carrington’s lecture, 

“New World A-Coming: Radio Drama, Racism, and the Utopian Imagination.” 1/16/2020 Completed African Americans No

Conferences w/Professional 

Organizations

Program

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture NASM

Toshiko Mayenda 

profile

 NASM Space History curator Matthew Shindell published a profile of Toshiko 

Mayeda in Chemistry World: https://www.chemistryworld.com/culture/theindomitable-toshiko-mayeda/4011147.article3/2020 Completed Asian Americans No Digital Publication Program

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Museums & 

Culture NASM

Thomas Oxendine: 

First Native 

American Naval 

Aviator

NASM Aeronautics Department curator Laurence Burke's blog post for the 

75th anniversary of the end of WWII on the Vought OS2U Kingfisher includes 

recently discovered information about a Native American Naval Aviator who 

flew Kingfishers during the war. Thomas Oxendine, a Lumbee Indian from 

North Carolina, has a good claim to be the U.S. Navy's first Native American 

aviator. The blog is scheduled to be posted in early May.

3/2020 Completed Native Americans No Digital Outreach Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

Museums & 

Culture NASM DEAI Strategic Plan NASM is working toward formulating a museum wide DEAI (diversity, equity, accessibility, inclusion) strategic plan 2020 - 2022 In-Progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No Internal Strategic Plan Program;

Workforce

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Lemelson Center 

New Perspectives 

symposium

"The Lemelson Center’s annual symposium series, “New Perspectives on 

Invention and Innovation,” was established in 1995 to explore historical and 

contemporary issues regarding invention and innovation in our society. Our 

2020 New Perspectives symposium (Title TBD) will explore the latest 

scholarship on inventors from historically underrepresented groups, such as 

women inventors, African Americans inventors, and inventors with 

disabilities." The symposium will address how questions of identity inform and 

impact the process of invention-innovation in the context of all these groups.

Annual (NovDec 2020) In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTGIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders

Women

No

Blog: Acquisitions: Eduardo 

Carrillo Papers Program

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Lemelson Center 

Fellowship 

Programs

The Lemelson Center offers travel grants and fellowships to encourage 

scholars to develop research projects on the history of American invention, 

innovation, and technology that draw upon NMAH-SI collections.

Ongoing In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders

Women

No Fellowships Program;

Workforce

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

See Me at the 

Museum - Memory 

Arts Cafe

See Me at the Museum/Memory Arts Cafe are monthly interactive gallery 

programs designed for people with dementia and their care partners. Monthly 

audiences alternate between people in home care and people living in care 

facilities.

Ongoing In-progress Individuals with Disabilities No Public Programming Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

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Diversity 

Category

Audience

Museums & 

Culture NMAH Shout!

Visitors sing along with ring shouts of the Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry, 

which nourished the souls and buoyed the spirits of enslaved African 

Americans on rice plantations in the 19th century and inspired new forms of 

religious and secular music.

Multiple 

Days/Week In-progress African Americans No Public Programming Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Join the Student 

Sit-ins

This program transports visitors to a nonviolent protest training session a few 

weeks after the sit-in that occurred at the Woolworth store in Greensboro, 

North Carolina on February 1, 1960.

Multiple 

Days/Week In-progress African Americans No Public Programming Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Justice Must Be 

Done

This program invites visitors to join an 1840 meeting of the Ipswich Female 

Anti-Slavery Society. Visitors are encouraged to consider strategies they can 

use to make a positive change in our modern-day society. Once a Week In-progress Women No Public Programming Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Meet the 

Wheelwoman

This program introduces visitors to Louise Gibson and her bicycle, Sylvia. How 

did the Bicycle Boom of the 1890s shape the important movements of 

women’s liberation, woman suffrage, rational fashion choices, and better 

transportation infrastructure?

Once a week In-progress Women No Public Programming Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH Votes for Women

Visitors join a Silent Sentinel Suffragist and hear how suffragists heightened 

their efforts after seven decades of campaigning for the right to vote, and how 

these efforts led to the eventual passage of the 19th Amendment?

1 - 2 Times a 

Week In-progress Women No Public Programming Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Suffrage program 

2.0

A new version of the Votes for Women program will highlight the work of 

black suffragists and other suffragists of color as the museum marks the 100th 

anniversary of the 19th Amendment. N/A Planned African AmericansWomen

No Public Programming Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Morning at the 

Museum

Morning at the Museum is a pre-opening program for children with 

neurocognitive disabilities, their siblings, and adults. Welcoming these visitors 

to the Museum while it is quieter and less crowded makes the experience less 

overwhelming. Many families go onto visit museums on their own.

Ongoing - 

Approximately 

Once a Year

In-progress Individuals with Disabilities No Public Programming Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH Inclusion Infusion

Inclusion Infusion is a collaborative project between Access Smithsonian and 

the National Museum of American History that offers an innovative package of 

tools and services to provide an autonomous, content-rich experience to 

visitors who are blind or have low vision. Inclusion Infusion includes universallydesigned floor plans, Braille and large print take-away guides, Aira- and 

accessibility service now available in the museum, and online visual description 

tours.

6/2018 - 

Present

In-progress

Individuals with Disabilities

Blind/Low vision No Public Programming Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH Becoming US

Becoming US is a new educational resource for high school teachers and 

students to learn immigration and migration history in a more accurate and 

inclusive way.

Launched Fall 

2019

In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Native Americans

No Education Program High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Social Studies 

Online

In response to the COVID Pandemic and schools closing, NMAH educators 

started a series of weekly webcasts. The programs feature social studies 

experts from around the Smithsonian who explore a thematic question 

connecting to most school curricula. The program will run through June and 

pick up again in September. 

April 2020-

Present

In-progress Hispanics Yes

Education

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Museums & 

Culture NMAH K12 En Espanol

The NMAH Education team also worked with bilingual NMAH staff to present 

resources in Spanish. April 2020-

Present

In-progress Hispanics No

Education

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Museums & 

Culture NMAH Viral Histories

Viral Histories is a series of web conversations with members of communities 

facing heavy impact from the COVID-19 crisis. The first installment of the 

series focuses on the impact on the Asian American community.

Launching May 

2020

In-progress Asian Americans Yes

Education

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH K12 NoTech Pan-SI project to offer no-tech resources to underrepresented members of the Washington, D.C. community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

April 2020-

Present

In-progress

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

No Education Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

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Culture NMAH Digital Stories

Digital story collecting initiative collecting stories of Americans living during 

the COVID-19 pandemic with a special outreach emphasis on collecting the 

stories of under resourced and hard-hit communities.

Launching May 

2020

In-progress

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Yes Collections Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH Let's Do History

The Smithsonian's Let's Do History Tour brings Museum staff to school districts 

nationwide to share effective, exciting teaching techniques and K-12 resources 

free of charge. The training supports social studies instruction and integration. 

We work with not only social studies teachers but also English, science, art 

teachers, and more, as well as coaches, librarians, and other resource teachers.

Ongoing, 

paused due to 

COVID-19 

pandemic

In-progress

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Yes Teacher Workshop Program

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Social Media 

Heritage Months

Month long campaigns highlighting content of diverse communities in 

American history, often with signature strategic pushes to further promote. 

(Black History Month, Women's History Month, Asian Pacific American 

Heritage Month, Jewish American Heritage Month, Pride, Hispanic Heritage 

Month, American Indian Heritage Month)

BHM: 

February, 

WHM: March, 

AAPHM and 

JAHM: May, 

Pride: June, 

HHM: 

September, 

AIHM: 

November

In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Women

Jewish Americans

No

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Heritage Month Programming

Education

Program

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Daily Social Media 

Storytelling

We prioritize sharing stories of diverse Americans, being inclusive in our 

representation of major events, being inclusive in how we tell stories (using 

best practices of accessibility and an inclusion glossary), and promoting hiring. 

Examples include: 1) Leading the field, providing resources to reflect on the 

history of all Americans at major national anniversaries (exs. Focusing 

#19thAt100 conversation on the ongoing struggle for suffrage, focusing 

#Transcontinental150 on how the railroad affected Chinese laborers and 

American Indian communities); 2) Spotlighting major historical events that 

principally affected underrepresented communities (exs. Major #Day Of 

Remembrance campaign, two blog posts on the 15th Amendment anniversary, 

campaign based on the 50th anniversary of Stonewall), 3) For major American 

anniversaries we know will have wide reach, highlighting the story of an 

underrepresented community (exs. VE day focused on a Japanese American 

soldier, 4th of July focused on African Americans in the 1880s)

Daily In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Women

Yes

Digital Promotion of Job 

Opportunities

Education

Virtual Programming

Program;

Workforce

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

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Culture NMAH Museum blog Prioritize blog posts that tell stories of underrepresented communities. (Represents approximately 50% of the posts published in the last year.) Ongoing In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No Virtual Programming Program

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

“¡Pleibol!” Press 

Release and 

Marketing

"'¡Pleibol!'" Slides Into Smithsonian Fall 2020" highlighting the upcoming 

exhibit "¡Pleibol!" was a press release distributed to a national audience with 

additional targeting towards Latino and Spanish-speaking outlets.

