munity, and will be held ac various locations in the 

 United States. 



September 24 



■ Project An Institution-wide team was fotmed to look 

 at indirect cost and overhead issues. The team 

 developed a list of issues and concerns that it will begin 

 to take action to resolve in fiscal year 1998. 



September 25 



■ Public Program The National Postal Museum an- 

 nounced the winners of the Graceful Envelope calligraphy 

 contest at a special public program. 



September 26— January 4 



■ Exhibition "Mathew Brady's Portraits: Images as 

 History, Photography as Art" was on view at the 

 National Portrait Gallery. This was rhe mosr com- 

 prehensive exhibition devoted to Brady's career in more 

 than a century. More than one hundred images were on 

 view, representing Brady's work in every form, includ- 

 ing, for the first time, examples of his collaboration 

 with artists to create oil paintings, lithographs, and 

 wood engravings based on phorographs. 



September 26— January 25 



■ Exhibition "Edith Wharton's World: Portraits of 

 People and Places" was on view at the National Portrait 

 Gallery. Born into an atmosphere of material luxury, 

 Edith Wharton (1862— 1937) transformed het careful 

 observations of the elite, cosmopolitan society in which 

 she moved into such American classics as The Age of 

 Innocence and The House of Mirth. 



September 29 



■ Collections Management The Office of Smithsonian In- 

 stitution Archives, on behalf of eleven SI archives and 



special collections units, arranged for the storage of 

 archival collections at National Underground Storage in 

 Boyers, PA. Over the next ten years, OSIA will coordin- 

 ate records transfers to this remote, environmentally 

 controlled storage facility on behalf of its Smithsonian 

 sistet repositories. 



September 50 



■ Milestone The National Postal Museum gained full 

 status as an independent Smithsonian museum and the 

 Director began reporting directly to the Smithsonian 

 Institution's Provost. 



September 30 



■ SI Policy The Office of Smithsonian Institution Ar- 

 chives ovetsaw issuance of Smithsonian Announcement 

 97—10, entitled "Email and Record Keeping," which of- 

 fers SI staff insttuction and guidance on the creation, 

 receipt, and disposition of electronic mail messages. 



September 30 



■ Planning A 5-year Finance-wide draft strategic plan 

 was developed. The plan will be reviewed in fiscal year 

 1998 by customers. The plan was developed to be consis- 

 tent with the Smithsonian-wide strategic plan and 

 provides a blueprint fot financial management improve- 

 ments over the next several years. 



September 30 



■ Meeting A monthly meeting format was developed 

 fot fiscal year 1998 for sharing information on financial 

 issues among the major offices involved in these issues. 

 This meeting will include the Finance offices, as well as 

 the Office of Planning, Management, and Budget and 

 the Office of Sponsored Projects. 



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