comprehensive CD-ROM, The National Museum of American 

 Art in October. Copublished by Macmillian Digital USA and 

 designed entirely m-house, the CD-ROM features 763 per- 

 manent collection works; a media-enhanced guided tour by 

 the Director; a library containing full text images of six 

 museum collection catalogs; more than 600 artists' 

 biographies; powerful searching capabilities; and nearly two 

 hours of supplementary video, audio, and slide shows. 



The museum completed its decade-long effort, supported 

 by the Getty Research Institute, to print all 127,000 negatives 

 of artworks and artists' portraits in the Peter A. Juley Collec- 

 tion of the National Museum of American Art. In association 

 with Dover publications, the museum published American Ar- 

 tists in Photographic Portraits featuring more than 200 of the 

 black and white images. 



Thornton Staples was hired to head the museum's newly es- 

 tablished Office of Information Technology. This department 

 will be responsible for coordinating computer service needs 

 museumwide, recommending hardware and software pur- 

 chases, integrating all databases and liaisoning with other 

 Smithsonian Institution programs. 



The museum continues to serve audiences across the 

 country through its touring exhibition program. "William H. 

 Johnson: A Retrospective from the National Museum of 

 American Art,'' drawn entirely from the museum's permanent 

 holdings, traveled to the Columbus Museum of Art and the 

 Wichita Museum of Art. "The White Collection of American 

 Crafts," first shown at the National Museum of American Art 

 and organized by Michael Monroe, former curator-in-charge 

 of the Renwick Gallery, traveled to two locations during 

 1996 — the Museum of Fine Arts in Springfield, Massachusetts 

 and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, 

 California. The virtual tour of the exhibition on the Internet, 

 which was made possible by MCI, receives renewed interest 

 with each new tour destination. 



National Museum of American History 



Spencer R. Creu: Director 



The National Museum of American History dedicates its col- 

 lections and scholarship to inspiring a broader understanding 

 of our nation and its many peoples. Drawing on more than 17 

 million objects in its collections, and the holding of its Ar- 

 chives Center, the museum creates learning opportunities, 

 stimulates imaginations, and presents challenging ideas about 

 our nation's past through original research, exhibitions, publi- 

 cations, and public programs. 



The museum presented more than a score of exhibitions 

 this year. "Building a National Collection: 150 Years of Print 

 Collecting at the Smithsonian" included over 50 fine art 

 prints from the Smithsonian's oldest fine art collection and 



provided an overview of the history of public and private 

 print collecting. The exhibit covered the shift from European 

 works to American images and identified the changes in col- 

 lecting opportunities from the American Art Union of the 

 1840s to 20th-century print clubs. The images included 

 Durer, Rembrandt and Currier & Ives, the Federal Art 

 Project prints from the 1930, and modern lithographs by 

 June Wayne and Larry Rivers. A new book, "Prints at the 

 Smithsonian: The Origin of a National Collection" accom- 

 panied the exhibition. 



"The 1896 Washington Salon and the Beginning of a Na- 

 tional Collection" commemorated the 100th anniversary of 

 the art photography movement in the United States. The ex- 

 hibition told the story of the Washington Salon and Art 

 Photographic Exhibition of May 1896 in Washington, DC, 

 the first formal art photography exhibition in the United 

 States. The salon attracted the attention of the Smithsonian, 

 which collected 50 of the images to expand the institution's 

 national photography collection. 



Staff of the museum conceived, researched, wrote, and 

 helped to create the four-part "American Voices" exhibition, 

 which accompanied "America's Smithsonian," the traveling 

 150th anniversary show. "American Voices" focused on African 

 American sacred music, the American musical theater, the so- 

 cial roots of rock and soul music, and ongoing performance re- 

 search and programming at the Smithsonian. The display was 

 made possible by Discover Card. 



"Painted Ships on Painted Oceans," a retrospective of works 

 by Antonio Jacobsen, America's most prolific ship portraitist, 

 opened April 15. The exhibition comprised approximately 45 

 oil paintings by the Danish-American artist, along with pages 

 from his sketchbooks, historic photographs, and a number of 

 personal objects. The artifacts are from the Mariners' Museum 

 of Newport News, Virginia, which maintains the largest 

 Jacobsen collection in the world, as well as from other institu- 

 tions and private collections. 



"Extending the Legacy: Planning America's Capital for the 

 21st Century" illustrated how the initial plan of the nation's 

 capital has evolved over the past two centuries and explained 

 the important role of the Smithsonian in shaping the design 

 and architecture of National Mall. In addition, the exhibition 

 described the National Capital Planning Commission's vision 

 for reshaping Washington, D.C., over the next century based 

 on the original city plan of 1791 by Pierre L'Enfant and the 

 McMillan plan of 1901. A series of free public lectures accom- 

 panied the exhibition. 



"Who's In Charge: Workers and Managers in the U.S," 

 formerly a traveling exhibition, examined the evolving 

 relationship between workers and managers in the workplace 

 from the 19th century through the tumultuous 1970s and 

 1980s to the present day, exploring issues such as the use of 

 robots and companies relocating overseas. Visitors to the ex- 

 hibition saw more than a hundred posters, union badges, his- 

 toric machinery, tintypes of artisans, and other important 

 artifacts. 



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