April 20, 2011
Now read this post carefully, because there will be a quiz at the end. Let’s begin with a history lesson.
Earth Day was first celebrated on April 22, 1970 in cities and university campuses all over the United States. Founded by Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day began as a series of teach-ins at university campuses, as well as demonstrations to promote much-needed environmental reform. It was a time when the right set of conservation winds were blowing. Air pollution was being linked to disease. Fish kills occurred in the Great Lakes. A river in Ohio, oozing with oil and contaminants, suddenly burst into flames. An oil platform off the coast of Santa Barbara exploded and 100,000 barrels of crude oil seeped into the California channel killing thousands of sea birds and marine mammals.
More than 20 million people participated in the first Earth Day celebration, and it is now recognized in more than 175 countries and by 500 million people. The day also commemorates all those conservation-minded forerunners and founders of environmental activism.
There are dozens of these early environmental stewards within the collections of the National Portrait Gallery. With the museum staff’s help, we’ve compiled a list of just a few of the early supporters found there.
But this week, there’s a twist to our Wednesday List. It’s a quiz. (Answers will appear tomorrow). Test your Earth Day knowledge and tonight, head to the National Portrait Gallery for “Pop Quiz: Earth Day Challenge.” More details can be found after the questions.
- When I was in the U.S. Senate, I sponsored bills such as the 1965 Water Quality Act, supported the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and spoke at the first Earth Day celebration. Who am I?
- As the second woman ever to be hired by the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries (now the Fish and Wildlife Service) my book about environmental problems caused by pesticides inspired the title of a current Smithsonian American Art Museum exhibition called “A Fable for Tomorrow.” Who am I?
- I was an author in the mid-20th century and won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1972. I helped launch the modern environmental movement through my writings for a campaign to prevent dams, which would have changed forever the landscape of Dinosaur National Monument. Who am I?
- My ideas about simple living as described in my most famous book about my cabin on the bank of a pond have inspired activists and laid the groundwork for what we consider environmental ethics today. Who am I?
- I was an advocate for sustainable agriculture in the early 20th century. I am most known for my research into the growth and use of peanuts as an alternative to cotton crops. Who am I?
To further test your knowledge, this evening visit the National Portrait Gallery and take the quiz at 6:30 p.m. in the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard. It can be played individually or in groups of up to 6 people and the rule is you have to employ “Brain Power” —not Google—to answer the questions. Prizes will be awarded to the person or team with the most correct answers. (ATM is not offering any prizes, by the way.)
ANSWERS, after the jump: (More…)
April 15, 2011
On April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died from a gunshot wound he’d suffered the night at before at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. The assassin John Wilkes Booth fled the scene.The events following the assassination have been studied endlessly by historians and is the subject of today’s wide release of Robert Redford’s The Conspirator.And though we know more now about the circumstances of that night than ever before, there still remains a sense of intrigue about the conspiracy to kill the president.
“It is the sort of tragedy that is embedded in American history,” says Harry Rubenstein, curator of political history at the American History Museum. Because Lincoln was so close to celebrating victory, his death, says Rubenstein, was all the more poignant and terrible.
At the National Museum of American History, in the exhibit Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life, visitors will encounter a number of artifacts from the night and the days directly following the assassination.
A simple gold embossed coffee cup is on view. It was left on windowsill at the White House by the President just before he left to attend the theater.
A bloodstained cuff is one of the more gruesome objects, it was worn by lead actress Laura Keene who rushed to the president’s side at the theater that night to give him water. The actress saved the dress and preserved it throughout her life and eventually her family donated it to the Smithsonian.
Also on view are the surgical instruments used by a still unknown physician in the autopsy that was conducted at the White House. The instruments were given to a young doctor that assisted in the procedure, Alfred D. Wilson, preserved by his family and then later donated to the Medical Society of the County of Kings in Brooklyn, New York.
Another chilling reminder are the prison hoods and shackles worn by the imprisoned conspirators. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton ordered the prisoners to wear the hoods at all times. In 1903, the War Department transferred the hoods, shackles and prison key to the Smithsonian.
The book accompanying the exhibit, Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life by Harry Rubenstein, can be purchased here. The exhibition is on view through May 30.
April 8, 2011
It’s official: giant anteater Mirapi has chosen a name for her male cub. Everyone give a big Smithsonian welcome to Pablo!
At a naming ceremony yesterday at the National Zoo, three decorated flowerpots contained “enrichment objects,” or rather, delicious foods that anteaters love to eat—a grapefruit, a mango, and a hard-boiled egg. Each pot was set next to a stake bearing one of three names—Demetrio, Pablo and Fausto. At 10:30 a.m. after a small audience of children and families had gathered, Pablo’s mother Maripi emerged from the indoor enclosure with her then unnamed baby anteater riding on her back.
Though Pablo is only five months old, when he lies sprawled across Maripi’s back, his snout is almost as long as his mother’s. As the children coached Maripi to head toward their favorite names, it was clear that mother anteater wasn’t going to make her decision too hastily.
