mural studies and three sculptures created during the 

 Great Depression as decorations for post offices, opened 

 at the National Postal Museum. 



May 1-4 



■ Exhibition Restaging The 1997 "Mississippi Delta" 

 program was restaged in Greenville, Mississippi, and 

 featured traditions created daily in the homes, churches, 

 rivers, fields, and juke joints of the Delta. The "Missis- 

 sippi Delta" program was produced for the Center for 

 Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies' annual 

 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. 



May J 



■ Exhibition Seventy-five decorative envelopes were 

 displayed as part of the National Postal Museum's fifth 

 "Graceful Envelope" exhibit. The 75 envelope designs 

 were selected from the more than 260 entries received 

 by the museum as part of its fifth annual calligraphy 

 contest. 



May 6-9 



■ Program The Center for Museum Studies, with the 

 Program for Asian Pacific American Studies, presents 

 "Diversity, Leadership, and Museums: The Repre- 

 sentation of Asian Pacific American Communities," at 

 the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) in 

 Los Angeles, California. The seminar, a pilot program 

 funded by the Anheuser-Busch Companies and the 

 Smithsonian Institution Educational Outreach Fund 

 with additional support from the Hawaii Museums 

 Association, explored diversity issues in museums and 

 examined current issues affecting Asian Pacific 

 Americans in the museum profession. 



May 10 



■ Award The Smithsonian Board of Regents induct 

 Kenneth E. Behring into the Order of James Smithson 

 in recognition of his $20 million gift to the National 

 Museum of Natural History. The Office of Membership 

 and Development assisted in coordination of the event. 



by 120 corporate representatives. Attendees joined 

 Secretary Heyman, Regents Dr. Hannah H. Gray and 

 Rep. Sam Johnson for a luncheon to discuss the theme 

 "Education at the Smithsonian." Smithsonian National 

 Board Member Marie L. Knowles gave the keynote 

 address, and T he Smithsonian: America's Classroom, a 

 video detailing Smithsonian education programs, was 

 premiered. NOVUS Services, Inc. (now Discover Finan- 

 cial Services, Inc.) received the Corporate Leadership 

 Award for its support of the "America's Smithsonian" 

 traveling exhibition and creation of an affiliate credit 

 card agreement with the Smithsonian. 



May II— IS 



■ Public Program The Office of Membership and 

 Development's "Smithsonian Treasures," the annual 

 tour for Contributing Members, brought 70 people to 

 Washington, DC, for behind-the-scenes tours of 

 exhibitions, as well as the Office of Exhibits Central, 

 the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, and other SI units. 



May 14— IS 



■ Program The Center for Museum Studies collabor- 

 ates with the Smithsonian Associates Creativity Insti- 

 tutes to offer "New Ways of Seeing, Thinking and 

 Understanding," an interactive exhibit production 

 workshop designed for independent stockbrokers 

 affiliated with Commonwealth Equity. 



May l$ 



■ Publication The magazine Science published a land- 

 mark paper by Dr. Doug Erwin, curator of paleobiology 

 at the National Museum of Natural History, and col- 

 leagues from MIT and Nanjing, China, narrowing the 

 time frame for mass extinctions at the end of the Per- 

 mian period 250 million years ago. By dating volcanic 

 ash beds in South China, Erwin and his colleagues deter- 

 mined that the extinction of many insects, 85 percent of 

 all marine species, and 70 percent of all terrestrial 

 genera worldwide took place within less than 1 million 

 years, far shortet than the 8-to-io-miIlion-year period 

 previously suggested. 



May II 



■ Special Event The Office of Membership and Devel- 

 opment's Smithsonian Corporate Membership Program 

 held its Annual Luncheon Meeting, which was attended 



May is— 16 



■ Symposium The National Portrait Gallery and the 

 Library of Congress jointly sponsored a two-day sym- 

 posium, "Caricature and Cartoon in Twentieth-Century 



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