O Say Can You See?

Olympic feets

The stress. The mental focus. Getting your mind "in the zone." Fear, worry, doubt.  The waiting! The anticipation! With the high drama attached to the Olympic games, what's happening in the minds of the athletes gets a lot of attention from commentators.  But I'm not going to focus on heads; I'm going to call your attention elsewhere—to the athlete's feats.  I mean, feet.

The roughly 6,000 objects in the museum's sports collections bear witness to the vital place of sports in the nation's history.  A special case now on view in the National Treasures of Popular Culture exhibition features artifacts related to Olympians, including one champion you may have been hearing a lot about in the last week.

With a new silver medal in the 1500m and bronze in the 1000m, speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno has become the most decorated American athlete of all time in the Winter Olympics.

 

Ohno wore these oh-so-shiny skates in the 2002 Olympics. (Currently on display in the museum.)

If you watched the 2007 season of Dancing with the Stars, you know that Ohno is a multi-talented athlete.  But did you know that before he was an Olympic speed skater, he was a national champion and record-holder for indoor in-line skating?  

"Volito" in-line roller skate, 1823.

In the days before the invention of indoor rinks, dedicated ice skaters turned to the in-line skate, the "Volito," when they needed to practice but couldn't find ice. This in-line skate consisted of a wooden sole, a single row of five wheels, and a curved iron bar at the front that served as a rudimentary brake. What made the Volito superior to other models was the unequal size of its wheels—larger at the center and smaller at the ends. This simple modification allowed the skater to execute turns more easily.

While he probably didn't practice with the Volito, U.S. and world figure skating star Brian Boitano showed the world how to execute turns when he introduced his signature jump, the "Tano triple lutz" (performed with one of the skater's arms up in the air, rather than tucked in to his chest.) The next year Boitano dueled Canada's skating champion Brian Orser for the gold in the 1988 Winter Olympics, a clash of skating titans laced with the drama of the legendary rivalry between the U.S. and Canada. Figure skating, an Olympic event since 1908, had developed into one of the most anticipated events in the Games and a centerpiece of television coverage.  In the end, Boitano unleashed a spectacular long program that bowled over the judges and brought home the gold, while Canada's native son took the silver.  The "Battle of the Brians" became Olympic legend.

Boitano wore these Harlick skates in the 1988 Olympics. The boot company added the American flags for good luck. (Currently on display in the museum.)

Ohno's speed skates and Boitano's ice skates join other artifacts from the Winter and Summer Olympics in the special exhibit on view in the museum, including one of Bobby Morrow's three Olympic gold medals, Nastia Luikin's leotard, and an Olympic torch from the 1984 Summer Games.

Hockey skates used by Phil Verchota, 1980 U.S. Hockey Team Olympian.

But let's not stop there.  The museum has more Olympic footwear in store for you.  Definitely on the scruffier side, compared with Ohno's glitzy pair and Boitano's stars and stripes, are these hockey skates used by Phil Verchota, a member of the legendary 1980 U.S. Hockey Team.

Since 1956, teams from the Soviet Union had dominated Olympic ice hockey, and they were the overwhelming favorites in 1980. The unlikely Americans handed the Soviets one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history. The defeat of the Soviet team in the semifinals—known as the "miracle on ice"—captured the hearts and imaginations of Americans during a time of cold-war tensions.

Ice skates autographed by Henie, about 1945. White skates were one of the many trends popularized by the first celebrity skater.

The next pair, a set of chic white skates, belonged to a woman who wasn't just an Olympic champion but also a Hollywood film star.  Sonja Henie parlayed her skill and glamor into a career as one of the world's most famous figure skaters—in the rink and on the screen. Henie, winner of three Olympic gold medals and a Norwegian and European champion, invented a thrillingly theatrical and athletic style of figure skating. She introduced short skirts, white skates, and flirtatious moves. Her spectacular spins and jumps raised the bar for all competitors.

That's all for fancy Olympic footwear but there's plenty more sports history for you to enjoy online. If the Winter Olympics are your bag, be sure to check out Bonnie Blair's speed skins and Kristi Yamaguchi's skating dress in our online exhibition,  Sports: Breaking Records, Breaking Barriers.  The site portrays athletes from more than a dozen sports, including artifacts from Summer Olympians Gertrude Ederle, Bill Russell, Mia Hamm, Owen Churchill, Lance Armstrong, Muhammad Ali, Rebecca Lobo, and Dominique Dawes.  You'll also find books and films about Olympians for adults and children.  Or mine our online collections database for sports and leisure objects, which includes everything from boxing gloves to NASCAR racing cars.