1/8/2020 Completed Hispanics No

Communications and 

Marketing Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

'¡Pleibol!' Spanishlanguage 

Marketing and 

Communications

"'¡Pleibol!' se desliza en el Smithsonian en el otoño de 2020" highlighting the 

upcoming exhibit "¡Pleibol!" was a press release distributed to a national 

audience with additional targeting towards Latino and Spanish-speaking 

outlets.

1/8/2020 Completed Hispanics Yes

Communications and 

Marketing Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Communications 

and Marketing for 

Lester Young 

collecting

"Smithsonian Accepts Artifacts From 'The President' Lester Young" was 

generated and disseminated to communicate with diverse audiences about 

the collection and programming related to Lester Young.

2/20/2020 Completed African Americans Yes

Communications and 

Marketing Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Marketing and 

Communications: 

Viral Histories

"National Museum of American History Hosts 'Viral Histories: Stories of 

Racism, Resilience, and Resistance in Asian American Communities'" was a 

press release generated and distributed promoting and supporting the "Viral 

Histories" project of the museum.

5/14/2020 Completed Asian Americans No

Communications and 

Marketing Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

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Audience

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Press coverage for 

DACA initiative

Smithsonian Magazine covered the collecting efforts of DACA objects by the 

museum in the story "How the Smithsonian Is Documenting the Work of 

Immigrant Rights Activists" https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonianinstitution/how-smithsonian-documenting-undocumented-political-organizingmovements-180974220/2/21/2020 Completed Hispanics Yes

Communications and 

Marketing Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Chiura Obata: 

American Modern 

exhibition talk

On March 10, 2020 in conjunction with Chiura Obata: American Modern 

exhibit at SAAM, Noriko Sanefuji, joined Crawford Alexander Mann III, SAAM’s 

curator to discuss Obata’s firsthand experience and painted record of Japanese 

American incarceration during World War II

3/10/2020 Completed Asian Americans No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH Curator Invited Talk

Modupe Labode, invited talk: “Booker T. Washington Slept Here: African 

American Politics in Indiana in the Early 1900s,” US District Court of Southern 

Indiana, Indianapolis, Feb. 14. 

2/14/2020 Completed African Americans No Invited Talk Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Rockwell Museum 

Lecture

On April 15, 2020, Amanda Moniz joined the Rockwell Museum’s online 

audience via zoom to give a lecture focused on women in philanthropy. 4/15/2020 Completed Women No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH Invite lecture Modupe Labode spoke to students in Shortridge High School history class about African American history. 2/2020 Completed African Americans No Lecture Program High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Museums & 

Culture NMAH Film Lecture

Fath Davis Ruffins attended the annual conference of the Association for the 

Study of African American Life and History in North Charleston, SC. She gave a 

commentary on a film about the family history of Michelle Obama produced 

by the African American Civil War Museum and Memorial. (Mrs. Obama had 

two or three ancestors who served in the United States Colored Troops.)

10/2019 Completed African Americans No

Conferences w/Professional 

Organizations

Program

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Collecting- (1854) 

broadside

Ken Cohen collected a rare early (1854) broadside advertisement for ballet, 

featuring Spanish ballerina Josefa Soto and titling her performances in Spanish 

(as opposed to English translation of them, which was more common). 

12/2019 Completed Hispanics No Collections Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

NMAAHC “District 

Treasures” 

On December 11th Sunae Evans participated in NMAAHC “District Treasures” 

as a professional Reviewer. She provided advice on how to care for items 

brought to the Museum by the public. 

12/2019 Completed African Americans No

Collections

Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH Guest Lecture

David Haberstich presented PowerPoint lecture about Scurlock photographs at 

a BlankRome (law firm) “Celebration of D.C. Black History” reception. 2/2020 Completed African Americans No Lecture Program Other Programming for Adults

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Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Article - “Civil Air 

Patrol’s Unsung 

Civil Rights 

Milestone: Illinois 

Wing’s 111th Flight 

Squadron

Frank Blazich submitted an article, “Civil Air Patrol’s Unsung Civil Rights 

Milestone: Illinois Wing’s 111th Flight Squadron,” to Volunteer magazine for 

publication in its March 2020 issue. The 111th Flight Squadron was the first 

race and gender integrated, uniformed flying squadron in American history. 

2/2020 Completed African Americans

Women

No Article Program

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH Blog Post Amanda Moniz published a blog post, “Why a social activists opposed woman suffrage.” 4/2020 Completed Women No Blog Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture NMAH Panel Discussion

Theodore Gonzalves spoke on a virtual panel, "Advocacy and Allyship to the 

APIDA (Asian Pacific Islander Desi American) Community During Covid19," 

which was sponsored by Henry Mudd College, Clairmont, California.

4/2020 Completed Asian Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders No Discussion Panel Program

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Annual Meeting 

Presentation

Theo Gonzalves presented research at the annual meeting of the American 

Studies Association in Honolulu, Hawai‘i; the topic focused on the release of 

the NPS Asian American Pacific Islander Theme Study, edited by Franklin Odo.

11/2019 Completed Asian Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders No

Conferences w/Professional 

Organizations

Program

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture NMAH Public Conversation

Theo Gonzalves assisted in the production of a public conversation featuring 

Secretary Norman Mineta, Andrea Warren, and NMAH Director Anthea Hartig 

at Coulter Plaza. Warren recently wrote a biography of Mineta titled Enemy 

Child: The Story of Norman Mineta, a Boy Imprisoned in a Japanese American 

Internment Camp During World War II. Attendance: 80

11/2019 Completed Asian Americans No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

SI Year of Music 

Public Lecture

Theo Gonzalves produced a Smithsonian Year of Music public lecture given by 

Prof. Mari Yoshihara (chairperson of the Department of American Studies at 

the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and editor of American Quarterly) 

regarding her new book, Dearest Lenny: Letters from Japan and the Making of 

the World Maestro (Oxford University Press, 2019). Location: SC Johnson 

Conference Center

10/2019 Completed Asian Americans No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH Podcast Interview

Theo Gonzalves was interviewed by Paola Mardo for the podcast, Long 

Distance Radio. Topic: Filipino settlement in Louisiana in the nineteenth 

century

10/2019 Completed Asian Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders No Podcast Interview Program Other Programming for Adults

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Audience

Museums & 

Culture NMAH CIBA internship

March 2020 - Mika Sakai, Preservation Services 30-week CIBA intern, began 

her internship on March 16th, our first telework day. Sunae set up virtual 

training for her practicing various stitching treatment methods with different 

combination of the threads, support fabrics, and textiles. Mika’s internship 

was suspended in the last week of March, but she will return for her full 

internship starting in January 2021.

3/2020 - 2021 In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

No Internships Workforce

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Working Women: 

A Smithsonian 

Case Study Lecture

Fath Davis Ruffins gave a keynote talk for the Working Women: A Smithsonian 

Case Study which was held at the SAAM as part of the American Women's 

History Initiative. The topic was about Fath’s on-going research about African 

American women professionals at the Smithsonian, emphasizing the work of 

women in Folklife ( Bernice Johnson Reagon, Niani Kilkenny) and the various 

directors and curators at the National Museum of African Art, beginning with 

the first SI director, Sylvia Williams.

12/2019 Completed Women No Public Programming Program

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

The Lavender 

Scare film 

Katherine Ott introduced the film "The Lavender Scare," and moderated a 

related panel in the Warner Theater, in partnership with SI Pride Alliance and 

WETA/26. The screening was organized by Kelsey Wiggins (Numismatics).

10/2019 Completed LGBTQIA+ No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Illegal to Be You 

exhibition lectures

June -2020- Katherine Ott gave 3 lectures related the Illegal to Be You 

exhibition for Pride Month: SI Affiliates, hosted by the Heinz History Center; 

Health and Human Services staff; Pride Outside (NPS) 

6/2020 Completed LGBTQIA+ No Public Programming Program

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

History of disability 

training talk to 

Department of 

Defense employees

Katherine Ott gave a training talk on the history of disability to Department of 

Defense employees, in conjunction with the ADA 30th anniversary and the 

EveryBody exhibition.

7/2020 Completed Individuals with Disabilities No Training Talk Program

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

“Girls’ Experiences 

and Activism 

During the 20th 

Century” 

presentation

Crystal Moten gave a presentation to the National History Academy Online 

Summer Camp entitled “Girls’ Experiences and Activism During the 20th 

Century” (featuring objects from Girlhood (Its Complicated); there were nearly 

300 participants including 250+ students, 26 teachers/teachers’ assistants, 

plus administrative staff; students were from around the US and the world. 

