Report to the Regents

Fourth Quarter, Fiscal Year 2010

Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, 

one of the most anticipated Smithsonian art exhibitions in years, opened at the Smithsonian 

American Art Museum on July 2, 2010, and remained on view through January 2, 2011.
Prepared by 

Offi ce of Policy and Analysis
Broadening Access: Visitation Summary

In fi scal year 2010, the Institution counted 29.9 million visits to its museums in Washington, D.C., and 

New York City, plus the National Zoological Park and Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center—almost identical to 

the visitation fi gure for fi scal year 2009. 

Th e Smithsonian also counted: 

approximately 5.0 million visits to traveling exhibitions mounted by the Smithsonian Institution 

Traveling Exhibition Service, and 

about 182 million visits to Smithsonian Web sites—down about 4 percent from the fi scal year 

2009 fi gure of 189 million. 

Visits to Smithsonian Venues and Traveling Exhibitions

Fiscal Years 2008, 2009, and 2010 

•

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0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

African Art

Air and Space

Udvar-Hazy

American History

American Indian-Mall

Heye Center -NY

Anacostia

Cooper -Hewitt-NY

Freer/Sackler

Hirshhorn

Natural History

Postal

Renwick

Reynolds Center

Ripley Center

SI Castle

National Zoo

SITES (Traveling 

Exhibitions)

FY 2008

FY 2009

FY 2010

Millions

Report to the Regents, January 2011 1
Grand Challenges Highlights 

Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet

Research: National Zoological Park (NZP) 

Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI)

Once believed extinct, black-footed 

ferrets have had a banner breeding year at 

SCBI. Fifty kits in 12 litters have been 

born since May 2010, of which 49 have 

survived. Forty-eight were off spring from 

natural breeding, while two were the 

result of artifi cial insemination. SCBI 

was the fi rst to develop a successful 

artifi cial insemination technique for the 

species. 

In a paper published in Behavioral 

Ecology and Sociobiology, SCBI’s Jesus Maldonado and David Wildt and their collaborators explain that 

dominance tenures of alpha male and female African wild dogs are relatively short, allowing multiple 

adults to gain alpha status at some point and reproduce. Understanding the dogs’ mating and social 

systems supports their conservation and management.

Janine Brown of SCBI will play a central role in a 

three-year study of elephant welfare in zoos funded by 

the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences. Using 

computer modeling, the study will evaluate how animal 

management practices aff ect animal welfare and will 

establish benchmarks for the health of elephants in zoos 

across the country. 

NZP became the fi rst in the zoo and aquarium 

community to use coral larvae–settling techniques to 

grow two species of sea anemones, an accomplishment 

that will provide a unique opportunity to study how 

these creatures grow. Th e Zoo now has hundreds of 

thriving anemones, all smaller than the tip of a pencil. 

Research: National Museum of Natural History (NMNH)

Damselfly Genera of the New World (Johns Hopkins University Press), coauthored by NMNH’s Jerry 

Louton, is a companion volume to the previous work Dragonfly Genera of the New World. Th is illustrated 

reference contains detailed information on the 125 genera of damselfl ies in the Western Hemisphere. 

NMNH’s Lee-Ann Hayek and Marty Buzas authored a second edition of their textbook on sampling 

design and statistics for biologists, Surveying Natural Populations: Quantitative Tools for Assessing 

Biodiversity (Columbia University Press). Th e fi rst edition has been translated into three languages, cited 

hundreds of times, and used frequently in workshops and courses. 

Black-footed ferrets

Anemones

2 Report to the Regents, January 2011
Research: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) 

Excess nitrogen that drains from farms into watersheds can nurture algae that consume oxygen other 

organisms need and create “dead zones,” but forests and wetlands around croplands can reduce nitrate 

runoff. A study in Ecological Applications by SERC’s Donald Weller and Thomas Jordan (with Matthew 

Baker) is the first to quantify the impact of these so-called “riparian buffers” on a watershed-wide basis, 

and to estimate how much buffer restoration efforts might reduce nitrate pollution for whole watersheds. 

For 45 years, SERC has operated an integrated system of research facilities to collect data on how aquatic, 

terrestrial, and atmospheric components of the coastal landscape respond to climate and human impacts. 

It recently received an award of $1.69 million from the National Science Foundation to renovate this 

system. The project will also upgrade the data collection process, creating an array of relay towers to 

transmit data from monitoring stations to central data storage facilities, servers, and the internet. The 

long-term data gathered by this system support SERC’s tradition of informing environmental policy. 

Research: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) 

In the 1980s, Karen Lips, then a 

visiting scientist at STRI, noticed that 

amphibians were being decimated by a 

fungal disease that was headed toward 

Panama. She teamed up with STRI 

colleagues Andrew J. Crawford and 

Eldredge Bermingham to document local 

amphibian communities before, during, 

and after the epidemic arrived, using 

a technique called DNA barcoding. 

Th eir fi ndings, recently published in 

the Proceedings of the National Academy 

of Sciences, reveal that 30 species 

were wiped out by the epidemic in 

Central Panama, and 33 percent of the 

evolutionary history of the amphibian 

community there was lost. 

Th e Smithsonian Institution Global Earth Observatories (SIGEO) network initiated by STRI includes 

hundreds of scientists working across a network of 40 plots in 21 countries to study 4.5 million trees 

representing 8,500 species. It has created one of the few sets 

of on-the-ground data that can be used to test hypotheses 

about global change. Th is year saw the completion of 

the seventh fi ve-year census of the fi rst of SIGEO’s forest 

dynamics plots, located on STRI’s Barro Colorado site.

