The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in West Potomac Park in Washington will be dedicated on Sunday, August 28, the 48th anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. King’s historic I Have A Dream speech. There will be a pre-dedication concert at 10 a.m., and the dedication ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. A post-dedication concert will follow at 2 p.m.
The National Museum of American History (NMAH) is exhibiting For All The World To See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights, sponsored and organized by the African American History and Culture Museum, through November 27. This exhibition is the first to reveal the historic role of visual images in shaping, influencing, and transforming the fight for civil rights in the U.S. The exhibition examines images in a range of venues and forms, “tracking the ways they represented race in order to perpetuate the status quo, to stimulate dialogue, or to change prevailing beliefs and attitudes.”
The NMAH is displaying Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop & Turn, through the Fall of 2011 in the Smithsonian Libraries Exhibition Gallery. The exhibition highlights innovative book design, featuring movable, pop-up, folding and multiple-construction books produced from the year 1570 to the present. Although pop-ups are now mainly a feature of children’s books, the earliest were tools to educate and document information, such as the movements of the moon and the inner workings of the human heart. Visit http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/exhibition.cfm?key=38&exkey=1508
The NMAH is exhibiting Have You Heard the One about...? Phyllis Diller's Gag File, through October 30. The exhibition “explores the genius of actress and stand-up comic Phyllis Diller and the way she kept track of her trove of 50,000 jokes.”
The Washington Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA/DC) will present Architecture Week at various venues in Washington, September 9-23. The AIA/DC will be joined in presenting the event by the National Building Museum, The Goethe-Institut DC, L'Alliance Francaise de Washington, and the Embassy of Austria, the Embassy of Japan, the Embassy of Spain, the Embassy of Switzerland, the Mexican Cultural Institute, the Embassy of Mexico, and many others. The week’s events will include tours, lectures, programs and more to mark the Annual Celebration of Architecture.
Views of Phyllis Diller's Joke File - Courtesy of the Smithsonian Museum of American History - Click to enlarge
From "Investigating Where We Live" - Photo by Elise Lowery - Courtesy of The National Building Museum - Click to enlarge
The National Building Museum is exhibiting Investigating Where We Live, which showcases Teens’ Views of D.C., through May 28, 2012. The annual teen-produced exhibition is developed and curated by local middle and high school students and showcases their fresh outlook on the city. Visitors can see new perspectives of D.C. neighborhoods through the original photographs, writings, and artwork of young people. The exhibition is the culmination of a four-week summer program for teens. Participants, using digital cameras, work with Museum staff, photographers, writers, and curatorial experts to investigate local neighborhoods. They explore, document, and interpret the built environment and interview residents and people who work in the neighborhoods to understand the subject neighborhood’s identity. This year, the participants focused on the neighborhoods of Bloomingdale, H Street NE, and Mount Pleasant.
PLEASE NOTE:Admission to The National Building Museumhad been free since its opening in 1985 as a private, non-profit institution, but starting on Monday, June 27 the Museum began charging admission for entry to its exhibitions. Public access to the Great Hall, Museum Shop, and cafe in the Museum’s landmark historic building continue to be free, as are the Museum’s docent-led historic building tours.The Museum’s three annual family festivals titledDiscover Engineering Family Day, the National Cherry Blossom Family Festival, and the Big Build also remain free to all.
Heritage Montgomery, a local non-profit which promotes the history, cultural heritage and natural beauty of Montgomery County, has produced a new documentary commemorating the county’s role in the Civil War. The video will be aired on the occasion of the Civil War Sesquicentennial. Barbara Grunbaum of G2 Media wrote and directed the video, which has a soundtrack including performances by the Washington Revels. WETA Television Channel 26 will show the video on August 22 at 10 p.m. and repeat it later in the month.
