O Say Can You See?

You Asked, We Answer: Why can't I take a picture of the Star-Spangled Banner?

Cameras are everywhere. I currently have three devices in my purse that I can take a picture with. We love it when our visitors take photos to share with family or spread through their own Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter networks. So it’s understandable that some of you have been asking:

Why don’t we let you take a photograph of the Star-Spangled Banner?

 

The Star-Spangled Banner is an extremely delicate object. While it’s amazing that a flag intended to be used for about five years has survived almost 200, there’s no guarantee that it is going to be around forever. It’s our job as museum professionals to protect this precious object, and the greatest threat to the flag over the long term is light. The flag’s fibers absorb the energy from light, which causes harmful chemical reactions and deterioration. The flag chamber and the viewing area next to it are lit as dimly as possible to minimize the amount of light that hits the surface of the flag.

While the short, intense burst of a flash might seem like an insignificant amount of light, it can be very damaging to a textile as fragile as the Star-Spangled Banner. Take that burst of light and multiply it by a thousand and you begin to see the accumulated damage. Three weeks ago we were averaging 30,000 people a day through our doors. If you stood in other popular spaces in the museum, like the pop culture gallery, you would see hundreds of flashes going off in the space of a few minutes.

So why can’t you just take a picture with your flash off? Well, in a perfect world you could, but it is too difficult for our security staff to police every possible…ahem…flasher. Many times people with auto-flash on their cameras and phones don’t even know how to turn it off. Preventing everyone from taking a photo is the only realistic way to fulfill our obligation to protect the Star-Spangled Banner while keeping it on view for all to see.

We do understand the disappointment many people feel not being able to take a picture of this amazing national treasure. So just for you we’ve uploaded a bunch of images—taken by our fabulous Smithsonian photographers—to our Flickr page. Feel free to download these, even stick them in your vacation slideshow! You’ll be able to share your precious memories of seeing the flag while making sure it’s around for future generations to admire.

Megan Smith is an education specialist at the National Museum of American History.

Middle school "reverse field trips"

Because our History Explorer team develops K-12 lesson plans and interactives as well as professional development opportunities for teachers, it’s important for us to stay current with what’s happening in the classroom. We encourage each History Explorer staffer to make at least two “reverse field trips” to observe classrooms each year. With busy work schedules, school holidays, and standardized testing, it’s always a challenge to make this happen. Over the last month, I was able to get out to visit and observe classes at two middle schools, T. Benton Gayle Middle School, in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and Susquenita Middle School in Duncannon, Pennsylvania . . . and it was the highlight of my year.

Susquenita Middle School in Duncannon, Pennsylvania

Like any good educator, I do a little information gathering before I head out on a “field trip.” I visit the school’s Web site to get directions, entry procedures, etc., as well as pick up a little background on the school. Things like recent awards, challenges, and even the school’s mascot (Go Panthers! Go Eagles!) help me get a sense of the school’s culture and priorities.

I work with the host teacher to find out where the class will be in the curriculum and try to bring some relevant objects from our teaching collection to share with them. Thanks to my colleague Heather Paisley-Jones, I was able to assemble a really nice group of objects from the WWII homefront to share with the students at Susquenita MS. They were studying the impacts of the Holocaust and World War II on civilians in the U.S. and Europe.

If possible, I also try to arrange a time to meet with interested teachers to give them a demo of the types of resources the museum provides through our History Explorer Web site. But mostly, I watch and I listen. Great teachers are a joy to observe, and I have been lucky enough to see many in action.

We try hard to create resources that bring the best of the museum into K-12 classrooms, and we could not do this without working directly with teachers. If you are a teacher and would like to be a part of what we do, contact at us at thinkfinity@si.edu. There are many opportunities to review materials, participate in focus groups, or join advisory panels. Who knows, maybe I can come and observe a class in your school next year! I’d like that.

Carrie Kotcho is the education technologist at the National Museum of American History.

When history meets pop culture: The Jonas Brothers visit the museum

The White House Correspondents Dinner brought quite a number of celebrities to Washington this month. One of the museum’s board members was hosting The Jonas Brothers at the dinner and asked to bring them on a tour of the museum on Sunday morning.

Dorothy’s ruby slippers, Kermit the frog, and the Bunkers’ chairs are among the icons of American popular culture that our visitors want to see. But what happens when some of the biggest stars in pop culture want to visit these icons along with the Star-Spangled Banner and Lincoln’s hat?

Here was the challenge presented to me: keep the visit a secret; conduct the tour during regular museum hours; and don’t close any exhibitions to the public.

I arrived at the museum Sunday, May 2, at 9:45 a.m. As far as I could tell, no word had leaked about the 10:30 a.m. visit. I’d worked with our security office and we were prepared to bring The Jonas Brothers and their guests through our Presidential Reception Suite entrance which can be accessed through an underground parking area.