A recent article in Functional Ecology by STRI’s Markku 

Larjavaara and Helene C. Muller-Landau explores the 

biological costs and benefi ts of diff erences in tree species’ 

wood density. Th is work has important implications for 

understanding the evolution of trees, the amount of carbon 

they store, and their response to increasing atmospheric 

carbon levels. 

STRI researchers reported on the eff ects of an epidemic that swept through 

Panama’s amphibian community 

STRI’s Markku Larjavaara 

Report to the Regents, January 2011 3
“Bleaching” is a sign that a coral reef is suff ering from environmental 

stressors, such as increased sea temperatures. Scientists at STRI’s 

Bocas del Toro Research Station and Galeta Point Marine Laboratory 

in Panama recently reported an anomalous sea temperature rise and 

a major coral bleaching event in the western Caribbean, where a 

seawater temperature of 32 degrees Celsius was recorded at a time of 

year when normal temperatures are about 28 degrees Celsius.

Broadening Access

On September 2, 2010, the National Zoological Park celebrated the 

completion of Elephant Trails Phase I, an innovative and expanded 

home for the Zoo’s Asian elephants. It features a new elephant 

barn, two new outdoor yards, a quarter-mile exercise run, and the 

Homer and Martha Gudelsky Elephant Outpost, an open courtyard 

featuring interactive exhibits. When Phase II is complete, the habitat 

will have the capacity to accommodate between eight and 10 adult 

elephants and their young. 

Th e Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

hosted a workshop to help Panamanian 

indigenous leaders develop confl ict resolution 

skills to improve dialogue with other groups 

involved in a proposed climate change 

mitigation mechanism, Reducing Emissions 

from Deforestation and Forest Degradation 

(REDD). As stewards of more than 40 percent 

of Panama’s remaining forest, indigenous 

peoples would be central stakeholders in the 

REDD process. 

Th e National Museum of the American Indian

held its fi rst Living Earth Festival in August 2010. 

Th e three-day festival highlighted indigenous 

contributions to managing the environment. It 

featured fi lms, concert performances, hands-on 

family activities, and the symposium “Living Earth/

Living Waters,” at which Native and non-Native 

scientists, leaders, and innovators discussed the latest 

thinking on the biosphere and the role of the ocean 

in sustaining life. 

Th e biological and anthropological collections of 

Edward Palmer, regarded by some as the father 

of ethnobotany, have long been dispersed among 

diff erent Smithsonian research departments. A new 

Web site developed by the National Museum of Natural History with support from the Smithsonian 

Latino Center reunites some of these collections online after nearly 150 years, and highlights Palmer’s 

contributions to ethnobotanical research. 

Coral bleaching: A sign of trouble 

Shanthi explores her new outdoor space at the National Zoo

Native performers at the Living Earth Festival

4 Report to the Regents, January 2011
Valuing World Cultures 

Research 

Th e Freer and Sackler Galleries, in collaboration with the Smart Museum of Art at the University of 

Chicago, published Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan. Th e Galleries also 

published The Antiquity of Nepalese Wood Carving: A Reassessment by Mary Shepard Slusser, which 

features a contribution by Paul Jett and photographs by Neil Greentree, both of the Galleries. 

Th e Freer and Sackler Galleries also welcomed two new visiting scholars.

Alfred Haft arrived for a seven-month research appointment as the fi rst Anne van Biema Fellow 

in the Japanese visual arts—the Galleries’ fi rst endowed fellowship. 

Brinda Kumar, a PhD candidate at Cornell University who is focusing on the formation of South 

Asian art collections in U.S. museums, joined the Galleries as the 2010–2011 Hart Fellow. 

Th e edited volume SIKU: Knowing Our Ice (Springer), an exploration of indigenous peoples’ knowledge 

and use of sea ice, is the result of a project co-led by Igor Krupnik of the National Museum of Natural 

History. Over 100 participants from six 

nations worked on the project, including 

indigenous contributors from more than 

20 communities in Alaska, Canada, 

Greenland, and Russian Chukotka. 

National Museum of the American 

Indian scholars conducted major fi eld 

research for the fi lm Chawaytiri—On 

the Road: Return to Pisac, a documentary 

work focusing on the Quechua 

community in the Peruvian Andes. 

Also at the National Museum of the 

American Indian, Assistant Director 

for Research Jose Barreiro edited the book Thinking in Indian: A 

John Mohawk Reader and the Publications Offi ce released Infinity of 

Nations: Art and History in the Collections of the National Museum of 

the American Indian in advance of the October 2010 opening of an 

exhibition of the same name at the museum’s George Gustav Heye 

Center in New York City. 

James C. Early and Ryan F. Manion of the Center for Folklife and 

Cultural Heritage wrote “Intangible Cultural Heritage: A New 

Horizon for Cultural Democracy” for A Living Legacy: Preserving 

Intangible Cultural Heritage, an edition of the U.S. State Department 

Bureau of International Information Programs’ eJournalUSA.

In the same publication, the center’s D.A. Sonneborn and Megan 

Banner Sutherland off ered “Smithsonian Folkways Recordings: A 

Museum of Sound,” and Sonneborn curated a Smithsonian Folkways 

interactive musical map of the world, available in both English and Arabic. 

