demand, especially during the Birthday Party weekend when 

 more than half a million people logged on. Several new Web 

 sites were prepared or enhanced this year by the Office of 

 Information Technology. 



Inviting Public Programs 



A varied menu of public programs helped us increase the 

 public's sense of ownership in the Smithsonian by reaching 

 wide audiences firsthand. Through lectures and workshops, 

 outreach efforts, exhibitions, and the popular annual Festival 

 of American Folklife, the 150th anniversary had a 

 people-to-people flavor. 



The eagerly anticipated tour of "America's Smithsonian" 

 offered an incomparable opportunity for the Smithsonian 

 experience to permeate communities across the nation. To 

 broaden the audience for the exhibition, the Office of Public 

 Affairs coordinated efforts to distribute tickets to senior 

 centers, scouting groups, Head Start programs, and other 

 community organizations. 



The innovative "Voices of Discovery" program, created by 

 National Zoo Director Michael Robinson and administered by 

 The Smithsonian Associates (TSA) under the direction of 

 Mara Mayor, brought Smithsonian scholars to the cities where 

 the exhibition was on view. In museums, schools, libraries, 

 colleges, and other gathering places, they shared insights from 

 their own research or offered behind-the-scenes glimpses of 

 the Smithsonian. 



Typically, 10 scholars spent 10 days in each of the four 

 exhibition cities, presenting free lectures, workshops, and 

 symposiums in up to 100 different organizations. Historian 

 Lonme Bunch of the National Museum of American History 

 traveled to Los Angeles, where he once was a museum curator, 

 to talk about "Black America and the California Dream" and 

 other facets of his research in African American issues. 

 Anthropologist Alicia Gonzalez, who specializes in Mexican 

 bread making and Mexican culture, titled her Los Angeles 

 lectures "Edible Baroque." Pamela Vandiver shared her 

 conservation research scientist's perspective with New York 

 audiences in her lectures on the technology of Tiffany art 

 glass. In Kansas City, geologist James Zimbelman of the 

 National Air and Space Museum's Center for Earth and 

 Planetary Studies enthralled students with his slide-show 

 journey through the solar system. Michael Robinson, a 

 tropical biologist and animal behaviorist, lectured in 

 Providence about the fate of the world's tropics, which he calls 

 "the Fort Knox of biology" for their wealth of genetic 

 material. The immense diversity of the Smithsonian was 

 evident in other "voices of discovery": costume and gender, 

 Plains Indian traditional art, volcanoes, the Wright brothers, 

 folk art of the Southwest, and many other themes. 



"Voices of Discovery" was made possible in Los Angeles by 

 The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation and The Ahmanson 

 Foundation and in Providence by The Champlin Foundations. 



Beyond "America's Smithsonian," other public programs 

 were a showcase for the 150th year. Among the highlights of 

 TSA's Resident Associate programs were behind-the-scenes 

 tours and adult-child workshops in museums, a lecture on 

 "James Smithson and His Legacy: The Early Years," and 

 "Living Legends" presentations that celebrated the 

 achievements of people like folksinger Pete Seeger and chef 

 Julia Child. The Office of Government Relations invited 

 congressional staff to a series of four lectures by Smithsonian 

 scholars. Special exhibitions from units of the Under 

 Secretary's office included "Nineteenth-Century Images of the 

 Smithsonian Institution Building," vintage prints from the 

 Castle collection organized by the Architectural History and 

 Historic Preservation Division, and "Smithson s Gift," 

 organized by VIARC. 



For the "Working at the Smithsonian" segment of this 

 year's Festival of American Folklife, the Office of Physical 

 Plant's Horticulture Services Division created a lush garden 

 based on a photograph from its Garden Club of America 

 collection, complete with fountain and stone pavement, and 

 staff members gave educational lectures. Design and 

 Construction staff showed plans for the National Air and 

 Space Museum's Dulles Center and the National Museum of 

 the American Indian's Mall museum, and Craft Services 

 personnel offered a close-up look at faux painting, welding, 

 and plastering. 



An Efficient Infrastructure 



Guided by a shared mission, Smithsonian staff joined forces 

 to build an infrastructure driven by cooperation. Internal 

 organizational boundaries became flexible, and it was clear 

 that, although we may have different skills and assignments, 

 we are all in the same business. This foundation, and the 

 positive attitude that sustained it, made "America's 

 Smithsonian," the Birthday Party, and countless other aspects 

 of the anniversary possible. 



A good example was the combined expert knowledge that 

 went into protecting the treasured objects in "America's 

 Smithsonian" during transport and while on exhibit. The 

 Office of Contracting and Property Management negotiated 

 and contracted for the convention center sites and associated 

 services, and then the Design and Construction Division 

 inspected the sites to be sure mechanical systems met 

 Smithsonian standards. The Office of Environmental 

 Management and Safety advised on fire protection 

 specifications for the exhibition design. The Office of Risk 

 and Asset Management helped plan for protection, while the 

 Office of Protection Services forged new governmental and 

 contractor partnerships to arrange and manage security. The 

 Office of the Comptroller played its team role by expediting 

 payments and travel transactions to accommodate tight 

 schedules. The General Counsel's Office negotiated and 

 completed all the corporate partnership agreements. 



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