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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: Smithsonian

Smithsonian stories: 8 news summaries

Nation's Top Museums
Free Tomorrow

Smithsonian Museum Day offers free online passes  for 1,200 sites

Sep 25, 09 3:06 AM CDT
(Newser) - Admission to over 1,200 museums across America will be free tomorrow as part of the Smithsonian's annual "Museum Day." The event is aimed at promoting culture and removing  "any  economic barrier" keeping people from enjoying museums, a Smithsonian exec tells USA Today. Museum-goers will need a ... More »

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museum • museums • Smithsonian • Rock and Roll Hall of Fame • Smithsonian Institute

 8 Offbeat Library Collections 

Hidden treasures abound in local libraries across the country

Mar 7, 09 3:20 AM CST
(Newser) - Your local library may be home to an odd or wonderful specialized stash of artifacts. The Smithsonian compiles a list of the nation’s most unusual library collections:
  • The Cleveland Public Library sports perhaps the world’s largest collection of chess- and checkers-related material, with more than 30,000
... More »

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Cleveland • Judaism • chess • romance • Smithsonian • University of Utah • library • University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

 For Sale: Space Shuttle, $42M 

NASA seeking museums to purchase spacecraft after retirement

Dec 18, 08 2:58 AM CST
(Newser) - NASA is taking the unprecedented step of offering to sell the three space shuttles to museums when the workhorse vehicles are retired some time after 2010, reports the Orlando Sentinel. The space agency is seeking at least $42 million—including $6 million for shipping and handling, and the cost of... More »

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NASA • museum • space shuttle • Kennedy Space Center • Smithsonian • Orion • Ares I • Air and Space Museum

 Smithsonian Picks New Leader 

Museum returns to academia roots, selects Ga. Tech president

Mar 15, 08 2:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Smithsonian Institute today handed its top job to Georgia Tech President G. Wayne Clough, marking a return to the museum’s academic roots, the AP reports. Clough follows the troubled tenure of businessman Lawrence Small, who came under fire for raising executive salaries and for focusing more on money... More »

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museums • academia • Georgia Tech • Smithsonian • G. Wayne Clough • Lawrence Small • Smithsonian Institute

Smithsonian Enshrines Colbert

Portrait hangs near the bathroom, but still

Jan 22, 08 2:10 PM CST
(Newser) - Stephen Colbert has finally been enshrined as the “national treasure” he insists he is. His portrait now hangs in the Smithsonian, the LA Times reports. OK, so it’s next to the Portrait Gallery bathroom, but that just means that, in Colbert’s words, “There has never been... More »

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art • comedy • Stephen Colbert • Smithsonian

When Bird Meets Plane,
Air Force
Takes Action

It studies spatters
to avoid collisions

Jan 4, 08 5:28 PM CST
(Newser) - When a bird smacks into a military plane, it is not a pretty picture, neither for bird nor plane. It is, however, a serious, if messy, problem, and one that jeopardizes the safety of pilots and some very expensive Air Force hardware. The Wall Street Journal visits a base in... More »

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Air Force • birds • Smithsonian • collisions

Smithsonian Fudged Global Warming Facts 'for Politics'

Accused of downplaying global warming

Nov 16, 07 4:08 AM CST
(Newser) - Government scientists claim officials at the Smithsonian National Museum downplayed global warming for political reasons in a 2006 exhibit on climate change in the Arctic. The museum's director insisted statements about the "scientific uncertainty" of climate change be included in the exhibit, reports the Washington Post. The director is... More »

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NASA • global warming • Arctic • Smithsonian • National Museum of Natural History • Christian Samper • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration • Arctic Studies Center

Houston, MoMA Tops in Arts $$$

Tops in donations: Houston's Museum of Fine Arts, NYC's MoMA

Oct 29, 07 9:32 PM CDT
(Newser) - A surge in private arts funding boosted the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston last year with $185.8 million, making it the top US recipient of private arts donations. Runners-up were New York's MoMA, with $133.5 million; the Smithsonian, with $131.2 million; and Boston's MFA, with $130.... More »

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donation • MoMA • arts organizations • Lincoln Center • Smithsonian

8 Stories


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