Activity Leader Volunteers Needed for Museum Sleepovers this Summer
Ready for "A Night at the Museum?" You'll have high energy fun when overseeing a game, craft, relay race or other creative activities at these scavenger hunt theme nights. There are 11 dates across 4 locations, and you can help us host these for 8 - 14 year olds and their chaperoning adults. The shift is from 6 pm to 11 pm, when you'll head home to the comfort of your own bed - where you can sleep in the next morning!
To make the sleepovers a summertime volunteer gig, chose 3 or more dates and sign up in Vsys or email Jenna at jonesjel@si.edu.
Join us in creating special childhood memories with hundreds of kids this summer! Volunteers make it all happen!
A World of Thanks at the Volunteer Party
On April 12th we celebrated another year of volunteering with an international theme. Congratulations to all the volunteers who received their pins for years of service, special awards of excellence, and to the "Golden Ticket" winners. Also, many thanks to the staff who baked wonderful desserts which everyone enjoyed!
What's your Volunteer Story?
by Joann Stevens, Guest Blogger
I love learning about Smithsonian Associates volunteers. Hearing how and why they became volunteers. Learning about the personal passions, hobbies and careers that drew them to volunteerism in general, and Smithsonian Associates in particular.
Won’t you tell me your story? Or recommend or nudge a volunteer to share his or her story?
Maybe you’re a volunteer who is also a military veteran and military history buff. That’s why you’re there for all those history tours and programs. Or you’re a foodie who seems to know as much about food history, culinary arts, and urban gardening as the programmers you support. Perhaps you or another volunteer trek the nation or the world as a scientist, explorer or musician. That’s why you volunteer for these type of Smithsonian Associates events and recommend them to friends and family.
Whatever the story, please share. Help me introduce you or fellow volunteers in a short (a paragraph or two will do) or a longer profile that shares what I have found in contributing to this blog: Smithsonian Associates has volunteers who are as unique and as interesting as the programs they support.
You can self nominate or send suggestions for a volunteer to profile at volunteer@smithsonianassociates.org
Thank you for sharing.
More Member Tours in 2019
by Kiren Jahangeer, Guest Blogger
This year, the Associates began offering exclusive complimentary member tours for all of its members. Previously this benefit was available only to members at the Promoter level and above, and via email invitation only. In 2019, with the help of office volunteers, the member tour program was expanded to at least three locations per month, and can be viewed in the monthly program guide or online via the Members Only page.
In April, members toured NPR, the Norman Rockwell exhibition at the GWU Textile Museum, and Empresses of China’s Forbidden City in the Freer Sackler Gallery. Upcoming tours include the U.S. Capitol, National Archives, Federal Reserve Board, an exhibit at the Embassy of Sweden, as well as the David Levinthal exhibit at SAAM and the Rirkrit Tiravanija and Enrico David exhibits at the Hirshhorn. Tour “tickets” are available at the beginning of the month of the tour, so be sure to check your digital program guide! Members are limited to two tours per year. These tours have always been very well received, but the expansion of this benefit could not have been possible without the help of Roxana Estrada, and volunteers Sheila Lopez and Lisa Friedman. Advancement Manager, RuthAnn Clark’s favorite tour this year was at the Kreeger Museum, but the Department of the Interior still wins out.
“I monitored one at the Kreeger Museum this spring and it was breathtaking and so special (I’d never been before). But in the history of the whole program, I really loved the tour we did at the Department of the Interior a few years back. They have a whole collection of Ansel Adams that are so cool and all the murals around the building are beautiful and have so much history.” -RuthAnn Clark
Where Am I?
by Janet Hewitt, Guest Blogger
May is the month when mothers around the country are celebrated by their loved ones on Mother’s Day. So this month, we picked some objects that belonged to one particularly prominent mother who lived in 18th century America. You might not recognize her by her portrait, but nevertheless, a painting of her hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. However, the objects featured in our photo live in another museum altogether.
The lovely crystal goblets and Sevres china depicted in our photo are housed in a very long display case with lots of other expensive china and crystal. The set we feature was used for some high-profile entertaining in mansions in Philadelphia and New York City in the 1790s. But the lady who owned the set also ran a large household south of Washington, D.C., and lived there when she wasn’t living with her husband up north on official duty. So, there are really two questions: What museum are these pieces in (you overachievers might try naming the exhibit too)? And who owned them before the Smithsonian put them under glass?
Here are some hints:
HINT ONE: The mother who owned this lovely white china and etched crystal goblets had four children by a prior marriage before she married the man who would become a renowned Revolutionary War figure. Her children’s names were: Daniel, Frances, John and Patsy. Her first marriage lasted 7 years (she was widowed at 25), while her second lasted 40 years.
HINT TWO: The exhibit where these objects are on display showcases many iconic designer dresses, priceless jewels, expensive porcelain and vintage photos of some famous mothers and their children. (You won’t find any priceless porcelain sippy cups, however.)
HINT THREE: The lady in question was described as having a lively personality, was an avid reader and was born on a plantation in Virginia in 1731.
ANSWERS TO LAST ISSUE’s Who Am I?
The lovely 8-year old girl depicted in last month’s featured painting is Edith Wharton. The famous American author’s portrait hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.
