Bailey Van Hook, assistant professor of American arr at 

 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; 

 Nancy Mowll Mathews, Eugenie Prendergast curator at 

 the Williams College Museum of Art; and Ellen Emmet 

 Rand, an Emmet family descendant. Tara Leigh Tap- 

 pert, curator of the exhibition, moderated. 



October 25— January 26 



■ Exhibition "Lilla Cabot Perry and the First Profes- 

 sional Women Artists: Selections from the Archives Col- 

 lection." Noteworthy women in the arts were featured 

 in this Archives New York Regional Center exhibition. 

 On view were selections from the papers of Gertrude 

 Vanderbilt Whitney, Violet Oakley, Cecilia Beaux, 

 Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington, Ellen Emmet Rand, 

 and Mary Cassatt. 



October 26 



■ Exhibition "Visual Journal: Harlem and DC in the 

 Thirties and Forties" presented photography as histori- 

 cal narrative. The works of Robert H. McNeil, Gotdon 

 Parks, Robert and George Scurlock and Morgan and 

 Marvin Smith provided commentary on urban and rural 

 African American life. 



October 26-June 18 



■ Public Program The fifth annual Accessibility Lecture 

 Series was presented by the Accessibility Program of the 

 Office of the Provost. A monthly series of lectures on a 

 variety of topics specific to museum accessibility for staff 

 and visitors with disabilities was offered to the staffs of 

 Smithsonian units and area cultural organizations. This lec- 

 ture series has become a major source of information on ac- 

 cessibility issues in the Washington, D.C. area. 



November 



■ Special Event The Office of Equal Employment and 

 Minority Affairs conducted the Smithsonian 

 Institution's second Equal Opportunity Conference. 

 Drawing an audience of hundreds of participants, the 

 conference served as a much-needed information gather- 

 ing and sharing vehicle for SI managers and employees. 

 In keeping with the conference theme, "Diversity: the 

 Challenges, the Commitments, and the Contributions," 

 the office cohosted the Secretary's Awards for Excellence 

 in Equal Opportunity ceremony, which recognized 



senior managers for outstanding contributions to the 

 Institution's EEO goals. 



November 



■ Exhibition The National Postal Museum opened 

 hands-on, computer driven exhibit devoted to the subject 

 of direct mail, entitled "What's in the Mail For You!" 



November 



■ Awards Members of National Postal Museum staff 

 in nearly every department received a Smithsonian 

 150th Unsung Hero Award. Winners included: Darryl 

 Glover and Regina Minter of the Building Management 

 Staff; Nancy Pope of the curatorial department; Patricia 

 Raynor of the Collections Department; and Daisy 

 Ridgway of the Public Affairs Office. 



November 



■ Event National Postal Museum participated in 

 ANPHILEX '96, a major philatelic show held in New 

 York City only once every 25 years. The show featured 

 outstanding rarities from around the world; the Postal 

 Museum displayed eight objects, including a selection of 

 famous "Missionary" stamps, recently acquired at auction 

 from the Honolulu Advertiser Collection. 



November 



■ Online exhibition The Smithsonian Institution 

 Libraries' "Science and the Artist's Book" came online at 

 (http://uu-w.sil.si.edu/exhibits), featuring images of twenty- 

 seven rare books from the Libraries' Dibner Library of the 

 History of Science and Technology, each one paired with 

 an original artist's book inspired by the original scientific 

 work. The colorful and creative books were featured in 

 Smithsonian magazine's "Science Defined by the Hands of a 

 Book Artist" by Sally Scott Maran (June 1996). 



November 3 



■ Trophy The X-31 International Test Otganization 

 (current achievement) and aviation leader Najeeb E. 

 Halaby (lifetime achievement) were the recipients of the 

 1995 National Air and Space Museum Trophy. 



November 3—4 



■ Conference "The Caribbean Community in 

 Washington Conference" at the Anacostia Museum was 



22 



