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1
Macaluso, Rose E. "The Smithsonian Institute Smithsonian American Art Museum registration internship." ScholarWorks@UNO, 2003. http://scholarworks.uno.edu/aa_rpts/88.
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This detailed report of a registration internship at the Smithsonian American Art Museum includes an organizational profile of the Smithsonian Institute, the Smithsonian Institute Affiliate Program, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, a description of the activities performed during the internship, an analysis of a volunteer management challenge, a proposed resolution to the volunteer management challenge, and a discussion of the short and long term effects of the internship. The duties and expectations of volunteers, the staff preparation for volunteers, and the empowerment of volunteers are important aspects of the analysis and resolution of the volunteer management challenge.
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Buxton, Nancy L. "An American institution: the Smithsonian, 1846-1878." Thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/101169.
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In 1846, Congress created the Smithsonian Institution. Congressmen expected the Institution to advance the cause of American science as did Joseph Henry, the organization's first secretary. The Institution fulfilled that role in a manner consistent with its congressional mandate. Henry, however, believed that total compliance with Congress decreased the Institution's ability to shape American science. Congress, Henry thought, had split the Institution into too many departments, diluting its ability to encourage pure scientific research.
This thesis traces the Smithsonian's development by examining congressional and early institutional records. It focuses on Congress, the first to leaders of the Smithsonian, Joseph Henry and Spencer F. Baird, and the community of American naturalists. As these groups interacted, they influenced the course of scientific endeavor carried forth by the Institution. This study concludes that the Smithsonian Institution afforded significant assistance to scientists, and it faithfully reflected the scientific and cultural environment of nineteenth-century America.<br>M.A.
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White, Douglas Burton. "Light in Architecture: Smithsonian Museum of Photography." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/64853.
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This project will address light use in a museum. The focus and the program will require give and take in order to provide sources of natural light without compromising conservation standards. The building will house exhibits of film and photography, including theatres, dark rooms, prints, and projections as well as all the necessary program to support the building including a cafeteria, restrooms, a gift shop, as well as indoor and outdoor gathering spaces.
The building site is in DC. When choosing a site I consulted with the National Capital Planning Commission's urban plan of Washington. They have published on their website a study that has listed the city's potential monument and museum sites. When evaluating these sites I decided to use views to and from the sites, as well as acreage to dwindle down the options.<br>Master of Architecture
4
Olson, Ted. "Recording Review of Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2012. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/1162.
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Olson, Ted. "Recording Review of Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2015. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/1168.
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van, der Heijden Anna M. H. "Creating an Environmental Education Website at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center." Miami University / OhioLINK, 2002. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1019050512.
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Duong, Anh Hong. "Smithsonian Folklife Festival 2007 and the presentation of cultural diversity in America." College Park, Md.: University of Maryland, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1903/8626.
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Thesis (M.A.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2008.<br>Thesis research directed by: Dept. of American Studies. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.
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Stoffle, Richard W. "Caribbean Fisherman Farmers: A Social Impact Assessment of Smithsonian King Crab Mariculture." Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 1986. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/293023.
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This is an assessment of the social and cultural factors that potentially will influence the transfer of Caribbean King Crab or Mithrax mariculture as it has been developed in two West Indian project sites. The projects are located in Nonsuch Bay, Antigua, and Buen Hombre,Dominican Republic. The projects derive from an original proposal entitled "A New Mariculture Project for the Lesser Antilles," which was submitted by the Smithsonian Institution, Marine Systems Laboratory (MSL), to the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID). That project was funded as AID Project No. 598 -065. This anthropological and sociological assessment was contracted by the Smithsonian Institution as specified in P.O. No. ST5080090000 on July 10, 1985.
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Srinivasan, Ragini Tharoor. "The Smithsonian Beside Itself: Exhibiting Indian Americans in the Era of New India." University of Minnesota Press, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/625791.
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Plassart, Marie. "Penser le nationalisme aux Etats-Unis : les musées de la Smithsonian Institution, 1945-1980." Thesis, Lyon 2, 2009. http://www.theses.fr/2009LYO20068/document.
