visit with American troops in the Persian Gulf to the 

 National Museum of American History's Division of 

 Armed Forces History, which also received prisoner-of- 

 war uniforms worn by American servicewomen in the 

 Persian Gulf War. 



by the American Museum of Natural History, New 

 York City, went on view at the National Museum of Af- 

 rican Art. 



March 



February ij 



■ Public Program The National Museum of American 

 Art hosted 600 people at a parade and reception preced- 

 ing the Washington, D.C., Chinese Lunar New Year pa- 

 rade in the museum's Chinatown neighborhood. 



February 21 



■ Symposium "Smart Bricks, Useful Trash, and Elastic 

 Chairs: Reinventing the Material World," a symposium 

 devoted to the discussion of new materials, was held in 

 conjunction with Cooper-Hewitt, National Museum of 

 Design's exhibition "Mondo Materialis." 



February 22—24 



■ Benefit A preview of "USArt," an art exposition and 

 sale of exclusively American art, benefited the West 

 Coast Regional Center of the Archives of American Art. 



February 26 



■ Grant The American Chemical Society presented a 

 $5 million grant to the National Museum of American 

 History for the major new exhibition "Science in Ameri- 

 can Life," scheduled to open in late 1993. 



February 28 



■ Acquisition The bronze portrait bust of Rosa Parks 

 by sculptor Artis Lane was unveiled at the National 

 Portrait Gallery. A gift of the Anheuser-Busch Com- 

 panies, Inc., the bust was presented in recognition of 

 Rosa Parks 's role as a civil rights leader. Her refusal 

 to move to a seat in the back of a bus in Montgomery, 

 Alabama, in 1955 sparked a national movement for ra- 

 cial justice. 



March 



■ Exhibition "African Reflections: Art from Northeast- 

 ern Zaire," featuring several hundred extraordinary 

 works by artists from the Mangbetu, Azande, and other 

 peoples of northeastern Zaire, organized and sponsored 



■ Membership The National Museum of the American 

 Indian launched a highly successful series of test mail- 

 ings for the museum's national membership program. 



March 



■ Publication The National Science Resources Center 

 announced publication of the first units of hands-on sci- 

 ence instruction from its innovative elementary science 

 curriculum development project, Science and Technol- 

 ogy for Children. One thousand educators, scientists, 

 and representatives of scientific and educational organi- 

 zations attended the NSRC's reception launching the 

 units at the National Science Teachers Association an- 

 nual meeting in Houston. 



March 



■ Exhibition The National Museum of the American 

 Indian completed a series of three meetings with Native 

 American artists, writers, and performers to review the 

 concept for "Celebrations," one of the inaugural exhibi- 

 tions of the museum's George Gustav Heye Center in 

 New York City. 



March 



■ Research The Smithsonian Tropical Research 

 Institute's project on domestication of the paca, a large 

 tropical forest rodent, entered a new phase when two do- 

 mesticated groups were turned over to a local farmer. 

 The paca, a favorite local game animal, will provide an 

 alternative protein source for small farmers. 



March 



■ Planning The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Ex- 

 hibition Service completed a staff-generated perfor- 

 mance plan designed to strengthen its program mission 

 and the role of cultural diversity in exhibition interpre- 

 tation, format and evaluation. 



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