ers, participated in a historic visit to Cuba organized by 

 the Center for Marine Conservation. Museum research- 

 ers originally met with Cuban scientists in 1992, when 

 they devised a plan for inventorying the biodiversity of 

 Cuba. 



April 



■ New Research Facility The Smithsonian Institution's 

 first field office opened in Anchorage, Alaska, when a 

 branch of the National Museum of Natural History's 

 Arctic Studies Center was created under an agreement 

 among the museum, the Anchorage Museum of History 

 and Art, and the municipality of Anchorage. Proposed 

 activities include long-term loans of Smithsonian collec- 

 tions to Alaska. 



April 4-18 



■ Lecture Series Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Mu- 

 seum presented "Design = The Bottom Line: Conversa- 

 tions on Business, Design, and Culture," which brought 

 together chief executive officers, designers, and business 

 editors to discuss how design teams are restructuring the 

 culture of the workspace and reshaping today's product 

 landscape. 



April j 



■ Research Smithsonian Secretary Robert McC. Adams 

 approved the National Museum of Natural History Fu- 

 ture Directions in Science plan. The reorganization of 

 science activities at the museum resulted in five new re- 

 search initiatives designed to encourage crossdisciplin- 

 ary research as well as focus on issues of global concern: 

 Collections as World Resources; Biodiversity: Systemat- 

 ics, Evolution, and Ecology; Ecosystem History and 

 Global Change; Earth and Planetary Processes; and 

 Human Cultural and Biological Diversity. 



April 6-10 



■ Conference The Wider Audience Development Pro- 

 gram organized the Institution's presence at the annual 

 conference of the Association of Asian American Studies. 



April 6 



■ Special Events Events held in Dallas raised funds and 

 visibility for the National Museum of the American In- 

 dian. The museum's National Campaign hosted a recep- 



tion for more than 225 NMAI members at the Morton 

 H. Meyerson Symphony Center. Museum supporters Di- 

 anne and Berry Cash hosted a dinner for a select group 

 of museum friends at the Crescent Club. 



April 7-10 



■ Meeting Members of the Smithsonian National Board 

 held their spring meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mem- 

 bers participated in business meetings, toured the Jemez 

 Pueblo, and received an overview of the Santa Fe Institute. 



April 7 



■ Visitor Service The Visitor Information and 

 Associates' Reception Center's updated electronic maps 

 were reinstalled in the Smithsonian Information Center. 



April 8 



■ Agreement The Smithsonian Tropical Research Insti- 

 tute signed an agreement with the Honduras Coral Reef 

 Fund to advise on management and protection of the 

 Los Cochinos Archipelago, a group of small islands off 

 the Caribbean coast legally protected by the Govern- 

 ment of Honduras. STRI will also design a research and 

 biological monitoring program for the area. 



April 10 



U Special Event The Friends of Asian Arts at the Freer 

 and Sackler Galleries held their third annual dinner to con- 

 sider artworks the staff had proposed for acquisition. For 

 the Freer collection, the Friends supported the purchase of 

 a painting made in India during the Mughal dynasty 

 (ca. 1660-70) and later incorporated into the Leningrad 

 Album and a Chinese Imperial porcelain basin with stand 

 from the late 18th to early 19th century. 



April 11-14 



■ International Meeting The Office of International Rela- 

 tions cosponsored meetings in the S. Dillon Ripley Center 

 involving environmental officials from the United States 

 and Russia in preparation for consultations between Vice 

 President Gore and Prime Minister Chernomyrdin. 



April 14-17 



■ Craft Shou' The Smithsonian Women's Committee 

 sponsored the 12th annual Smithsonian Craft Show in 



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