by Massumeh Farhad, and The Peacock Room: A Cultural Biog- 

 raphy (1998), by Linda Merrill — were copublished by the Freer 

 and Yale University Press this year. The Haft Awrang volume 

 was produced with the assistance of the Gerry Grant Program 

 and with funds provided by the Smithsonian Institution 

 Scholarly Studies Program. The Peacock Room was made pos- 

 sible by a generous grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. 



Acquisitions 



We were surprised and particularly delighted with the num- 

 ber of related objects, even whole collections, that benefactors 

 generously presented in observance of the Freer's anniversary. 

 Among the gifts, for example, were the most important 

 existing set of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Chinese 

 calligraphies — the Ellsworth collection; the finest group of 

 paintings and calligraphies outside of China by rhe seven- 

 reenth-century eccentric Zhu Da (more commonly known by 

 his sobriquet Bada Shanren); 15 paintings by the twentieth- 

 century master painter Qi Baishi; a superb group of Chinese 

 seals; an assembly of tea ceremony objects that animates the 

 Freer collection of tea wares; a significant number of Islamic 

 manuscripts; and a single Persian manuscript of such com- 

 plexity that it too is a virtual collection within the covers of 

 one book. Those groups, and rhe magnificent individual gifts 

 as well, have almost all been gatheted by true connoisseurs — 

 people who have spent years assembling a meaningful group 

 of objects, and whose knowledge of rhem often surpasses that 

 of scholars in the field. We are especially honored that they 

 chose the Freer to be home for these gifts, which have also in- 

 spired other collectors to make important donations. These ac- 

 quisitions can be seen in a continuum with art donated fot the 

 tenth anniversary of the Sackler Gallery last year, when this 

 distinctive giving pattern emerged: A group of 181 Japanese 

 prints describing life in the port city of Yokohama, the entire 

 group shown in a very popular 1990 Sackler exhibition; two 

 major collections encompassing some 100 examples of callig- 

 raphy, painting, and drawing from the Islamic world; and highly 

 important groups of ceramics from West Asia, the Khmer em- 

 pires, and other regions in southeast Asia. In total, 898 important 

 wotks have been designated as anniversary acquisitions for the na- 

 tional collections of Asian art. We are grateful to those founda- 

 tions and private individuals who have contributed so generously 

 in honor of these important anniversaries. 



Staff 



Vidya Dehejia, a scholar who has served as the curator of South 

 and Southeast Asian art at the Sacklet and Fteer Galleries 

 since 1994, was appointed to a new position as the Galleries' 

 associate director and chief curator, supervising four curatorial 

 areas (Japan; China; South, Southeast, and West Asia; and 

 Ametican art) and the education department. She continues to 

 oversee the Galleries' South and Southeast Asian collections, 

 which include some 4,000 works dating from the second to 

 the twentieth centuries. 



Wirh a single staff managing the complex exhibition 

 schedules of the Freer and Sackler Galleries, rhe systematic 

 and prompt circulation of accurate information has emerged 

 as a critical aspect of the Galleries' exhibition program. In 

 response to the need to standardize gallery procedures for ex- 

 hibition development and implementation, Cheryl Sobas was 

 hired this year as the Galleries' first exhibition coordinator. 

 Ms. Sobas comes to the Smithsonian from the Brooklyn 

 Museum of Art, where she was exhibitions manager. 



In closing, I wish to personally pay tribute to the entire 

 staff of the Freer and Sackler Galleries; These are people of 

 extraordinary talent, who have worked long hours, continually 

 suggested new ideas, carefully assessed possibilities, and made 

 all the achievements of this year possible. They deserve the 

 full appreciation of our expanding circle of friends and 



Center for Folklife Programs and 

 Cultural Studies 



Richard Kurin, Director 



Collaborations with associations, communities, and individ uals 

 marked the year with work on festival programs and restagings, 

 Folkways Recordings, ongoing projects, and educational 

 programs. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival's success was felt 

 not only on the National Mall, but also back in Wisconsin, 

 the Philippines, the Baltic Nations, and throughout the Rio 

 Grande/Rio Bravo basin. The Center worked closely with the 

 Wisconsin Arrs Board and the Wisconsin Sesquicentennial 

 Commission to feature Wisconsin as a state rich in ethnic 

 diversiry, wirh presentations that included Hmong, Larvian, 

 Finnish, Mexican, Tibetan, Polish, Gteek, Croatian, Swiss, 

 African American, and Norwegian crafts, foodways, and, of 

 course, music. Displays on the dairy and agricultural in- 

 dustries underlined the state's slogan, "America's Dairyland," 

 with a ted, Gambrel-style barn, holsteins that were milked 

 several times a day, a pigpen and show ring fot presentations 

 on showing and raising pigs, and other agricultural presenta- 

 tions that revealed some of the lesser known yet widely 

 produced crops in Wisconsin: a cranberry marsh, ginseng gar- 

 den, a Three Sisters garden, and an Ojibwe Indian rice camp. 

 A decorated tavern was the scene for fiddle, tuba, and accot- 

 dion workshops, as well as sheepshead and euchre card games 

 and narrative sessions. Two music stages featured a wide 

 variety of music; one featuring soloists and small ensembles, 

 and the other presenting polka and dance music that reflected 

 a mix of ethnic sources, national traditions, and classical and 

 popular influences. Occupational and recreational traditions 

 were also highlighted, with presentations of cheese and beer 

 making, logging and wreath making, lure making and boat 

 building, and ice fishing. A highlight of the program came 



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