•

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National Musueum of the American Indian scholars pursued fi eld 

research in Peru 

Report to the Regents, January 2011 5
Also at the National Museum of the 

American Indian, the six-day festival 

“Makiykumanta: Peru—Arts and 

Cultural Legacy” celebrated Native 

Peruvian culture through music, 

dance, food, arts, crafts, and more, 

drawing more than 33,000 visitors.

Th e National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian Latino Center, and 

Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies partnered to offer “Passport to Argentina,” a 

Hispanic Heritage Month family day at the Reynolds Center at which 1,500 visitors enjoyed hands-on 

activities, music, tango, and other interactive off erings. 

Th e community day “African Soul: From Africa 

to the World” drew 1,500 people to the National 

Museum of African Art for activities and 

performances ranging from traditional African dance 

to contemporary break dancing. 

Also at the National Museum of African Art, Th eo 

Eshetu’s A Brave New World (August 9, 2010–April 

24, 2011) features a mirrored installation that allows 

viewers to watch themselves as they watch the work’s 

central video. Th e exhibit also features works from 

the museum’s contemporary collection.

Th e National Museum of African Art presented another in its Global Africa 

discussion series, at which Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar—whose works address 

issues such as the Rwandan genocide, pollution in Nigeria, and poverty in 

Angola—considered the limitations of art in representing mass suff ering. 

Broadening Access

Cyprus: Crossroads of Civilizations, on display at the National Museum of 

Natural History (September 29, 2010–May 1, 2011), explores the 11,000-

year history and culture of Cyprus, a crossroads where Europe, Asia, and 

Africa meet. Th e exhibition showcases more than 200 artifacts, including 

some of the latest archaelogical discoveries from the early era of the region. 

Two exhibitions opened at the National Museum of the American Indian. 

Up Where We Belong: Native Musicians in Popular Culture (July 

1, 2010–January 2, 2011) spotlights 14 Native contemporary 

musicians. Among the highlights is a stage costume worn by the 

legendary rock musician Jimi Hendrix. 

•

Aphrodite, Goddess of Cyprus 

310 B.C.–A.D. 330 

Community day at the National Museum of African Art 

National Museum of the American Indian Associate Director Tim Johnson and Janie 

Hendrix, sister of Jimi Hendrix, display some of the late musician’s memorabilia 

Vantage Point: The Contemporary 

Native Art Collection (September 

25, 2010–August 7, 2011) 

showcases the museum’s 

young but vital collection of 

contemporary art.

•

6 Report to the Regents, January 2011
Understanding the American Experience 

Research 

National Museum of American History staff authored 

the books America’s Doll House: The Miniature World 

of Faith Bradford (by William L. Bird Jr., published 

by the museum in association with Princeton 

Architectural Press) and The Freedoms We Lost: Consent 

and Resistance in Revolutionary America (by Barbara 

Clark Smith, published by the New Press). 

Th e National Portrait Gallery’s Frank Goodyear 

authored “Wanted: Sitting Bull and His Photographic 

Portrait” for a special issue of South Dakota History 

devoted to new scholarship on the life of Sitting Bull.

Th e Anacostia Community Museum published East 

of the River: Continuity and Change, edited by the 

museum’s Gail S. Lowe and featuring an essay by the 

museum’s Portia James. An essay by Lowe, “Congress 

Heights: A Many-Layered Past,” was published in the 

second edition of Washington at Home: An Illustrated 

History of Neighborhoods in the Nation’s Capital (Johns 

Hopkins Press). 

Two books to accompany Smithsonian American Art Museum catalogues were published. Telling Stories: 

Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg was written by the museum’s 

Virginia M. Mecklenburg, while A Revolution in Wood: The Bresler Collection was authored by Nicholas R. 

Bell, a curator at the Renwick Gallery. 

Th e Smithsonian American Art Museum also hosted a symposium, “Norman Rockwell: American Art 

and the Movies,” in the McEvoy Auditorium of the Reynolds Center. An afternoon session open to the 

public was preceded by a morning session for scholars that drew 30 experts from around the country. 

James Deutsch of the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage contributed a presentation on “Back to 

Civvies: World War II Veterans as Depicted by Norman Rockwell and Hollywood Film.”

James Deutsch also published two book chapters, “Peddlers,” in The Early Republic and Antebellum 

America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and 

Economic History (edited by Christopher G. Bates and 

published by M.E. Sharpe), and “Th e Best Years of Our Lives,” 

in The Forties in America (edited by Th omas Tandy Lewis and 

published by Salem Press). 

Smithsonian Folkways released two recordings celebrating the 

music of America: Ola Belle Reed’s Rising Sun Melodies and a 

compilation of works by various artists, Classic Sounds of New 

Orleans from Smithsonian Folkways. 

Th e Archives of American Art Journal marked its 50th 

anniversary with an issue celebrating the Archives’ half-century 

of supporting art scholarship. 

Bradford’s doll house 

Report to the Regents, January 2011 7
Th e book Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists’ Enumerations from 

the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art by the Archives’ Liza Kirwin was published by Princeton 

Architectural Press. 

A new book from the National Postal Museum and the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, The 

Winton M. Blount Postal History Symposia: Select Papers, 2006–2009, spotlights papers from the fi rst four 

years of the museum’s annual scholarly symposium. 

Broadening Access

Th e much-anticipated and hugely popular exhibition Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections 

of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (July 2, 2010–January 2, 

2011) put an impressive selection of the artist’s works on display. Th e Smithsonian was be the only venue 

for this exhibition.