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

Cracking the genetic code

Illustration of Nirenberg’s chart of the 64 3-letter combinations that form the genetic code. An image of his handwritten chart may be seen on the National Library of Medicine Web site. Courtesy of the Office of History, National Institutes of Health.

Biomedical research lost one of its titans recently with the death of Marshall Nirenberg, the Nobel Prize-winning biochemist who, with the help of colleagues at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and elsewhere, cracked the genetic code in 1961. His experiment showed how RNA transmits encoded information in DNA and directs the building of proteins (the National Museum of American History owns a copy of his chart of 64 3-letter combinations describing all possible amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, and the NIH has an excellent virtual exhibit about Nirenberg’s work). 

Nirenberg was the first federal employee to win the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. It made him an instant celebrity. While tempted by job offers in academe and elsewhere—they were surely his for the asking—Nirenberg ended up spending his entire career at NIH. He said he just couldn’t see giving up the freedom they gave him to pursue his research. 

Nirenberg performing an experiment in his lab at NIH around 1962. Courtesy of the Office of History, National Institutes of Health.

I had the privilege of meeting this quietly modest man a couple of times, as NIH is just just up the pike from the museum in downtown D.C. That’s Rockville Pike, the spine of the so-called I-270 biotech corridor, but Nirenberg worked there long before the region acquired its current moniker. The area’s great research organizations, like NIH and the nearby National Institute of Standards and Technology—which has garnered its own share of Nobel Prizes—are cornerstones of the new technology corridor. But they rest on over a century of institution building, both private and public. 

Federal science agencies tend to treasure their Nobel laureates. It’s the sort of thing that private industrial research labs used to do, but say they can no longer afford. We are fortunate indeed that government agencies like NIH continue to do the far-horizon research that launches and sustains our nation’s high-tech networks, the incubators of new technologies. A clear case, in my view, of government money well spent. 

Arthur Molella is Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Director of the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the National Museum of American History.

An American timeline

If you are planning a visit to the museum, please stop in at the Nina and Ivan Selin Welcome Center to see our new addition, “An American Timeline.” The timeline is a multitouch application on a tabletop computer that features 101 moments of consequence in American history. With so many significant events in the history of the United States how did we pick just 101?

It started with a long list of events that I personally believe to be integral to the identity of the American people.  I asked for comments and criticism from our staff at the museum as well as prominent public historians like David McCullough.  After a few rounds of (sometimes) intense debate, I trimmed the list down to where it stands at 101. 

I think this is the final draft but I am still tempted to make changes. As you can imagine, it is not an easy task. But I want visitors to have a chance to see the variety of events—political, military, economic, technological, social, and cultural—that have shaped our national experience and our national identity.

When you sit down at the table, you will see a long, scrollable timeline with numerous points that can be selected.  Touch one and it will open up to reveal a description of why this event was important along with a related image. If you want to read more about your selection, simply press a button and you will see more images and text to explore. 

For example, when you touch “Declaration of Independence,” you can see eight screens that provide background about people and events that shaped the American Revolution. You can also enlarge the document and read it for yourself. And you can see objects from our collection including the writing table on which Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration and a rare ceramic teapot, made in England, that says “No Stamp Act” and “American Liberty Restored” dating from the mid-1760s when the controversial tax was repealed. For some events on the timeline, for example the Model-T Ford, we have even included a silent movie!

Remember to stop by the Welcome Center when you come to your National Museum of American History. Take a look at what I think are the 101 most important events in American history.  If you disagree—or have something to add—be sure to let us know either by phone, or here on the museum blog in the comments.

Brent D. Glass is Director of the National Museum of American History.

50th anniversary of the Pill

Only a few weeks into my internship I’ve already learned that the fastest way to create awkward silence, where even the cricket chokes, is by stating with the most serious face that I can muster, “Yes, I’m cataloging birth control pills at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.” The most common response I get is, “Wait, you’re on birth control?” After correcting him/her, I then perk up and say enthusiastically, “You know, it’s the 50th anniversary of the Pill. Big stuff!” But enthusiasm can also lead to misunderstanding. On one occasion, while I was meticulously documenting the oral contraceptives exhibited in the museum onto a clipboard, a visitor laughed and took a photo of me—probably supposing that I was eagerly jotting down some pointers.

As an intern in the Division of Medicine and Science, I’m learning how oral contraceptives have impacted American society: from family life to economics, health, religion, and more. I find it particularly interesting to observe changes over time in active ingredients and their quantities, as well as the attendant side effects. I feel honored to continue the work of a former curator, Pat Gossel, who died of cancer a few years ago.

