For related outreach activities that were carried out by SIA staff members during the fiscal year, please see the section "Professional Activities" in this report.

Exhibitions and Exhibition Loans

The Institutional History Division assumed responsibility for the exhibition area outside the entry to Smithsonian Institution Archives. Jennifer Nichols prepared an exhibition on Baird's Dream: The Arts & Industries Building for the Smithsonian Institution Archives exhibit gallery in September. Using images, guidebooks and documents from the Smithsonian Archives, the exhibition traces the history of the building we occupy from Baird's first dreams to the innovative exhibitions of today.

SIA staff revised and improved our exhibition loan policies and procedures this fiscal year. SIA appointed an exhibition loan coordinator who works with the Reference and Preservation Teams and the SIA Director to review and monitor the status of all exhibition loans. SIA lent two items from its holdings to two borrowers during FY 1998. Fourteen items that previously had been lent to seven borrowers were returned from exhibition loan during this fiscal year. A complete list of outgoing loans and returned loans is located in Appendix G: Exhibition Loans (Outgoing).

Electronic Access and Outreach

Institutional History Division: Pamela Henson and Jennifer Nichols digitized a set of historic images of the Smithsonian for the Synthonics 3-D CD ROM project, a CD publication produced in cooperation with the Smithsonian.

Nichols and Henson began reviewing the entries in the Smithsonian Institution Chronology in the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS). Nichols made significant progress reviewing and revising the Chronology, ensuring accuracy and clarity of text and authority control for index terms. Volunteers Carole Poling and Lillian Pharr prepared over one hundred additional entries for the History of the Smithsonian bibliography in SIRIS on such topics as the Secretaries of the Smithsonian, the National Museum of African Art, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Nichols developed a fine website for the Institutional History Division and served as webmaster SIA. Among her contributions were the "Historic Pictures" site, which debuted in March and received some 20,000 visitors from May to October 1998. She also created the Spencer Baird website, an inventory of the oral history and videohistory collections, and the Artists at Work exhibition for the SI Community Committee. Frank Millikan developed a Henry Papers Project website as part of the bicentennial of Joseph Henry's birth, with essays on Henry's life and science. When the website "History Matters: A U.S. History Survey Course" was created for K-12 teachers this year, it included excerpts from the Smithsonian Videohistory Collection. The IHD's website was chosen for participation in "Cybersurfari," an educational web search activity for the K-12 audience. An electronic version of From Smithson to Smithsonian: The Birth of an Institution, an exhibition curated by Henson and Rothenberg, was placed on the WorldWideWeb. Coordinated by Nichols, interns Laura K. Garrett and Meghan Gutierrez and volunteers Juanita Carmi and Zoe Martindale completed almost a thousand entries for the Division's databases on "Historic Images of the Smithsonian," "African Americans at the Smithsonian," "Women at the Smithsonian," and "The Smithsonian and Latin American Relations." Nichols migrated all of the databases from a DOS-based environment to a Windows-based program during the course of the year.

National Collections Program: The National Collections Program launched an office website that contains the annual Collection Statistics , Smithsonian Institution Collections Management Policy, guidelines for developing a collections management policy, listing of professional codes of ethics, and publications including A Primer to Endangered Species Law and the Smithsonian Data Content Committee's Transaction Terms for Collections Management . The NCP website address is: http://www.si.edu/archives/NCP/ncphome.htm.

Archives Division: The Arrangement and Description Team of the Archives Division devoted a significant portion of its attention to the conversion of the 1996 GUIDE to the Smithsonian Archives to SIRIS. Besides the efforts of A&D Team members, two contractors, Patricia Rettig and Joseph Schwartz, were hired for short intervals during the year to assist with conversion details and data cleanup. While major portions of the work were completed during FY 1998, technical problems slowed our progress and require a carry over of this critical work into the next fiscal year.