7/2020 Completed Women No Guest Presentation Program

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

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Audience

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

 Blog post, “Lena 

Richard: Culinary 

Icon and Activist.”

Ashley Rose Young’s blog post, “Lena Richard: Culinary Icon and Activist.” was 

published on O Say Can You See. Richard is one of eight women featured in 

the American Enterprise New Perspectives case, “The Only One in the Room.” 

https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/lena-richard

6/2020 Completed African Americans No Blog Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH Online Lecture On June 11, Katherine Ott gave an online lecture on gay history for the Heinz History Center, an affiliate in Pittsburgh PA. 6/11/2020 Completed LGBTQIA+ No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Smithsonian 

American Women 

publication

October 2019 - Smithsonian American Women was published. The following 

members of the Division of Political and Military History wrote entries: 

Bethanee Bemis, Nancy Bercaw, Kenneth Cohen, Kathleen Golden, Lisa 

Kathleen Graddy, Claire Jerry, Sara Murphy, Harry Rubenstein, Barbara Clark 

Smith, Miranda Summers Lowe, and Tsione Wolde-Michael.

10/2019 Completed Women No Publication Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Working Women: 

The Smithsonian 

Institution as a 

Case Study-A 

Symposium.”

Shannon Perich participated on a panel and presented initial research about 

women shaping photography collections at SI on December 18, 2019, at 

“Working Women: The Smithsonian Institution as a Case Study-A Symposium.”

12/18/2019 Completed Women No

Conferences w/Professional 

Organizations

Program

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

"Black Public Art in 

the United States.” 

publication

December 2019 - Modupe Labode, “Black Public Art in the United States.” In 

Eddie Chambers, editor, Routledge Companion to African American Art History 

(New York: Routledge Press, 2019): 289-300.

12/2019 Completed African Americans No Publication Program

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

Preparing for the 

Oath

Updated website to be more mobile accessible, making it more accessible to 

prospective citizens whose primary access to the internet is through a mobile 

device.

September 

2020

Completed Immigrants No Education Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture NMAH

National Youth 

Summit

"The National Youth Summit brings middle and high school students together 

with scholars, teachers, policy experts, and activists in a national conversation 

about important events in America’s past that have relevance to the nation’s 

present and future. The 2020 summit was centered on the case study of 

Claudette Colvin—a 15-year-old Black student in Montgomery, Alabama, in 

1955. Colvin refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus and testified in 

the legal case that brought an end to segregated busing in Montgomery."

September 22, 

2020

Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No Education Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Love Lilyan 

backpacks for 

students

Funded by an endowment from a former docent, this initiative provides 

backpacks full of art supplies for underserved students in Title 1 and FERS 

programs in DC, Maryland, and Virginia schools.

2013 - Ongoing In-progress

African Americans

Hispanics

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

No Education Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

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Culture SAAM Art Signs

Lively ongoing series of gallery conversations in American Sign Language (ASL) 

led by deaf gallery guides. 2013 - Ongoing In-progress Individuals with Disabilities No Public Programming Workforce 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM Student Bus Grants

Donor funded program that provides buses to bring students from underresourced areas to the museum for field trips (not to be confused with the 

museum's Hearst program).

2014 - Ongoing In-progress

African Americans

Hispanics

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

No Education Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Museums & 

Culture SAAM Direct Carving

Exhibition which includes twenty-four sculptures from across the twentieth 

century that showcase the direct carving method. Included are works by 

artists of diverse backgrounds, including African American and Native 

American.

2015 - Ongoing In-progress

African Americans

Native Americans

No Exhibitions Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

America InSignt: 

Verbal Description 

Tours

Docent-led tours for visitors who are blind or have low vision enabling them to 

discover highlights from SAAM's collection through rich verbal description and 

sensory experience. Touch tour components for sculpture may be included.

2015 - Ongoing In-progress Individuals with Disabilities No Public Programming Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Creating American 

Stories

Funded by the William Randolph Hearst Endowment for America’s Artistic 

Heritage, this museum program brings eighth graders from local DC schools in 

under-resourced areas to visit the museum. The students spend their spring 

semester studying and writing about eight artworks from the American Art 

Museum collection.

2015 - Ongoing In-progress

African Americans

Hispanics

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

No Education Program Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Harlem Heroes 

Teaching Resource

To accompany the exhibition: 16-page guide for teachers has chapters on 

Debating Black Identity and Recording Black History. An in-depth look at the 

cultural history behind the creation of Van Vechten’s photographs and sitters. 

Available as a printed resource and as an online resource.

2016 - Ongoing 

(Online 

Resource)

In-progress African Americans No Education Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

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Culture SAAM

Poster Set: The 

American 

Experience

Set of 18" x 24" teaching posters. Three of the ten posters feature works that 

highlight African American and Latino artists: Jacob Lawrence (2 posters) and 

Antonio Martorell. Available as a printed resource and as an online resource.

2017 - Ongoing 

(Online 

Resource)

In-progress

African Americans

Hispanics

No Education Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Museums & 

Culture SAAM Curatorial Position

SAAM and the NMAI are the recipients of a new five-year term shared 

curatorial position, funded through the Smithsonian's Women's History 

Initiative. The curator will explore the historic relationship between gender 

and craft and how it informed two converging episodes of late 19th and early 

20th century American art history. In particular the curator will explore the 

emergence of American Arts and Crafts as an aesthetic and social movement 

and a period of increasingly professionalized artistic practice and the 

recognition and promotion of female Native artists as exemplars of 

distinctively "American" craft production.

6/2018 - 2023 In-progress

Native Americans

Women

No Curatorial Position Workforce Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Mornings at the 

Museum

A sensory-friendly program for children, teenagers, and young adults with 

disabilities. The program includes early entry into the museum, facilitated and 

thematic activities, a take-a-break space, and pre-visit materials like social 

narratives and sensory maps.

2019 - Ongoing Completed Individuals with Disabilities No Education Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Between Worlds: 

The Art of Bill 

Traylor Teaching 

Resource

To accompany the exhibition: guide for teachers has biographical information 

on the artist as well as historical context. The activities in this resource help 

students consider possible multiple readings of Traylor’s work and challenge 

students to question the perspectives and stories hidden within or missing 

from the telling of American history. Online resource. 

9/2018 - 

Ongoing 

(online 

resource)

In-progress African Americans No Education Program 

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Conservation 

Research on Alma 

Thomas

Conservation has been awarded $35,000 to conduct innovative research on 

the process behind the abstracted paintings by renowned artist Alma Thomas 

(1891-1978). Chief of Conservation Amber Kerr and Paintings Conservator 

Gwen Manthey have met with both researchers and Friends of Alma Thomas 

donor group to share the research as it develops.

10/1/2018 - 

Ongoing

In-progress African Americans No Education Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM See Me at SAAM

Ongoing series of tours for visitors with memory loss and their care partners; 

Wednesday afternoons at 2:00 pm.

10/3/2018 - 

Ongoing

In-progress Individuals with Disabilities No Public Programming Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

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Melesio Casas' "Humanscape 62" and Judith Baca's "Las Tres Marias" lent to 

the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University , Durham, NC for their 

exhibition "Pop America: Contesting Freedom, 1965-1975." (Tour: McNay Art 

Museum, San Antonio, TX and Block Museum of Art, Evanston, IL)

10/4/2018 - 

12/8/2019 In-progress Hispanics No Exhibitions Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

TBMA Lunder 

Fellowship Time-Based Media Lunder Conservation Fellowship awarded to Shu-Wen Lin. 10/15/2018 - 10/14/2019 In-progress Asian Americans No

Education

Fellowships Workforce Masters

Museums & 

Culture SAAM Museum Loan

Gordon Parks photo to National Gallery of Art for exhibition: Gordon Parks: 

The New Tide, 1940-1950.

11/4/2018 - 

4/26/2020 In-progress African Americans No Exhibitions Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Traveling 

Exhibition: Artists 

Respond: 

American Art and 

the Vietnam War, 

1965-1975

Exhibition on how the Vietnam War changed American Art opens at the 

Minneapolis Institute of Art September 28, 2019 through January 5, 2020.

9/28/2019 - 

1/5/2020 In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

No

Exhibitions

Traveling Exhibitions Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Traveling 

Exhibition: African 

American Art in 

the 20th Century 

from the 

Smithsonian 

American Art 

Museum

African American Art in the 20th Century, a traveling exhibition organized by 

SAAM's Chief Curator Virginia Mecklenberg and drawn largely from SAAM's 

permanent collection, presents a selection of 50 paintings, sculpture, and 

prints by thirty-six black artists who explored the African American experience 

from the Harlem Renaissance through the Civil Rights era. On Feb. 22nd, in 

conjunction with the opening, Virginia Mecklenberg presented a lecture at the 

Dubuque Museum of Art (Iowa). The show travels to cities across the United 

States, including the Dubuque Museum of Art, the Cornell Fine Arts Museum, 

Winter Park, Florida, 9/20/2019-12/29/2019, and the Westmorland Museum 

of Art in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, opening February 15, 2020, and reopening 

on August 5, 2020, following the museum's closure due to Covid-19. The show 

will now close on January 17, 2021. Partial funding for the project was 

provided by Art Bridges.

