June 28 



■ Exhibitioyi "Enola Gay," an exhibition about the Boe- 

 ing B-29 Superfortress that dropped the first atomic 

 bomb and hastened the end of World War II, opened at 

 the National Air and Space Museum. 



June 29 



■ Promotional Initiative The Visitor Information and 

 Associates' Reception Center expanded its capacity to 

 promote Smithsonian programs and initiatives with 

 the installation of graphic message capability in the 

 Smithsonian Information Center's twin theaters. 



June 30-October 29 



■ Exhibition An in-depth survey of the daguerreotype in 

 America was the subject of "Secrets of the Dark Chamber: 

 The Art of the American Daguerreotype" at the National 

 Museum of American Art. The exhibition catalogue was 

 named best photography book of 1995 by the Neir York 

 Tunes Book Review. The innovative installation featured 

 fiber-optic lights individually illuminating each of the 150 

 daguerreotypes without glare in a darkened space. 



June 30 



■ Exhibition "The Collection in Context: Thomas 

 Eakins's Portrait of Frank Hamilton Cushing" opened at 

 the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, explor- 

 ing the context and creation of an American realist's 

 portrayal of a Smithsonian ethnologist famed for his 

 research at Zuni Pueblo. Preliminary studies from the 

 Hirshhorn's collection accompanied the 1895 oil por- 

 trait, which was lent by the Thomas Gilcrease Institute 

 of American History and Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 



July 



■ Research The Smithsonian Environmental Research 

 Center expanded its research on the introduction of ex- 

 otic plants, animals, and microbes via ship ballast water. 

 The new studies focus on the survival of these organisms 

 in ballast tanks as ships travel from the port where they 

 filled the tanks to the United States harbor where the 

 ballast water will be released. 



July 



■ Professional Development The Office of Elementary 

 and Secondary Education conducted "Teaching and 



Learning in a Diverse Society," a week-long program for 

 30 California teachers that culminated a two-year series 

 of seminars about working with primary source material 

 to teach from a multicultural perspective. 



J*h 



■ Exhibition The National Museum of Aftican Art 

 opened the revised and refurbished exhibition "The 

 Ancient West African City of Benin, A.D. 1300- 

 1897," featuring the museum's collection from the 

 royal court of the capital of the Kingdom of Benin as 

 it existed before colonial rule. Most of the works were 

 a gift from Joseph H. Hirshhorn to the Smithsonian 

 Institution in 1966 and 1979; the objects were trans- 

 ferred to the National Museum of African Art in 

 1985 by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture 

 Garden. 



July 



■ Professional Development The Office of Elementary 

 and Secondary Education brought to the Smithsonian 

 30 teachers from the four communities participating in 

 its collaborative project with the National Faculty. The 

 teachers worked with Smithsonian staff members and 

 university faculty to study material culture and develop 

 classroom materials. 



July 



■ Education Program The National Museum of African 

 Art Education Department sponsored an interdiscipli- 

 nary panel discussion on "The Art and Culture of An- 

 cient Nubia" in conjunction with the exhibition 

 "Ancient Nubia: Egypt's Rival in Africa." Participants 

 in the standing-room-only program included historian 

 Ismail Abdallah, College of William and Mary; 

 archaeologist David O'Connor, University of Penn- 

 sylvania Museum; cultural anthropologist Ann 

 Jennings; and archaeologist Nettie K. Adams, Webb 

 Museum of Anthropology. 



July 



■ Research Modifications of the existing Multiple Mir- 

 ror Telescope building at the Smithsonian's Whipple 

 Observatory in Arizona were begun in preparation for 

 the conversion of that six-mirror telescope into a single- 

 mirror instrument 6.5 meters in diameter. 



30 



