O Say Can You See?

Have you met our museum?

“Tell me what YOU did at the Museum today!”  Every evening, my husband and I exchange information about our activities at our respective places of employment.  The Smithsonian—with some 6,000 staff, 6,000 docents and volunteers, 19 museums preserving about 137 million objects, and 9 research centers—just has more opportunities for interesting intrigues than the 125-person workforce at his office.  The real meat and potatoes of my day revolves around the fascinating stuff that is the hallmark of the Smithsonian.

Here at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, I produce our every-Thursday-at-noon Meet Our Museum programs.  I’ve been here for 20 years and know a little about a lot of the staff and their research on American history collections, so I am constantly cajoling associates to talk about their behind-the-scenes work to visitors, who love this type of program.  As a result, programs will feature such topics as Carnival traditions in Puerto Rico, Duke Ellington’s score for “Anatomy of a Murder,” and the invention of the FlexStraw.  I get to ask (and find out and share with my spouse before visitors know it, too): Where did that fascinating logo for cod liver oil come from?  What’s the story behind the donation of that wedding dress?  How did you restore and mount a fabric parade transparency for the Abraham Lincoln exhibition?  Why is the John Bull locomotive such a marvel?  Civil War soldier-printers those tiny toy-like presses in the field?

I try to organize the talks around topical or seasonal interests. Therefore, we’ll hear the story behind the founding of the NAACP revealed in a Scurlock photograph during Black History Month, and a discussion of a porcelain statue that features a Chinese immigrant struggling to get into the American “nest” in May (Asian Pacific American Heritage Month).  Jazz and Earth-Day stories are in April, naturally, and we feature a discussion on the first Appalachian Trail thru-hiker during the summer outdoor season.  Day of the Dead festivities in November, of course. Toys in December, check.

It’s not true that I skew the subjects or the schedule to fit the interests I have.  Like my husband’s comment when asked to name his favorite cookie, he’ll say, “The one I’m eating now.”  So it is with the Meet Our Museum talks—this week’s is the best!

Sue Walther is a programs coordinator at the National Museum of American History.  She is an “engaged visitor” at every Meet Our Museum talk.

Soul food

How do you make a 600-seat cafe feel like home? You put Dolores Pierre on the floor as an “attendant” and she immediately transforms the large public space.

Dolores is the smiling face so many of our visitors have met and taken the time to comment about. One thing I know from reading visitor comment cards is that people are quick to criticize and make suggestions, but it is rare for them to take the time to give a compliment. But that is what Dolores inspires people to do. 

Visitors, or “guests to her dining room” as Dolores likes to think of them, often enter the Stars and Stripes Cafe tired, grumpy, and simply in search of food. Dolores gives them that priceless something extra. It might be as simple as a high chair or glass of water. Other times it is advice about exhibits, other museums, or the Metro. Everyone she meets gets a piece of her heart and a smile. “My mother told me my heart is my weakness and my strength. Making others happy makes me happy.”

People know they are going to learn something when they visit the museum. They’re happily surprised when they learn what a difference one person can make.

Kathy Sklar is the business program manager at the National Museum of American History.

Your burning questions answered: First Ladies' dresses

If you’ve been to the new exhibition First Ladies at the Smithsonian, you may have found yourself asking: Where are all the other first ladies’ dresses?

Many people come to the exhibition expecting to see a gown representing each of the 46 women who have served as first lady of our country, and some are disappointed to find fourteen dresses on view. The funny part about this question is that you can replace “first ladies’ dresses” with literally anything, and we’ve heard it. One of the frustrations of working in a museum this large is that we have phenomenal collections of all kinds of stuff—over 3 million objects—but a finite space to put them on display. Everyone wants to see something different—there are people whose passions range from coins to guns to typewriters to shoes to pianos. So we do our best to balance what’s on view while trying to tell the richest story of American history.

Martha Washington's gown, 1780s

OK, back to the dresses . . . with anything made of fabric, there’s another very important factor in what can be on display when, and that’s light. Yup, the same light that pours through your windows and fades your couch does the same thing to the delicate objects on display in a museum. Even a small amount of light can be extremely damaging to fabric, which is why you’re not allowed to use your camera’s flash in many exhibitions. The first ladies gowns have not all been displayed together since 1987, when conservation reviews revealed the damage caused by their years on continuous display. At that time, some of the dresses had been on view since the first version of the exhibit opened in 1914.