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A travers l’étude des musées de la Smithsonian Institution dans les décennies qui suivent la Seconde Guerre mondiale, cette thèse propose des pistes méthodologiques pour penser le nationalisme aux Etats-Unis. La Smithsonian Institution regroupe des activités de recherche, financées par des fonds indépendants et par des subsides fédéraux, et les Musées Nationaux, essentiellement financés par l’Etat fédéral. Ces musées sont pour la plupart situés sur le National Mall à Washington, dans le centre monumental de la capitale fédérale. Ils sont un observatoire privilégié du nationalisme : en effet, ils se situent à l’articulation entre le pouvoir fédéral et l’activité des professionnels des musées, ce qui permet d’évaluer le degré d’implication de l’Etat dans les Musées Nationaux et la contribution de ce dernier à l’entretien du sentiment national en leur sein. Par ailleurs, la création de nouveaux musées et de nouvelles expositions pose la question de la temporalité dans laquelle s’inscrivent les pratiques nationalistes. Enfin, le rôle des musées, entre explication des phénomènes universels et représentation de la nation, reflète la tension entre l’universel et le particulier qui fonde le nationalisme, compris comme une manière nationale d’être au monde<br>This dissertation focuses on the Smithsonian Museums in the decades following World War II and tests ways of conceptualizing nationalism in the United States. The Smithsonian Institution includes some research bureaus, which are funded with federal and independent funds, and the National Museums, mostly run with federal funds. Almost all National Museums are situated on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., at the monumental heart of the federal capital. They provide an observatory of nationalism, as they are a contact zone between the federal power and museum people, which brings to light the degree to which the government gets involved in the National Museums and the federal contribution to the maintenance of national feelings through museums. Besides, the creation of new museums and new exhibitions suggests that nationalist practices develop within a specific time frame. Finally, as museums oscillate between the exhibition of universal phenomena and that of national features, they magnify the tension between universalism and particularism that is the basis for nationalism, defined as a national way of belonging to the world
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Taillandier, Catherine. "Conservation et préservation à la Smithsonian Institution : de la muséographie à la muséologie, 1846-1996." Toulouse 2, 1999. http://www.theses.fr/1999TOU20025.
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Depuis sa création en 1846, la Smithsonian Institution reflète l'évolution des rapports entre sociétés industrielles et traditionnelles, de la domination au respect. Tour à tour vitrines, encyclopédies, centres de recherche scientifique ou lieux de validation de l'idéologie nationale, les musées s'étaient éloignés de l'essence des objets pour n'en retenir que l'apparence, le plus souvent magnifiée par les techniques de conservation. Les années soixante, en remettant en question la pensée cartésienne et le concept d'apprentissage élitiste, contraignirent les conservateurs à intégrer dans leurs pratiques la préservation, l'éducation et l'éthique. Dès lors, l'objet muséal ne fut plus relique mais outil au service de la connaissance des sociétés plurielles, lien entre la raison, les croyances et les sentiments individuels et collectifs. Ainsi conçu, le musée du vingt-et-unième siècle sera tout à la fois mémoire du groupe et de l'individu, mémoire dynamique qui prend en compte le passé, le présent et l'avenir. Les cent quarante millions d'objets qui composent les collections des seize musées de la Smithsonian peuvent se combiner à l'infini pour porter, dans chaque exposition, un regard différent sur le monde. Muséographie et muséologie se complètent pour rapprocher les différences et faire en sorte que le multiculturalisme ne soit pas synonyme de juxtaposition mais d'enrichissement mutuel<br>Since its creation in 1846 the Smithsonian has followed the evolution of the relations between industrialized and traditional societies, relations that have evolved from domination to respect. By turns showcases, encyclopedias, scientific research centers and places to validate the national ideology, museums had lost the contact with the essence of the object, mostly concerned with its physical appearance, that was often magnified by the techniques of conservation. In the sixties. Cartesian thinking and the elitist education were questioned and, in their practices, curators had to take into account the preservation, as well as the educational role and the ethical dimension of the exhibits. Since then the museal object has no longer been a mere treasure but has enabled visitors to have access to the knowledge of communities in their diversity, it has become a link between rational thinking, beliefs and personal or collective feelings. The 21st century museum should be the memory of the group as well as that of the individual, a dynamic memory stretching between the past, the present and the future. The 140 million objects of the Smithsonian collections can be combined ad infinitum to present the world in different ways. Museography and museology join their competencies so that the multicultural exhibitions may not be a mere juxtaposition of differences but offer an opportunity to share experiences and knowledge
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Wang, Paula L. "Nest taphonomy of Poplar Island common terns and Caribbean flamingos of the Smithsonian National Zoo." Montana State University, 2012. http://etd.lib.montana.edu/etd/2012/wang/WangP0812.pdf.
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Theropod nesting localities suggest some dinosaurs incubated eggs in a manner similar to modern birds; however, taphonomic studies of modern nesting localities are limited. Here, I document Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) and Caribbean Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) nesting sites at Poplar Island, Chesapeake Bay, MD, and Smithsonian National Zoological Park, Washington D.C., respectively. Sterna hirundo construct scrape nests with loose vegetation and produce 2-3 eggs; P. ruber build mud mounds containing one egg. Both species exhibit biparental care. Nests were surveyed on multiple occasions. Documentation included nest composition, density, and distribution, as well as eggshell concentration and orientation. Of 80 tern nests with 193 eggs, 12 nests hatched, 7 were predated, 31failed, and 30 were of unknown fates. Thirty-two flamingo nests averaged 32 x 31 cm, with mean nearest neighbor distance of 63.8 cm. Both species displayed abundant eggshell at nest centers. Concave-up eggshell characterized hatched and predated nests, whereas trampled areas favored concave-down. Wind or colony members likely transported random eggshell present on the colony. Eggs buried in nest and soil indicated adult abandonment. The results of this study may help determine nest fate for modern birds and provide paleontologists with physical characteristics to consider when excavating fossil sites. 'Co-authored by Frankie Jackson and Dave Varricchio.
