Reports of the Museums and Research Institutes 



25 



fense Intelligence Agency to illustrate Soviet weapons sys- 

 tems and advanced technology during the Cold War. The 

 other exhibit is on the Faint Object Spectrograph. In time 

 for the anniversary of the Apollo 1 1 Moon landing in July, a 

 visitor-operated video camera was placed in rhe Museum's 

 lunar module so visitors could look around inside the craft. 



Planning and development work conrinued on several other 

 major projects. In fiscal year 1999 the label script and much 

 of the exhibition design was completed for "Explore the Uni- 

 verse," a major new permanent exhibition scheduled to open 

 in September 2001, as well as the design for the revised Air 

 Transporration hall, scheduled for completion in 2002. The 

 planning document for "Dream to Fly," a future exhibition on 

 African Americans and aviation, was also completed. Planning 

 and development of Up. Up, and Away, a new IMAX film on 

 vertical flight, continued this year as well. 



Maintenance of older exhibits and refurbishment of public 

 spaces in the museum were given high priority. Maintenance 

 work this year included a complete redo of the aging Dou- 

 glas World Cruiser exhibit in the Pioneers of Flight gallery, 

 and upgrades ro several orher galleries. Also completed rhis 

 year was a major expansion and redesign of rhe Museum 

 Shop. 



In addirion, planning is under way for a new Exploring 

 the Planets gallery. And in fiscal year 1999, major upgrades 

 to the Looking at Earth gallery, including replacement of 

 large photomurals, oblique air photos, and transparencies in 

 the "What's New" section, were begun. Upgrades to the Ex- 

 ploring the Planets gallery replaced outdated material on 

 observational tools, asteroids, Mercury, and Mars. 



Through the Regional Planetary Image Facility (RPIF), 

 CEPS continued its mandate to NASA-funded investigarors, 

 orher inrerested researchers, and the general public by pro- 

 viding access to catalogued collections of imaging data from 

 all American spacecraft missions. RPIF staff conducted tours 

 rhrough the facility for visiting groups ranging from two to 

 40 people. The data manager also continued development of 

 a HyperCard guide ro facility holdings, accessed by our users 

 rhrough a dedicated RPIF computer workstation. 



The Public Services Division recruited and trained 35 new 

 docents. In addition, in-service training for new and experi- 

 enced docents was held monthly. The Education Unit 

 conducted ten teacher workshops, which reached 227 teach- 

 ers. Education also produced 5 1 programs for families and 

 the general public, which reached more than 3,100 visitors 

 and produced seven school programs for five different 

 schools, in which 370 students participated. They also sup- 

 ported the Challenger Cenrer's production of 1 1 Family 

 Science Night events, in which approximately 3,300 people 

 participated. The annual Internship Program supported 13 

 students (June 1 to August 6, 1999). 



Live demonstrations and other related activities compris- 

 ing some 1,171 programs for 91,673 visitors to the How 

 Things Fly gallery were implemented. The Explainers Pro- 

 gram trained and worked with 32 student Explainers. In rhe 

 How Things Fly Gallery attendance usually exceeded 10 

 percent of museum attendance. In the How Things Fly Visi- 

 tor Center, volunteers assisted 27,646 visitors. 



The Educational Services Center also distribured more rhan 

 60,000 copies of publications and responded to 3,090 mail in- 

 quiries from teachers, students, and the general public. 



National Museum of African Art 



Roslyn A. Walker, Director 



The National Museum of African Art celebrates the rich 

 visual traditions and extraordinarily diverse cultures of 

 Africa and fosters an appreciation of African art and civiliza- 

 rions through its collections, exhibitions, research, and 

 public programs. 



Acquisitions 



Among the mosr significant arr works acquired by the mu- 

 seum in the past year were a rare set of polychromed wooden 

 panels carved in high relief from the Nkanu peoples of the 

 Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a 92-pound D'mba 

 mask from the Baga peoples of Guinea, one of the latgest 

 masks in all of Africa. The mask was donated to the museum 

 by internationally known contemporary artist Armand Ar- 

 man and his wife Corice, a fashion consultant and business 

 manager. An important donation of 14 traditional sculptures 

 from central and eastern Africa, the gift of New Yotk busi- 

 nessman Lawrence Gussman, fills gaps in the museum's 

 collection. These sculptutes were showcased ar the museum. 



In addition, the museum's Eliot Elisofon Photographic 

 Archives acquired three important collections: The Kyriazis 

 Photographic Collection of images of activities and places in 

 Ethiopia taken from 1950 through 1970, The Robert and 

 Nancy Nooter Ethiopian Collection of images of activities 

 and places in Ethiopia taken in 1988, and The Leon de Sous- 

 berghe Collection of images of the Pende peoples in the 

 Democratic Republic of the Congo, taken from 1955 

 through 1957. 



Exhibitions 



The first level of the National Museum of African Art houses 

 several permanent exhibitions drawing on the museum's col- 

 lection: "Images of Power and Identity," "The Aft of the 

 Personal Object," and "The Ancient West African City of 

 Benin, A.D. 1 300-1897." In addition, in collabotation with 

 the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the museum offers "The 

 Ancient Nubian City of Kerma, 2500-1500 B.C.," a loan 

 exhibirion of works from the permanent collection of the 

 Museum of Fine Arts, featuring objects from Kerma, an an- 

 cient Nubian city that was located on the Nile Rivet. The 

 exhibition was organized by the Museum of Fine Atts, 

 Boston, and its Depattment of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian 

 and Near Eastern Art; all objects are from the Harvard Uni- 

 versity-Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Expedition. 



Also located on the first level is the Sylvia H. Williams 

 Gallery, which was the location of "South Africa, 



