The Smithsonian Institution Libraries are one of the institution’s best kept secrets as well as a great resource for those conducting research in a variety of fields. On Monday, June 17, 2012, interns visited the Si libraries for a private tour and demonstration.  The headquarters for the libraries are located in the National Museum of Natural History building and are comprised of a fifteen library consortium available to any individual with an SI badge. The library possesses a great deal of hard copy sources that can be found at its headquarters. Most of its information, though, can be accessed through digital databases online at www.sil.si.edu. The digitized information allows the use of any text or images found in the database. Additionally, Smithsonian Institution Libraries maintains services such as Interlibrary Loan, that helps individuals gain access to information outside of the Smithsonian. If the SI library does not own what you need, they most certainly can find it and make it available for use. For further information, visit the library website (listed above) and contact your museum or office’s librarian for details on how the system works.

For more information, please visit http://www.smithsonianofi.com/internship-opportunities/opa-video-internship-program/

The “Morning at the Museum of Natural History” was an event that occurred on Wednesday from 8 to 10am to welcome interns of the Smithsonian from all the 19 museums and 77 Offices in D.C. area. This was a time for all of the interns to explore the National Museum of Natural History and speak with various scientists that work in the museum.

Mary Sangrey of the National Museum of Natural History, Katie Lauricella of the National Museum of American History, Karen Carter the Smithsonian Office of Fellowships and Internships, and Smithsonian Director of Fellowships and Internships all gave welcoming remarks to the summer interns.

Welcome Interns!

On Wednesday, June 5, 2013, The Primate Team at the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park gave a special VIP tour of the Great Ape House to fifteen lucky Smithsonian Interns/Fellows (and two intern parents!).  We were warned before entering the Great Ape House that one of the male gorillas had been very active and aggressive that morning.  The tour leader suggested that none of us look him straight in the eye.  Although human primates have been taught that direct eye contact is “how to win friends and influence people,” gorillas interpret this as a sign of aggression.  Participants dutifully went into “subway mode,” when you risk popping a blood vessel trying so hard not to make eye contact with your fellow riders.  The gorillas seemed to respect our efforts as they climbed and foraged just feet from the tour group. 

We learned what gorillas eat (plants) and what they don’t eat (humans).  Male gorillas may be aggressive with each other to declare their dominance but no serious harm is inflicted when they fight.  They mostly thump their chests and throw grass – like my eighth grade gym teacher, but not as scary.  Have you ever wondered why gorillas have carnivorous looking teeth when they are herbivores?  Do you want to know how a keeper gives a gorilla an injection?  Why do male gorillas look like they have Mohawks?  Get to the Great Ape House and find out! 

Intern, Ryann Price contributed to this post

NMNH Interns at a Workshop led by Scientific Illustrator Alice Tangerini on Friday 5/31/13

Several hundred summer interns are starting their Smithsonian Internships this week and next, with more to come after that.

The National Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian’s largest museum, is welcoming 34 new interns today alone, with another 87 on the way later this summer. They join 135 already here working to excite the learning in everyone.

NMNH Interns on a Botany Tour led by Museum Specialist Greg McKee on Thursday 5/30/13

Dr. Wilson presented the crowd with a few basic questions: Do the differences between human hands and the hands of our closest genetic relatives relate to the success found in human life? In the “Information Age,” the brain doesn’t seem as important. Prior to the “Information Age,” people would spend years perfecting a manual skill, and that skill would later define them as people — as tailors, chefs, blacksmiths, and the like. Should we care that those titles and manual skills no longer seem as important? Are humans intelligent because we have hands, as Anaxagoras argued, or do humans have hands because we are intelligent, as Aristotle argued? Is it important to develop hands in order to develop cognition?

Some of these questions rely on personal opinion — the Anaxagoras and Aristotle dilemma very closely resembles the chicken and the egg dilemma. Other questions can be answered with a bit of scientific background.  The differences between human hands and those of our close genetic relatives, such as chimpanzees, give humans the upper hand, so to speak, in tool dexterity through use of the flexor apparatus. The flexor apparatus is a part of the thumb which allows us to grasp objects in such a way that allows us to control them more efficiently; it allows us to accurately throw baseballs, and hit a nail on the head with accuracy, among other activities that involve grasping objects and manipulating them to hit a predetermined target.

Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp shows the flexor apparatus.

In order to understand how important hands are, one can observe a human baby playing with a toy.  When babies handle any object, they closely watch their hands as they manipulate the object; through the process of trial and error, babies begin to understand which hand positions allow them the most efficient control over the object in their hands.  Manually manipulating and controlling an object is such an intricate cognitive process, that it takes a child approximately eight years to effectively manipulate and control objects as well as an adult.  The brain takes this long to develop this skill because the brain keeps meticulous records of trials and errors in order to make this skill as accurate as possible.  With this knowledge in mind, we can confidently affirm that hand development is crucial to cognitive development; therefore, we should be concerned that hands are less involved in the Digtal Age.

Many first world children now draw and color on items such as iPads, other tablets, and computers.  While drawing on these items may be less messy, it could be detrimental to their cognitive development.  When children use their hands, not just their fingertips, they aid cognitive development because they force their brains to undergo a variety of functions in order to grasp an object, apply pressure at the proper points on that object to allow control, and maintain control and precision as the child moves the object.  Children need to draw, paint, color, play with building blocks, and participate in other manual activites in order to maximize their cognitive development.