1/19/2019-

2/15/2021 In-progress African Americans No

Exhibitions

Traveling Exhibitions Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Ginny Ruffner: 

Reforestation of 

the Imagination

Immersive installation featuring drawings, glass, and augmented reality 

components by artist Ginny Ruffner.

6/28/2019-

1/5/2020 In-progress Individuals with Disabilities No Exhibitions Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Michael Sherrill: 

Respective

Retrospective exhibition on the work of North Carolina artist Michael Sherrill. 6/28/2019-

1/5/2020 Completed Individuals with Disabilities No Exhibitions Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM Intern Program

Advanced Level Internship Program 2019/2020 (20 interns): African American 

10%, Asian American 20%; Latinx 5% 

9/6/2019-

4/13/2020 In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

No Internships Workforce College/University

Museums & 

Culture SAAM Fellowship Program Class of 2019/2020 (22 fellows): African American 6%, Asian American 13%; Latinx 19%

9/6/2019-

8/31/2020 In-progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

No Fellowships Workforce 

College/University

Masters

PhD

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Poster Set: A 

Woman's Place is 

in the Curriculum

A joint initiative with NPG, this AWHI-funded teaching poster set highlights the 

stories of six women of color.

9/2019-

12/2019 In-progress

African Americans

Hispanics

Native Americans

Women

No Education Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Museums & 

Culture SAAM Museum Loan

Alexander Maldonado's painting "San Francisco to New York in One Hour" 

was lent to the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn, Germany for the exhibition “San 

Francisco: Californian Dreams.” 

9/13/2019-

1/12/2020 In-progress Hispanics No Exhibitions Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM Museum Loan

Two Alma Thomas paintings, "Wind and Crepe Myrtle Concerto" and 

"Arboretum Presents White Dogwood" were lent to the Baltimore Museum of 

Art for the exhibition “Solidarity & Solitary: The Joyner/Giuffrida Collection.”

9/29/2019-

1/5/2020 In-progress African Americans No Exhibitions Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Alma Thomas 

Research Project

Research project undertaken by SAAM's Lunder Conservation Center to 

examine the paintings of Alma Thomas. The project will include public and 

private programming.

9/6/2019-

1/3/2020 In-progress African Americans Yes

Education

Public Programming Program 

Masters

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Director's Circle 

Dinner

Featured a conversation with artist Miguel Luciano, a multimedia visual artist 

whose work explores themes of history, popular culture, social justice and 

migration, through sculpture, painting and socially engaged public art projects. 

His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including 

exhibitions at The Mercosul Biennial, Brazil; El Museo Nacional de Bella Artes 

de la Habana, Cuba; La Grande Halle de la Villette, Paris; El Museo del Palacio 

de Bellas Artes, Mexico City; The San Juan Poly-Graphic Triennial, Puerto Rico, 

and The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC. 

9/21/2019 Completed Hispanics No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Charles C. Eldredge 

Prize Lecture

Nizan Shaked, professor of contemporary art history and museum and 

curatorial studies at California State University, Long Beach, discusses her prize 

winning book "The Synthetic Proposition: Conceptualism and the Political 

Referent in Contemporary Art" (2017). Awarded SAAM's 31st annual Charles 

C. Eldredge Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in American Art, Shaked 

examines the impact of civil rights, the Black Power movement, and the 

student, feminist, and sexual-liberty movements on conceptualism and its 

legacies in the U.S. between the late 1960s and the 1990s.

10/3/2019 Completed African Americans

Women

No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Chiura Obata: 

American Modern

Japanese-born artist Chiura Obata’s seemingly effortless synthesis of different 

art traditions defies the usual division between “East” and “West.” This 

exhibition presents the most comprehensive survey of his rich and varied body 

of work to date, from bold California landscape paintings to intimate drawings 

of his experiences of the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during 

World War II.

11/27/2019-

5/25/2020 In-progress Asian Americans No Exhibitions Program Other Programming for Adults

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Picturing the 

American Buffalo: 

George Catlin and 

Modern Native 

American Artists

This exhibition considers the representation of the American buffalo from two 

perspectives: a selection of paintings by George Catlin (1796–1872), and works 

by modern Native artists Woodrow Crumbo, Paul Flying Eagle Goodbear, Allan 

Houser, Julian Martinez, Fritz Scholder, Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, Awa Tsireh, 

Thomas Vigil, and Beatien Yazz.

10/11/2019-

4/12/2020 In-progress Native Americans No Exhibitions Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Picturing the 

American Buffalo: 

George Catlin and 

Modern Native 

American Artists --

A Conversation

A dynamic panel discussion exploring themes and depictions of the American 

West, with insights from three distinguished scholars. Adam Duncan Harris, 

the Joffa Kerr Chief Curator of Art at the National Museum of Wildlife Art, and 

David Penney, Associate Director of Museum Scholarship at the Smithsonian's 

National Museum of the American Indian, join SAAM's Senior Curator Eleanor 

Harvey for an interdisciplinary conversation.

10/30/2019 Completed Native Americans No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM Art Bites

Gallery talk by Hanna Hölling (Terra Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at SAAM 

and Lecturer at University College London) and Saisha Grayson (Curator of 

Time-Based Media at SAAM) on "Global Groove" by Nam June Paik and John 

Godfrey. Following the talk, there will be brief remarks, Q&A, and a book 

signing with Gregory Zinman, assistant professor at Georgia Tech and co-editor 

of "We Are in Open Circuits: Writings by Nam June Paik" (MIT Press, 2019). 

This newly released collection of essays, project plans, and correspondence 

from across Nam June Paik's career includes many previously unpublished 

findings from the Nam June Paik research material at SAAM.

11/22/2019 Completed Asian Americans No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Dia de los Muertos 

Family Day

A celebration of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) includes Mexican folk 

dance performances, a live mariachi band, face painting, and the opportunity 

to leave handmade ofrendas (offerings), including paper calaveras (decorative 

skulls), monarch butterflies, and marigolds on SAAM's Dia de los Muertos altar.

10/26/2019 Completed Hispanics No Public Programming Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Clarice Smith 

Lecture with 

Naomi Beckwith: 

Looking Back to 

Look Forward

Scholar Naomi Beckwith, senior curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art 

in Chicago, delves into her professional background to explore the importance 

of her information education as a complement to her formal education. 

Beckwith discusses how her path has helped shape her curatorial approach in 

creating her recent exhibitions about African American artists.

10/23/2019 Completed African Americans No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

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Movies at SAAM: 

Street Heroines

Screening of a documentary film that looks at the courage and creativity of 

female street artists from around the world. 11/13/2019 Completed Women No Public Programming Program 

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Chiura Obata: 

American Modern 

Exhibition Lecture

Chiura Obata ranks among the most significant California-based artists and 

Japanese American cultural leads of the last century. Guest curator ShiPu 

Wang, professor at the University of California, Merced, discusses Chiura 

Obata's career as a painter, teacher, and cultural ambassador.

12/5/2019 Completed Asian Americans No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Conservation 

Lecture

Buffalo State art conservation professor Jiuan Jiuan Chen discusses her 

expertise with conservation imaging, technical examination, and 

documentation.

12/12/2019 Completed Asian Americans No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Conservation 

Gallery Talk

"Alma Thomas, Up Close and Colorful" goes beneath the surface of Alma 

Thomas's colorful abstract paintings with project conservator Sydney Nikolaus. 12/6/2019 Completed African Americans No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

American Art (Fall 

2019)

Chris Dingwall's article "Economics of Black Culture: Commercial Art in/as 

African American Art." Fall 2019 Completed African Americans No Publication Program 

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

American Art (Fall 

2019)

Diana L. Linden's article "In Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King: White Privilege 

and White Masks in William Christopher's Paintings of 1963." Fall 2019 Completed African Americans No Publication Program 

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM New Accessions

New accessions for SAAM's Renwick Gallery include: 1.) Sharif Bey, "Louie 

Bones - Omega," 2017, earthenware, vitreous china, and mixed media, Gift of 

Maureen Fennessy Bousa and Edward P. Bousa, 2019.19. 2.) Sherif Bey, 

"Ceremonial Vessel I," 2016, earthenware and china shards, Museum purchase 

through the Howard Kottler Endowment for Ceramic Art, 2019.11. 

Fall 2019 Completed African Americans No Collections Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

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Culture SAAM New Accessions

New accessions for SAAM's Renwick Gallery include: 1.) Stephanie 

Syjuco,"Cargo Cults: (Basket Woman),"2016, archival pigment print, Museum 

purchase through the Bernie Stadiem Endowment. 2.) Stephanie Syjuco, 

"Cargo Cults: (Java Bunny)," 2016, archival pigment print, Museum purchase 

through the Bernie Stadiem Endowment.