One of my colleagues, our associate director for external affairs, joined me to await our guests, who included our board member and his family as well as the head of a technology company and his family.

Just after 10:30 a.m., the brothers—Kevin, Joe, and Nick—arrived wearing gray morning suits (they were going to a brunch after the tour) and like many of our visitors, they came as a family group: Kevin’s wife Danielle, Camp Rock co-star Demi Lovato (Joe’s girlfriend), and mom and dad (Kevin, Sr. and Denise Jonas). Unlike our other visitors, they had personal security guards.

Peeking out of the Reception Suite, I saw that the museum had visitors but the coast looked pretty clear to make it to the elevators and up to the second floor to see the Star-Spangled Banner. We commandeered two elevators as there were two dozen people in our group. Just as we were almost in the elevator cabs, I heard someone shout: “The Jonas Brothers!” And the doors closed.

 

As songwriters, the brothers were interested in the Star-Spangled Banner, not only as the flag that inspired our national anthem but in learning more about Francis Scott Key and how he came to pen the lyrics to the song that later became the anthem. In Flag Hall, there was no line going into the Star-Spangled Banner exhibition and it was quiet enough for me to explain how Key, an American attorney, came to be aboard a British ship. Through the night, Key paced the deck, wondering who would win the battle at Fort McHenry. Until, in the dawn’s early light, he saw the U.S. flag flying over the Fort. We turned the corner and saw the almost 200-year-old, 15 star, 15 stripe flag.

As we walked towards the exhibit’s exit, the contemplative quiet was shattered by the screams of teenagers. The visit was no longer a secret. The second floor Flag Hall and the third floor balcony were filled with visitors clamoring for The Jonas Brothers. After a quick conference with their security detail, Kevin, Joe, Nick and Demi walked out, shook hands, signed autographs, posed for pictures, and hugged the fans.

 

And then our group of 24 made it back onto the elevators and up to the third floor. By this time, I thought it would be impossible for them to have a chance to see the popular culture objects. This small gallery often has a line of visitors waiting to see the “real” objects that have entered their lives through the silver or small screen. The stars were aligned for this visit. The gallery was empty. We spent about 5 minutes viewing and talking about the ruby slippers and Kermit, the comedians Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, and the Bunkers’ chairs. (Trivia Note: Archie Bunker’s chair was featured in the movie Night at the Museum II: Battle of the Smithsonian and The Jonas Brothers made a cameo appearance as the voices and faces of the cherubs in that movie).

Nick Jonas was very interested in exploring the life of America’s 16th president, so we spent a solid amount of time in Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life. The gallery had quite a number of visitors, and you could hear the whispers of “The Jonas Brothers” and teens trying to explain to clueless parents who they were. Overall everyone in the gallery was respectful and it was a normal tour.

But at the exit, the crowds had gathered. And once again, the Jonas’ graciously gave autographs and posed for pictures. It was time for brunch and back to the sanctuary of the elevators and to the Reception Suite for goodbyes.

So, you want to know what The Jonas Brothers are really like? They are genuinely nice guys. No airs, no special requests or demands, just appreciative that they had the opportunity to see some of America’s treasures. And they made the day for hundreds of teenagers in the museum that morning.

Melinda Machado is the Director of the Office of Public Affairs at the National Museum of American History.

Reopening the Dibner Library of Science and Technology

incunabula… incunabula…incunabula…

That is the word that that was proclaimed all around me the first day of my internship. I had no idea what it meant. I recognized that it was Latin, but that’s as far as I got. Then I went to the library. And that was where everything came together.

Preface and definitions of Summa de arithmetica geometria proportioni et proportionalita.

I learned that in the first week of March, the Dibner Library would be reopening after construction and a symposium would be held. This symposium would be titled “The Era of Experiments and the Age of Wonder: Scientific Expansion in the 17th – 19th Centuries,” designed to drive home the point that old books matter. There would be many distinguished speakers, including my supervisor Peggy Aldrich Kidwell, and displays of books for visitors to observe.

My part in this event was to put together a display case of three to five books from the years 1450-1500 on the subject of mathematics. Here is where I finally figured out what that magic word, incunabula, meant. Just like I was, you might be already guessing the general idea behind the word. All books published in the years between 1450 and 1500 are collectively referred to as incunabula. The word means “in the cradle” in Latin; the books represent the birth of the printed word as we know it today! Once Gutenberg invented his moveable type printing press, knowledge exploded across Europe.