Th e new National Postal Museum exhibition 

Collecting History: 125 Years of the National 

Philatelic Collection (August 4, 2010–January 9, 

2012) remembers the donors and curators who 

shaped the Smithsonian’s National Philatelic 

Collection, the oldest intact national stamp 

collection in the world.

A Revolution in Wood: The Bresler Collection, 

(September 24, 2010–January 30, 2011), which 

showcases 66 recent gifts of wood art to the 

Smithsonian American Art Museum, opened at 

the museum’s Renwick Gallery. 

Th e Smithsonian American Art Museum launched a new alternate reality game, “Pheon.” Th e game, 

which will run online through Facebook for a year, challenges players to complete missions inspired by 

the museum’s collections and exhibitions. A launch event at the museum was attended by 160 people. 

Th e National Museum of American History and 

the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 

cohosted a special naturalization ceremony for 26 

citizenship candidates from 16 countries. 

Kinshasha Holman Conwill of the National 

Museum of African American History and 

Culture and John Hasse of the National Museum 

of American History moderated a discussion on 

the legacy of jazz and big bands at the Apollo 

Th eater. Panelists included radio host Willard 

Jenkins and Columbia University professor 

Robert G. O’Meally. 

In a ceremony in July 2010, the Asian Pacific American Program presented to the National Portrait 

Gallery a commissioned portrait of former Smithsonian Regent Norman Mineta, who served on the 

Board from 1979 to 1995. Mineta served as Secretary of Commerce under President Bill Clinton and 

Secretary of Transportation under President George W. Bush, and was a U.S. Representative for two 

decades. He cofounded the Congressional Asian Pacifi c American Caucus and served as its fi rst chair. 

Taking the Oath of U.S. Citizenship at the National Museum of 

American History. 

8 Report to the Regents, January 2011
Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe

Research: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO)

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) 

In August 2010, the Sun’s surface erupted and blasted 

billions of tons of plasma into space, aimed directly 

at Earth. Called a coronal mass ejection, this event 

was caught on camera by NASA’s Solar Dynamics 

Observatory using an instrument developed at SAO to 

image the Sun. Th ese types of events can interact with 

the Earth’s magnetic fi eld, causing the spectacular light 

shows known as aurorae. 

NASA announced that it will fund a mission led by 

the Smithsonian’s Justin Kasper to directly sample the 

Sun’s outer atmosphere. Th e Solar Wind Electrons 

Alphas and Protons (SWEAP) project, to be launched 

before the end of this decade, will carry a cutting-edge 

instrument that will capture some of the Sun’s gases.

A team of astronomers led by SAO’s Matthew Holman 

has discovered the fi rst confi rmed planetary system 

containing an earth-sized extrasolar planet. NASA’s 

Kepler Mission released these fi ndings following seven 

months of observations of more than 156,000 stars. Kepler 

looks for the signatures of planets by measuring tiny decreases 

in the brightness of stars when planets cross in front of them. 

Other Research 

In a paper in Science, Tom Watters of the Center for Earth 

and Planetary Studies at the National Air and Space Museum

and his collaborators revealed their conclusion that the moon 

has been shrinking. Th ey based this fi nding on data from 

the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which revealed geological 

features called “lobate scarps” that are most likely the result of 

the slow cooling of the moon’s interior. 

Watters also was awarded a 2010 Secretary’s Research Prize 

for “Evolution of the Rembrandt Impact Basin on Mercury,” 

published in Science last year. 

Broadening Access 

Th e American Association for the Advancement of Science has given its SPORE award for online 

resources to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics for “Th e Habitable Planet: A Systems 

Approach to Environmental Science,” an online course for high school teachers and other adult learners. 

An image from the Solar Dynamics Observatory

Artist’s conception of the extrasolar planetary system 

discovered by the Kepler Mission

Report to the Regents, January 2011 9
Th e annual National Air and Space Museum “Mars 

Day!” event was held at the museum’s National Mall 

building on July 16, 2010. “Mars Day!” celebrates the 

Red Planet with a variety of fun and educational family 

activities. More than 9,500 visitors attended.

Crossing Boundaries 

Research 

A new book by Susan F. Lake of the Hirshhorn Museum 

and Sculpture Garden, Willem de Kooning: The Artist’s 

Materials, off ers the fi rst systematic examination of de Kooning’s creative process. 

Th e National Portrait Gallery’s Anne Goodyear was awarded the Secretary’s Research Prize for her 

catalogue, published by the MIT Press, that accompanied a recent exhibition on Marcel Duchamp.

Th e Smithsonian Institution Libraries has converted over 4,000 records from the U.S. National 

Museum, representing nearly 100 years of scholarly research, to electronic format for inclusion in the 

online Smithsonian Research Bibliography. Th ese include materials such as the Bulletin of the United 

States National Museum, Proceedings of the United States National Museum, and museum annual reports.

Th e stable isotope mass spectrometry program of the Museum Conservation Institute examines 

biological materials at the atomic level to ferret out information 

on temporal climates, spatial locations, and food web positions. 

In fi scal year 2010, the stable isotope laboratory conducted 13,900 

analyses for 51 projects, covering all four of the Grand Challenges. 

Ed Vicenzi and Claire Gervais, also of the Museum Conservation 

Institute, worked with partners from the French materials 

conservation facility SOLEIL to study the fading of Prussian blue, 

the earliest synthetic pigment, in an eff ort to determine if changes 

in its chemical structure with fading are reversible. 