Fall 2019 Completed Asian Americans No Collections Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Videoconference: 

"Republican 

Motherhood"

Atlanta high school students participated in a videoconference titled 

"Republican Motherhood," which used SAAM artworks to illustrate the 

changing roles of women during the creation of the American Republic.

10/3/2019 Completed Women No Education Program High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Teacher Program: 

Edward M. Felegy 

Elementary School

Multi-part teacher professional development program focused on improving 

student literacy through analysis of works by African American and Latinx 

artists. Supported by Crayola Creativity grant. Fall 2019 Completed

African Americans

Hispanics

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

No Education Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Renwick Gallery 

Student Programs

One-time, two-hour special programming for DC area students. Programs 

brought together area subject matter experts and students to explore thinking 

dispositions through arts integration. Fall 2019 Completed

African Americans

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

No Education Program Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Teacher Program: 

School Year Starter 

at the Renwick 

Gallery

Program featuring a lecture and hands-on activity by artist Marie Watt 

(Seneca). Teachers explored social emotional learning (SEL) with art at the 

center.

10/24/2019 Completed Native Americans No Education Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Teacher Program: 

Adding Historical 

Context

Program examining the historical context of literature as a way of 

understanding the why and the how of its production. Teachers analyzed text 

from August Wilson's Fences in tandem with source documents from the 

1960s and 1980s. 

11/5/2019 Completed African Americans No Education Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Teacher Program: 

Telling a More 

Complete History

Co-facilitated by NMAI's Renee Gokey (Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma), 

teachers explored the SAAM exhibition "Picturing the American Buffalo" and 

considered whose stories and values are actually represented in historical 

texts and paintings. How might we tell more complete narratives in our 

classrooms to share multiple perspectives and gain a more nuanced and 

authentic understanding of the peoples represented? 

12/14/2019 Completed Native Americans No Education Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Teacher Program: 

Re-imagining 

Migration

Drawing upon the work of Chiura Obata from the SAAM exhibition "Chiura 

Obata: American Modern," teachers considered the lives and experiences of 

immigrant-origin students as assets instead of liabilities.

12/16/2019 Completed Asian Americans No Education Program Other Programming for Adults

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Artful Connections 

Videoconference: 

African American 

Artists

Program focuses on African American artists and historical, social, and cultural 

events, as well as life experiences, that inspired their work. 10/2/2019 Completed African Americans No Education Program Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Artful Connections 

Videoconference: 

Latino Art and 

Culture

Program focuses on how Latino artists shaped the artistic movements of their 

day, often using their work to communicate with a larger public about social 

justice and themes of diversity, identity, and community.

10/3/2019-

11/8/2019 Completed Hispanics No Education Program Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Artful Connections 

Videoconference: 

American Indians

Program explores histories and cultures of American Indians as captured by 

both Native and non-Native artists, and discusses the influence of geography, 

tradition, and tribal affiliation on contemporary Indian artists.

11/14/2019 - 

12/9/2019 Completed Native Americans No Education Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

Museums & 

Culture SAAM Museum Loan

"Nocturnal (Horizon Line)" by Teresita Fernandez was lent to the Perez 

Museum in Miami for their exhibition “Teresita Fernandez: Elemental” 10/18/2019-

9/20/2020 In-progress Hispanics No Exhibitions Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM Museum Loan

"Fisherman No. 1" by Malcolm Roberts was lent to the Cascadia Art Museum 

in Edmonds, WA for their exhibition “The Lavender Palette: Gay Culture in the 

Art of Washington State"

10/11/2019-

1/5/2020 In-progress LGBTQIA+ No Exhibitions Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM Museum Loan

Two William H. Johnson paintings, "Jitterbugs II" and "Jitterbugs III," were lent 

to the Barbican Art Gallery in London for their exhibition “Into the Night: 

Cabarets and Clubs in Modern Art”

10/4/2019-

6/1/2020 In-progress African Americans No Exhibitions Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM Museum Loan

"Self-Portrait with Speedy Gonzalez" by Roberto Chavez was lent to the Museo 

del Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City for their exhibition “Uncontainable 

Zapata: Images of a Transnational Hero” 

11/21/2019-

2/16/2020 In-progress Hispanics No Exhibitions Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Conservation 

Gallery Talk

"Leo Villareal's Volume" (Renwick Gallery) SAAM's media conservator Dan Finn 

sheds light on the challenges of conserving contemporary media installation. 1/31/2020 Completed Hispanics No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Chinese New Year 

Family Celebration

Celebrate the Lunar New Year with SAAM and the Chinese Embassy. This 

year's celebration features traditional music, magic, and demonstrations of 

traditional Chinese handicrafts.

2/1/2020 Completed Asian Americans No Public Programming Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

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Chiura Obata Teen 

Arts Workshop

A hands-on teen workshop presented in partnership with the Smithsonian 

Asian Pacific American Center. 2/15/2020 Completed Asian Americans No Public Programming Program 

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

African American 

Artists Highlights 

Tour

Celebrate Black History Month at SAAM with a special before hours tour of 

works on display by African American artists including Edmonia Lewis, William 

H. Johnson, Alma Thomas, Theaster Gates, and more.

2/8/2020 Completed African Americans No

Heritage Month Programming

Public Programming Program

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Hearts of Our 

People: Native 

Women Artists 

Exhibition

This landmark exhibition is the first major thematic show to explore the 

artistic achievements of Native women. The presentation at SAAM's Renwick 

Gallery includes more than 80 artworks dating from antiquity to the present, 

made in a variety of media from textiles and beadwork, to sculpture, timebased media, and photography.

2/21/2020-

5/17/2020 In-progress Native Americans No Exhibitions Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Curator Gallery 

Talk: Hearts Our 

People

Exhibition curator Jill Ahlberg Yohe, associate curator of Native American art 

at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and Teri Greeves, an independent curator 

and member of the Kiowa Nation, talk about the artists, the artworks on 

display, and the collaborative curatorial process used for this groundbreaking 

exhibition

2/21/2020 Completed Native Americans No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Hearts of Our 

People Land 

Acknowledgement 

and Welcome

On the steps of SAAM's Renwick Gallery, Gabrielle Tayac, a member of the 

Piscataway Nation, opens the "Hearts of Our People" exhibition with works 

that honor the lands, ancestors, and living beings that we are part of in this 

Piscataway world.

2/21/2020 Completed Native Americans No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Mother Tongue 

Film Festival

As part of the Smithsonian's 2020 Mother Tongue Film Festival, SAAM will be 

screening short films that celebrate cultural and linguistic diversity showcased 

by films and filmmakers from around the world.

2/28/2020 Completed Native Americans No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM Art Bites

Gallery talk by SAAM predoctoral fellow Christine Garnier on John Mix 

Stanley's "Buffalo Hunt on the Southwestern Prairies" (1845). 2/28/2020 Completed Native Americans No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

American Art 

(Spring 2020)

Jason Vartikar's article "Ruth Asawa's Early Wire Sculpture and a Biology of 

Equality." Spring 2020 Completed Asian Americans No Publication Program 

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

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American Art 

(Spring 2020)

Monica Bravo's article "The Last Word in Direct Naive Realism: Diego Rivera, 

Edward Weston, and Pulquerias" discussing the modernity of Mexican tavern 

murals.

Spring 2020 Completed Hispanics No Publication Program 

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

American Art 

(Spring 2020)

Harmon Siegel's article "Melvin Edwards Decides" shows African American 

sculptor Melvin Edward's ground-breaking installations were themselves 

commentary on art-world racism.

Spring 2020 Completed African Americans No Publication Program 

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Women 

Filmmakers Festival

Screening of films that highlight women artists working outside the Hollywood 

game, making their own rules and seeking adventurous audiences for their 

bold visions. Films include the landmark feature film "Born in Flames" (1983) 

followed by a post-screening discussion with director Lizzie Borden and SAAM 

curators.

3/7/2020 Completed Women No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Women 

Filmmakers 

Festival at Eaton DC

Additional screenings of films and discussion held at Eaton DC on K Street NW. 3/6/2020 Completed Women No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Wikipedia Edit-AThon: Art and 

Feminism

Learn how to edit and create Wikipedia articles highlighting women artists 

with SAAM, Smithsonian Libraries, and Art+Feminism. 3/13/2020 Completed Women No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM Art Bites

Gallery talk by SAAM predoctoral fellow Krystle Stricklin on Mark Bradford's 

"Amendment #8" (2014) 1/24/2020 Completed African Americans No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM Double Take

In conjunction with the exhibition "Chiura Obata: American Modern," Alex 

Mann, SAAM's curator of prints and drawings, and Noriko Sanefuji, historian 

and curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, 

discuss Obata's firsthand experience and painted record of Japanese American 

incarceration during World War II.

