|  CHICAGOSmithsonian

Chicago-born Joan Mitchell with her painting Untitled in her parents’ Chicago apartment, c. 1952. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian

THE SMITHSONIAN IN CHICAGOThe Smithsonian began with a gift from James Smithson, an English scientist, to America. Since its founding 169 years ago, the Smithsonian has become the world’s largest museum and research complex, with 19 museums, the National Zoo and nine research facilities. It has a strong presence in Chicago through longstanding partner ships with affiliates, scholarly collaborations and educational outreach.

Archives of American Art

With funding from the Chicago-based Terra Foundation for American Art, the Archives of American Art is surveying art and design in Chicago collections. The two-year initiative will improve access to primary sources of archival material and update and expand the 1991 guide, Art-Related Archival Materials in the Chicago Area.

The funding enables the Archives to add to its rich collection of oral histories from the Chicago art world. These collections include conversations with native- born Judy Chicago, a pioneer feminist and creator of The Dinner Party, an installation that depicts women throughout Western culture.

The Katharine Kuh papers are a treasure trove of corre-spondence with Chicago artists, collectors and scholars. Kuh opened the city’s first gallery devoted to avant-garde art, in 1935, and was the first woman curator of European art and sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago.

From the Jazz Age in Paris to African American culture in Chicago, painter Archibald Motley was part of the Chicago Black Renaissance. His portraits break through racial stereotypes as documented in his unpublished manuscript at the Archives, How I Solve My Painting Problems.

The Archives is developing a Chicago art and artists website. The site will be designed to accommodate future art surveys and oral histories and link with open-source websites.

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Smithsonian Science

The Smithsonian partners with several Chicago-area institutions to examine some of the world’s most complex and pressing scientific and environmental challenges.

With the Field Museum and Chicago Botanic Garden, the Smithsonian created the Encyclopedia of Life (eol.org) and the Biodiversity Heritage Library (biodiversitylibrary.org), free resources that digitally document life forms on Earth.

It is preserving native orchids, restoring their habitats and creating a national seed bank with Chicago Botanic Garden and Illinois College.

Curated by the National Museum of Natural History and the American Library Association, the exhibition Exploring Human Origins: What Does It Mean to be Human? chronicles human evolution and will travel to the Peoria Public Library in 2016.

Smithsonian Collections

The Smithsonian shares the nation’s collection of 138 million treasures with Chicago institutions through loans of objects and traveling exhibitions (saa.si.edu).

Paphiopedilum Chiu Hua Dancer at the Chicago Botanic Garden

Patios, Pools & the Invention of the American BackyardELMHURST HISTORICAL MUSEUM | 120 EAST PARK AVENUE | ELMHURST, IL | APRIL 19–MAY 30, 2016

GLEN ELLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY | 400 DUANE STREET | GLEN ELLYN | JUNE 18–AUGUST 28, 2016

The exhibition explores American mid-century backyards — from suburban designs to those influenced by the environmental movement. Vintage photographs, drawings and period advertisements show how these outdoor spaces are an integral part of American popular culture. Curated by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and the Smithsonian Gardens Archive of American Gardens.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum will loan several works to the Art Institute of Chicago in 2016: László Moholy-Nagy’s Leuk 5 for the retrospective László Moholy-Nagy: Future Present, October 2, 2016–January 3, 2017; William H. Johnson’s Street Life, Harlem and Helen Lundeberg’s Double Portrait of the Artist in Time to the exhibition America After the Fall: Painting in the 1930s, June 5–September 18, 2016.

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CHICAGO IN THE SMITHSONIANA Chicagoan’s Legacy at the Smithsonian Naturalist Robert Kennicott started sending specimens to the Smithsonian from the prairie north of Chicago when he was a teenager in the mid-19th century. In 1859, the Smithsonian sent him on a three-year quest to explore the west. He traveled by foot, canoe and dogsled, collecting birds, mammals, fish, snakes, plants, Native American clothing and more, which he shipped to Washington. Along the way, he compiled some of the first dictionaries of tribal languages and kept a journal of his observations and discoveries.

Kennicott lived for a time in the Smithsonian Castle, cataloging specimens for the young institution. He went on another expedition in 1865 to find a cable route for the Western Union Telegraph to connect the United States to Europe via the Bering Strait. He died on this journey, but his papers were integral to the United State’s purchase of the Alaskan territory. The collections he made on these trips are a part of virtually every department at the National Museum of Natural History.

Portraits of ChicagoChicago’s art, history and culture are found throughout the Smithsonian’s vast collection — portraits of John Dewey, Ann Landers, Bobby Fischer and Studs Terkel at the National Portrait Gallery. The music of “The First Lady of the Children’s Folk Song” Ella Jenkins, who grew up on the south side of Chicago, and Chicago-born jazz musician Herbie Hancock are part of the collection at Smithsonian Folkways. Publications about the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and 1895 are in the Smithsonian Libraries’ collection.

The National Museum of American History’s new American Enterprise exhibition in the Mars Hall of American Business features the original cash register used at Marshall Field & Company. The exhibition chronicles Al Capone and the Birger Gang during Prohibition.

America on the MoveAmerica on the Move at the National Museum of American History offers visitors a chance to board a historic 1950s “L” train car for a genuine Chicago experience.

The museum holds many Chicago-centric objects, including Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls jersey and baseballs autographed by Cubs and White Sox players.