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Smith, Karen E. "Framing quilts/framing culture: women's work and the politics of display." Diss., University of Iowa, 2011. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/1083.
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Quilts are a unique medium that is deeply layered with meaning, highly gendered, intimately tied to social and cultural communities, and richly interdisciplinary. Though quilts are utilitarian in origin, their circulation and display take them far beyond the home--to art galleries, history museums, state fairs, quilt shows, and philanthropic auctions. As they move, individuals and institutions make significant intellectual and emotional investments in how quilts are classified, judged, and valued. In this highly politicized work, individuals and institutions shape public culture through debates about quilts' utility, workmanship, and aesthetics; they create and display quilts to further their cultural heritage, manifest their faith, delineate aesthetic values, reinforce disciplinary boundaries, and elevate their artistic status.
This project uses four representative case studies to demonstrate the cultural work that women and institutions conduct using quilts and to explore what is at stake in that work. Through research into the Iowa State Fair quilt competition and the Michiana Mennonite Relief Sale Quilt Auction, I reveal how women employ their quilts and quilt displays to promulgate their values and shape their communities. In case studies of larger institutions--the Smithsonian Institution and the American Quilter's Society--I investigate how quilts intersect with other artistic and historic objects in their creation, interpretation, and display. Each chapter includes historical research, observations from site visits, and evidence from qualitative interviews--research that provides a historical view of each institution and an analysis of how they currently categorize, judge, and display quilts. Together, these case studies reveal that individual efforts at quilt display intersect in broader public culture, where conversations about how to value and interpret quilts are also essential conversations about aesthetics, community values, disciplinarity, and the value of women's work.
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Mathews, Stevie. "DIAGNOSING ANENCEPHALY IN ARCHAEOLOGY: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF NINE CLINICAL SPECIMENS FROM THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION NATION." Master's thesis, University of Central Florida, 2008. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/2888.
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The inclusion of human fetal skeletons in the archaeological record can reveal much about past cultures' perception of life and death. The preservation of fetal remains in the archaeological record is a rarity, and the discovery of pathological skeletons is even rarer. A fetal skeleton from a Roman period cemetery (c. 31BC - 303AD) in the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, displays what are thought to be classic skeletal indicators of the neural tube defect, anencephaly. The published literature concerning the skeletal diagnosis of anencephaly is scant so in order to diagnose this individual it is pertinent to create a diagnostic standard. The purpose of this thesis is twofold – first to create a quantitative standard from which researchers can determine the presence of anencephaly in the archaeological record, thus ruling out trauma or taphonomic processes as reasons for missing cranial elements. The second objective of this research is to conduct a qualitative comparison in order to diagnose the individual from the Dakhleh Oasis. A comparative analysis of nine documented anencephalic skeletal remains housed at the Smithsonian Institute was conducted to create a diagnostic standard for the skeletal characteristics of anencephaly. The comparative analysis of the Dakhleh specimen supports the diagnosis of anencephaly.<br>M.A.<br>Department of Anthropology<br>Sciences<br>Anthropology MA
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Naujokaitis, Alina. ""Inside outer space exhibitions" : a museum intern's view of multi-sited exhibit performativity in Smithsonian Institution space culture /." Connect to online version, 2009. http://ada.mtholyoke.edu/setr/websrc/pdfs/www/2009/.pdf.
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Tacheenie-Campoy, Glory 1952. "Collectors of Navajo rugs: An analysis and comparison of the Marjorie Merriweather Post and Washington Matthews Smithsonian Collection." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/291582.
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Navajo blankets and rugs collected by Washington Matthews and Marjorie Merriweather Post are now held by the Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. Matthews, medical doctor and anthropologist, actively collected Navajo blankets; to preserve them in museums and gather knowledge about them in publications. His goal was to learn about the Navajos before they merged into dominate American culture. Post, philanthropist, art collector, and socialite, collected Navajo blankets and rugs as status symbols, decorations and souvenirs when they were marketed by traders and weavers. Her collections once exhibited at her estates are now exhibited at the Hillwood Museum and the Museum of Natural History, in Washington, D.C. This thesis is about the collectors, their collections and why they collected Navajo blankets and rugs. Tables and photographs illustrate the collection.
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Barosso, Elisa Maria. "From “no go” to “Yo Co”: Smithsonian adminstrators' perceptions of Public Affairs strategies to create relationships to attract, educate, & retain Young Cosmopolitans." Scholarly Commons, 2009. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/2487.