Mexico Through the Lens of National Geographic (NG) is on display at the Mexican Cultural Institute at 2829 16th Street, NW in Washington, through October 22. The exhibition is comprised of 132 images selected from 150 feature National Geographic articles spanning 100 years. There are seven thematic sections of imagery, documenting the country’s culture, history, and physical beauty. The exhibition was curated by Juan García de Oteyza and Christina Elson and co-organized by the Embassy of Mexico/Mexican Cultural Institute, the Mexican Tourism Board, and the NG. To read more about the National Geographic Society, visit www.ngmuseum.org To read more about the Mexican Cultural Institute, visit www.instituteofMexicodc.org
For "The Etruscans" at The National Geographic: Etruscan Kylix (shallow drinking bowl) V century BCE - Collezione Cambi, Chiusi - Photograph courtesy of Exhibits Development Group - Click to enlarge
The National Geographic is exhibiting The Etruscans: An Ancient Italian Civilization, through September 25. The Etruscans’ civilization was called Etruria and occupied space roughly corresponding to the region of Italy known today as Tuscany. They benefited from a mild climate, rich mineral resources and their location on major commercial routes. They had skilled seafarers, farmers, and metallurgists and reached their peak in cultural, economic and political power in the sixth century B.C. The Romans eventually absorbed Etruria and benefited from the depth of culture they found there. The exhibition features more than 400 artifacts dating from the ninth to sixth century B.C. There are displays of domestic implements, tools, weaponry, jewelry, sculptures and more. There is also information about the Etruscans’ spiritual beliefs, daily life, and trade. Visit http://events.nationalgeographic.com/events/exhibits/2011/06/10/etruscans/
The National Geographic Society is exhibiting Machu Picchu: A Lost City Uncovered, Photographs from the Hiram Bingham Expeditions 1911-1915, through September 11. Hiram Bingham set out with two Peruvian companions to explore the reported ruins known as Machu Picchu on July 24, 1911…… one hundred years ago. They cleared, mapped, photographed the ruins and collected artifacts from the area over the course of four years and three expeditions. The exhibition features forty black-and-white photographs from Bingham’s three expeditions, and panoramic shots are included to show the vastness of the ruins. Bingham himself took all but two of the photos displayed. The exhibition is co-presented with the Embassy of Peru.
The National Geographic is exhibiting Race to the End of the Earth, which is about the first-ever expedition to the South Pole, through August 21. The exhibition includes artifacts, photographs and equipment used during the journey.
The National Geographic is exhibiting Formation: Earth in Motion, Photography by Carsten Peter, through September 20. Mr. Peter, who is a native of Germany, photographs extreme and changing environments such as volcanoes, tornadoes and glaciers. His photographs are said to capture “vivid images of fleeting moments or forms shaped over centuries.” He has been a regular contributor to National Geographic for more than three decades and has earned a World Press Photo award for tornado coverage and an Emmy for videography from inside an active volcano. To read more about Mr. Peter, visit www.carstenpeter.com/index_en.php
Photos showing gowns in "Wedding Belles: Bridal Fashions from the Marjorie Merriweather Post Family" - Courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens - Click to enlarge
Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens is exhibiting Wedding Belles: Bridal Fashions from the Marjorie Merriweather Post Family, 1874-1958, through January 1, 2012. The exhibition displays eighty years of bridal fashions, including the four gowns owned by heiress and museum founder Marjorie Merriweather Post, her mother and daughters. The displays also include bridesmaid dresses, a royal veil, and a Cartier bag carried by Post’s daughter, actress Dina Merrill, “to tell the story of 20th-century wedding style through the lens of one of America’s most notable and fashionable families.”
The Society of the Cincinnati, which is located on Massachusetts Avenue’s Embassy Row near DuPont Circle, is exhibiting Picturesque Effects—Frances Benjamin Johnston’s Photographs of Anderson House, through October 1. Ms. Johnson photographed Anderson House, which was one of Washington’s grandest homes and now the headquarters of the Society, in May 1910. The Beaux-Arts mansion was built in 1905 and furnished in the following years. Johnston promoted photography’s acceptance as an art form, and became one of the first American women to achieve distinction as a photographer. More than twenty of her images of Anderson House are on display and chronicle her techniques and the original appearance of the historic house. Visitors can get a glimpse of how Larz and Isabel Anderson lived in the mansion. Larz, who had been an American diplomat, died in 1937 and his wife gave the house to the Society of the Cincinnati, of which her husband had been a devoted member.
A member of the Kichwa community of Ecuador stands next to a barren pine plantation – a failed experiment in offsetting carbon emissions. (Photograph courtesy of Nicolas Villaume.) Courtesy of The American Indian Museum - Click to enlarge
The Smithsonian American Indian Museum is exhibiting Conversations with the Earth: Indigenous Voices on Climate Change, through January 2, 2012. The exhibition is the first of its kind devoted to indigenous science and provides a Native perspective on global climate change. Photographs, video, and audio of tribal communities from the Arctic to Brazil reveal “the environmental impact of pollution, including imposed mitigation and its consequences on local livelihoods.” Conversations with the Earth adds the voices of the Earth's traditional stewards to the search for a viable response to the challenges of climate change. Inupiat leader Patricia Cochran, chair of the IndigenousPeoples' Global Summit on Climate Change, has commented that "We are a harbinger of what is to come, what the rest of the world can expect."
