vey their exhibicions, publications, and audiovisual presenta- 

 tions for accessibility and; 2) guides the units in developing 

 five-year accessibility improvement plans to correct cited 

 deficiencies. In December 1995, the Accessibility Program 

 distributed checklists and guidelines for assessments and 

 five-year plans; in February and succeeding months, the 

 Program conducted training for many of the units on sur- 

 veying and developing plans; and, by September 3, 1996, al- 

 mosc every one of the units submitted completed plans to 

 the Provost. 



The second objective complements the first. After five years of 

 work with the Institution's exhibition departments, the Acces- 

 sibility Program produced the Smithsonian Guidelines for Accessible 

 Exhibition Design Guidelines. Distributed to every Smith- 

 sonian professional involved in exhibition development, this 

 working document will aid designers in understanding acces- 

 sibility and making it an integral part of every exhibition 

 presentation. The Program will continue to work with ex- 

 hibition developers to revise the guidelines as new solutions 

 in the field are discovered. 



As the Smithsonian staff learns to do everything it does 

 more accessibly, it will have less need to retrofit and more 

 ways to benefit all of the Institution's diverse audience 

 with its offerings. This is the Accessibility Program's ul- 

 timate goal. 



The Scientific Diving Program 



The Smithsonian Institution's Scientific Diving Program was 

 integrally involved with the 8th International Coral Reef Sym- 

 posium (8ICRS), a 150th anniversary event, hosted in the 

 Republic of Panama by the Smithsonian Tropical Research In- 

 stitute and the University of Panama, June 24-26. Scientific 

 Diving Officer Michael A. Lang and STRI Bureau Diving Of- 

 ficer Jose C. Espino served as members of. the 8ICRS Organiz- 

 ing Committee and were specifically charged with 

 organizational and diving supervisory aspects of the field 

 trips. The Scientific Diving Program prepared a complete 

 diving application package, emergency and evacuation plans, 

 and insurance provisions for 8ICRS participants of snorkel 

 and diving field trips. In the week preceding and following 

 the Symposium, scientific diving field trips were organized to 

 the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, The Belize Barrier Reef, Bel- 

 ize, several sites on the Pacific and Caribbean coasts of 

 Panama, and Bonaire/Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. Lang 

 and Espino supervised 53 participating scientific divers from 

 18 countries who logged 467 dives for a total bottom time of 

 386 hours during these field trips. 



Another unique feature of the Symposium was a special series 

 of public programs in Spanish for the interested public. The pro- 

 gram consisted of three lectures explaining the biological nature 

 and importance of coral reefs, the problems facing their conserva- 

 tion and management, and the use of SCUBA in research and 

 recreation associated with coral reefs. Lang's presentation on the 

 science and technology of scuba was well received and extensively 

 covered by television and press. 



Anacostia Museum 



Steven Cameron Newsome, Director 



The Anacostia Museum is a community-based and constituen- 

 cy-focused museum which increases public awareness of the 

 Black experience through research, exhibitions, and education- 

 al programs. 



The museum has gained recognition as a national resource for 

 the identification, documentation, protection and interpretation 

 of African American history and culture in Washington, D.C., 

 and in those areas of the rural South that have been historically 

 significant to generations of African Americans. The museum 

 also examines the impact of contemporary social issues such as 

 economic development, land loss, transportation and health care 

 on African American communities. Throughout its nearly three 

 decades of work in cultural documentation and preservation, the 

 museum has consistently encouraged and facilitated widespread 

 community involvement and interest in project planning and 

 execution. 



The Museum's Center for African American History and 

 Culture is a Mall-based gallery and educational effort which 

 provides a broad range of nationally focused exhibitions and 

 programs. The Center's mandate includes continued collec- 

 tion of materials reflective of the black experience in perform- 

 ing, literary and fine arts, as well as family and community 

 history and the civil rights and labot movements. 



As evidence of its commitment to local community and 

 youth, the museum sponsors a cultural arts program at the 

 Lucy Ellen Moten Elementary School and the Young Curators 

 Program through the Public Service Academy at Anacostia 

 High School. Both programs provide workshops for par- 

 ticipants, visits to other cultural institutions, and access to 

 Smithsonian professionals in curation, education, and conser- 

 vation in the Moten program, participants created art work 

 focused on 19th century Washington. An exhibition based on 

 the young curators work will be mounted in 1997. 



Among this year's innovations, a partnership between the 

 Anacostia Museum and the Octagon Museum explored the 

 urban identity of the City of Washington befote the Civil 

 War. The resulting exhibition, Southern City, National Ambi- 

 tion: The Grout h of Early Washington. DC 1800-1860. was 

 mounted simultaneously at both locations. It examined the 

 diverse communities and institutions which made 

 Washington a unique urban population. The collaboration 

 has received an Award of Merit from the American Associa- 

 tion for State and Local History. 



The exhibition Doun Through the Years: Stories from the 

 Anacostia Museum's Collection provided an opportunity for the 

 Museum and the visitors to explote the meaning and uses of 

 objects in the Museum's permanent collection. The exhibition 

 featured the common and the uncommon, the ptecious and 

 the plain. It also examined the singular importance of each ob- 

 ject as well as the fuller story of the collection as a whole. 

 Highlights included: a chest created by a former slave, c. 1899, 



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