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Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1 999 



30-minute feature describes how navigators have used both 

 natural — the sun, planets, and stars — and man-made tools 

 such as telescopes and accurate clocks to determine their lo- 

 cation. Complementing the planetarium show is "GPS: A 

 New Constellation," a new exhibit that explores the global 

 positioning system. 



October 26 



■ Award The Beinecke Foundation, Inc. makes a major gift 

 of $100,000 in support of The Brown Foundation, Inc.'s 

 $500,000 Challenge Grant awarded ro the Archives of 

 American Art in 1997. 



October 27-February 2 



■ Exhibition "Teddy Roosevelt: Icon of the American Cen- 

 tury" was on view at the National Portrait Gallery. Roosevelr 

 helped shape America's transition from a provincial sociery 

 to a burgeoning world power. The exhibition explored his 

 life wirh more than 100 paintings, photographs, polirical 

 cartoons, and memorabilia, and was co-organized wirh rhe 

 National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. 



October 29 



■ Event STS 95 was launched with former Senator John 

 Glenn on board. The National Air and Space Museum set up 

 several high-definition television monitors, allowing hun- 

 dreds of visitors to watch the event live via the newest 

 broadcast technology. 



October 30-March 7 



■ Exhibition The Smithsonian American Art Museum pre- 

 sented two complementary exhibitions that examined the 

 California Gold Rush, in celebration of the 150th anniver- 

 sary of the discovery of gold. "The Art of the Gold Rush" 

 featured paintings, watercolors, and drawings from the 

 1850s and the nostalgic views created a generation later. The 

 Smithsonian American Art Museum was the only East Coast 

 venue for this exhibition. "Silver & Gold: Photographs of the 

 Gold Rush" featured rare daguerreorypes documenting this 

 exciting time in American history. 



November 



■ Major construction contract Construction was completed on 

 the Cultural Resources Center of the National Museum of 

 the American Indian to allow beneficial occupancy of the 

 building to occur by the Smithsonian Institution. 



November 



■ Outreachl publication The Archives of American Art pub- 

 lishes A Finding Aid to the Rockwell Kent Papers. 



November 



■ Symposium The Smithsonian Libraries cosponsored with 

 the National Anthropological Archives a symposium, "Ed- 



ward S. Curtis and The North American Indian Re-Viewed" 

 on November 16, 1998, with 160 people attending. The 

 program was supported by the National Museum of the 

 American Indian and held during American Indian Heritage 

 Month in conjunction with the Libraries exhibition, 

 "Frontier Photographer: Edward S. Curtis" (online at 

 www.sil.si.edu, on view in the Libraries' Gallery October 

 1998-November 1999). 



November and May 



■ Acquisitions Among the most significant art works ac- 

 quired by the National Museum of African Art 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 largest masks in all of Africa The mask 

 was donated to the museum by internationally known con- 

 temporary artist Armand Arman and his wife Corice, a 

 fashion consultant and business manager. An important do- 

 nation of 14 traditional sculptures from central and eastern 

 Africa, the gift of New York businessman Lawrence Guss- 

 man, fills gaps in the museum's collection. These sculptures 

 were showcased at the museum. 



November 5-7 



■ Smithsonian Council meeting The Smithsonian Council, 

 with 21 members present, focused on Smithsonian outreach 

 to communities throughout the nation. Four panel discus- 

 sions and a roundtable discussion with senior management 

 and museum directors dealt with topics such as new em- 

 phases in community outreach, the relationship of outreach 

 to SI missions and goals, the effectiveness of the structure of 

 outreach programs, the adequacy of evaluation of outreach 

 programs, the likely impact of decentralizing outreach man- 

 agement at the unit level, the extent to which outreach 

 programs are reaching a broad range of communities (ethnic, 

 geographical, and cultural), and whether certain outreach 

 programs warrant expansion and others warrant downsizing 

 or elimination. Members emphasized that SI community 

 outreach programs should serve as two-way streets, offering 

 benefits to the communities served, as well as to the Smith- 

 sonian, while at the same time respecting community needs 

 and interests. This year's meeting included directors of com- 

 munity organizations receiving Smirhsonian services. In 

 rheir panel, rhey offered useful perspectives from the com- 

 munity's point of view. Council members offered suggestions 

 in favor of greater oversight across units so as to avoid pro- 

 gram duplication and more frequent program evaluations. 

 Council members also suggested ways to generate greater 

 clarity of expectations in Si-community partnerships, so that 

 both the Smithsonian and the partnering communities recip- 

 rocate in the promises they make, the expectations they 

 have, and in the benefits and outcomes that are generated. 

 As in past years, the Council's Report to the Secretary was 

 widely distributed among units and staff throughout the In- 

 stitution. 