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The purpose of this study was to analyze if, and if so, how, Smithsonian art museum administrators perceive their current Public Affairs strategies to create relationships that attract, educate, and retain Young Cosmopolitans (YoCos). Using a qualitative approach, this study reported the findings from interviews with Public Affairs practitioners, museum educators, and museum webmasters at five Smithsonian art museums, galleries and affiliates. YoCos were defined as well-educated young adults who are pan-cultural. The study found six cross-case themes. Participants in the study generally agreed about defining YoCo characteristics and reported varying degrees of interest in attracting YoCos. Some of the museums in the study used a variety of social and educational activities to convey their interest in YoCos, including late evening events and programming. While most of these organizations expressed the belief that today's YoCo was a potential donor of tomorrow, museums will also have to adapt their Social Networking/Web 2.0 tools in order to attract more YoCos to the museum setting. Currently, museums have made little effort to adapt their publicity or educational activities to the preferences of YoCos. Using frameworks from The Model of Contextual Learning (Falk and Dierking) and Relational Dialectics (Baxter and Montgomery), the study found that even when museums place a high priority on establishing relationships with YoCos, those relationships will not be static. Museums will need to continually re-define Public Affairs strategies including buzz and viral marketing, Social Networking/Web 2.0 tools, Bluetooth text messaging and more traditional forms of advertising for YoCos, to retain this demographic long enough to share educative experiences. The study concludes with recommendations for museums to build stronger and more communicative relationships with YoCos.
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Smith, Sonny. "Low Risk, High Threat, Open Access Security in a Post 9-11 World: A Study of the Smithsonian Institution's Office of Protection Services." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/28004.
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The events of 9-11 resulted in a slew of policy, procedural, and organizational changes within many government departments as the U.S. government took many steps to enhance security to prevent future terrorist attacks. The emphasis on high threat targets by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other government agencies, such as the White House, the Capitol and Congressional office buildings, major infrastructure and facilities within US cities, airline travel, ports and economic supply chains has generated a great deal of debate and attention. There are however, targets that are considered low risk situated in high threat areas that also provide open access to the public for which security professionals are responsible that should not be overlooked during the War on Terror. The question is how low risk targets in high threat areas should be protected? What resource distribution makes sense? What practices should be applied to achieve security?
The purpose of this research is to look at one of these targets, the Smithsonian Institution and how the Smithsonian Institution's Office of Protection Services (SI OPS) responded to the terror attacks of 9-11 and the ongoing threat. Four factors will be examined: (1) the screening process, (2) the budget, (3) the security policy formulation process, and (4) training.
The study focus is based on data derived from semi-structured interviews and a review of SI documents. Examining post 9-11 security changes allows one to see how SI OPS has evolved in its attempt to meet both internal security demands and expectations against an external security concern. The findings reveal SI OPS initially underwent significant changes within the four factors in the three years following the attacks of 9-11. However, limited resources and manpower strains have played major roles in the subsequent decline in some of the factors after their initial increases.
Although a return to the security levels immediately following 9-11 may not be imminent, it is recommended that OPS management make stronger efforts to communicate with non-security managers and return to more stringent visitor screening procedures.<br>Ph. D.
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Asquith, Christopher. "Size-structured competition and predation in red-eyed treefrog tadpoles." VCU Scholars Compass, 2010. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/58.
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Body size is important in determining the outcome of competition and predator-prey interactions. Size structure of a population (i.e. relative proportion of large and small conspecifics) may be particularly important in organisms with prolonged breeding periods and rapid growth where populations may have multiple cohorts at different stages of development competing for one resource. Both the consumptive and nonconsumptive effects of predators can also be size-dependent and can alter competitive interactions. Here we study the importance of size structure in the Neotropical leaf-breeding tree frog, Agalychnis callidryas. This species is a prolonged breeder such that multiple overlapping cohorts of differing sizes are common. Specifically, we examine size-specific intraspecific competition between A. callidryas tadpoles and then explore how predation affects these interactions. To determine the strength of inter-cohort competition, we manipulated the density and relative proportion of large and hatchling tadpoles in a response surface design and quantified growth. We then observed the effect of a dragonfly larvae predator (Anax amazili) on tadpole growth and survival at different size-structured treatments. Large tadpoles were greater per individual competitors while hatchlings were greater per gram competitors. When predators were added, dragonflies reduced survival and growth of hatchlings substantially, but had no effect on large tadpoles. Further, dragonflies reduced hatchling growth more when other hatchlings were present. The predator effect on hatchling growth was 23% larger than the effect of competition with large tadpoles, such that the importance of size structure for A. callidryas may be mediated more through predation than intercohort competition.