A hunter warms himself by the fire in Arctic Village, part of the Gwich’in Nation, an Athabaskan territory that stretches across interior Alaska and northwest Canada, one of the indigenous communities explored in the new exhibition, "Conversations with the Earth: Indigenous Knowledge on Climate Change," which opened in July (Photograph courtesy of Nicolas Villaume) - Courtesy of The American Indian Museum - Click to enlarge
Photo from "IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas" - Courtesy of The National Museum of the American Indian - Click to enlarge
The National Museum of the American Indian is exhibiting IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas, through January 2, 2012. The 20-panel banner exhibition “uncovers and explores the history, culture and contemporary reality of people who share African American and Native American ancestry.” The exhibition is a collaborative effort between the museum, the National Museum of African American Historyand Culture and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Services. The exhibition complements “RACE: Are We So Different?,” a traveling exhibition currently at the National Museum of Natural History through January 1, 2012.
The Smithsonian Institution, in partnership with the Smithsonian Latino Center, is exhibiting American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music, through October 9 in the Ripley Center International Gallery. “Sabor” in this context refers to the “flavor of Latin music in the U.S.” The exhibition features bilingual text panels, graphics and photographs, listening stations, films, and musical instruments. The focus is on the influence of Latin music such as salsa, mambo, rumba, cha-cha-cha on jazz, R&B, rock 'n' roll, and hip hop. Music in five cities is cited as examples of the diversity of Latino popular music - New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, San Antonio, and San Francisco.
Air & Space Museum - NASA Art: In a silver-colored spacesuit, astronaut Gordon Cooper steps away from his Mercury spacecraft and into the bright sunlight on the deck of the recovery ship after 22 orbits of Earth. Mitchell Jamieson documented Cooper’s recovery and medical examination and accompanied him back to Cape Canaveral. Click to enlarge
The Smithsonian Air & Space Museum is exhibiting NASA / ART: 50 Years of Exploration, through October 9. The show is comprised of 72 works depicting the accomplishments, setbacks, and excitement of space exploration over the past five decades. The images span the entire history of NASA and include paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, and works in other media by Annie Leibovitz, Nam June Paik, Robert Rauschenberg, Norman Rockwell, Andy Warhol, William Wegman, and Jamie Wyeth. The exhibition was organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and NASA in cooperation with the National Air and Space Museum.
“Chip and Batty Explore Space” by William Wegman (2001) - Smithsonian Air & Space Museum - Click to enlarge
The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is exhibiting More Than Meets the Eye through November 4, 2012. The exhibition features the special tools, skills, and technologies that scientists at the museum use to examine the world’s diversity of life and culture up close and in great detail. Visitors can “explore the world alongside the museum’s scientists as they use their super-powered vision to observe, document, and analyze the natural world and global cultures.”
The NMNH is exhibiting Race: Are We So Different? through January 1, 2012. The traveling exhibition considers race and racism in the U.S. through biological, cultural, and historical points of view. The history of the idea of race is explored, as is the ways race is viewed today. There is also a discussion of “the findings of contemporary science that are overturning beliefs about race.”
The NMNH is exhibiting More Than Meets the Eye, through October 31. Through photographs, the exhibition shows “how museum scientists use their super-powered vision to observe, document, and analyze the natural world and global cultures.”
The NMNH is temporarily exhibiting the Hope Diamond in Its New Temporary Setting. The setting, called Embracing Hope, celebrates the 50th anniversary of the historic donation of the diamond and the museum's centennial. Harry Winston Inc. designed the setting in platinum, with the deep-blue diamond surrounded by 340 baguette diamonds. The Hope Diamond will be returned to its historic setting later in 2011.
The Hope Diamond in Its New Temporary Setting - Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution - Click to enlarge
Mr. William Shakespeares comedies, histories, & tragedies: published according to the true originall copies. London, 1623. - Click to enlarge
The Folger Shakespeare Library is presenting an exhibition titled Fame, Fortune, and Theft: The Shakespeare First Folio, through September 3. The First Folio has influenced book conservation, editing, and collecting since the 1620s. The exhibition explores the history of the Folio, from its beginnings in the seventeenth century, including stories of its theft and recovery, and world-wide recognition.
In recognition of the Ronald Reagan Centennial, The National Archives, in partnership with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, is exhibiting a small, changing selection of rarely-displayed original documents and three-dimensional objects, through January 7, 2012. The exhibit includes: . Three pages of President Reagan's “Evil Empire” speech with his hand-written edits; . Fragments of the first U.S. missile destroyed after the signing of the INF Treaty; . A Fragment of the last Soviet SS-20 missile, destroyed on May 12, 1991; . A bronze cast of the Moscow Kremlin, given to Ronald Reagan by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1988; . A Letter sent by General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to Ronald Reagan on April 2, 1986;
The National Archives permanent Library exhibit has been completely renovated and is now open. . Visit www.archives.gov/
Mount Vernon is exhibiting Bringing Them Home: 150 Years of Restoring the Washington Collection, through January 8, 2012. The exhibition celebrates the association’s 150-year pursuit of original Washington artifacts. Nearly 150 objects which have been recovered are now displayed, most for the first time publicly. Visit http://Visit.MountVernon.org