Here are a few objects in the collection that are personal favorites (no, I don’t mean personally tested!):

Ortho-Novum SQ Dialpak 20, 1970. Simple and brilliant design. Several items in the collection are set up similarly. There is a clear plastic cover over the tablets; the user rotates the cover clockwise to dispense a tablet. The inside rim is scalloped which allows the small inner wheel, marked with the seven days of the week, to rotate. Only the day in which the pill should be taken has a small magnifying glass to read it, while the other days have a textured opaque cover over them. Originally, there were 20 pills in a pack containing active ingredients (usually norethindrone and ethinyl estadiol or levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradriol), sometimes with with variations in the formula. Pills with different formulas are expressed with different colors. Later brands offer 21 pills with active ingredients and 7 inert (sometimes iron) pills to coincide with days in a month, so that one does not forget to take the pill routinely.

 Tri-Levlen 28, 1987. Aside from its intense fireproof-looking slidecase, the logo is what gets me the most. It might look to you like graphic hand grabbing/snatching an egg. Oh, if only it were true. After cocking my head to the side, I came to the conclusion that it was, in fact, intended to be an abstract depiction of a fallopian tube releasing an egg.

Desogen, 1993. The Remember Me Compliance Kit. On the front of the box it states, "A unique gift package for you . . ." 

Unique indeed, and those ellipses could not be more perfectly suspenseful for what awaits . . .

Inside, the instructions state in large print:
 
If you miss a pill you could get pregnant!
Remembering is as easy as 1-2-3 . . .
Brush your teeth
Wash your face
Take your pill . . .

And what do you know? Your oral contraceptives not only come with the product, but it also comes with a handy dandy tooth brush and a bar of soap!

Ortho Personal Pak, 2000. These eco-friendly dialpaks differ from earlier versions in that they are reusable compact dispensers; only the blister pack ring needs to be changed. What I like about this type is that it comes in a variety of colors and designs to suit any woman’s taste: from girly amethyst floral, to plain garnet and sheek onyx. 

   

These are just a few examples from this fascinating collection.  I regret that I can’t do the collection justice in the space of a blog post or go into great depth about the history and progression of oral contraceptives. I highly recommend that you visit the section of the Science in American Life exhibition devoted to the Pill. 

 

You can find more examples of Pill package design from the museum’s collections on the PBS Web site dedicated to the subject.

I can’t wait to tell people: “I’ve just finished cataloging oral contraceptives…on to condoms!” Seriously.

Amanda Chau is an intern in the Division of Medicine and Science at the National Museum of American History.

Don’t let this treasure become a “Lost Symbol”

You may have heard or noticed that Dan Brown’s latest novel, The Lost Symbol, features Horatio Greenough’s statue of George Washington (pp.87-88), which is a landmark object on the museum’s second floor. You will have to read the novel to find out why Dan Brown included it so prominently in his story. But that is not the only object in the book that is cared for by the museum. Go no further to learn why the Jefferson Bible (mentioned on p. 491) is considered an irreplaceable national treasure and why its future is at risk.

 

Thomas Jefferson spent much of his later years at Monticello creating a book meant for his eyes only, one which he never intended to publish. Titled The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth (but more commonly now known as the Jefferson Bible), Jefferson created the work by cutting passages from Greek, Latin, French, and English translations of the New Testament and rearranging them into a chronological account of Jesus’ life. His book focused on the moral teachings of Jesus and omitted all mentions of miracles, the Old Testament, and life after death.

The Jefferson Bible is important today because of the unique insight it provides into the religious beliefs of the author of our Declaration of Independence, and the way in which it vividly reflects Jefferson’s own understanding of the First Amendment to the Constitution as it guarantees “freedom of religion.” At the very least, it is an artifact that resulted from the extraordinary mind of one of the nation’s most important founding fathers and Enlightenment thinkers.

Both you and Jefferson might be surprised to learn that, in 1904, a black and white reproduction of the Jefferson Bible was printed and given to members of Congress until copies were depleted not long ago.

Now we need your help to preserve this 200-year-old national treasure. The Jefferson Bible’s binding and brittle pages no longer make it possible to fully open it for photography or display, and the ink that Jefferson used to make handwritten notations is becoming increasingly acidic and damaging to the paper. A full treatment using the latest techniques in paper and book conservation is required to stabilize the book. Once complete, a color scan will be completed so that the Jefferson Bible can be reproduced in print and also be made accessible to view online.

The museum is working to raise money to preserve this object, and your support would go a long way to helping us achieve our goal. Consider making a gift in support of the Jefferson Bible to help it avoid becoming a lost national treasure.

Mike Johnson is a Development Associate in the Office of External Affairs at the National Museum of American History.