3/10/2020 Completed Asian Americans No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM Conservation Talk

See how art conservator Keara Teeter, a 2019-2020 Samuel H. Kress fellow in 

paintings conservation, preserves William H. Johnson's iconic "Fighters for 

Freedom" series.

3/13/2020 Completed African Americans No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Conversation 

Pieces

Join Joanna Marsh, SAAM's deputy education chair and head of interpretation 

and audience research, as she facilitates a conversation about Chicano artist 

Gronk's "Ta Ra Ra Boom De De."

3/4/2020 Completed Hispanics No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

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Culture SAAM New Accessions

Purchase of two landscape watercolors of the Arizona desert by Japanese 

American artist Tsuruoka Kakunen, created during the his illegal incarceration 

at the Poston prison camp during World War II.

12/1/2019 Completed African Americans No Collections Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM New Accessions

Gift received of 4 screen prints by Shepard Fairey. These four works all address 

political conflict and struggles for civil rights around the world, featuring 

female protagonists.

12/1/2019 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Women

No Collections Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM New Accessions

Accession of 4 drawings by Ethel Hughes, transferred from the North Carolina 

Museum of Art. Hughes was an early 20th century illustrator, and these 

drawings include sensitive portrayals of African American daily life from the 

1920s-30s.

3/1/2020 Completed African Americans

Women

No Collections Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM New Accessions

Accession of 13 prints by Mabel Pugh, transferred from the North Carolina 

Museum of Art. Pugh was an early 20th century illustrator and printmaker, 

and these drawings include sensitive portrayals of African American daily life 

from the 1920s-1930s.

3/1/2020 Completed African Americans

Women

No Collections Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM Art To Go Packets Provided art materials and workbooks to elementary and middle school students at DC public school meal distribution sites.

4/15/2020-

5/19/2020 Completed Residents of Under-resourced Communities

No Education Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

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Category

Audience

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Spanish Art To Go 

Packets

Provided art materials and workbooks written in Spanish to elementary and 

middle school students at DC public school meal distribution sites.

4/15/2020-

5/19/2020 Completed

Hispanics

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

No Education Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Webinar for 

"Project Zero" 

educators in the 

Washington, DC 

area

Teacher professional development workshop focused on the work of Chiura 

Obata featured in SAAM's exhibition "Chiura Obata: American Modern." 

("Project Zero" is a research initiative at Harvard's graduate school of 

Education.)

4/22/2020 Completed Asian Americans No Education Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Advancing Women 

Lecture

Virtual presentation by SAAM's contemporary art curator Sarah Newman on 

"Kara Walker and History’s Shadows" held in conjunction with SAAM's 

traveling exhibition "Kara Walker: Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War" at 

the Rockwell Museum (Corning, New York).

5/28/2020 Completed African Americans

Women

No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Smithsonian Pride 

Alliance "Project 

Pride" Curatorial 

Presentation

Virtual presentation by curatorial assistant Claudia Zapata on SAAM's "La 

Ofrenda" (1988) by Ester Hernández. 5/31/2020 Completed HispanicsLGBTQIA+

No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Fellows 2020 Zoom 

Work-in-Progress 

Webinar

"Painted in Oil, Printed into History: McKenney and Hall's Black Hawk" 5/7/2020 Completed Native Americans No Fellowships Program 

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Fellows 2020 Zoom 

Work-in-Progress 

Webinar

"Silvered Frontiers: Theodore Baur's The Buffalo Hunt in 1876" 5/7/2020 Completed Native Americans No Fellowships Program 

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Alma Thomas 

Webinar Webinar for students in George Washington University's DC art history course. 6/11/2020 Completed African Americans No Education Program College/University

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Fellows 2020 Zoom 

Work-in-Progress 

Webinar

"Exhibiting the Agony and the Joy of Puerto Rican Life: Boricua: Aqui y Alla" 6/18/2020 Completed Hispanics No Fellowships Program 

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Fellows 2020 Zoom 

Work-in-Progress 

Webinar

"Groovin' in a Lacuna: Nam June Paik's Satellite Intervention in the Global" 6/18/2020 Completed Asian Americans No Fellowships Program 

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

National Pride 

Month at SAAM - 

"Seeing the 

Rainbow in SAAM's 

Collection" and 

"Identity and 

Visibility"

Published two paired blog posts that explore the complexity of foregrounding 

sexual identity in gallery texts, and the dangers of heightened visibility for 

those at risk of harm from a prejudiced society. 

6/20/2020 - 

6/30/2020 Completed

African Americans

LGBTQIA+

Women

No

Collections

Public Programming Program 

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

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Category

Audience

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

National Pride 

Month at SAAM - 

Drag Queen Story 

Time

Facebook Live celebration with DC drag queen Ruth Allen Ginsburg. Ruth 

brings fun for the whole family while reading classic nursery rhymes and tales 

for children at this special story time presented by SAAM.

6/27/2020 Completed LGBTQIA+ No Public Programming Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

National Pride 

Month at SAAM - 

Pride Family Days

Pride Family Zone featuring online instructions for crafting at home, printable 

coloring pages based on artworks in SAAM's collection, and videos from kidfriendly performers who partner with SAAM during family day events. 

6/1/2020-

6/30/2020 Completed LGBTQIA+ No Public Programming Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Arthur Jafa's "Love 

is the Message, 

The Message is 

Death" (2016) 

Streaming Event

Weekend streaming event featuring Arthur Jafa's single-channel video "Love is 

the Message, The Message is Death" (2016), a joint museum purchase with 

the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

6/26/2020-

6/28/2020 Completed African Americans No Public Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Artful Connections 

Videoconference: 

African American 

Artists

Program focuses on African American artists and historical, social, and cultural 

events, as well as life experiences, that inspired their work.

4/9/2020-

6/4/2020 Completed African Americans No Education Program 

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

College/University

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Artful Connections 

Videoconference: 

Latino Art and 

Culture

Program focuses on how Latino artists shaped the artistic movements of their 

day, often using their work to communicate with a larger public about social 

justice and themes of diversity, identity, and community.

5/12/2020-

6/12/2020 Completed Hispanics No Education Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Artful Connections 

Videoconference: 

American Indians

Program explores histories and cultures of American Indians as captured by 

both Native and non-Native artists, and discusses the influence of geography, 

tradition, and tribal affiliation on contemporary Indian artists.

4/1/2020-

5/19/2020 Completed Native Americans No Education Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

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Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Patricia and Phillip 

Frost Essay Award

Diana L. Linden is the recipient of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's 

Patricia and Phillip Frost Essay Award for her article "In Honor of Dr. Martin 

Luther King: White Privilege and White Masks in William Christopher's 

Paintings of 1963," which appeared in the fall 2019 issue of the museum's 

journal "American Art."

5/15/2020 Completed African Americans No Publication Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Traveling 

Exhibition: "Kara 

Walker: Harper's 

History of the Civil 

War"

An exhibition of prints from SAAM's collection features artist Kara Walker's 

provocative take on the Civil War. The exhibition travels to the Rockwell 

Museum in Corning, New York from July 1, 2020 to September 27, 2020.

7/1/2020-

9/27/2020 Completed African AmericansWomen

No Traveling Exhibitions Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Curator 

Conversation: 

Arthur Jafa's "Love 

is the Message, 

The Message is 

Death"

Arthur Jafa's powerful video examination of Black life in America, "Love is the 

Message, The Message is Death," was streamed online by SAAM and the 

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden the weekend of June 26-28. On July 

9th, viewers were encouraged to share responses to the artwork during an 

online conversation with E. Carmen Ramos, acting chief curator and curator of 

Latinx art at SAAM, Rhea Combs, curator of film and photography at the 

National Museum of African American History and Culture, and Saisha 

Grayson, SAAM's curator of time-based media. Deborah Willis, artist and chair 

of the department of photography and imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts 

at New York University, provided introductory remarks.

7/9/2020 Completed African Americans No

Public Programming

Virtual Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Charles C. Eldredge 

Prize for 

Distinguished 

Scholarship in 

American Art

The Smithsonian American Art Museum awarded the 32nd annual Charles C. 

Eldredge Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in American Art to Linda Kim for 

her book "Race Experts: Sculpture, Anthropology, and the American Public in 

Malvina Hoffman's 'Races of Mankind'" (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 

2018).