Workshops and Information Dissemination

Institutional History Division: Pamela Henson taught a session of the University of Maryland seminar on museum practices, in the fall of 1997 and summer of 1998, with Bernard Finn and Ellen Roney Hughes of the American History Museum, providing an overview of Smithsonian Institution museum collecting practices and exhibitions in the nineteenth century. Henson taught a workshop on oral history procedures at the Madeira School. Henson provided advice on archival and oral history programs and procedures to Dr. Eric Sanner of Sweden, Jill Barclay of the University of South Australia, Linda Evans of the Alexander Turnbull Library in New Zealand, Judith Chang Bloch of the University of Beijing, Gareth Steen of Mobil Corporation, Marie Hallion of the Department of Energy History Office, and Eric Dietrick of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation, among others. Henson taught a workshop on the use of primary materials by K-12 teachers to the National Faculty Summer Institute at the Smithsonian, coordinated by the Office of Education.

Using her experience from the Smithsonian's Sesquicentennial in 1996, Henson provided pro bono advice to several organizations planning anniversaries: The California Academy of Sciences, which will celebrate its 150th in 2003; the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, which will turn 100 in 2003, and the Michigan State University, which is planning for its 150th anniversary in 2005.

National Collections Program: The National Collections Program disseminated information and provided professional assistance to Smithsonian museums, offices, and research institutes, as well as the national and international museum community, regarding Smithsonian collections and collections management policy, practice, and standards. NCP staff also responded to a wide variety of public reference requests and inquiries received from its website. Staff met with visiting professionals and responded to inquiries from such diverse locales as San Juan, Melbourne, Lyon, and Madrid. The office continued to serve as advisor and faculty to the annual Smithsonian workshop on the management of museum collections and developed a session on stolen cultural property for the upcoming "Partnership Opportunities for Federally-Associated Collections" Conference sponsored by the Department of the Interior, San Diego Natural History Museum, and the San Diego Archaeological Center.

Archives Division: In September Records Management team members Tammy Peters and Michele Lee presented a training workshop to the New York-based staff of NMAI regarding the use and implementation of the Museum's records disposition schedules. Michael E. Willens of the Arrangement and Description team mailed out over 120 copies of the GUIDE to the Smithsonian Archives (1996) to researchers and colleagues during the year. Numerous copies of SIA finding aids and brochures also were distributed via mail and professional meetings.

Lectures and Presentations

Institutional History Division: Pamela Henson presented a lecture entitled "Invading Arcadia: Women Scientists in the Field in Latin America, 1900-1950" for a "Women in the Field" session at the annual meeting of the History of Science Society in San Diego in November of 1997 and at a session on "Field Science and Conservation in Latin America: Historical Perspectives" at the annual meeting of the Latin American Studies Association in Chicago in September of 1998. Henson presented lectures on "From Smithson to Smithsonian: The Birth of an Institution" to The George Washington University Elder Hostel Program in May and to the summer and fall 1998 Smithsonian Intern program. Henson gave two lectures as a part of SIA's Research in Progress lecture series, "The Embattled Secretary" in a March panel on "Samuel P. Langley: The Enigmatic Secretary," and on "Baird's Dream: A History of the Arts and Industries Building" in September. Ron Doel presented a paper written jointly with Henson on "Photographs as Evidence: Images and the Historiography of Recent Science" at the Second International Conference on Problems in the Historiography of Recent Science, Technology and Medicine, in Denmark in July.

Henson and Nichols coordinated the Smithsonian Institution Archives Research in Progress Lecture series. Five lectures were delivered in FY 1998. A list of the topics and speakers is located in Appendix H: Research in Progress Lecture Series.

Marc Rothenberg participated in a number of conferences and other activities in connection with the commemoration of the bicentennial of the birth of Joseph Henry. Among his presentations connected with this occasion were "‘A Knowledge of General Principles': Teaching Science to Future Leaders of the United States in the Mid-Nineteenth Century," University at Albany Joseph Henry Bicentennial Program; "Henry and Albany," Joseph Henry 200th Birthday Celebration, The Joseph Henry Memorial, Albany, New York; and "Joseph Henry in the Service of His Country," Castle Docents.

Rothenberg's other presentations included "Observers, Publications, and Surveys: Astronomy in the United States in 1849," American Astronomical Society 192nd meeting; "U.S. Science Policy and Science Advice in the Period 1840-1875," Twenty-Third Annual AAAS Colloquium on Science and Technology Policy; and "‘I have not found a genius among the whole number': Joseph Henry and the Teaching of Science at Princeton," Princeton Club of Washington annual dinner.