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Gibbs, Cheryl Jeanne. "The Quaker Farm Boy and the Wizard of Menlo Park: How C. Francis Jenkins Fought to Keep Thomas Edison from Claiming Credit for One of Jenkins' Most Significant Inventions." Miami University / OhioLINK, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1543522521915393.
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Vandersommers, Daniel A. "Laboratories, Lyceums, Lords: The National Zoological Park and the Transformation of Humanism in Nineteenth-Century America." The Ohio State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1399640141.
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Flach, Katherine E. ""Eliot Elisofon: Bringing African Art to LIFE"." Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1427999641.
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Hales, Matthew Cameron. "Synthesis and characterisation of substituted smithsonite and calcite." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2008. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/16643/1/Matthew_Hales_Thesis.pdf.
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Carbonate minerals play a very important role in nature, they represent some of the most diverse and common mineral species on the Planet. They are directly involved in the carbon dioxide (CO2) cycle acting as relatively stable long term chemical storage reservoirs, moderating both global warming trends and oceanaquatic chemistry through carbonate buffering systems. A range of synthetic metal carbonates have been synthesised for analysis under multiple experimental conditions, in order to study the variation in physical and chemical properties such as phase specificity, metal substitution, hydration/hydroxy carbonate formation under varying partial pressures of CO2 and thermal stability. Synthetic samples were characterised by a variety of instrumental analysis techniques in order to investigate chemical purity and phase specificity. Some of the techniques included, vibrational spectroscopy (IR/Raman), thermal analysis (TGA-MS) (thermal Raman), X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and electron microscopy (SEM-EDX). From the instrumental characterisation techniques, it was found that single phase smithsonite, hydrozincite, calcite and nesquehonite could successfully be synthesised under the conditions used. Minor impurities of other minerals and / or phases were found to form under specific chemical or physical conditions such as in the case of hydrozincite / simonkolleite if zinc chloride was used during hydrothermal synthesis.
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Hales, Matthew Cameron. "Synthesis and characterisation of substituted smithsonite and calcite." Queensland University of Technology, 2008. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/16643/.
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Carbonate minerals play a very important role in nature, they represent some of the most diverse and common mineral species on the Planet. They are directly involved in the carbon dioxide (CO2) cycle acting as relatively stable long term chemical storage reservoirs, moderating both global warming trends and oceanaquatic chemistry through carbonate buffering systems. A range of synthetic metal carbonates have been synthesised for analysis under multiple experimental conditions, in order to study the variation in physical and chemical properties such as phase specificity, metal substitution, hydration/hydroxy carbonate formation under varying partial pressures of CO2 and thermal stability. Synthetic samples were characterised by a variety of instrumental analysis techniques in order to investigate chemical purity and phase specificity. Some of the techniques included, vibrational spectroscopy (IR/Raman), thermal analysis (TGA-MS) (thermal Raman), X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and electron microscopy (SEM-EDX). From the instrumental characterisation techniques, it was found that single phase smithsonite, hydrozincite, calcite and nesquehonite could successfully be synthesised under the conditions used. Minor impurities of other minerals and / or phases were found to form under specific chemical or physical conditions such as in the case of hydrozincite / simonkolleite if zinc chloride was used during hydrothermal synthesis.
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Vergamini, Marie. "Managing Sociality of a Captive Female Bornean Orangutan from Breeding to Post-partum at The Smithsonian's National Zoo." VCU Scholars Compass, 2017. https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/5161.
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The Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Orangutan Species Survival Plan® aims to maintain 100 Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) in captivity. Because investment in breeding these lineages is high, properly managing sociality of potential mothers is essential. This study assessed how behaviors of a captive breeding female at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo changed from pre-gestation through the offspring’s sixth month of age to improve breeding recommendations.
The infant Bornean orangutan was born September 2016. Results indicate that during breeding, the mother socialized most with two adult females. During pregnancy, the pregnant female socialized in less energy-consuming ways, i.e. grooming. Post-partum socialization and proximity data suggest a shift in female affiliation. The presence of another female with maternal experience may be beneficial to the rearing of new offspring. These results can help guide socialization management for pregnant captive orangutans to improve breeding outcomes.
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Marsh, Diana Elizabeth. "From "Extinct Monsters" to Deep Time : an ethnography of fossil exhibits production at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/50177.
