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Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1 999 



of our nation and its many peoples. The museum creates 

 learning opportunities, stimulates imaginations, and presents 

 challenging ideas about our nation's past through publica- 

 tions, family programs, electronic outreach and distance 

 learning, community-based collaborarions, and affiliations. In 

 FY 1999, the museum acquited 5,712 objects, bringing the 

 total numbet of the collection to 3.1 million and had a budget 

 of $32.96 million. The annual visitation was g.6 million. 



The museum continued its explotation of "What is Amet- 

 lcan Identity?" by relaying the histoties of individuals and 

 groups who have made Ametica what it is today. "American 

 Identity," the organizing theme of the museum, brings to- 

 gether many of the activities — from exhibits, programs, 

 symposiums, and collecting, into a ftamework concerned 

 with what it means to be an American. 



The museum's premier symbol of American Identity, the 

 Stat-Spangled Banner, was the centerpiece of activity in 

 1999. On December 1, 1998, the thtee-story-high flag was 

 removed from its current display and laid flat on a platfotm 

 in Flag Hall. It was thoroughly examined and conservatots 

 began to devise a full treatment plan. The Star-Spangled 

 Banner was then carefully rolled and crated in January and 

 moved into the specially constructed conservation lab near 

 Flag Hall on the museum's second floor. This lab, with its 

 floor to ceiling windows, provides the public with their clos- 

 est look ever at the flag, which is carefully unrolled a few 

 feet (and sometimes inches) at a time on an immense alu- 

 minum table. Conservators reach the flag by sitting or lying 

 on a 3 5 -foot-wide moveable gantry platform that is sus- 

 pended above the flag. During the treatment phase of the 

 Stat-Spangled Banner Preservation Project, conservators will 

 carefully vacuum the flag and then clean it using chemical 

 solvents and detetgents. Stitch by stitch, they will remove a 

 linen lining added in 1914. The laboratory and the accom- 

 panying exhibition, "Preserving the Star-Spangled Banner: 

 The Flag that Inspired the National Anthem," which ex- 

 plains the flag's history and describes the tteatment process, 

 opened to the public in May 1999. The Stat-Spangled Ban- 

 ner Preservation Project is made possible with majot support 

 from Polo Ralph Lauren. Generous support and significant 

 leadership are also provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts, 

 the U.S. Congress, the White House Millennium Council, 

 and Save Ametica's Treasures at the National Trust fot His- 

 toric Preservation. The History Channel broadcast an 

 original one-hour documentary about the Star-Spangled 

 Banner and the preservation project on December 3, 1998, 

 and with the museum's Education staff, developed a com- 

 panion teacher's manual, "Save Our History: Teaching the 

 Star-Spangled Banner." 



"Communities in a Changing Nation" offered another 

 perspective on American Identity by exploting the promise 

 and reality of life in the 1800s through the experiences of 

 three different communities: factory owners and workers in 

 Bridgeport, Connecticut; Jewish immigrants in Cincinnati, 

 Ohio; and African Ameticans in the South Carolina low 

 country. Subtitled "The Promise of 19th-century America," 

 it opened in February 1999. 



On July 29, 1999, "Photogtaphing History: Fred J. Ma- 

 roon and the Nixon Years, 1 970-1 974" opened, coinciding 

 with the 25th anniversary of the end of the Nixon Adminis- 

 ration. It featured 120 of Fred J. Maroon's photogtaphs, 

 which document President Nixon's years in the White 

 House. This exhibit has been added to the museum's Web 

 site as a vittual exhibit, complete with textual narrative and 

 audio recordings. Several programs were held with the ex- 

 hibit, including a Smithsonian Associates discussion and 

 signing of his 1999 coauthoted book, The Nixon Years, 

 1969- 1974: White House to Watergate, and a gallery talk 

 hosted by Maroon and the exhibition curator. 



The exhibition yeat began daringly wirh "Evel Knievel: 

 Happy Landings." Evel Knievel's helmet and white leathet 

 jumpsuit and othet memotabilia were installed alongside his 

 Hatley Davidson motorcycle in the museum's Road Trans- 

 portation Hall. The museum hosted "Closings: the Life and 

 Death of an Ametican Factory," a documentary photography 

 show from the North Carolina Museum of Art, examining 

 one photogtapher's view of the last days of a North Carolina 

 factory. The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition 

 Service premiered "Americanos: Latino Life in the United 

 States" at the museum in spting of 1999. This exhibit pre- 

 sented 120 photogtaphs displaying the breadth and variety 

 of the Latino expetience. 



"A Visual Journey: The Lisa Law Photogtaphs," presented 

 one woman's view of the sweeping cultural changes of the 

 1960s, as well as their origins and results. Lisa Law docu- 

 mented daily life, and the latget cultural and political events 

 during this era, from the psychedelic music scene of San 

 Francisco and Los Angeles to the spifitual and family-ori- 

 ented world of commune life in New Mexico and 

 Woodstock. 



Showcase exhibitions included "Santo Pinhole: A Saint for 

 Photography," which examined a tribute to Ansel Adams by 

 New Mexican artist Elizabeth Kay. "Feather Trade" cele- 

 brated the centenary of American conservation with a look at 

 the fad for feathered hats, hunting and collecting, and the 

 beginning of the Audubon and conservation movement at 

 the turn of the last century. "History in the News" case ex- 

 hibits, spotlighting noteworthy or anniversary-related 

 collections, included "Transistors: 50 Years Old" and a case 

 entitled "Duke Ellington and the Smithsonian" as part of the 

 Ellington centennial celebration. 



The museum produced a wide variety of public programs, 

 tours, outreach and educational programs, and hands-on 

 learning opportunities. "Encuentros: Latino America at the 

 Smithsonian" is a series of public programs that reflect the 

 tich and distinctive contributions of Latinos to the history of 

 the United States. In 1999, '"Encuentros" programs included 

 Puerto Rican guitarist Yomo Toro, a re-creating of the Car- 

 naval de Ponce from Puerto Rico, the Ehecatl Aztec Dancers, 

 Mexican-American performing artist Guillermo Gomez- 

 Pena, Ehecatl Aztec Dancers, painter and storyteller Carmen 

 Lomas Garza, Washington's own Latin American chamber 

 choir Coral Cantigas, and the contemporary Chicano play 

 The Last Angry Brown Hat. In addition, there were also fam- 