Broadening Access 

Phase One of the 

National Air and 

Space Museum’s 

renovated Barron 

Hilton Pioneers of 

Flight Gallery opened 

in August 2010. 

(The completed 

exhibition opened on 

November 19, 2010.) 

The expanded and 

updated Gallery highlights the formative decades in aviation in the 1920s and 1930s, and features several 

milestone aircraft and rocketry artifacts. 

Story time at “Mars Day!”

Th e renovated Pioneers of Flight Gallery

Th e Museum Conservation Institute’s Claire 

Gervais

10 Report to the Regents, January 2011
September 2010 saw the publication of The Smithsonian National 

Air and Space Museum: An Autobiography, a richly illustrated book 

that examines the history of the museum and the Smithsonian’s 

involvement with air and space explorations dating back to shortly 

after the Institution’s founding. It features a foreword by Senator 

John Glenn and text by museum research staff. 

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum engaged a variety of 

audiences with its exhibitions, programs, and collections: 

First Lady Michelle Obama celebrated Cooper-Hewitt’s 

2010 National Design Awards in a July 21, 2010, White 

House ceremony attended by 144 guests, including award 

winners and fi nalists, jury members, museum trustees, 

program sponsors, and others. 

Several foreign dignitaries toured the museum’s National 

Design Triennial: Why Design Now? exhibition, including 

Finland’s President Tarja Halonen, Norway’s First Lady 

Ingrid Schulerud, and the Netherlands’ Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.

Th e Cocktails@Cooper-Hewitt series brought 3,000 people to the museum to enjoy cocktails 

and light fare, listen to live jazz music, and explore the museum’s current exhibitions.

More than 2,900 people attended the Design Kids Festival, a free educational event funded by 

Target that included design workshops, design-themed storytelling, and other activities. 

Hide: Skin as Material and Metaphor, Part II (September 4, 2010–January 16, 2011) opened at the 

George Gustav Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City. The 

center also offered a variety of exciting programming for diverse audiences, including: 

an artist talk with Michael Belmore (Ojibway), one of the featured artists in the Hide exhibition; 

a performance by Native Roots, an Albuquerque-based Native American reggae group, a part of 

the Native Sounds Downtown program; 

the Summer Dance Series, which offered interactive dance programs with Native artists; and 

“Celebrating Mexico Now! Zarela’s Mexican Corn Kitchen,” a sold-out lecture and cooking 

demonstration by Mexican chef and food historian Zarela Martinez. 

Th e Anacostia Community Museum exhibition 

Word, Shout, Song: Lorenzo Dow Turner Connecting 

Communities through Language (August 9, 2010–July 

24, 2011) focuses on the work of the scholar Lorenzo 

Dow Turner. His research in the 1930s revealed that 

the Gullah people of Georgia and South Carolina still 

possessed parts of their African ancestors’ language, 

which had long been believed lost. 

Th e Smithsonian Institution Libraries’s Galaxy 

of Images, comprised of plates and pages from the 

Libraries’ collections, now has more than 11,000 images 

available on the Web. Th ey are freely available for use 

by teachers, students, and researchers, and high-resolution versions are available for a small fee. 

•

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First Lady Michelle Obama and Cooper-Hewitt 

Director Bill Moggridge at the White House

Touring Word, Shout, Song at the Anacostia Community 

Museum

Report to the Regents, January 2011 11
Broadening Access: Outreach

Smithsonian Affiliations off ers museums, cultural institutions, and educational organizations around the 

country access to the Institution’s collections and other resources. At the end of fi scal year 2010, there 

were 166 Affi liates in 41 states, the District of Columbia, Panama, and Puerto Rico. In this quarter: 

the Smithsonian welcomed two new Affi liates: the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, Florida, 

and the Ellen Noël Art Museum in Odessa, Texas, 

the Institution loaned 153 artifacts to Affi liates, and 

Smithsonian staff participated in eight public programs at Affi liates. 

In fi scal year 2010, the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) circulated 54 

exhibitions to 512 venues in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and U.S. military bases in 10 

countries, where they were viewed by approximately fi ve million visitors. 

In collaboration with the educational organization 

Facing History and Ourselves, SITES has developed 

and distributed an educational poster exhibit, Choosing 

to Participate. Aimed primarily at middle- and highschool students, it is designed to encourage dialogue, 

engagement, respect, and participation in today’s 

increasingly diverse communities. 

Th e boys’ choir from the Haiti’s Holy Trinity Music 

—which was destroyed in the January 2010 earthquake 

in that nation—performed at the National Museum of 

American History. Th e Smithsonian is leading a team of 

cultural organizations to help assess, recover, and restore 

Haiti’s material cultural. Under Secretary for History, 

Art, and Culture Richard Kurin is heading up the eff ort. 

Broadening Access: Education 

Th e National Science Resources Center (NSRC) was awarded a 

$25.5 million Department of Education Investing in Innovation (i3) 

grant—one of 49 awardees chosen from a pool of 1,700 applicants. Th e 

grant will help fund a research project to explore the possibility of scaling 

up NSRC’s Leadership Assistance in Science Education Reform (LASER) 

model to the national level. 

NSRC also published the fi nal four books in its 24-volume Science and 

Technology Concepts series for elementary school students: 

The Life Cycle of Butterflies introduces the concept of life cycles by inviting 

children to investigate the life of a butterfl y. 

