56 



Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999 



institutes. Every product receives curatorial approval. Sales 

 in fiscal year 1999 exceeded $39 million, an 1 1 percent in- 

 crease over the previous year. The catalogue continues to 

 dominate the museum theme catalogue market with a 30 

 percent market share. For the first time, circulation passed 

 the 20 million mark. 



Licensed products based on items in the Smithsonian's 

 collections help extend the Institution's educational mission 

 and generate revenue to meet programmatic needs. Every 

 product must meet high standards before it reaches the 

 marketplace. New products this year included a reproduc- 

 tion of explorer William Clark's compass in the National 

 Museum of American History; jewelry adapted from the 

 Hope Diamond and the Hooker Emerald from the National 

 Gem Collection of the National Museum of Natural History; 

 and a planetarium kit for students ages 8 and up inspired by 

 the Albert Einstein Planetarium at the National Air and 

 Space Museum. 



Public food services attracted more than 2.5 million visits 

 and almost one half million staff member visits, generating 

 more than $1.5 million in net revenue for the Smithsonian. 

 The newest dining facility, the Atrium Cafe at the National 

 Museum of Natural History, features six-story skylights and 

 a varied menu, including made-to-order salads, soups, pasta, 

 and a rotisserie station. 



Smithsonian Magazine 

 Ronald Walker, Publisher 



One of the Institution's primary outreach vehicles is Smith- 

 sonian magazine, read by nearly 7 million people each 

 month. This year, lively and informative articles introduced 

 readers to the usual broad scope of topics, including Erector 

 Set inventor A. C. Gilbert; the mystical beauty of turquoise; 

 "star parties" for amateur astronomers in Arizona; turn-of- 

 the-century American artist Abbott Handerson Thayer; the 

 cloud of "space trash" that orbits Earth; and the contentious 

 new world of dam removal. The magazine attracts reprint 

 interest from a variety of sources, particularly the field of 

 education. Academic institutions, associations, and textbook 

 publishers request permission to use Smithsonian articles as 

 part of coursework material or for informational distribu- 

 tion. Roughly 70 percent of the more than 500 permission 

 requests received in fiscal year 1999 were from organizations 

 with an educational purpose or affiliation. 



research institutes. The unit shares the vast world of the 

 Smithsonian with millions in the United States and abroad 

 through quality television and radio programs, exhibition 

 videos, and on-line media. 



This year, Smithsonian Productions presented "The Mis- 

 sissippi: River of Song," the largest multimedia project in 

 the Institution's history. The centerpiece was a four-part tele- 

 vision series that premiered in January 1999 on PBS stations 

 nationwide, taking viewers on a musical journey down the 

 Mississippi River, from the north woods of Minnesota to the 

 Gulf of Mexico. Produced with the cooperation of the Center 

 for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, the project also included 

 a seven-part radio series broadcast nationally on Public 

 Radio International, a two-CD set issued by Smithsonian 

 Folkways, a companion book, and extensive educational 

 materials distributed via the project Web site. With major 

 funding from Kajima Corporation, Hitachi, Ltd., the Corpo- 

 ration for Public Broadcasting, and PBS, the series was 

 coproduced with the Filmmakers Collaborative of Boston. 



Smithsonian Productions also produced a variety of pro- 

 grams for Smithsonian exhibitions. The video Woody 

 Guthrie's Legacy accompanies the Smithsonian Institution 

 Traveling Exhibition Service exhibition "This Land Is Your 

 Land: The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie." For the 

 Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation 

 at the National Museum of American History, the unit 

 produced two videos and a puppet show for young people 

 on African American inventor Lewis Latimer. Titanic Mail, 

 produced for the National Postal Museum, is the first close 

 look at the five mailroom clerks and the 6 million packages 

 and letters that went down with the RMS Titanic. 



Office of Communications 



David j. Umansky, Director 



The Office of Communications is responsible for the public 

 face of the Institution. Its Office of Public Affairs (OPA) is 

 dedicated to media relations, publications, and public rela- 

 tions. The Visitor Information and Associates' Reception 

 Center (VIARC) serves the millions of people who visit the 

 Smithsonian each year. 



Office of Public Affairs 



Smithsonian Productions 

 Paul B. Johnson, Director 



Smithsonian Productions is the electronic media production 

 center for the Smithsonian, basing its work on the research 

 and exhibition activities of the Institution's museums and 



The Office of Public Affairs, part of the Office of Commu- 

 nications, collaborated with the National Museum of 

 American History to create and implement a plan to en- 

 courage media coverage of the Star-Spangled Banner 

 Preservation Project. From the beginning, this project was 

 of intense interest to the public, especially museum visitors, 

 the media, and the White House Millennium Council, 

 which selected the flag as a centerpiece of its Save America's 

 Treasures campaign. 



