Institutional History Division
Remote Off-Site Storage Project
Appendixes
A. SIA Organizational Chart for FY 1999
B. Volume of Holdings Summary
C. Chart of Volume Growth
D. Sources of Holdings
E. Records Center Services
F. Reference Service Statistics
G. "Research in Progress" Lecture Series
H. Publications of SIA Staff and Associates
I. Publications Using SIA Holdings
- Exhibitions and Exhibition Loans
- Electronic Access and Outreach
- Workshops and Information Dissemination
- Lectures and Presentations
- Visitors
For related outreach activities that were carried out by SIA staff, associates, collaborators and fellows during the fiscal year, please see the section "Professional Activities" in this report.
Exhibitions and Exhibition Loans
Archives Division: No loan requests for items from SIA's holdings were received during FY 1999. Two
photographs of Theodore Roosevelt on African safari (1909) that previously had been lent to the
National Portrait Gallery were returned from exhibition loan during this fiscal year.
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Electronic Access and Outreach
Institutional History Division: Jennifer Nichols revamped the website for the Smithsonian Institution Archives and Institutional History Division, and served as Webmaster for the office. She completed the Baird's Dream: A History of the Arts and Industries Building web exhibit, based on the exhibit outside the front entrance to the Archives that she installed last year. She also began work on the This Day in Smithsonian History website, with assistance from a volunteer, Kathryn Moore. The website will be made available in the calendar year 2000. Frank Millikan continued to develop the Henry Papers Project website, with such additions as a section he created on Joseph Henry namesakes, three articles on Henry's role in the history of American technology, including Roger Sherman's piece on Henry and the electromagnet, and Millikan's pieces on Henry's role in development of the electric motor and the telephone, as well as periodic revisions to the "News" section. Millikan attended a course on Microsoft FrontPage98, for use in web authoring. Pamela Henson and Nichols worked on a web version of the Expeditions: Smithsonian Research in Latin America exhibit which will be placed on-line in FY 2000. Nichols placed the 1998 SI Archives Annual Report on the SIA website.
Henson and Nichols received a grant from the SI Digital Library Project to digitize some 3,000 images from SI Archives and link the images to the text entries in the IHD Image Database. At the end of the year, Pilar M. Montalvo joined the staff as a contractor to manage the logistics of the Digital Library project. Nichols and Henson continued review of the entries in the Smithsonian Institution Chronology in the Smithsonian Institution Research Information Systems (SIRIS). Nichols completed the review and revision of the entries assigned to her in the Chronology, ensuring accuracy and clarity of text and authority control for index terms. Volunteers Carole Poling and Lillian Pharr prepared over fifty 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. Coordinated by Nichols, contractor Laura K. Garrett, intern Meghan Gutierrez, and volunteer Zoe Martindale completed or reviewed over 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." Preparations for the new SIRIS/Horizon system for the Institution's on-line catalogs demanded time and attention during the year. Nichols compiled 100 entries from the Chronology Database, and Henson compiled 100 entries from the History of the Smithsonian Bibliography and 50 entries from the Oral History and Videohistory section of the Archives Catalog for the SIRIS test bed for the new Horizon system, which will go on-line in 2000.
Archives Division: The A&D team, through the services of a contractor, placed on SIA's website the
complete finding aid, Field Reports of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, circa 1860-1961 (RU 7176).
Associate archivist William Cox completed an update to the in-house tool, "Bibliography of Works Using SIA Holdings" to included all publications through FY 1998. This handy tool also was made available
on SIA's website. Fifty new records were added to the SIRIS database during the year, with numerous
refinements made to existing records that are already in the system.
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Workshops and Information Dissemination
National Collections Program: The National Collections Program disseminated information and provided professional assistance to Smithsonian museums, offices, and research institutes, as well as to the national and international museum community, regarding Smithsonian collections and collections management policy, practice, and standards.
NCP staff continued to respond to a wide variety of public reference requests and inquiries received from its website http://www.si.edu/archives/NCP/ncphome.htm NCP staff met with visiting professionals and responded to inquires from such diverse locales as Okayama (Japan), Belfast (Northern Ireland), Istanbul (Turkey), and Dhahran (Saudi Arabia).
The office continued to serve as advisor and faculty to the annual Center for Museum Studies workshop
on the management of museum collections.