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This dissertation traces the relationship between changing institutional cultures and the communication of knowledge to the public through exhibits, explored through an ethnographic and historical case study of a single set of halls at one museum—the fossil halls at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). Having documented the first six months of planning for the NMNH’s new exhibit project, Deep Time, I show that many of the values and practices in current exhibits production have their roots in major cultural, professional and institutional shifts of the late-1950s. These changes, enacted and dramatized in exhibits production, came to transform the communication of science through exhibits. Indeed, I argue, the production of exhibits offers unique insight into the workings of an institution by describing a microcosm of the museum where what I have called disciplinary “complementarities” and “frictions” are debated and performed by small, increasingly interdisciplinary groups of people. Exhibit development thus emerges as a political and subjective creative act, rooted in particular institutional contexts and histories, that takes place at the intersection of paradoxical institutional missions and divergent disciplinary cultures. In the chapters of this thesis, I will contextualize and trace collaborative complementarities and frictions that emerge at three levels of exhibits production: exhibit content, group dynamics, and institutional mission. I will argue that these three layers of complementarities/frictions (from the micro-level of content specific to the planning of the fossil hall complex, to the experts that develop exhibits, to the broadest institutional mission of the museum) as revealed in the exhibits production process, have at their root foundational dual roles of the Smithsonian that are both paradoxical and necessary in creative exhibits production.<br>Arts, Faculty of<br>Anthropology, Department of<br>Graduate
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Bouibes, Amine. "Exploration de matériaux avancés pour des applications en génie civil." Thesis, Lille 1, 2014. http://www.theses.fr/2014LIL10112/document.
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Le progrès dans le domaine du génie civil n’aurait pas été possible sans le développement de nouveaux matériaux. En fait, les nouveaux matériaux avec des propriétés performantes ont permis la construction de structures modernes, de plus grands bâtiments, de plus grands ponts…etc. En outre, il est important de continuer le progrès et le développement des matériaux dans le futur. En particulier, dans l'approche des constructions intelligentes, nous aurons besoin de nouveaux matériaux aux propriétés très performantes. L'étude des propriétés des matériaux, à l'échelle moléculaire, permet une meilleure compréhension de la façon dont ces matériaux fonctionnent et réagissent à un niveau macro. C’est grâce à de tells études que nous sommes en mesure de comprendre leurs comportements sous des conditions variables. Dans cette thèse, nous focalisons nos efforts sur trois types de matériaux. Le premier est le carbonate de zinc. Le second est la chaux, qui est largement utilisée dans le domaine de la construction et les travaux publics; et le dernier est l'oxyde de zinc, qui est un matériau important pour les constructions en acier. Notre but est d'étudier en détail ces trois différents matériaux à diverses pressions et à compositions variables par la méthode de prédiction de structures basée sur l’approche ab initio. Pour la smithsonite, un bon nombre de propriétés mécaniques a été évalué. Nous montrons notamment que ce système est plus dur et plus rigide que les autres carbonates. En outre, l'étude de ses propriétés électroniques révèle que l'énergie de la bande interdite est assez proche de certains semi-conducteurs. Par ailleurs, deux transitions de phase à haute pression ont été trouvées: la première à 87 GPa et la seconde à 121 GPa. En dessous de 87 GPa, ZnCO3 est stable sous la structure de groupe d’espace R-3c (structure de calcite); et entre 78 GPa et 121 GPa, ZnCO3 se stabilise sous une autre structure dont le groupe d'espace est C2/m (structure de magnésite phase II). Au-delà de 121 GPa, nous montrons que la nouvelle structure de groupe d'espace P212121 devient la plus stable. Par ailleurs, en utilisant la méthode de prédiction de structure –composition variable- basée sur l’approche ab initio, nous montrons que le système Ca-O pourraient se stabiliser sous de nouvelles compositions chimiques autres que le CaO. À pression ambiante, CaO2 est prédit comme étant un système thermodynamiquement stable. Ce nouveau composé passe de la structure de groupe d’espace C2/c à celle de groupe d’espace I4/mcm à 18.5GPa. En augmentant la pression, d'autres composés deviennent plus stables tels que CaO3 qui se stabilise dans la structure de groupe d'espace P-421m à partir de 65 GPa. Enfin, nos études sur ZnO montrent que ZnO2 devient thermodynamiquement stable à une pression supérieure à 120 GPa. Une transition de phase est obtenue à 10 GPa pour ZnO, qui est stable dans la structure wurtzite B4 dans des conditions ambiantes et jusqu'à 10GPa. Au-delà de 10 GPa, ZnO devient plus stable dans une structure de type B1. Ces résultats confortent nos prédictions puisqu’ils s’accordent parfaitement avec les travaux expérimentaux et théoriques précédents<br>The civil engineering progress would not been possible without new materials development. In fact, new materials with efficient properties allowed the construction of modern structures, taller building, longer bridges,…etc. Furthermore, it is essential for the progress continuity of this field in the future. Especially, in the smart construction approach we will need new materials with the very efficient properties. The study of the properties of materials at the molecular level, allow a better understanding of how those materials will function and react on a macro level. It is through such studies that we are able to understand their behaviors under a large number of conditions. In this thesis, we focus our efforts on three types of materials. The first one is zinc carbonate. The second one is Lime, which is widely used in building and public works ; and the