Apr

In the News

Digitization funded for five years at AAA

The Terra Foundation for American Art has awarded an additional $3 million grant to the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art to support another five years of the Archives’ digitization project and to fund a new position that will create and oversee related online scholarly and educational outreach initiatives. With this second grant, the Terra Foundation has committed more than $6.6 million over a 10-year period.

Founded in 1954, the Archives is the world’s largest and most widely used resource on the history of American art, with vast holdings of art-related photographs, sketches, letters and diaries. Begun in 2005, the Archives’ digitization project has been transformational, dramatically changing how individuals can access and engage with its collections. Since 2005, the Archives has processed 138 collections, digitized 108 collections and made 1.45 million digital files and 13 terabytes of data available on the Internet and preserved them in a digital repository. The Archives’ efforts have not gone unnoticed: there has been a substantial increase in overall site-visit sessions since 2005, nearly tripling the number of visitors annually to 2 million with a quarter of these being international users.

The Compassion of Individuals—the Power of Community

Secretary Wayne Clough was joined by Combined Federal Campaign Associate Director Annece Perry and CFC Loaned Executive Don Green in congratulating Smithsonian staff for their contriubutions to the 2010 Combined Federal Campaign.

For the second consecutive year, the Smithsonian was recognized for exceeding its goal: SI staff contributed $501,000 to the campaign—five percent over the organizational goal of $485,000.

Secretary Clough accepted the CFC Award on behalf of the Smithsonian at a reception March 29. As he thanked unit coordinators and key workers for their efforts, he acknowledged the Smithsonian community as a whole: “You all make the Smithsonian a great place to work; you make your communities, and this country, all the better for your generosity. Be proud of what you have accomplished. It makes a tremendous difference in the lives of so many. We all know families that are struggling to make ends meet, to care for their children in the face of the loss of a job or a home or health insurance. Make no mistake, you have helped them.”

From left, Don Green, Annece Perry, Secretary Wayne Clough, SI Chief Information Officer Ann Speyer (CFC Vice Chair) and OCIO Customer Support Services Division Manager Randy Michele Bender (CFC campaign manager) (Photo by Richard Nowitz

Jennifer Daniels (Photo by Mehgan Murphy)

The legacy of landscape

Jennifer Daniels, landscape architect at the National Zoological Park, kicked off the speaker series at historic Sotterley Plantation in Hollywood, Md., April 10 with a talk on “Frederick Law Olmsted and the interpretation of his legacy at the National Zoo.”

Olmsted (1822–1903), was a visionary urban planner and landscape architect, and the original National Zoo, New York City’s Central Park and nearly 100 other great urban landscapes.