Institutional History Division: The highlight of the Joseph Henry Project outreach activities was the featuring of Joseph Henry in The Mini Page in September 1999, which appeared in newspapers across the country. The article focused on Henry and his role in the development of weather reporting in North America. In addition to biographical information on Henry, the newspaper insert aimed at elementary school children honored Henry as the "Father of [Weather] Forecasts." Frank Millikan coordinated the efforts to have the Mini Page special.
Marc Rothenberg and Pamela Henson served as judges at the National History Day competition at the University of Maryland in June. Rothenberg worked with the National History Day staff prior to the competition, as well. Henson led a tour of the National Zoological Park in October focusing on the history of the zoo as an environmental landscape. She participated in the Smithsonian Interns Museum Careers Seminar in July and, in September, participated in the Latino Careers Workshop.
In May, Henson and Jennifer Nichols hosted a "Smithsonian Treasures" tour of the SI Archives, showing such documents as Smithson's draft of his will and the Wright Brothers letter. Henson presented a lecture on the history of the Smithsonian prior to the tour. Henson and Nichols assisted NMAH curator David Allison with locating and digitizing images for the Digital Laboratory exhibit in that museum. Henson taught a session of the University of Maryland seminar on museum practices, in the fall of 1999, with Bernard Finn and Ellen Roney Hughes of the American History Museum, providing an overview of Smithsonian Institution museum collecting practices and exhibits in the nineteenth century.
Henson provided advice on archival and oral history programs and procedures to the National Museum of the American Indian, Fogg Museum at Harvard University, Julia Horne of the University of New South Wales (Australia), Oxana Dragon of Voice of America, Margot Garritt of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, the Association of Women the Science, and the Heinz Center, among others. Henson met with K-12 teachers participating in the National Faculty Summer Institute at the Smithsonian, coordinated by the Office of Education, to discuss the use of primary sources in the classroom. The group focused on primary and secondary source materials relating to the Smithsonian Castle for their project. An interview with Henson about former President John Quincy Adams' role in the founding of the Smithsonian was broadcast on C-Span.
In March, at a public program to celebrate the National Zoological Park's anniversary, Henson interviewed David Challinor, former Assistant Secretary for Research, about the history of the National Zoo. Henson served on a Visiting Committee to review the programs of the Division of Environmental Biology at the National Science Foundation. Henson hosted a tour of the IHD Oral History Program by two staff members from the Cultural Conservation Program of the Maryland Historical Trust. Henson continued to distribute reprints of her articles on the history of the Smithsonian, with the article on "Digging for Dyar: The Man Behind the Myth," which she coauthored with Marc Epstein, continuing in high demand.
Marc Rothenberg gave a telephone interview about Joseph Henry on March 3, 1999, to a reporter for the
Schenectady Daily Gazette. The interview was subsequently incorporated into an article published March
7th. On March 8, Rothenberg met with five Bryn Mawr College seniors to discuss careers in cultural
institutions.
Technical Services Division: Fynnette Eaton served as a facilitator for "Working Together: A Workshop for Archivists, Records Management and Information Technologists,"which was sponsored by the Coalition for Networked Information and held twice, in December 1998 and June 1999 in Washington, DC. As a member of the American Team of InterPARES ( International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems) she attended the international meeting held in Washington, DC in June and the American team meeting in Pittsburgh in August.
In response to the Smithsonian's decision to migrate to Groupwise 5.5, Eaton prepared information to
assist Smithsonian staff as they reviewed their messages and decided which to delete and which to keep.
The information was placed on SI's intranet PRISM under the title, "SI Archives Information on Email
and Official Records." The information contained three sections, Examples of Email Messages that
should be Retained, Email in Common Situations, and Common Questions about Email and Official
Business.
Archives Division: Assistant archivist Michele Lee (Records Management Team) made a presentation in
September 1999 to fifty National Portrait Gallery staff regarding their official records, record keeping
practices, and the procedures for transferring records to SIA. Archives Division staff distributed 1,836
copies of the Guide to Smithsonian Institution Archives (1996) during FY 1999. Researchers from as far
away as China, South Korea, New Zealand, and South Africa submitted requests. In a joint venture with
SI Libraries, one thousand copies were distributed to SIL publication exchange partners. Numerous copies
of SIA finding aids and brochures were distributed through personal visits, mail, and professional
meetings. Copies of former director William W. Moss' Guide to Archives in the People's Republic of China
were sent to the Harry S. Truman Research Institute, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Jewish
National University Library for Asian and African Studies, Jerusalem, and Georgetown University.