last one is zinc oxide, which is an important material for steel construction. The purpose here is to investigate in details the three different materials at various pressures and variable compositions by means of the universal structure prediction method based on ab initio tool. For smithsonite, a number of mechanical properties were evaluated. We mainly show that this system is harder and more rigid than the other carbonates. Besides, the investigation of its electronic properties reveals that the energy band-gap is close enough to some semiconductors. Moreover, two high-pressure phase transitions have been found: the first one at 87 GPa and second one at 121 GPa. Below 87 GPa, ZnCO3 is found to be the most stable structure with R-3c space group (calcite structure); and between 78 GPa and 121 GPa, ZnCO3 has another structure (magnesite phase II) with C2/m space group. Above 121 GPa, we show that new structure with P212121 space group becomes more stable. In addition, by means of variable composition ab initio evolutionary algorithm, we show surprisingly new stable compounds from Ca-O. At ambient pressure CaO2 is predicted as a thermodynamically stable system. This new compound goes from C2/c to I4/mcm space group structure at 18.5GPa. Under increasing pressure, further compounds become stable such as CaO3 which stabilize in P-421m space group structure above 65 GPa. Finally, our studies on ZnO show that ZnO2 becomes thermodynamically stable at pressure above 120 GPa. A phase transition is obtained at 10 GPa for ZnO, which is stable in B4 wurtzite structure at ambient conditions up to 10GPa. Above 10 GPa, ZnO becomes more stable in B1 structure. These results strongly support our predictions since they agree perfectly with available experiment and previous theoretical studies
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"Museum Networks: The Exchange of the Smithsonian Institution's Duplicate Anthropology Collections." Doctoral diss., 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.25179.
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abstract: This dissertation examines a practice of scientific museums in the 19th and early 20th centuries: the exchange of their duplicate specimens. Specimen exchange facilitated the rise of universal museums while creating a transnational network through which objects, knowledge, and museum practitioners circulated. My primary focus concerns the exchange of anthropological duplicate specimens at the Smithsonian Institution from 1880 to 1920. Specimen exchange was implemented as a strategic measure to quell the growth of scientific collections curated by the Smithsonian prior garnering to the broad political support needed to fund a national museum. My analysis examines how its practice was connected to both anthropological knowledge production, particularly in terms of diversifying the scope of museum collections, and knowledge dissemination. The latter includes an examination of how anthropological duplicates were used to illustrate competing explanations of culture change and generate interest in anthropological subject matter for non-specialist audiences. I examine the influence of natural history classification systems on museum-based anthropology by analyzing how the notion of duplicate was applied to collections of material culture. As the movement of museum objects are of particular concern to anthropologists involved in repatriation practices, I use specimen exchange to demonstrate that while keeping objects is a definitive function of the museum, an understanding of why and how museum objects have been kept or not kept in the past, particularly in terms of the intentions and value systems of curators, is critical in developing an ethically oriented dialogue about disposition of museum objects in the future.<br>Dissertation/Thesis<br>Ph.D. Anthropology 2014
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Lindsay, Debra Jean. "Science in the sub-arctic : traders, trappers and the Smithsonian Institution, 1859-1870." 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/1993/9568.
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Diamond, Heather A. "American aloha Hawaiʻi at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the politics of tradition /". Thesis, 2004. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=1&did=813772971&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=2&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1233778612&clientId=23440.
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Brady, Miranda J. "Discourse, cultural policy, and other mechanisms of power : the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian /." 2007. http://etda.libraries.psu.edu/theses/approved/WorldWideIndex/ETD-2234/index.html.
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Myhaver, Virginia J. "The "New American Revolution": cultural politics, new federalism, and the 1976 Bicentennial." Thesis, 2014. https://hdl.handle.net/2144/15145.
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This dissertation delineates the ways in which the political vicissitudes, economic restructuring and cultural fissures of the 1960s and 1970s shaped the commemoration of the Bicentennial of American Independence and elucidates how, in turn, the Bicentennial helped catalyze the eventual emergence of the cultural formations and political economy of neoliberalism. Using cultural studies frameworks to analyze archival policy memoranda, planning, curatorial and design records, journalistic accounts, photographs and audio-visual recordings, I demonstrate that the Bicentennial became a crucible in which Americans across the political spectrum reframed historical narratives, reconceived national identity and debated the proper role of the federal government.
This study argues that political, economic and cultural elites mounted events that answered social movement demands for inclusiveness but contained their potential to effect radical change. The corporate sponsorships devised for Bicentennial projects profoundly expanded the role of corporations within the cultural sphere, enabling museums to adapt to the dismantling of the "welfare state" and laying the groundwork for the public-private partnerships that became the cornerstones of neoliberalism in the1980s.