Chicago Jazz, Vol. 2, Billy Banks Rhythm Makers featuring Pee Wee Russell. National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

Robert Kennicott by Alexander Hesler, National Portrait Gallery

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SMITHSONIAN AFFILIATESThe Smithsonian Affiliations is a national outreach program that develops long-term collaborative partnerships with museums and educational and cultural organizations.

Adler Planetarium 1300 SOUTH LAKE SHORE DRIVE | CHICAGO, IL | ADLERPLANETARIUM.ORG

The Adler houses one of the world’s finest collections of astronomical artifacts, including the world’s oldest window sundial, dated 1529, and a telescope made by William Herschel, an 18th-century astronomer. The exhibition Mission Moon tells the story of Apollo 13 commander Captain James A. Lovell, Jr.’s life and career as an astronaut, with artifacts from his personal collection and the Gemini 12 spacecraft, on loan from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Arts220 COTTAGE HILL AVENUE | ELMHURST, IL | LIZZADROMUSEUM.ORG

The museum displays pieces of carved jade and other hard-stone carvings from around the world, including an imperial alter set from the Ming Dynasty. The collection also features Florentine and Roman stone mosaics, cameos and intaglios. The Castle Lizzadro, an 18-karat-gold sculpture with diamond windows, is an example of lapidary and goldsmithing.

Northwest Territory Historic Center205 WEST FIFTH STREET | DIXON, IL | NTHC.ORG

Dixon is President Ronald Reagan’s boyhood hometown. The center is in the renovated South Central School, where Reagan attended sixth and seventh grades. It features the President Reagan History Room, the restored “Dutch” Reagan Classroom and exhibitions of the region, such as The Changing Land Early American Farming.

Peoria Riverfront Museum222 SW WASHINGTON STREET | PREORIA, IL |

PEORIARIVERFRONTMUSEUM.ORG

The museum’s 16,000-piece collection includes fine, decorative and ethnographic arts and folk art from the Midwest, as well as archaeological and geological specimens. The sculpture garden is a survey of American and European contemporary artists. The museum also has planetarium.

The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music103 SOUTH SIXTH STREET | CHAMPAIGN, IL |

ARCHIVES.LIBRARY.ILLINOIS.EDU

The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music acquires and preserves significant archival records and historical artifacts in multiple media formats to document America’s local and national music history and its diverse cultures. The center is part of the University of Illinois Library and University Archives.

Pilot your own adventure and explore the variety of objects orbiting the sun at the Adler Planetarium. Observe and discover planets, moons, asteroids and more.

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CHICAGO LEADERSHIP

Smithsonian Board of Regents

Hanna Holborn Gray+

Walter E. Massey+

John W. McCarter, Jr.#

Smithsonian National Board

Robert G. Donnelley*

Marshall Field V*

Brenda Gaines#

Bert A. Getz*

Ronald Gidwitz#

Richard Howard Hunt*

Dennis J. Keller#

Donald G. Lubin*

Holly Madigan*#

Thomas J. Pritzker*

Chicago Host Committee

John Canning

J.R. Davis

Richard Davis

Jacqueline Vossler

Archives of American Art

Virginia Bobins#

Asian Pacific American Center

Robert N. Johnson

Smithsonian Folkways

Ella Jenkins*

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Camille Oliver-Hoffmann*

National Air and Space Museum

James A. Lovell*

David P. Storch

Paul R. Wood#

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Walter E. Massey*

Linda Johnson Rice#

National Museum of African Art

Mark A. Pickett*

Donald M. Stewart*

National Museum of American History

Neil Harris*

Donald G. Lubin*

Wayne W. Whalen

Volunteers from around the nation provide vital leadership and support. These members of Smithsonian boards reside in the Chicago metropolitan area.

National Museum of the American Indian

Lynn G. Cutler*

Frederick E. Hoxie*

National Museum of Natural History

Robert H. Malott*

National Postal Museum

Amina Dickerson*

Charles E. Fattore*

Richard R. John*

James E. Pehta*

Alfred F. Kugel*

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Richard Howard Hunt*

Jessica Stockholder*

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

James Erbs#

Smithsonian Libraries

Anton R. Valukas*

Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service

Brenda Gaines#

Smithsonian Latino Center

Gilberto Cárdenas*

Philip Fuentes

Yolanda Rodriguez Stemer

Smithsonian Science Education Center

Philip Needleman*

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Richard Sandor

* Alumni+ Emeritus # Chicago Host Committee

COVER Detail of Chicago Fair, from the Sky Ride by Rudolph J. Nedved, 1933. Gift of Chicago Society of Etchers, Smithsonian American Art Museum

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THE SMITHSONIAN CAMPAIGNDedicated to the increase and diffusion of knowledge, the Smithsonian is one of the wonders of the world, free and open to the public 364 days a year. Our financial foundation is provided by Congress, the American people and generous donors who are willing to invest in ideas. Through the $1.5 billion Smithsonian Campaign, we are sparking discovery, telling America’s story, inspiring lifelong learning and reaching people everywhere.

Make a gift today. Your tax-deductible gift helps make possible a world of learning and inquiry shared with millions. Investments in the Smithsonian Campaign will transform fields of research and inspire the next generation of thinkers. Visit smithsoniancampaign.org

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Learn more. Sign up for our monthly e-newsletter at enews.si.edu.

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