7/10/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Others

No Publication Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Fellows 2020 Zoom 

Work-in-Progress 

Webinar

"Join the Club: African American Artists and the Philadelphia Print Club" 7/23/2020 Completed African Americans No Fellowships Program 

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Fellows 2020 Zoom 

Work-in-Progress 

Webinar

"Mutable Modernisms: An Art Colony in Blackfoot Territory and the Lives of Its 

Works" 7/23/2020 Completed Native Americans No Fellowships Program 

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Fellows 2020 Zoom 

Work-in-Progress 

Webinar

"Mural Diplomacy: Mexico, the United States, and France at the 1937 

International Exposition in Paris" 7/23/2020 Completed Hispanics No Fellowships Program 

College/University

Masters

PhD

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Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Fellows 2020 Zoom 

Work-in-Progress 

Webinar

"Traversing the Pictorial Ground of Aaron Douglas's 1920s New York" 8/6/2020 Completed African Americans No Fellowships Program 

College/University

Masters

PhD

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Nam June Paik's 

Birthday 

Celebration

Discover more about Nam June Paik, the artistic visionary whose global 

presence, influence, and innovative work helped connect art and technology 

and inspire a new generation of artists. This birthday celebration features an 

online book talk with John Hanhardt and Gregory Zinman, editors of the 

recently published "We Are in Open Circuits: Writings by Nam June Paik" and 

Saisha Grayson, SAAM's time-based media curator. 

7/20/2020 Completed Asian Americans No

Public Programming

Virtual Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM SAAM Arcade

SAAM's annual video game festival hosted online this year with an Indie 

Developer Showcase featuring playable games, film screenings, and video 

game-inspired crafting. The theme for SAAM's 2020 arcade is "Game 

Changers" highlighting games made by women and celebrating women's 

history in America. 

8/1/2020-

8/2/2020 Completed Women No

Public Programming

Virtual Programming Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Handi-hour: 

Cheers to 100 

Years of Women's 

Suffrage

SAAM and the National Postal Museum present a virtual crafting happy hour 

to learn about the role of postal history in the women's suffrage movement 

while creating a print that celebrates women's rights.

8/27/2020 Completed Women No

Public Programming

Virtual Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

"American Art" 

(Summer 2020)

Emilie Boone's article "Reproducing the New Negro: James Van Der Zee's 

Photographic Vision in Newsprint" Summer 2020 Completed African Americans No Publication Program 

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

"American Art" 

(Summer 2020)

Sascha Scott's article " Georgia O'Keeffe's Hawai'i? Decolonizing the History of 

American Modernism" Summer 2020 Completed Native Hawaiians/Pacific IslandersWomen

No Publication Program 

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Hearts of Our 

People: Native 

Artists Highlights 

Tour

Join us for a virtual tour that celebrates the achievements of Native women 

artists and learn more about the exquisite artwork featured in the landmark 

exhibition "Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists." Anya Montiel, 

SAAM's curator of American and Native American Women's Art and Craft, 

guides participants through a collection of artworks that dates from antiquity 

to present day, and are made in a variety of media, from textiles and 

beadwork to sculpture and photography.

9/17/2020 Completed Native Americans

Women

Yes

Public Programming

Virtual Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

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Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Clarice Smith 

Lecture with Aruna 

D'Souza

Join author and art historian Aruna D'Souza for an online lecture about 

modern and contemporary art, intersectional feminisms, and how museums 

shape our views of each other and our world.

9/23/2020 Completed Women No

Public Programming

Virtual Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM Museum Loan

Elijah Pierce's paintings "Your Life Is a Book and Every Day is a Page" (1973) 

and "Elijah Pierce, Peace with Honor" (1973) were lent to the Barnes 

Foundation in Philadelphia for the exhibition "Elijah Pierce's America."

9/27/2020-

1/10/2021 In-progress African Americans No Exhibitions Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM New Accessions

"Report" (2001/2015), a single-channel video by Raven Chacon, a Dine artist, 

registered member of Navajo Nation in Arizona 9/1/2020 In-progress

Native Americans

Women

No Collections Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM New Accessions

Christine Sun Kim's four-channel video titled "Close Readings" (2016) and 

seven audio tracks of varied lengths titled "one week of lullabies for roux" 

(2018).

9/1/2020 In-progress

Asian Americans

Individuals with Disabilities

Women

No Collections Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Director's Circle 

Dinner

Featured an online conversation with artist Sonya Clark and Nora Atkinson, 

The Fleur and Charles Bresler Curator-in-Charge of the Renwick Gallery. 9/25/2019 Completed African AmericansWomen

No

Public Programming

Virtual Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Artist Talk: 

Subversive, Skilled, 

Sublime: Fiber Art 

by Women

For the upcoming Renwick exhibition "Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art 

by Women," curator of craft Mary Savig presented an online interview with 

California-based fiber artist Neda Al-Hilali at Textile Arts, Los Angeles.

9/24/2020 Completed Women No

Public Programming

Virtual Programming Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Lecture: 

Subversive, Skilled, 

Sublime: Fiber Art 

by Women

Virtual presentation by curator of craft Mary Savig on the life and work of 

artists Faith Ringgold, Emma Amos, and Kay Sekimachi featured in the 

Renwick's exhibition "Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women." The 

lecture was given for art history students at Rutgers University. 

9/22/2020 Completed African Americans

Women

No

Education

Virtual Programming Program College/University

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Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Museums & 

Culture SAAM New Accessions

Purchase of "Sustaining Traditions - Digital Memories" (2018), a basket by 

Ottawa/Pottawatomi artist Kelly Church. The work was displayed in the 

Renwick's exhibition "Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists."

8/5/2020 Completed Native Americans

Women

No Collections Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM New Accessions

Gift of two sculptures from the estate of Sandra Oken: "Losing Bitch" (1994) by 

Einar and Jamex De La Torre, and "Zoomorphic Dog Form in Stroller (New 

World Series)" (1994) by Michael Lucero.

8/24/2020 In-progress

Hispanics

Native Americans

Women

No Collections Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM New Accessions Gift of a turquoise pendant by Navajo artist Herman Vandever 8/24/2020 In-progress Native Americans No Collections Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM New Accessions

Purchase of "Perforated golden micaceous orb" (2020) by San Felipe Pueblo 

artist Hubert Candelario 8/24/2020 In-progress Native Americans No Collections Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

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Diversity 

Category

Audience

Museums & 

Culture SAAM New Accessions

Purchase of "Large Turquoise Urchin Basket" (2019) by Passamaquoddy artist 

Jeremy Frey

8/24/2020 In-progress Native Americans No Collections Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM New Accessions

Purchase of "Blue/Purple Ombre with Rocks" (2018), a porcelain sculpture by 

Linda Lopez, a first-generation American ceramic artist of Vietnamese and 

Mexican descent.

8/24/2020 In-progress

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Women

No Collections Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM New Accessions Purchase of "Tall Squash Pot" (2020) by Cherokee artist Jane Osti 8/24/2020 In-progress

Native Americans

Women

No Collections Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM New Accessions

Purchase of "When Will the Red Leader Overshadow Images of the 19th 

Century Noble Savage in Hollywood Films that Some Think are Sympathetic to 

American Indians" (2018), a basket by Onondaga/Mi'kmaq artist Gail Tremblay

8/24/2020 In-progress

Native Americans

Women

No Collections Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

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Category

Audience

Museums & 

Culture SAAM New Accessions Purchase of "Communion" (1998), a ceramic caldron by James Watkins 8/24/2020 In-progress African Americans No Collections Program 

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Thinking Through 

Complex Systems

Teacher professional development workshop webinar focused on STEAM 

(Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) and African American history.

7/8/2020-

7/23/2020 Completed African Americans Yes

Education

Teacher Workshops

Virtual Programming

Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Storytelling and 

Resilience

Teacher professional development workshop webinar focused on women's 

history 9/15/2020 Completed HispanicsWomen

No

Education

Teacher Workshops

Virtual Programming

Program Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Seeing Systems of 

Power

Student workshop webinar focused on Roger Shimomura's 1980 painting 

"Diary: December 12, 1941" and the experience of Japanese Americans during 

World War II

9/22/2020 Completed Asian Americans No

Education

Virtual Programming Program Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Alma Thomas 

Research Project 

article in "Women 

in the Arts" 

magazine

At the conclusion of the Lunder Conservation Center's Alma Thomas Research 

Project, the National Museum of Women in the Arts published an article on 

the project in the summer issue of their magazine "Women in the Arts." The 

article "Alma Woodsey Thomas Conservation Research" documents SAAM's 

analysis of the two Alma Thomas paintings in the collection of the National 

Museum of Women in the Arts

Summer 2020 Completed African Americans

Women

No Publication Program 

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

William H. Johnson 

Treatment and 

Research Project

Research project undertaken by SAAM's Lunder Conservation Center to 

examine and treat SAAM's paintings by William H. Johnson. The project 

included public and private programming

9/1/2019-

9/30/2020 Completed African Americans No

Education

Public Programming Program 

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Tuskegee Diorama 

Project featured 

on CBS Sunday 

Morning

In a segment titled "Art of History: Preserving African American Dioramas," 

CBS Sunday Morning featured the Lunder Conservation Center's 2018 

treatment of the historic Tuskegee Diorama in the collection of the Legacy 

Museum at Alabama's Tuskegee University. The diorama was created for the 

American Negro Exposition mounted 80 years ago to celebrate African 

American achievements since the end of slavery.

