Smithsonian | 2018 Smithsonian | 2018 LOOKING AHEAD David Skorton 1 Secretary, Smithsonian Institution ifty years ago, as the Apollo program prepared to put man on the moon, the future arrived at America’s doorstep all at once. Our astronauts ushered in a new age of exploration and innova- tion, pushing humanity to consider horizons once deemed unreachable. FToday we live in an even more rapidly changing era — a time when new technologies enable cultural institutions even more effectively to honor history and heritage, invoke wonder and make our aspirations possible. In 2018, the Smithsonian embraced innovation as a driving force — our openness, creativity and capacity to take risks have never been more robust, as evidenced by our new strategic plan. It’s a collective legacy I’m extremely proud of as I look back on my four years as Secretary of this wonderful institution. Though my time here comes to an end in June 2019, I leave the Smithsonian in the hands of enormously talented colleagues, and I am more confident than ever that it is primed to harness new ideas to create a better world. Contents I am particularly excited about our collaboration with the Google Arts & Culture Lab. Together, we are applying tech- nology like 3-D capture, machine learning and visualization 1 David Skorton Reflects to broaden access and change the way audiences can experience our nation’s history. In 2018, Google VR teamed 3 Because of Her up with the National Air and Space Museum to capture NASA’s space shuttle Discovery in 3-D and provide an 4 Democratizing Knowledge astronaut’s view inside the orbiter’s flight deck — something by Everyone for Everyone the public had never seen before. Increasing our reach through digital platforms and new 8 Adding Three-Dimensional Depth partnerships has become a core focus for the Smithsonian. For instance, the Institution is working with Washington, D.C., 12 Teaching Machines to See public schools to implement educational programs and resources for all pre-K–12 students in the District. At the 17 Finding My Story same time, our Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service brings exhibitions to museums, libraries, community 26 All in a Day centers, botanical gardens, schools and other institutions across the country. 29 Recognition and Reports Our goal? To meet and empower young people wherever they are, whether in our own backyard or halfway around the globe. 2 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 David Skorton SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Ariana Curtis 3 Secretary, Smithsonian Institution Curator, Latinx History and Culture National Museum of African American History and Culture This year, as we celebrate the mixing genes from different coral This year’s annual report features centennial of women’s right to vote, populations — a technique that experts from across the Smithsonian we’re launching the Smithsonian speeds up adaptation. whose work represents the best of Because American Women’s History Initiative, innovation for the public good. They In 2018, scientists from the which strives to tell more complete provide an excellent bird’s-eye view Smithsonian Conservation Biology of Her stories of women and their contribu- of the many new approaches we Institute and partners in Florida tions to the nation — in art, design, are taking, each with the goal of and Curaçao became the first to science, politics, education and opening new opportunities for use cryopreserved coral sperm to more. This spirit informs a new learning and discovery. support gene migration of corals. exhibition at the National Portrait Researchers fertilized live eggs We often think of agility as a concept Gallery, Votes for Women: A Portrait The Smithsonian American Women’s History from endangered elkhorn coral in applied in the tech world, an apti- of Persistence, exploring the lives Initiative seeks to amplify diverse representations Curaçao with frozen elkhorn coral tude that can streamline and improve and experiences of women often of women in every possible way so that women sperm collected in Florida, Puerto com merce. At the Smithsonian we overlooked in the complex history show up not only in our contemporary realities Rico and Curaçao. The team then are proud to practice agility for of women’s suffrage. Google is but in our historical representations. transported 20,000 larvae to different ends: to help people under- also helping to develop digital Florida, where they are growing stand the world around them, intro- Too often our public representations of women content for the initiative. Here, successfully in a lab environment. duce big ideas and tell a diverse are enveloped in superlatives: ”the first American machine learning can help us range of human stories. woman to.