O Say Can You See?

Slideshow: 2009 year in review

2009 has been a remarkable year for the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Thanks to supporters like you, we were able to serve over 4 million visitors with world-class exhibitions and engaging programs. I hope you enjoy this slideshow of our treasured collections and some of the best moments of 2009.

You can still make a difference this year—today is your last chance to make a donation to the National Museum of American History and benefit from a 2009 tax deduction. Help us prepare for an exciting New Year by making your donation before midnight tonight. 

Thank you for all that you do for the National Museum of American History. Best wishes for a happy and safe holiday season.

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

10 years after the world was going to end

I suppose the first question should be: what’s an old New York State license plate doing in the museum’s computer collection? The second should be: what on earth does “IMY2KC” mean? I’ll give you a hint. This was a big worry for many at the turn of the millennium. That’s right, this license plate message stands for “I’m Y2K compliant.”

 By the mid-1990s, the computer industry was facing an impending and serious problem caused by the common coding practice of abbreviating the four digits of year dates to just the last two. The concern was that when the year changed from 1999 to 2000, computers would malfunction since “00” does not numerically follow “99.”

One of the main computer languages effected was COBOL, which had been favored by business and government for decades. (In an interesting side note, 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of COBOL’s development. The museum has many artifacts relating to this event, including a printout from the computer language’s first successful test run. Also see our Computer Oral History Collection and Grace Murray Hopper Collection for more on the subject.) That meant that the Y2K problem not only was widespread, but could also have potentially devastating results as government and financial institution computers crashed.

Seems like an easily avoidable problem, doesn’t it? Surely those early computer programmers would be aware that someday the year would no longer start with a 19? But they had a very good reason for using this shortcut. Computer memory was extremely limited in the early days of computers. Computers today are, quite literally, millions of times more powerful. During the 1950s and 60s, composing the year with only two digits would save valuable space.

 

As the “Millennium Bug” gained media attention, businesses used the hype to market everything from baseball caps to hot sauce. Ironically, the public hype about Y2K occurred after most of the problematic code had been fixed. Though most people in information technology were confident that the issue had been solved, the implications were scary for lay people who were only beginning to realize how much computers had become part of their everyday lives.

Today, computers are even more critical part of our lives than they were ten years ago. Our cell phones are now “smart” with the ability to carry out many of the same functions our computers do. We take our iPods (which were first launched in 2001) everywhere we go. Our favorite television programs are now available online.

You might even say that computers did bring an end to the world as we knew it back in 1999, just in a totally different (and far less devastating) way than anyone could have anticipated. They have changed the way we live, work, and amuse ourselves and they will continue to do so in the new decade.

Petrina Foti works in the Computers Collection, part of the Division of Information Technology & Communications, at the National Museum of American History.

The insider's guide to your holiday museum visit

One of the perks of working in a museum is being able to commune with objects in the quiet hours of the morning before the doors open to the public. But there comes a time in every spoiled museum worker’s life when you morph back into being a member of the visiting public. Which is what I’ll be this weekend, when my family will be traveling from Dallas, Texas; Ames, Iowa; and Walla Walla, Washington, to celebrate Christmas in D.C. Most have not been to the museum since the renovation, and a few in the group (including my 6 year old niece and 3 year old nephew) have never been here at all. I’m thrilled to show the kids Spark!Lab and Invention at Play. My uncle, a retired history professor, will love theDocuments Gallery. My aunt, a gourmet cook, will be inspired by Julia Child’s kitchen. My brother the amateur sailor will love On the Water. And of course they’ll have to see the Star-Spangled Banner and the Lincoln exhibition and…oof, I’m tired already.

We won’t be alone—the two days after Christmas are among the museum’s busiest days of the whole year. Thousands of families just like mine will be enjoying a day together at the Smithsonian. So how am I planning to deal with shepherding a group of 12 through the crowds? Here are some of my survival tips:

1. Be prepared
Here’s what to expect: the museum will be very, very busy from December 26th right on through January 3rd. If you want to see some of our most popular exhibitions—First Ladies, The Star-Spangled Bannerwill probably have to wait in line. Don’t let that dissuade you from coming—there’s a wonderful energy and liveliness in our holiday crowds. But if you know what to expect it will be a much more pleasant visit for your whole group.

2. Have a plan
If your family is anything like mine, there are some very organized folks and, well, some people who have a harder time making a decision. The last thing you want to spend your time doing on a crowded day here at the museum is standing around in Flag Hall going, “I don’t know, what do you want to see?” Before you visit, have everyone check out the Plan Your Visit section of our Web site and pick one or two things they’re really interested in. Then split up into groups and arrange to meet back at our of our convenient, easy-to-spot landmark objects.

3. Visit in the morning or evening
Things start getting busy around noon and crowds peak between 2 and 4 p.m.. We plan to get here when the doors open at 10 a.m. to avoid the most crowded time of day. Better yet, take advantage of our special holiday evening hours.

4. Eat early or late
Head to the Stars and Stripes Cafe before 11:15 a.m. or after 2 p.m. to avoid the lunch rush.

5. Travel light
If you don’t bring a bag, you can sail right through security at the front doors.

6. Don’t hesitate to ask for help
Stop in at the Welcome Center on the second floor, where our volunteers can provide you with maps, tips, directions, and information on the days’ events. They can also point you to our numerous family restrooms, which make taking a “rest stop” with children or older adults who may need assistance much easier.