8/30/2020 Completed African Americans No Public Programming Program 

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

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Category

Audience

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Tuskegee Diorama 

Project 

presentation at the 

American Institute 

for Conservation's 

2020 annual 

meeting

Lunder Conservation Center's former graduate interns presented a session 

titled "Treating Tuskegee’s Dioramas: A Perspective on Inclusive and 

Collaborative Treatments Between Institutions" at the American Institute for 

Conservation's 2020 annual meeting.

7/29/2020 Completed African Americans No Public Programming Program 

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Museums & 

Culture SAAM

Henry Ossawa 

Tanner 

Interpretation 

Program

Lunder Conservation Center staff worked with SAAM's curatorial and 

education staff to feature conservation research in the gallery interpretation 

for the newly installed Henry Ossawa Tanner gallery.

7/1/2020 Completed African Americans No Public Programming Program 

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Science & 

Research NMNH

Nipi: Water Shapes 

Myaamia

Collaboration with the Myaamia Center at Miami (Ohio) and the Cultural 

Preservation Office of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma to design and implement 

a summer learning experience and curriculum

4/1/2020 - 

12/31/2021 In-Progress Native Americans Yes Education Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

Science & 

Research NMNH

Informal internship 

for Lisette 

Melendez

In the absence of a formal NHRE program, postdoctoral fellow Erica Jawin is 

working informally with selected intern Lisette Melendez on a planetary 

science project.

Summer 2020 In-Progress Hispanics Yes Internships Program College/University

Science & 

Research NMNH

Virtual Summer 

Camps

Puts educators and scientist into “virtual classrooms” nationwide, broadens 

access to students during summer break who otherwise cannot participate in 

summer camps due to facility closure. Priority audiences include underresource communities and Title I schools and students. 

5/1/2020 - 

9/1/2020 In-Progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Science & 

Research NMNH Language Diversity

As part of the strategy to engage a diverse audience, SMEE is currently 

offering full translations of existing signage in Spanish, French, and Chinese. 

Plans are in place to finalize translations in German, Italian, Hungarian and 

Romania.

6/1/2020 - 12-

31/2021 Planned Other non-English speaking individuals Yes Education Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Other Programming for Adults

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Category

Audience

Science & 

Research NMNH Volunteer Diversity Public engagement and behind the scenes volunteers 6/1/2020 - 12/31/2021 In-Progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Education

Public Programming

Program;

Workforce

Other Programming for Adults

Science & 

Research NMNH I2F Program

Two individuals participated in the I2F program: Raquel Wetzell and Ysemarie 

DeLa Fleur 2019 - 2020 Completed Hispanics Yes

Fellowships

Internships

Program;

Workforce

College/University

Masters

Science & 

Research NMNH

NMNH Volunteer 

Program

The NMNH Volunteer Program is a recognized, integral part of the staff at the 

National Museum of Natural History community. NMNH volunteers are key to 

engaging the Museum’s diverse visitor audience in natural history and 

collaborating with Museum staff on research initiatives as peers. 

On Going In-Progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Career Counseling

Career Fairs

Collections

Education

Public Programming

Recruitment

Training

Virtual 

Programming;#Volunteer 

Opportunities

Program;

Workforce

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Science & 

Research NMNH

Kennedy Krieger 

Program

Students with various disabilities get volunteer and work experience at NMNH On Going In-Progress Individuals with Disabilities Yes

Collections

Education

Public Programming

Training

Volunteer Opportunities

Program High School (9th - 12th Grade)

Science & 

Research NMNH

Language 

Translation 

Volunteers

Volunteers who translate materials into or out of English On Going In-Progress Speakers of other languages No

Collections

Education

Public Programming

Virtual Programming

Volunteer Opportunities

Program

College/University

Masters

PhD

Other Programming for Adults

Science & 

Research NZP

Smokey Bear 75th 

Anniversary Exhibit

The Smokey Bear exhibit looks back to the mid-20th century, when a badly 

burned black bear cub was rescued from a devastating forest fire and placed 

under the Zoo’s care. Archival photographs and 14 colorful posters line the 

pathway in front of Smokey Bear’s former habitat, teaching visitors about his 

legacy as an ambassador for wildfire prevention and wildlife conservation. The 

entrance is marked by a 6-foot-tall statue of the iconic Smokey character, 

which has been a part of the Forest Service's fire-prevention campaign for 75 

years. Bilingual panels in English and Spanish highlight the real Smokey Bear’s 

story and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s (SCBI) forest 

ecology research. 

Opened 

5/23/2019 Completed Hispanics Yes

Education

Exhibitions Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Other Programming for Adults

Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report - FY 2020 Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 88 
Direct

Report

SI

Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Science & 

Research NZP

Gibbon Ridge 

Accessibility Project

The Gibbon Ridge accessibility project focuses on tactile elements to improve 

accessibility for deaf and blind visitors. There will be a life-size, touchable 

siamang arm, four primate hands, and a full size swinging siamang, as well as 

actual enrichment items attached to a graphic. Exhibition panels are fully 

translated into braille, and fonts are larger than usual. Images on the graphics 

are textured and tactile, such as a tactile print of the fruit gibbons eat and a 

textured map showing their range. There is a tactile map of the exhibit, guide 

rail of artificial vine, and tiles in front of each graphic for cane detection. 

Benches will have additional interpretation in braille and hooks for personal 

items, and will be under an umbrella for shade.

Spring 2020 

(Anticipated) In-Progress Individuals with Disabilities Yes

Education

Exhibitions

Wayfinding, Visitor Experience

Program;

Supplier

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Other Programming for Adults

Science & 

Research NZP

Coral Lab Sensory 

Space Accessibility 

Project

The Coral Lab Sensory Space will leverage the Lab’s living collection in the 

creation of an immersive multi-sensory space to engage a wide range of 

senses, while also more deeply connecting our visitors with animals. The 

design, fabrication, and installation should stimulate or sooth senses, for 

example, an immersive, calming underwater video projection, soothing 

underwater sounds, rough and smooth 3D coral models to touch. Will also 

include seating.

Fall 2020 

(Anticipated) In-Progress Individuals with Disabilities Yes

Education

Visitor Experience 

Program

Elementary School (K - 5th Grade)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

College/University

Other Programming for Adults

Advancement OA

Board Diversity 

Report

The Advancement Information System team developed a Board Diversity 

Report for the Pan-Institutional Advancement Database. The report provides 

details on individuals on active boards (committees). It is used to report on 

diversity and to review the Board Candidate Portfolio, the group of potential 

board candidates.

4/22/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No Advisory Boards Program Other Programming for Adults

Advancement OA

Diversity and 

Inclusion Podcast 

Discussion

The Office of Advancement Diversity and Inclusion Workgroup hosted a 

podcast discussion group. The title of the Podcast is Codeswitch Guide to 

Handling Racism, which discusses casual racism.

4/7/2020 Completed

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No

Education

Employee Affinity Groups Program Other Programming for Adults

Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report - FY 2020 Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 89 
Direct

Report

SI

Unit Title Description Date(s) Status UnderrepresentedGroup(s) Engaged STEM Type

Diversity 

Category

Audience

Advancement OA

Diversity and 

Inclusion 

Workgroup

The Office of Advancement hosted the quarterly meeting for the Diversity and 

Inclusion Workgroup. This group includes advancement staff from across the 

Institution. A meeting summary is attached. 

3/11/2020 In-Progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

Yes

Advanced Procurement Plan

Advisory Boards

Career Fairs

Conferences w/Professional 

Organizations

Education

Internships

Recruitment

Supplier Diversity Outreach

Supporting Supplier Diversity 

Goals

Training

Program;

Supplier;

Workforce

Other Programming for Adults

Advancement OA

Advancement 

Diversity and 

Inclusion 

Workgroup: Virtual 

Session

The Advancement Diversity and Inclusion Workgroup will host a virtual session 

titled, A Conversation with Ellen Stofan, John and Adrienne Mars Director of 

the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. During this session 

Director Stofan will discuss her efforts and insights dedicated to diversity and 

inclusion throughout her career. 

8/24/2020 Planned

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

Communities

Women

No

Career Counseling

Recruitment

Workforce Other Programming for Adults

Advancement OA

Diversity and 

Inclusion 

Workgroup

The Office of Advancement hosted the quarterly meeting for the Diversity and 

Inclusion Workgroup. This group includes advancement staff from across the 

Institution. A meeting agenda is attached.

07/01/2020 In-Progress

African Americans

Asian Americans

Hispanics

Individuals with Disabilities

LGBTQIA+

Native Americans

Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Residents of Under-resourced 

No

Advisory Boards

Career Counseling

Internships

Recruitment

Supplier Diversity Outreach

Program;

Supplier;

Workforce

Other Programming for Adults

Smithsonian Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report - FY 2020 Prepared by the Office of Equal Employment and Supplier Diversity 90