…” They don’t reflect daily realities. delve into our collections and Innovation in our museums archives and “uncover” previously some times takes surprising forms. I remain in awe of the many creative Museums can literally change how hundreds of millions untold stories about women. Last spring, we introduced a group minds that build, teach and explore of people see women and which women we see. So of museum guides straight out in our museums, research centers rather than always being the first, or the most famous, Our creative work applying tech- of a sci-fi novel: four-foot-tall and educational programs every day. it is also our responsibility to show every day women nology to history and education is humanoid robots named Pepper. They continue to expand our sense whose stories have been knowingly omitted from our matched by our innovative efforts I have watched Pepper delight of what is possible and push toward national and global histories. in science and sustainability. For I will continue to collect objects people of all ages as it chats new horizons — a great gift to the instance, Smithsonian scientists As a curator, I am empowered to change that from extraordinary history makers. with visitors, offers directions nation and world. I cannot wait to are working to make coral reefs narrative. I research, collect and interpret objects Their stories are important. But what and interesting facts, poses see where they take us next. more resilient to the harmful and images of significance. drives me to show up, today and for selfies and even dances. impacts of global warming by every day, is the simple passion to Celia Cruz, the queen of salsa, is significant—and We intentionally stationed Pepper write our names in history, display an Afro Latina. The Smithsonian has collected her in some of our oldest areas, them publicly for millions to see, costumes and shoes, her portrait, her postage stamp including the Castle, our first and walk in the ever-present light and this reimagining by artist Tony Peralta. When I building, marrying our longest- that is woman. displayed this work it was a victory for symbolic lived cultural inheritance with contradictions: pride in dis playing a dark-skinned the newest ideas. Latina, a black woman in large rollers who straightens her hair, perhaps a nod to white beauty standards— a refined glamorous woman in oversized chunky gold jewelry. When this work was on view, it was one ABOVE M. Tony Peralta’s Celia con Rolos, 2015, was in the of our most Instagrammed pieces. Visitors told me exhibition Gateways/Portales at the Anacostia LEFT they connected with the everyday elements of her Community Museum and is now part of the museum’s Pepper, a humanoid robot, greets brown skin, or her rollers or jewelry. collection. The exhibition explored the experiences Smithsonian visitors, offers directions of Latino immigrants in Washington, D.C.; Baltimore; and even poses for selfies. Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, N.C. 4 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Effie Kapsalis SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Democratizing Knowledge by Everyone for Everyone 5 Senior Digital Program Officer Democratizing Knowledge by Everyone for Everyone The birth of the Smithsonian in 1846, an institution dedicated to “the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men,” occurred alongside the birth of photography, a technology that democratized what we see as human beings. At the time, Thomas Smillie, the Smithsonian’s staff photog- RIGHT Through his photographs, Thomas Smillie, rapher, experimented with the new medium to document the Smithsonian’s first staff photographer, recorded American life at the turn of the the developing Smithsonian; its collections, exhibitions and 20th century. Pictured clockwise from top left, Mrs. Rhoda Oshkosh (Menominee), 1905; expeditions; and the growing U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Roland Oshkosh (Menominee), 1905; David His photographs, now in the Smithsonian Institution Archives, Tohin or Blue Hair (Iowa), 1903; He-cha-mon-in, Heskamai, or White Horns (Osage), 1904. provide an important window into how the Smithsonian National Anthropological Archives, National Museum of Natural History. made sense of its ambitious mission. 6 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Democratizing Knowledge by Everyone for Everyone SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Democratizing Knowledge by Everyone for Everyone 7 THE GREAT was surprised to learn of students and lifelong learners The stunning — yet daunting — other “early adopters” in create learning sets with our part is that we have an amazing OBJECT OF HUMAN our institution’s history. collections and digital resources breadth of resources from our THOUGHT IS Pam Henson, the through the Smithsonian Learning 172 years of existence that cut Smithsonian historian, Lab. At the National Museum of across women’s and girls’ experi- THE DISCOVERY tells a story of the first Natural History, 2,545 citizen scien- ences. However, these stories SmithsonianI Secretary, physicist tists on six continents have set up of women represented in our OF TRUTH OR, Joseph Henry, setting up a network camera traps — infrared-activated objects, archives and libraries IN OTHER WORDS, of citizen weather observers in cameras — and uploaded them to are not always obvious and often 1849 to collect information across the museum’s eMammal project, reflect our culture’s point of view TO ARRIVE AT the United States.