With Thanks To Our Volunteers – By Joann Stevens
In appreciation for the cheerful and loyal service of our volunteers, we offer thanks and year-end reflections for your generosity with a special rendering of a classic December poem. We wish you a safe and happy holiday season with friends, family and loved ones at the Smithsonian, across the nation, and around the world.
‘Twas the week before Christmas, of a very cold winter,
Many creatures were stirring in the Ripley Center;
Staffers hung stockings on the doors with care,
In hopes that more volunteers soon would be there;
Employees and helpers peered long at their screens,
at visions of programs and holiday dreams,
Curators with objects, and staffers with carts,
Settled down with discoveries and ideas they’d thought
We offer education, informative, entertaining
Through Smithsonian Associates, that wellspring of learning
Some 800 programs presented this year,
With help from hundreds of great volunteers.
Who came from all over the vast DMV,
Giving cheer and long hours to assist you and me.
Staff offered programs eclectic, insightful and true,
For thousands of people to learn something new
Then out on the Mall there arose such a clatter,
we sprang from our chairs to witness the matter.
Away to the entrance we flew like a flash,
Opened the glass doors, ran out in a dash
The lights on the Mall showed a new fallen snow,
As tourists and visitors sought which way to go;
When, what to our wondering eyes should appear,
But a tiny display, pulled by tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
We knew in a moment it was Museum St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and call’d them by name:
“Now Science! Now Nature! Now Culture and Arts!
On History! On Ideas!, and Design from all Parts;
To the top of the Castle! To the end of the Mall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”
As dry leaves before a wild hurricane fly,
They rose like an eagle up into the sky;
Over museums they soared, like an airplane they flew,
With objects of learning – some old and some new.
I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight
Happy Holidays to all, and to all a good night.
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Looking Back at the 2018 Museum Sleepovers
Smithsonian Associates Sleepovers are a definite highlight of the year for both the kids and their chaperones as well as our trusty volunteers who lead the creative learning activities.
In 2018, there were 143 volunteers (including Hannah Long Miller, at left) who gave 2,063 hours of their time at the 14 sleepover events, which is pretty incredible.
Take a look at the energetic volunteers in action in this appreciation video. Many thanks to David Klinges, who donated his time and talent to create this thank you message!
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Introducing the Class of 2018 Event and Concessions Reps!
In January you will begin to see these smiling faces at both the Concessions Cart and lecture programs. They completed their training on December 1st.
Please welcome: Rachel Colligan (returning to service), on left, wearing a blue shirt
First Row: Eve Rubillos, Leah Deitrick, Courtney Jenkins, Mary Regan, Anna Leef, and Chris Ventura
Second Row: Mort Glassberg, Emily Bell, Wayne Gifford, and Jan Wortmann
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The 2019 Smithsonian Institution Spelling Bee:
Feb. 7 at Hirshhorn's Ring Auditorium
If you’ve noticed that “fridge” has a “d” but somehow “refrigerator” does not, you might be an undiscovered spelling pro and we want you to participate in the 2019 Smithsonian Institution Spelling Bee!
Everybody is welcome, regardless of spelling skill!
If you’d like to participate and you haven’t already signed up, email Julie Beals ([email protected]) with the subject line “Spelling Bee Participant.” The only requirement for spectators and participants is that they have a current, valid SI badge.
The bee is organized by the Smithsonian Community Committee, and this year our list of facilitators includes Secretary Skorton, John Davis, Robin Davisson, Melissa Chiu, Zarth Bertsch, Nancy Gwinn, Paul F. Johnston, Jim Deutsch, Eric Woodard, and even our resident robot, Pepper. Plus, we promise to have certificates for the participants, medals for the 2nd and 3rd place winners, and a trophy for the champion. Couldn’t your office use a comely trophy?
Save the date!
Thursday, February 7th, 1−3pm
The Ring Auditorium (Hirshhorn)
The alternate date is February 12th, 1−3pm, if the 7th is a snow day.
Please also contact Julie Beals ([email protected]) for further information or if you’d like sign language interpreters or other accommodations for this event.
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Visitor Pass Changes at Nat. Museum Af. Amer. History & Culture
By Guest Blogger Kiren Jahangeer
Good news! As of January 1, 2019, walk up entry will be available all year Monday through Friday after 1:00 pm. NMAAHC has identified a peak and off peak season and will require passes accordingly. During off peak season, which is September through February, visitors can enter the museum Monday through Friday at any time without a pass. This is not available on Saturday and Sunday at this time. During peak season, which is March through August, visitors can enter the museum Monday through Friday after 1:00 pm without a pass. This is not available on Saturday and Sunday at this time. For more information, visit https://nmaahc.si.edu/visit/visiting
Since NMAAHC opened its doors in September of 2016, it has seen remarkable attendance numbers - almost 5 million visitors. The museum has 196 employees and 248 volunteers. (The Associates has 45 employees and 389 volunteers.) NMAAHC will be open late, from 10 am -7:30 pm from Wednesday, December 26 to Saturday, December 29, 2018. So if you haven’t been to NMAAHC yet, now is the time! Before you go, download their mobile app to help you navigate the vast halls of the Smithsonian’s newest museum. https://nmaahc.si.edu/connect/mobile/apps
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Where Am I?
by Janet Hewitt, Guest Blogger
This fun photo of former first lady Michelle Obama hangs on a museum wall somewhere in Washington, D.C. The question is which one.
When you think about photographs of first ladies, where do they typically appear? Certainly in the National Museum of American History, or the National Portrait Gallery. But wait a minute, not so fast. By now, most of you have figured out that the whole point of this series is to trip you up. I’m happy to say, we are at it again.
So this great photograph of Chicago native and best-selling author Michelle Obama, taken on the South Lawn of the White House with professional hockey players, is somewhere you wouldn’t expect. Yet it’s out there in plain sight, in a large building on the Mall, waiting for you to find it. So where is it?
These days the former first lady is doing a global book tour selling out arenas with fans of her smash-hit memoir “Becoming.” (Tickets are almost sold out for April appearances in London, Paris, and Amsterdam, in case you were wondering.) But while she of “When-they-go-low, we-go-high” fame, is out on the road, this small photograph taken in 2011 sits quietly back home on a wall in a museum in DC.
The National Hockey League players in the photo are from Chicago and DC teams. Obama looks right at home around those who make their living deftly maneuvering on thin ice. After all, in Chicago, where she grew up, winter is a contact sport for pretty much everyone—not just hockey players. And we are pretty sure Michelle Obama knows how to drive on snow and ice. So winters in DC should be a piece of cake for her, even if the Secret Service is doing most of the driving.
So where is this photo? Here are some hints that might help you guess:
Hint One: The photograph is part of a large exhibit with a one-word title that is on the third floor of this museum.
Hint Two: The museum where it hangs is closer to the U.S. Capitol building than the White House.
Hint Three: The same exhibit also displays a black-and-white photograph of Albert Einstein.
Good luck!
ANSWERS TO LAST ISSUE’S Where Am I?
The Goliath Bird Eating Tarantula featured last month makes its current home preserved in a display case in the Smithsonian Castle building. In its former life, it was a part of the Insect Zoo in the National Museum of Natural History. Today it is part of an exhibit highlighting the variety of wondrous objects to be found in the Smithsonian’s many different museums.