7. Don’t push it
I see too many people in our hallways at the end of the day, cranky and exhausted because they’ve tried to see everything. It’s much better to have a shorter, enjoyable visit. This applies a thousandfold when you’re dealing with kids. Choose one or two objects or exhibitions to see before you take a break or leave for the day. The museum is free, and you can come back anytime.

8. Grab a souvenir
In our stores you'll find books for the history buff, souvenirs for out-of-town folks, jewelry for the first lady in your life, and the just-released “Night at the Smithsonian” DVD. 

I wish all of our readers a happy and healthy holiday season, and look forward to seeing lots of you down here next week!

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

Top 10 posts of 2009

To come up with the top ten “O Say Can You See?” blog posts of 2009 I relied on you, dear readers, to tell me what should make the cut. It was a busy year and the museum’s team of bloggers published more than 150 posts.

Flickr photo by prspect06.

What do you think of this list? Do you have a favorite post that didn’t make the cut?

The ten most-read posts of 2009 were:

1. Julia Child Recipe of the Week series
   These posts, in which a different museum staffer followed a new Julia Child recipe each week, were so popular that they dominated the list.  I counted the whole series as #1 so we could feature some of our other spectacular content. You're invited to try a recipe yourself and share your experiences with us.
2. A secret message inside Lincoln’s watch?
   Abraham Lincoln never knew of the message he carried in his pocket. In March, the museum uncovered a secret message hidden inside a pocketwatch for over a century. It's the personal side of history--the story of an ordinary watchman being inspired to record something for posterity. This post includes a photo slideshow and video coverage of the opening of the watch.
3. Night at the museum
   About 20 museum staffers slept over at the museum on the eve of Inauguration Day.  It was a pleasure and a privilege to welcome the first of our 40,000 plus visitors who had shivered outside waiting for our doors to open.
4. 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?
5. The Kennedys’ visit to American history
   During the memorial service for Senator Edward Kennedy in August, several speakers mentioned his love of American history and his son, Ted, Jr. noted that his father was “a civil war buff” who sponsored vacations that left the family, in some cases, “injured and exhausted.” The museum's director recounts the tour he led for the Kennedy clan during their visit in 2006.
6. Protecting our museums
   Tragedy befell the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in June when Officer Stephen Johns, who had served the museum for six years, was fatally wounded by a gunman. The news was especially shocking to those of us in the museum community because we see museums as safe places, places of enlightenment.
7. American history 2.0
   During the “Smithsonian 2.0” conference about the future of the Smithsonian’s digital presence, we were reminded that authentic artifacts have a power that will never fully be replaced by their digital facsimiles. What do you think we should be doing to extend the museum experience to virtual visitors?
8. Video games, Ralph Baer, and my first accession
   Imagine that it’s your first day on the job and your new boss brings you into a storage area filled with papers and strange looking objects, all donated by Ralph Baer, the Father of the Video Game. These are the notes and prototypes that made playing games on your television possible. And now it’s your job to process them.
9. Historic inauguration, historic multitudes
   While the museum didn't expect all of the millions of inaugural attendees to visit us, we did expect enormous crowds. This post includes useful tips for visiting the museum on especially popular days.
10. The strangest object in the Photographic History Collection
    Most people wouldn’t expect to find a .36 caliber pistol in the nation’s Photographic History Collection.  It may seem an unlikely match, but the stewardship of the gun within the Photographic History Collection says a lot about the deep and multi-faceted American story that this museum is privileged to tell.

The feedback we’ve received from our readers this year has been both encouraging and helpful in shaping what we cover and how. We hope that in 2010 you will continue to comment on the blog and spread the word to your friends.

Why not get started now? Leave a comment with your suggestions on topics you’d like to see covered on the blog in the future. What artifact, era, historical character, or behind-the-scenes museum topic are you most interested in hearing about?

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

The best thing since sliced bread

Two of the author’s friends discover a not-so-hidden treasure. Photo courtesy of Jerry Eisterhold.

Who hasn’t heard the phrase, “the best thing since sliced bread?” Bread is one of our oldest and most basic sources of nourishment … and just the mention of it brings back vivid childhood memories of visiting my cousins, the Di Rienzos, at their bakery in Binghamton, New York. I looked forward to the times I could ride with them on their truck as they delivered loaves of fresh Italian bread and rolls to shops and schools in their area. The pre-dawn aroma of fresh baked bread remains with me to this day. We must have delivered hundreds of loaves each day, and I always wondered how a middling-sized bakery could turn out so much bread. The answer of course lies in mechanization.

The making of bread is one of the oldest food technologies, going as far back as the Neolithic era, coeval and linked with the brewing of beer. It was also one of the first food products to succumb to automatic machinery, from the mass production and bleaching of flour, kneading of the dough, baking in continuous ovens, and, finally, to the slicing and wrapping of the bread. Much of the mechanization derived from Europe in the nineteenth century but peaked in the American Midwest during the 1920s and 1930s.