Playing a musical instrument is also a fantastic way to aid congnitive development; as a saxophone player, I can attest to this.  When I, or anyone else, play a musical instrument, the brain is constantly assessing rhythm, horizontal melodic structures, vertical harmonic structures, among countless other components.  While the brain is assessing this information, it is also recalling the proper hand positions and fingerings, along with any other instrument-specific requirements.  For wind instruments, the brain is signaling the diaphragm to contract and relax as needed.  The brain outputs a significant amount of this information into the instrumentalists’ hands; therefore playing a musical instrument forces the brain to undergo several cognitive processes simultaneously in tandem with one’s hands, greatly increasing both cognitive ability and the need for, literally, hands-on education.

Both as an instrumentalist and as someone who has hands, I found this lecture enlightening, interesting, and frankly, a bit frightening.  We  must challenge ourselves, our educational systems, and our children to continue partaking in manual and dexterous activities in order to continue our cognitive evolution.  Fortunately, the Smithsonian is already doing its part in spreading this message in order to help complete its mission — to diffuse knowledge to all.

For more information, visit Dr. Wilson’s website here.

STRI Intern Jonathan Gonzalez (right) learns from staff scientist Dr. Richard Cooke (left)

Panamanian student Jonathan Gonzalez has been working with Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute scientist Richard Cooke to sort out some tools.

Two Precolumbian villages investigated by STRI archaeologists and students have produced large numbers of stone tools for everyday activities, such as grinding maize, polishing and sharpening axes, using the axes for woodwork and felling trees, doing household jobs, and hunting.

These sites (Cerro Juan Diaz and Sitio Sierra) were thriving villages during the same time period (200 BCE to 1515 CE). Although they were only 30 km apart, they used different categories of stone tools and raw materials. Sitio Sierra produced hundreds of jasper and andesite “blades” (flakes much longer than wide with straight edges). These tools are very scarce at Cerro Juan Diaz. At the latter site much fossilized wood was used. At the former it is virtually absent.

Jonathan Gonzalez is learning about archaeology by helping Richard Cooke classify the tools morphologically and by materials with a view to embarking on a detailed comparative study in order to tease out the reasons why these discrepancies exist in the stone assemblages at each site. Thanks for helping figure out all those tools guys!

The Smithsonian is not a degree granting institution, but did you know that there are students studying at the Smithsonian, right on the National Mall?

Through a partnership with George Mason University and The Smithsonian Associates, and a program of rigorous academic and professional connoisseurship training offered by an expert faculty, the Smithsonian-Mason MA in the History of Decorative Arts Program stands at the forefront of preparing decorative arts professionals.  The unique feature of the MA program is object-based instruction built around behind-the-scenes access.  Privileged entrée for students is accomplished through dozens of networks of regional, national and international collections representing millions of objects. Students are educated in the history of decorative arts, Renaissance to contemporary, European and American, complemented with consideration of the arts of Asia and Africa.  In addition to theoretical and contextual studies, connoisseurship skills are built through object-based courses in furniture, glass, ceramics, metalwork, craft, costume, and textiles.

Internships are a structured part of the course of study.  The expert and engaged faculty and wider sphere of decorative arts professional network all contribute to students finding their scholarly voice and pursuing individual academic interests.  This is further supported by the structure of the curriculum.  One-half of a student’s courses are electives and the curriculum allows for general training as well as areas of deep specialization.

Both program interns and graduates are in high demand for positions at museums, historic organizations, and commercial art businesses throughout the country and around the world.  Students have access to an extensive successful and supportive alumni network.

Since its inception in 1996, the MA in the History of Decorative Arts program:

• Is producing highly trained and successful graduates.

• Students experience a program of demanding academic and professional connoisseurship training offered by an expert faculty.

• A very high percentage of the program’s 180+ graduates find employment in the field of decorative arts.  Each year graduates join the ranks of distinguished scholars, museum professionals and commercial art market managers.

The Washington, DC program’s uniqueness is derived from its location in the heart of the nation’s capital, the Smithsonian Institution, and regional museums and research centers. Washington, DC, offers an unmatched concentration of scholarly and cultural opportunities where students gain insider access to great public and private collections.  The nation’s capital is an extended field laboratory of both public and private treasures awaiting further exploration.

These resources give the M.A. in the History of Decorative Arts access to collections of objects and research institutions no other decorative arts program in the U.S. can match.  The program has established close working relationships with relevant Smithsonian museum collections, the Federal Consortium of Collections (Departments of State, Treasury and White House), Library of Congress, the world’s largest library, and the National Gallery of Art.

The program also is networked with dozens of regional museum and historic house collections and research archives giving students and faculty the access to millions of artifacts and unparalleled quantities of primary source documentation on the visual arts.

Internships and Smithsonian M.A. Fellowship assignments offer complementary hands-on professional training.

History

• In 1995 Parsons School of Design approached Smithsonian senior management and proposed the expansion of its successful master’s degree program at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

• The Smithsonian Associates as the Institution’s center for life-long learning was the most appropriate Smithsonian partner for the Master’s Program in Washington, DC.  The program was inaugurated in Washington, DC, in Fall 1996.

Faculty

• An outstanding faculty of leading decorative arts experts who also are practicing professionals teaches all courses in the program and includes scholars drawn from the Washington, DC, region supplemented with visiting guest faculty from across the U.S. and from Europe.

• The faculty is extremely loyal to the HDA program and cites students’ level of scholarship, effort and how engaged they are with their studies.

• Over seventy-five percent have earned doctorates.

Every year, the Smithsonian American Art Museum hosts a group of fabulous Fellows. The museum recently released their list of Fellows for 2013-2014.

You can check out this very impressive list here.

Lea Hair is a rising senior at the Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport, LA majoring in Chemistry with a minor in visual culture.

But this summer she will be coming to the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute. Among other things, Lea will be learning how to use mass spectroscopy to analyze protein degradation in museum collections.

You can read more in this recent article by the Shreveport Times here.