Solids and Liquids compares the attributes of a variety of common solids and 

liquids.

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A Haitian boys’ choir performed at the National Museum 

of American History

Science and Technology ConceptsTM

The Life Cycle of Butterflies

Smithsonian Institution

National Science Resources Center

Solids and Liquids Science and Technology ConceptsTM

Smithsonian Institution

National Science Resources Center

12 Report to the Regents, January 2011
In addition, NSRC held its sixth Smithsonian 

Science Education Academies for Teachers, at 

which 60 secondary school science teachers 

attended one of three week-long, creditgranting sessions on the topics of Earth’s history, 

biodiversity, and energy resources. 

Th e Smithsonian Center for Education and 

Museum Studies (SCEMS) published “Final 

Farewells,” the fall 2010 issue of Smithsonian in Your Classroom, in collaboration with the National 

Museum of American History and archivists at Rutgers University. It explores one of the fi rst school 

yearbooks, published on the eve of the Civil War. 

SCEMS also organized a leadership summit on using technology to inspire community-based, 

participatory citizen science, with presenters from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Project NOAH 

(Networked Organisms and Habitats), and the University of Wisconsin. 

The Smithsonian Associates organized two Teaching American History professional development 

workshops for educators: 

a program in Corning, New York, on the Revolutionary War for K–12 teachers, and

a program in Washington, D.C., on “Frontiers of American History” for 26 teachers from 

Lansing, Michigan, that included visits to the Reynolds Center, National Museum of American 

History, and National Museum of the American Indian, as well as the National Archives, 

Mount Vernon, and the Capitol.

Th e Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

received a MacArthur Foundation grant of $500,000 to 

create a digital learning center. 

Th rough a $2 million partnership funded by the 

Pearson Foundation, the Hirshhorn and the National 

Postal Musum launched pilot programs of mobile 

learning workshops for students and teachers. Students 

created games, blogs, and videocasts to share on a social 

network, while teachers created video curriculum clips 

for classroom use. Th e workshops kick off three years 

of programming to be hosted jointly by both museums. 

Cooper-Hewitt’s education team held two professional 

development programs for teachers: 

A weeklong City of Neighborhoods program at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New 

Orleans to instruct teachers on the principles of community-based design. Teachers from New 

Orleans, New York, Connecticut, Michigan, Indiana, and Virginia attended. 

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One of NSRC’s Smithsonian Science Education Academies for Teachers

Changes expands understanding of solids, 

liquids, and gases by exploring freezing, 

melting, evaporation, and condensation. 

Balancing and Weighing introduces the 

relationship between balance and weight, 

providing many examples from everyday life.

•

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Participants at a Hirshhorn mobile learning workshop

Report to the Regents, January 2011 13
Th e annual, weeklong Smithsonian Design Institute, which this year focused on the National 

Design Triennial: Why Design Now? exhibition and included presentations by designers featured in 

the exhibition and lectures on how to incorporate design into the classroom.

Th e Lemelson Center of the National Museum of American History received a grant of over 

$2.5 million from the National Science Foundation to support informal education tied to the center’s 

Places of Invention exhibition project. Th e center also hosted its annual National Inventors’ Month 

Family Festival, which drew 3,000 visitors.

In this quarter, the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s interactive real-time videoconference program 

served over 1,000 students and teachers, both in the United States and in U.S. Department of Defense 

(DoDEA) schools worldwide. 

Th e National Museum of the American Indian has added a daily program of hands-on activities that 

includes beading, weaving, quilt making, and games representing traditions from over 20 tribes. Some of 

these activities are now being adapted for the Web environment.

Strengthening Collections

•

One of the Zoo’s lion cubs takes a swim test (above, top image), 

some of Jim Henson’s early Muppets (above, bottom image), and 

the Cullinan Blue Diamond Necklace (right) 

Th e National Zoo’s two female African lions both 

recently gave birth to cubs. Shera’s four cubs and 

Naba’s three were born on, respectively, August 

31and September 22, 2010. Luke, the Zoo’s fi veyear-old male, is the father of both litters. All seven 

cubs are thriving under the care and attention of the 

Zoo’s animal-care personnel. 

Th e National Museum of American History 

accepted a gift of ten of Jim Henson’s oldest 

Muppets from the Henson family. Th ese appeared 

in the television program Sam and Friends, which 

debuted on a Washington, D.C., station, WRCTV, in 1955 and featured many unique characters, 

including the original Kermit the Frog. 

In recognition of the National Museum 

of Natural History’s 100th anniversary, 

the museum received four separate gifts of 

remarkable gemstones and jewelry pieces, 

including the Cullinan Blue Diamond Necklace, 

for the Smithsonian’s National Gem Collection. 

14 Report to the Regents, January 2011
Organizational Excellence

Leadership Milestones

In July 2010, Secretary G. Wayne Clough named four Smithsonian scholars to serve as directors of the 

pan-Institutional consortia for coordinating Smithsonian activities in each Grand Challenge area:

Michelle Delaney, a curator at the National Museum of American History, will head the 

consortium devoted to the Grand Challenge “Understanding the American Experience.”

Robert Leopold, director of the National Anthropological Archives at the National Museum of 

Natural History, will lead the “Valuing World Cultures” consortium.

Christine Jones Forman, a senior astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 

will direct the “Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe” consortium.