Here are two books which caught my eye:

• Epytoma Ioannis de Monte Regio in Almagestum Ptolomei by Regiomontanus 
  When Copernicus read Book V Proposition 22, he saw a 1300-year-old error on lunar theory, spurring him to complete his own research and become the father to modern astronomy. The author of this book also wrote Ephemerides. Christopher Columbus brought this book along on his travels and in 1504 convinced the natives of Jamaica that he was powerful by predicting a solar eclipse on February 29.
• Summa de arithmetica geometria proportioni et proportionalita by Luca Pacioli
  A woodcut initial, depicting a monk with an opened book and compass, repeats numerous times throughout the text. It is generally agreed that the monk is to represent Pacioli, his position in the clergy, and his interest in mathematics. This author also wrote Divina Proportione, the first book dedicated to the Golden Ratio.

The following week, the History and Pedagogy of Mathematics (HPM) group had a meeting in Washington and I was able to expand that initial single case on mathematics to three cases on mathematics and related sciences. It was a great experience to hear feedback and explain background information about the books I chose to exhibit.

Here are two cool books on applications of mathematics:

• Anathomia Mundini emendata per doctorem Melerstat by Mondino dei Luzzi
  Customarily, corpses of criminals were used for classroom dissections in anatomy classes. In 1319 four of this author’s students were charged with body snatching. As a professor, dei Luzzi became one of the first to do public dissections.
• de Architectura by Vitruvius Pollio
  The Baroque and Neoclassical periods borrow from this Renaissance work immensely. The famous Vitruvian Man by Leonardo Da Vinci is based off some of the pictures and writings on proportions in this book.

 
Left to right: Bob Brabanec, Jim Kiernan, and Amy Ackerberg-Hastings at the HPM meeting. Courtesy of Bob Stein.

If you’d like to learn more about the Dibner Library and their incunabula collection check out this Web site or for information on the reopening event that I participated in look here.
Happy Reading!

Mary A. Kavanagh is an intern at the National Museum of American History.

Will you marry me?

I’ll admit it. Working at the National Museum of American History has some pretty great benefits. I get to meet famous Civil Rights leaders, organize lectures with prominent historians and interact with visitors from all over the world. But until Saturday, I had never helped plot an engagement.

That’s where Jason Meritt, from Raleigh, North Carolina comes in. Jason and long-time girlfriend Carlee Cox planned a weekend trip to Washington to see a favorite band—Dr. Dog—the same band they heard on their very first date.

 

 

“We actually went to the concert in a museum,” said Jason. “It was in Boston at the Museum of Fine Arts as part of their summer concert series. I got to thinking that this [weekend] would be a great opportunity to propose, with the timing of the concert and all the museums in D.C.”

As a special events coordinator for the North Carolina lottery, Jason knows a thing or two about planning. A sentimental guy, Jason remembered the card he gave to Carlee not too long ago with “I love you” in typewriter print.

“She still has the card on the refrigerator. I know how much she loves it and also her love and appreciation for typewriters,” he said.

That gave him an idea: the two would be in D.C. for the concert—check. There are A LOT of museums in D.C.—check. Carlee loves typewriters—check. There is an Underwood typewriter at the National Museum of American History—check. But there was one problem: Jason worried going through security would foil his surprise. If the detectors went off, he would be forced to preemptively reveal his message, carefully crafted with typewriter keys inside a 1940s ribbon case. This was a risk he wasn’t willing to take.

 

 

“I got in touch with the museum, because I didn’t want to have to worry about something going wrong. I thought, ‘If the detectors go off I’m going to be screwed.’”

We met with Jason the night before the proposal and agreed to hold onto the typewriter ribbon case for safe keeping. That brings us to the execution. How would I get the typewriter ribbon case back to Jason in an inconspicuous way while making the event extra special by inviting them to the rooftop terrace?

Luckily, just last month, we conducted a special program to commemorate Abraham Lincoln, in which we selected a group of visitors each day to receive a special trip to the rooftop terrace of the museum and a signed copy of the book Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life. This was the catalyst for getting Jason and Carlee to the rooftop without being too obvious.

When asked if there was anything else in the museum they’d like to see, Jason chimed in about the typewriter and mentioned Carlee’s interest. And there it happened, in front of the Underwood typewriter housed in the exhibition The Price of Freedom: Americans at War. Jason got down on one knee, opened the lid of the typewriter ribbon case, and Carlee saw the message spelled out inside: “Will you marry me?” She said “yes,” and now Jason Meritt and Carlee Cox are happily engaged.

I get the chance to do a lot of cool things at the museum. But help planning an engagement? Well, that’s extra special.

Erin Nielsen is a floor manager at the National Museum of American History. Congrats to Jason and Carlee! You made my day!

Editor's note: Our neighbors over at the National Museum of Natural History are no strangers to marriage proposals either. One took place in the Butterfly Pavilion. Another happened in their forensic anthropology lab in the Written in Bone exhibition; the proposal  was written on a slide to be read through one of the lab’s microscopes. Do you have any other stories of romantic gestures made inside Smithsonian museums?