October 



Chronology 



■ Collections System With the five othet Smithsonian 

 art museums, the National Museum of African Art ac- 

 quired a collections information system. The software, 

 known as The Museum System, allows staff to manage 

 transactions and information and, ultimately, to give 

 scholars and the public electronic access to the collection. 



October 



■ Exhibition "To Honor and Comfort: Native Quilting 

 Traditions" opened at the George Gustav Heye Center 

 on October 19. Presenting 40 North American and 

 Hawaiian quilts together for the first time, the exhibi- 

 tion illustrated the similarities and differences in the 

 history and meaning of quilts within diverse Native 

 communities. 



October 



Fall and Summer 1997 



■ Rediscovery Unraveling a tangle of falsified 

 scientific data from the early twentieth century, 

 Natural History ornithologist Dr. Pamela Rasmussen 

 and rwo colleagues found and videotaped a pair of 

 Indian forest owlets from a species long believed 

 extinct. Rasmussen videotaped that encounter — the 

 first berween Athene blewitti and scientists in 113 

 years — and later returned to India to record its dis- 

 tinctive call. Rasmussen and her colleagues have 

 helped launch a project with the Bombay Natural 

 History Society to survey and study the 



owlet. 



October 



■ Publication An umbtella case statement for the 

 Institution's first-ever national capital campaign 

 was drafted and distributed for review by the Office 

 of the Executive Directot for Development to board 

 members, museum directors, and SI development 

 professionals. 



October 



■ Meeting The Office of Membership and Develop- 

 ment welcomed the Smithsonian National Board to 

 Washington, D.C., for the board's annual meeting. The 

 board also held its spring meeting April 1998. 



■ Special Event The Office of Equal Employment and 

 Minority Affairs orchestrated the fourth annual 

 Secretary's Award Program for Excellence in Equal Op- 

 portunity in collaboration with the Secretary's Office 

 and the SI Equal Opportunity Advisory Council. Several 

 outstanding managers and employees were recognized 

 for exceptional contributions to the Smithsonian's Equal 

 Opportunity goals and honored before their peers and 

 hundreds of Smithsonian employees. 



October 



■ Construction The Office of Contracting negotiated 

 and awarded a contract to William V. Walsh to replace 

 the roof of the Patent Office Building. (NMAAINPC) 

 This is one of the early contracts for the total restoration 

 of the Patent Office Building. 



October 



■ Exhibition/Sponsorship "The Art of Jack Delano" 

 premiered — to critical accolades — in October 1997 at 

 the Rafael Carrion Pacheco Exhibit Hall in the Banco 

 Popular headquarters in Old San Juan. Banco Popular, 

 also the exhibition national corporate sponsor, made pos- 

 sible the exhibition's mainland debut at the Smithson- 

 ian International Gallery by sponsoring the exhibition's 

 opening reception. Following its showing in Washing- 

 ton, the exhibition traveled to the Museo del Barrio in 

 New York City. 