Chapter 1 examines a traveling Smithsonian exhibition, "Workers and Allies: Female Participation in the American Trade Union Movement 1824-1876," to illuminate the challenges of conducting public history in a moment when national narratives are highly contested. Chapter 2 argues that the Nixon administration imposed its overriding policy agenda of New Federalism upon the Bicentennial planning process to help engender a conservative realignment of American values and the electorate. Chapter 3 chronicles the transformation of the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife from a small celebration of deep-rooted folkways with counterhegemonic aims into a grand multicultural Bicentennial spectacle that advanced the ideological and economic prerogatives of the Smithsonian's liberal leadership, of conservative politicians, and its major corporate sponsors. Chapter 4 explores the launch and exhibition design of the American Freedom Train, which marshaled substantial economic and political resources of the federal government and four American corporations - Pepsico, Prudential, Kraftco, and General Motors. This single most widely-circulated project reasserted a teleological narrative of steady economic, technological, and social progress and affirmed the cultural authority of its corporate stewards and the success of privatization.<br>2019-04-30T00:00:00Z
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Gwinn, Nancy E. "The origins and development of international publication exchange in nineteenth-century America." 1996. http://books.google.com/books?id=XtngAAAAMAAJ.
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Noyes, Chandra. "Crafting a definition : a case study of the presentation of craft at the Renwick Gallery." Thesis, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/ETD-UT-2011-12-4751.
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This report is a case study of the presentation of craft at the Renwick Gallery, the craft museum of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM). The Renwick, founded in 1976, is a curatorial department of SAAM, focusing in modern and contemporary American craft. Through an examination of the museum’s galleries and exhibitions, interviews with staff, and an analysis of educational programming, this thesis explores how the Renwick defines craft implicitly and explicitly. Giving a context for this study is a history of the Renwick Gallery, as well as history of craft and its definitions. With these histories as background, the ways that the Renwick, and thus its visitors, understand craft is explored. The qualities specific to craft in the literature and manifest at the Renwick are examined in order to determine how they influence the presentation of craft at the Renwick.<br>text
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Ahn, Hye In. "Mineralogy and geochemistry of the non-sulfide Zn deposits in the Sierra Mojada district, Coahuila, Mexico." Thesis, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/ETD-UT-2010-08-1856.
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The Sierra Mojada district consists of multiple types of mineral concentrations ranging from polymetallic sulfide deposits, "non-sulfide Zn" (NSZ) deposits, and a Pb carbonate deposit hosted by Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous carbonates. This study focuses on the two non-sulfide Zn deposits, the Smithsonite Manto and the Iron Oxide Manto, that occur south of the San Marcos fault. The Smithsonite Manto shows karst features, including internal sediments interbanded with smithsonite (ZnCO₃). The Iron Oxide Manto consists of strata-bound zones dominantly of hemimorphite (Zn₄Si₂O₇ (OH)₂·H₂O) that fills pores in Fe-oxides. The mineralogy of the NSZ mineralization consists of smithsonite, hemimorphite and Zn clays (sauconite) associated mainly with calcite and Mn-Fe-oxides. Zn clays are abundant in the Smithsonite Manto, but no Zn clays have been found in the Iron Oxide Manto. This project attempts to constrain the origin of the NSZ concentrations through petrographic and mineralogical study of major Zn-bearing minerals, and their carbon and oxygen stable isotopes and Pb isotope geochemistry. Smithsonite in the Smithsonite Manto occurs as botryoidal aggregates consisting of scalenohedral or rhombohedral microcrystals and banded colloform or massive smithsonite in open spaces, whereas smithsonite in the Iron Oxide Manto occurs as rhombic microcrystals grown in pore spaces or finely intergrown with Fe-oxides. Both Fe-poor and Fe-rich smithsonite are found in the Iron Oxide Manto. Under optical-CL, smithsonite displays complex growth zoning that can be related to variable trace element content. Trace elements semiquantitatively analyzed using LA-ICP-MS show that most blue luminescent smithsonite has lower Mn contents than pink to bright red luminescent zones in smithsonite. Preliminary fluid inclusion petrography in hemimorphite and calcite suggests that fluid composition can be related to precipitation of NSZ minerals from freshwater to slightly saline waters. Calculated salinities for two phase (liquid +vapor) and single phase (liquid) inclusions in hemimorphite range between 0.0 and 1.6 wt. % NaCl equivalent, and salinities of inclusions in calcite were between 0.0 and 1.1 wt. % NaCl equivalent. The oxygen isotope values for smithsonite are relatively constant (avg. [delta]¹⁸O[subscriptVSMOW] = 21.9 ± 0.5[per mille]), whereas [delta]¹³C[subscriptVPDB] values range from -8.4 to -1.1 [per mille]. The oxygen isotope values in late calcite are within the same range of smithsonite, whereas the average values of the carbon isotope are lower by 5 [per mille]. Formational temperature of smithsonite is calculated to be between 26 ~ 40 °C using the modern groundwater composition at Cuatro Ciénegas. Similar Pb isotopic compositions of smithsonite and cerussite to galena suggest the source of metals in the NSZ deposits presumably originate from the sulfide deposits.<br>text