As museum professionals, we have a responsibility both to protect the objects in our care, and to make them available to the public. Too often these goals come into conflict, and we do our best to try and balance them. The amount of time an object can be on display is carefully determined by curators and conservators who rotate the object off-view to rest in the hopes of keeping them intact for future generations of Americans.

So stay tuned for future rotations of objects in the First Ladies exhibition. And while you’re here, stand in front of Martha Washington’s dress and marvel that this garment, made over two hundred and twenty years ago, is still around for you to admire!

Megan Smith is an Education Specialist at the National Museum of American History.

Editor's note (March 10, 2010): The new “A First Lady’s Debut” gallery includes 11 gowns worn by first ladies from Mamie Eisenhower to Michelle Obama.

O say can you sing?

Do you sing in the shower? I do. And I can tell you that I don’t sound anything like Jennifer Hudson at the Superbowl. But maybe you do. Or maybe you have a sister, a neighbor, a classmate, a choir director, or even a football coach who can belt out tunes like nobody’s business.

These are the people we hope will enter to win our national anthem singing contest, which launched yesterday and runs through April 13. The grand prize winner will receive a trip for two to D.C. to sing on Flag Day (June 14) at the National Museum of American History and at a Baltimore Orioles game in Oriole Park at Camden Yards, only a mile from where the giant flag was stitched together in 1813. A pretty fantastic prize, if you ask me!

The museum is sponsoring the contest, along with USA WEEKEND Magazine, to kick off our Star-Spangled Summer celebration. We are honoring the 30-by-34-foot flag that inspired the national anthem and is now displayed in a special environmentally-controlled chamber in the museum. In the exhibition (available in the museum and online), visitors are encouraged to think about the ways Americans have used the Star-Spangled Banner—both the flag and the song—to express diverse ideas of patriotism and national identity.

What does the American flag mean to you? Francis Scott Key was so inspired by the sight of it flying over Fort McHenry after a 25-hour assault by the British that he wrote a song about it. Nearly 200 years later, you’re invited to sing that song your way—and compete for a chance to perform near to the very same flag.

Here’s what you need to do to enter: Record yourself singing the Star-Spangled Banner (just you—no groups). Upload your video to YouTube and add it to our contest group. Finally, don’t forget to spread the word far and wide about your entry. The more people who view your video, the better your chances are for rising to the top of the competition. (See the official rules for details.)

As for me? It’s a good thing I’m not eligible to win. I don’t think my warbling would impress you—and certainly not the judges. Best of luck!

Dana Allen-Greil is the new media project manager at the National Museum of American History.

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Lincoln lives on in 2277

It recently came to my attention that our museum is included, under a vaguely masked name, in the video game Fallout 3. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic Washington, D.C., in the year 2277 and includes variations of other famous landmarks, like the Jefferson Memorial and our easy-to-recognize Metro system.

I don’t particularly like thinking of “post-apocalyptic” anything, let alone my office and my city! But it is really cool to think that even in the year 2277, the artifacts in our museum could have powerful meanings for people. Apparently, in the game some of the artifacts from our Abraham Lincoln collection can be sold for big bucks to people who want to remember or want to forget our 16th president. I don’t play the game, so I can’t tell you where to find the artifacts in 2277. But I can tell you where to find some of them until 2011:

One image in our “Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life” exhibition, which is shown in the context of Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, is a copy of a Civil War recruitment poster. This image was targeted towards newly freed African-Americans and encouraged them to join the Union forces. Other recruitment posters (for the Confederacy and the Union) are in “The Price of Freedom: Americans at War” exhibition.

Lincoln was 6’4”, which was very tall for his time, but he made himself stand out even more by wearing tall top hats. It’s the first and last thing that visitors to the Abraham Lincoln exhibition see, but don’t even think about trying to run off with it to sell it—it’s one of the most treasured objects in the Smithsonian Institution.

The game includes several different weapons, and one of them is tied to a museum artifact. The gold-mounted, engraved Henry Presentation Rifle was given to Lincoln in 1862 by the New Haven Army Company. This being a museum artifact, you aren’t allowed to use this one, even to kill ghouls!

Lastly, while we aren’t showing a wanted poster for the Abraham Lincoln conspirators, the exhibition does include the shackles and hoods that they wore while imprisoned. The hoods are a very grim reminder of what happened to the eight conspirators. The display is striking and one of my favorite cases in the museum!

Jenny Wei is an education specialist at the National Museum of American History and loves any method for getting people curious about history.