Statement by the Secretary 



Lawrence M. Small 



A Twenty-First-Century Smithsonian 



The first year of the twenty-first century has been a stimu- 

 lating, rewarding year for the Smithsonian. We have new 

 plans, new people, new enthusiasm, and new exhibitions in 

 place to build on the Smithsonian's great past and enhance 

 its stature as a world-class institution and one of America's 

 true treasures. 



We're experiencing a record number of visits — more than 

 70 million in 2000, including 34 million to our museums 

 and the National Zoo and 36 million to our traveling exhi- 

 bitions, Affiliate museums, and Web sites. We are reaching 

 citizens across the country in unprecedented numbers. 



The National Zoo had 2.36 million visits in 2000, and 

 we're certain to exceed that number now that the Smithson- 

 ian's "first couple" — the giant pandas Mei Xiang and Tian 

 Tian — have arrived from China and made their debut. In 

 their first week in their new home, they attracted 76,181 

 visitors. 



We're sure everyone will want to see "The American Pres- 

 idency: A Glorious Burden," which opened November 15 at 

 the National Museum of American History, Behring Center. 

 Our newest exhibition is a timely look at the office of the 

 presidency through more than 900 artifacts from our unpar- 

 alleled collection. George Washington's swotd and scabbard, 

 the top hat Abraham Lincoln wore on the night he was assas- 

 sinated, the portable lap desk on which Thomas Jefferson 

 wrote the Declaration of Independence, the microphones 

 FDR used for his fireside chats — these memorable objects, 

 and more, tell the story. During the exhibition's first two 

 months, there were more than 1 10,000 visits. 



Another popular exhibition at the same museum has at- 

 tracted millions of visits. It tells the story of the nation's 

 most treasured flag and the inspiring efforts to preserve it for 

 at least another 500 years, and it is part of our Star-Spangled 

 Banner Preservation Project. 



Other major new exhibitions drew huge crowds, including 

 the American History Museum's "Piano 300: Celebrating 

 Three Centuries of People and Pianos" and "Fast Attacks 

 and Boomers: Submarines in the Cold War"; "Vikings: The 

 North Atlantic Saga" at the National Museum of Natural 

 History; "Dali's Optical Illusions" at the Hirshhorn Museum 

 and Sculpture Garden; and the Cooper-Hewitt, National 

 Design Museum's "National Design Triennial: Design Cul- 

 ture Now." 



There will be more visitors still when we've finished 

 building two important new museums: the National Air and 

 Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, adjacent to 

 Washington Dulles International Airport, and the National 

 Museum of the American Indian, next to the Air and Space 

 Museum on the National Mall. Both will be absolutely irre- 

 sistible attractions. 



Outside the Washington area, we're working to make the 

 Smithsonian an increasingly vivid presence across the United 

 States. We're bolstering our program of traveling exhibitions, 

 already the largest of its kind in the world, and strengthening 

 our adult education courses and trips. 



Of our 142 million objects, we can display only 2 percent 

 at any one time, so we're lending items from our vast collec- 

 tions to museums across the country that become 

 Smithsonian affiliates. The number of museums in our 

 Smithsonian Affiliations Program more than doubled in fiscal 

 year 2000, to 58 affiliates in 23 states and the District of Co- 

 lumbia. One example is The Women's Museum: An Institute 

 for the Future in Dallas, which integrated more than 150 

 Smithsonian treasures into its exhibitions — from political 

 buttons and suffragerte material, to Amelia Earhart's flight 

 suit, to memorabilia from women in the U.S. space program. 



Scholarship and scientific discovery are also thriving at 

 the Smithsonian. When the National Academy of Sciences 

 published its once-a-decade survey of the 12 most significant 

 contributions to astronomy during the 1990s, scientists 