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National Collections Program: Bill Tompkins presented a paper on "Due Diligence: Redefining
Acquisition Policies" at the annual meeting of the American Association of Museums (Cleveland, OH) in
April 1999 and chaired a panel session on stolen cultural property at the "Second Conference on
Partnership Opportunities for Federally Associated Collections" sponsored by the Department of
Interior (San Diego, CA) in November 1998. In September, Tompkins spoke on collections management
policies at the annual Center for Museum Studies' workshop, "Introduction to the Management of
Museum Collections."
Institutional History Division: Pamela Henson presented a lecture on the history of the Smithsonian in the fall Intern Brown Bag Lecture Series in October. Henson and Marc Epstein of the National Museum of Natural History spoke on "Digging for Dyar: The Man Behind the Myth" at VIARC's annual Castle docent appreciation event in December. In March, Henson presented a lecture on the IHD's SI and Latin America Database at the "Sin Fronteras/Without Borders" conference sponsored by the SI's Office of Latino Affairs at the Ripley Center. Nichols designed and printed brochures about the SI and Latin America Database for distribution at the conference. In April Henson presented a slide lecture on the history of the National Zoological Park, as part of the NZP's annual award ceremony. In May, Henson reprised her lecture on the history of the Arts and Industries Building in the SIA Research in Progress Lecture Series. Henson also presented her lecture on "Digging for Dyar: The Man Behind the Myth," at a joint meeting of the History Roundtable and Material Culture Forum focusing on "This Myth-sonian." In July, Henson presented a lecture on "Invading Arcadia: Smithsonian Women Scientists in Latin America, 1900-1950," at the biennial meeting of the International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology (Oaxaca, Mexico). Henson spoke at a panel discussion on "Oral History of Science and Technology," at the annual meeting of the Society of American Archivists (Pittsburgh, PA) in August.
Henson and Nichols coordinated the Smithsonian Institution Archives Research in Progress Lecture Series. Nine lectures were delivered in FY 1999. A list of topics and speakers is located in Appendix G: Research in Progress Lecture Series.
Marc Rothenberg gave an Invited Presentation to the Central Pennsylvania Astronomers Neighborhood Meeting (Dickinson College, PA) in April 1999, speaking on teaching astronomy in nineteenth century American colleges. In May, he presented an invited paper, "Using History to Teach Astronomy: The U.S. in the mid-19th Century," at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society (Chicago, IL) and in June he presented a lecture on Joseph Henry, early history of the Institution and The Papers of Joseph Henry at the Summer Intern Brown Bag Lecture Series (Washington, DC).
IHD predoctoral fellow Patrick Wirtz presented a lecture on the zoo as an urban landscape at the
National Zoo in May.
Technical Services Division: Fynnette Eaton served as chair for "What Will You Do About Electronic
Records," at the 1998 Fall Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (Washington, DC), in November
1998. Eaton also served as chair for "Developing Strategies for Managing Electronic Records within
Academic Institutions," at the annual meeting of the Society of American Archivists (Pittsburgh, PA), in
August 1999.
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Archives Division: Special visitors to the Archives Division during the year included Emily Crow of the
Shambhala Archives (Halifax, Nova Scotia); April Karbowsky and Sarah Springer of the University of
Pittsburgh archives program; one visiting archivist from South Africa; and two separate delegations of
visiting archivists from China. In May, Dr. Hiroko Sho, director of The University of the Air (Okinawa
Regional Study Center) and former deputy governor of Okinawa Prefecture, Dr. Victor E. Okim, U.S.-Japan Research Services, and Tomohiko Tamaki, director of Okinawa Cable Network Television, visited
the Archives to review and film the Egbert Hamilton Walker papers for an exhibition on Walker's
botanical research in the Ryukyu Islands during the 1950s. The exhibition is planned for the year 2000 at
the Naha Civic Gallery, Okinawa Prefecture.
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Smithsonian Institution Archives || Archives Division
Institutional History Division || Joseph Henry Papers Project
National Collection Program