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Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 2000 



and training docents, writing grants, and developing educa- 

 tional programs and materials for diverse audiences. 

 Williams was named the National Art Museum Educator in 

 1997 and the Southeastern Regional Art Museum Educator 

 in 1 99 1 by the National Art Education Association. He 

 holds a master's degree in education from Harvard Univer- 

 sity and a master's degree in art history from the University 

 of North Carolina. 



February 28-March 1 



■ Management excellence The Board of Trustees of the 

 Archives of American Art meets at Archives' headquarters in 

 Washington, D.C. 



March 



■ Event The National Air and Space Museum cosponsored, 

 with the American Association of Museums, the annual 

 Mutual Concerns of Air and Space Museums seminar. Nearly 

 150 delegates from air and space museums and related or- 

 ganizations from 31 states, the District of Columbia, and 10 

 other countries participated in sessions designed to share 

 "lessons learned" associated with collecting, preserving, and 

 interpreting air and space artifacts, as well as successful ap- 

 proaches to marketing and fund raising. 



March 



■ Exhibition "R. G. Smith: The 'Old Master' of the Sky," a 

 temporary exhibition featuring 25 paintings by one of the 

 finest aviation artists and curated by senior aeronautics cura- 

 tor Tom Crouch, went on display on the second-floor 

 hallway. 



March 



■ Public program OGC in conjunction with the American 

 Law Association-American Bar Association hosted the an- 

 nual Legal Problems in Museum Administration Conference 

 in Chicaso. 



March 



■ Public program The National Postal Museum invited visi- 

 tors to experience the lives of the Churchill family as 

 portrayed in their letters. 



March 1 



■ Exhibition "Lighting a Revolution 2," an extension to the 

 exhibition "Edison: Lighting a Revolution," at the National 

 Museum of American History opened. It brings the story of 

 electric lighting into the modern era by examining the his- 

 tory of several latter twentieth-century lamp inventions, and 

 explores similarities and differences between inventing in 

 Edison's era and today. 



March 1 



■ Publication The Program for Asian Pacific American 

 Studies publishes its first strategic plan, funded by the Starr 

 Foundation. 



March 3 



■ Publication Dr. Richard Potts and Ms. Jennifer Clark, 

 both of the National Museum of Natural History's Depart- 

 ment of Anthropology, and Chinese colleagues Hou Yamei, 

 Yuan Baoyin, Guo Zhengtang, Alan Demo, Wang Wei, Xie 

 Guangmao, and Juang Weiwen published "Mid-Pleistocene 

 Acheulean-like Stone Technology of the Bose Basin, South 

 China," the cover article in the March 3, 2000, issue of Sci- 

 ence. Potts and his colleagues have associated stone artifacts 

 with tektites dating to 803,000 (± 3,000) years ago. These 

 stone artifacts are the oldest known large cutting tools in 

 East Asia. The findings indicate that Homo Erectus groups 

 in East Asia were making similarly sophisticated tools to 

 their African counterparts: the findings may cause re- 

 searchers to revisit the concept that early humans in Asia 

 were less intelligent and sophisticated than their African 

 relatives. 



March 6 



■ Benefit The Archives of American Art holds its longest- 

 running annual fund-raising event, Lundi Gras XL, a gala 

 black-tie dinner in Detroit, Michigan, where the Archives 

 was founded in 1954. 



March 7 



■ Exhibition "National Design Triennial," Cooper-Hewitt, 

 National Design Museum. 



March 8-May 1 



■ Public program The first Boston Mini-Med School was 

 presented in collaboration with the National Institutes of 

 Health and the Boston University School of Medicine. This 

 eight-part series created by The Smithsonian Associates at- 

 tracted nearly 400 participants. 



March 9 



■ Exhibition "Piano 300," an exhibition of the National 

 Museum of American History, opens at the International 

 Gallery. This exhibit celebrates the 300th anniversary of the 

 invention of the piano and highlights the collection of 

 pianos, including Paderewski's Steinway & Sons grand 

 piano, Irving Berlin's transposing piano, and a grand piano 

 exhibited at the 1939 World's Fair. "Piano 300 features com- 

 posers' manuscripts, tools, photographs, play bills, sheet 

 music, and other memorabilia in addition to 24 pianos for a 

 comprehensive look at this invention and its influence on 

 American culture. 