John Kress, a botanist at the National Museum of Natural History, will head the “Understanding 

and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet” consortium.

Information Technology

Th e second Smithsonian Digitization Fair was held on September 15 and 16, 2010, drawing more than 

200 Smithsonian staff in person and another 400 via the Web. Th e fi rst day’s activities included talks on 

the challenges and opportunities of digitization. On day two, the spotlight shifted to specifi c digitization 

projects being undertaken across the Institution. Th e event created many opportunities for staff who 

create, manage, and use digitized assets to share ideas and information with their colleagues. 

Th e Office of the Chief Information Officer completed the move of all application servers to the 

Smithsonian’s Data Center in Herndon, Virginia, fi nally bringing these resources together under one 

roof. Th is is a fi rst step towards a consolidation that will ultimately reduce the number of servers in the 

data center, including their carbon footprint.

A pioneering series, “Th e Scientist Is Online—From the Field,” began this summer in the David H. Koch 

Hall of Human Origins at the National Museum of Natural History. Four online events incorporating 

multimedia, live phone/video satellite feeds, and phone and Twitter conversations gave the public a 

unique opportunity to speak directly to researchers conducting digs in Kenya. 

Major Construction, Renovation, and Facilities Projects

Arts and Industries Building (AIB)

$55 million estimated cost for shell only

Construction documents for roof reconstruction, window replacement, and structural upgrades have 

been completed. A contract was awarded in September 2010, and construction commenced soon 

afterward. Th e design for the building core is in the scope development phase. Interior work has begun, 

with the goal of restoring the character of the original spaces and the open views through the building 

that have been obscured for nearly 100 years. Program possibilities for the building are being explored. 

A strategy for a public opening in fi scal year 2016 has been developed, and is achievable if goals for fund 

raising are met and an adequate allocation of resources within the Facilities Capital Plan is made.

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Report to the Regents, January 2011 15
National Museum of African American History and Culture

$500 million total estimated project cost

Th e concept design for the Smithsonian’s newest 

museum received positive comments from both 

the National Capital Planning Commission and 

the Commission of Fine Arts at their September 

2010 hearings. Th e design consists of a multitiered pavilion on a rolling green landscape, and 

includes several water features. In parallel with 

design development activities, and in accord with 

the National Historic Preservation Act, regular 

consultations with interested parties continue. A 

draft environmental impact statement was issued 

in November 2010, and a public hearing was 

held to receive comments. Proposals provided by exhibition design teams are in review, and a request for 

proposals from construction management fi rms is in development. Total project costs are to be shared 

evenly, with $250 million from Federal capital funds and $250 million from non-Federal sources. 

National Zoological Park, Seal / Sea Lion Exhibit

$40.0 million total estimated project cost

Th e Zoo’s seal/sea lion exhibit is being revitalized to meet current standards for animal care and to 

improve accessibility. Th e project includes an upgrade of underground utilities in Beaver Valley. 

Construction is approximately 25 percent complete and projected to be fi nished in early 2012. Th e noncapital, interpretive component of the project will be funded with $1 million in Trust funds, while the 

Federal capital contribution is approximately $39 million in fi scal years 2009–2012.

National Zoological Park, Asia 

Trail II: Elephant Trails

$55.9 million estimated total 

project and program cost

Th e second phase of the Asia Trail 

project has a projected cost of 

$55.9 million—$41.05 million 

Federal (received in fi scal years 

2006–2012) and $14.8 million 

Trust. Construction of the new 

elephant barn and two of three 

outdoor habitats was recently 

completed. Remaining work on 

the “elephant community center” 

has been removed from the original contract and has been awarded to a new contractor. Additional 

funding is being sought for completion of the fi nal habitat, and the project is now scheduled to be 

fi nished in 2013. 

16 Report to the Regents, January 2011
National Zoological Park, General Services Building and North Road Retaining Wall

$33.3 million total estimated project cost

Design is substantially complete for structural repairs, fi re-protection improvements, and safety 

upgrades at the Zoo’s General Services Building, which houses vital support functions that must remain 

operational throughout construction and will be temporarily relocated to swing space. Replacement of 

an adjacent retaining wall supporting the North Road was recently incorporated into the project and will 

be reviewed with the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission in early 

2011. Th e project also includes the permanent relocation of the Institution’s vehicle maintenance branch 

to a Suitland, Maryland facility, which is nearly 50 percent complete. Federal funding has been requested 

for fi scal years 2012–2014 for work on the retaining wall and the General Services Building.

National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute—

Smithsonian-Mason Global Conservation Studies Partnership and Utilities Upgrade

$39.6 million total estimated project cost

A 2008 Memorandum of Understanding between the Smithsonian and George Mason University 

(GMU) pledged both parties to provide facilities to support a joint conservation biology program 

for undergraduates and professionals at the National Zoo’s facilities in Front Royal, Virginia. A bill 

authorizing construction has passed the House, but there has been no movement on the companion 

Senate bill. Th e Smithsonian will renovate and expand an existing building to house classrooms, 

laboratories, and faculty offi ces at a cost of $12.5 million—$7.5 million in Federal funds in fi scal years 

2010–2013 and $5 million in raised funds. Relocation of animals from the existing building is under 

way with $1.6 million in raised funds. Design development is nearly complete, and construction 

is expected to begin in early 2011. Along with this contract award, the Smithsonian will upgrade 

site utilities with $5.5 million in Federal funds. GMU has secured a $20 million bond to fund its 

construction of residential and dining facilities. All facilities are projected to be complete for the start of 

the fall 2012 semester.