Despite the audience, she took a long walk around the entire perimeter of her yard, sniffing along the way. Curiously, she inspected the three flowerpots. Each was decorated with tiny drawings of ants. Maripe seemed to enjoy the suspense as she walked away from the pots as if deliberating. Finally, she returned to the pot labeled “Pablo.”
And that’s how the baby got its name.
Born on December 7, 2010, the little guy has been waiting for weeks to be named. The process started with five names chosen by staff members in early March. After weeks of viewer voting on the National Zoo’s web site, three final names were chosen: Demetrio, Pablo and Fausto.
Each of the names hail from Central and South America, where giant anteaters range across grassland savannas and wetlands. The animals use their keen sense of smell to find anthills and termite mounds. They use their strong claws to tear them open and they use their saliva-covered, two-feet-long tongues to gather prey. The giant anteaters at the National Zoo feed mostly on a prepared insectivore chow and receive fruit and hard-boiled eggs as treats.
April 5, 2011
It’s all about timing at the Insect Zoo at the National Museum of Natural History. When I heard that visitors could witness tarantula feedings there, I wanted to get it on video. (I am a journalism student studying this semester at the George Washington University Semester in Washington program, where I am learning video, photo and web production and I am interning here at Smithsonian.com).
When I went to meet with the Insect Zoo’s manager, Nate Erwin, I thought that he would feed a tarantula or two and we would get it on camera, simple as that. Not so. Tarantulas, it turns out, can be temperamental. They can be picky. And they don’t simply eat because we are pointing a camera at them.
The first day that we filmed in the “rearing room” of the Insect Zoo, none of the tarantulas wanted to be the star of our video. Nate Erwin would introduce a cricket into the tarantula’s cage and coax the cricket towards the spiders’ mouths. The crickets hardly seemed phased by their own peril. I saw the creatures terrifying set of fangs, which were almost as big as the crickets’ bodies. They sat there cricket and spider, each oblivious to the other. Lucky for the crickets, the first two spiders weren’t hungry. (You can lead a spider to a cricket, but you can’t make him eat.)
I was beginning to give up after filming a Goliath birdeater, which is the largest species of tarantula. It ignored a huge cockroach lunch (This species not used is in live feeding demonstrations in the museum.)
Finally, a gorgeous Mexican Red Knee tarantula nicknamed “Ramona” stepped up to become the star of our video when she dutifully ate lunch. My video project was now done.
Check out the star of our show, Ramona, who feeds in her cage at the museum on Sunday at 11:30 A.M. Live tarantula feedings take place year-round on Tuesday to Friday at 10:30, 11:30 and 1:30, and at 11:30, 12:30 and 1:30 on Saturday and Sunday.
March 11, 2011
We all know the saying “like mother, like daughter” but for third-generation Pueblo artist Margarete Bagshaw the phrase may as well be “like mother, like daughter, like grand daughter.” Following in the footsteps of her mother, Helen Hardin (1943-1984), and grandmother, Pablita Velarde (1918-2006), Bagshaw is part of a multi-generational female painting dynasty. Born in New Mexico, Bagshaw grew up surrounded by her mother and grandmother’s artwork, though she didn’t start producing her own works until the 1990s. Her family’s legacy of artwork can be viewed exclusively at Golden Dawn Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
This Saturday, March 12, Bagshaw will be speaking about her work and participation in the National Museum of the American Indian’s exhibition, Vantage Point: The Contemporary Art Collection. This past week in an email exchange, I weighed in with the artist about family, legacy and and growing up under the influence of strong, independent women.
What is it about working across generations that brings new beauty and life to your artwork?
I have a very deep and sincere respect for my mother and grandmother’s lives and the work they did. When I paint my own compositions, I can connect with their independence, strength and creativity. If I choose to reference something from their paintings in something of mine, as in my “Mother Line” series, it is like hearing their message, but interpreting it my own way.
Tell us a story about you and your mother and your grandmother?
When I was very little, until I was about 8 years old, the three of us were inseparable. If I wasn’t with one, I was with the other one. We lived close to Grandma so I could walk home to her house from school, so that’s what I did every day. One day my Mom showed up to get me and a friend asked me who that lady was… I told her it was my sister! Looking back, I really felt that grandma was our mother; we all answered to her and as long as she was around we were safe and secure. My mom was young and much better looking than anyone else’s mom… So they believed me!
When women come together to celebrate their history and legacy this month, what is your take home message?
Remember the women before you who broke boundaries, lost there lives, fought for justice, went against the grain, challenged authority! Remember it was women who gave birth and raised men who became noble leaders. Look in the mirror and know that women are thinkers, intellectuals, healers and progressive people. As my grandmother, Pablita Velarde, used to say, “I’m not going to let some man tell me what I can and can’t do. Half the time they don’t know what they’re talking about! Besides… I make more money and work harder then most of them do!”
Margarete Bagshaw’s lecture and discussion is on Saturday, March 12 at 2 PM at the National Museum of the American Indian on the fourth floor in room 4018. Vantage Point: The Contemporary Art Collection is on view on the third floor in the Richard West Jr. Contemporary Arts Gallery.