National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

Revitalization of west wing public 

space, package III: $60 million 

total project cost

Th e focus of the third phase 

of renovation at the National 

Museum of American History is 

renewal of three west wing public 

spaces. Data gathering, fi eld 

surveys on existing conditions, 

and schematic design have been 

completed. Th e 35 percent design 

documents are complete, with 

fi nal design expected by summer 

2011 and construction to begin 

by the end of 2011. Th e Federal NMAH | PUBLIC SPACE RENEWAL PROJECT III

May 19, 2010

Report to the Regents, January 2011 17
appropriation for design ($6 million) was received in fi scal years 2009 and 2010. Initial construction 

funding of $5 million was received in fi scal year 2011, with the remainder ($49 million) requested for 

fi scal years 2012–2013. 

Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture

$19.5 million total estimated project cost

Th e Smithsonian will complete the renovation of the Reynolds Center with the reconstruction of the 

F Street stairs and the addition of landscaping and security. Estimates for the associated costs are $9.5 

million in Federal funds and $10.0 million in Trust funds.

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

$81.8 million total project cost

Phase II of the Udvar-Hazy Center has added 237,000 square feet of collections care space to the current 

facility. Construction was completed in December 2010, with fi t-out of the storage, processing, and 

archives spaces subject to the receipt of Federal funding. Total project costs include $68.7 million in 

Trust funds for construction and $13.1 million in Federal funds for equipment, move in, and start-up.

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Gamboa Laboratory Facilities

$19.4 million total estimated project cost

With the acquisition of 172.5 acres in Gamboa in 2007, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute 

is proceeding with the replacement of outdated facilities. A new terrestrial science lab facility on 

the Gamboa site will be funded with $15.94 million in Federal and $3.46 million in Trust funds. 

Programming and design and the selection of the construction manager are complete, with construction 

to begin in early 2011.

18 Report to the Regents, January 2011
National Museum of Natural History, Main Building Ground Floor and Mezzanine

$24.0 million total project cost

Th e entire north ground fl oor of the main Natural History building is slated for renovation. Th e 15,500-

square-foot west end of the fl oor will become a new learning center, and the 27,600-square-foot east 

end will house an expanded Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center, renovated Smithsonian Institution 

Libraries facilities, an improved paleobiology laboratory, and a consolidated facility support operations 

center. Th e project was awarded for construction in September 2010 with completion planned for mid2012.

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

$42.6 million total estimated project cost

Renovations have been completed on Pod 3 in Suitland, Maryland, which will provide consolidated 

storage space for frozen, refrigerated, gas-preserved, and dry collections, allowing the Smithsonian 

to vacate leased properties and freeing up congested space in several museums. Over $15 million of 

shelving/racking, cases, and freezers are now being installed. Transfers of collections from four museums 

began in June 2010, and will take two years and cost almost $5 million to complete.

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

$57.7 million total estimated project cost

Renovation of the Fox-Miller townhouses is expected to be completed in summer 2011. Design for 

the Carnegie Mansion renovation is scheduled for completion in February 2011, with a construction 

contract to be awarded in June 2011 and construction to begin in July 2011. Total project costs include 

$25.2 million in Federal funds and $32.5 million in private funding. Federal funds included pre-fi scal 

year 2009 awards of $2.9 million for design and collections storage, $1.7 million in fi scal year 2009 

funds for the Fox-Miller work, and the balance for Mansion construction in fi scal years 2011–2013. Of 

the required private funds, over $30 million (more than 90 percent) have been identifi ed in gifts and 

pledges.

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Mathias Replacement Laboratory Project

$44.5 million total estimated project cost

Th e Smithsonian Environmental Research Center is eliminating trailers that house 25 percent of lab 

space and 65 percent of offi ce space; renovating and reconfi guring the Mathias Lab; and creating 

replacement labs that meet national standards. Th e 85,000-square-foot project employs sustainable 

technologies and building materials that will yield substantial reductions in energy and maintenance 

costs. Design was completed in October 2010, and construction is scheduled to commence in early 

2011 and to be completed in 2014.

Permanent Physical Security Barriers

$55 million total project cost

Construction of security barriers at the National Air and Space Museum is complete. Th e fi rst phase 

of barrier construction at the National Museum of Natural History also has been fi nished; work on 

the fi nal phase is under way, with completion expected in summer 2011. Th e installation of barriers 

Report to the Regents, January 2011 19
around the perimeter of the National Museum of American History was completed in December 2010. 

Construction of security barriers for the Castle and Quadrangle is slated to start in fi scal year 2014. 

Design and construction of off -Mall barriers will follow in order of priority.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Projects

$25 million total project cost

Th e American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided $25 million for repair and revitalization 

projects not covered by fi scal year 2009 funding, most involving safety/code compliance or sustainability 

and energy effi ciency. All project contracts were awarded by the end of fi scal year 2010. 

Sustainability

Around the Smithsonian, work continues on multiple projects aiming to achieve Leadership in Energy 

and Environmental Design (LEED) certifi cations in areas such as geothermal heating and cooling, 

cool building analysis, use of “green roofs” and photo-voltaic cells, solar panel water heating, and water 

reclamation. A comprehensive inventory of Smithsonian greenhouse gas emissions is also under way, and 

is due in January 2011. 

20 Report to the Regents, January 2011