Smithsonian

Despite some compelling evidence to the contrary, the boys over at the Smithsonian are not all dumb.A few weeks after scrapping an exhibit on dropping the bomb on Hiroshima because it was too controversial, they've decided to postpone one on the war in Vietnam for at least five years (and probably forever). Because it's too controversial.This is great news.If there's one thing we don't want in America, it's a museum exhibit that might cause somebody to think.We like our history as taught in the movie "Forrest Gump."

Tom L. Freudenheim, former director of the Baltimore Museum of Art, is one of three top administrators at Washington's Smithsonian Institution whose jobs are being eliminated in a management restructuring.Mr. Freudenheim, assistant provost for the arts and humanities, said yesterday he doesn't know exactly when he will be leaving his position, but "it's imminent." He is responsible for oversight of most of the Smithsonian's 16 museums.Mr. Freudenheim was director of the BMA from 1971 to 1978.

If you're a documentary maker, American history can be yours, but only at a price that may include your independence. For many of America's leading documentary artists, that's the message of the deal recently sealed between Showtime Networks Inc. and the Smithsonian Institution. Documentary filmmakers who intend to base their work substantially on the Smithsonian collection or interviews with its staff now must have their proposals reviewed by a new company called Smithsonian Networks, which is starting Smithsonian on Demand, a pay cable service, in December.

Proposed budget cuts could jeopardize the existence of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, a leading center for research on the blue crab and a laboratory for scientists studying ecosystems worldwide, the facility's director said yesterday. Under the proposed cuts, the research center could lose virtually all of its approximately $3.4 million operating budget, said Ross Simons, the facility's director. The allocation covers the salaries of 43 federal employees in the research, administration and education departments as well as maintenance staff.

In a move that has angered conservationists and alarmed scientists, Lawrence Small, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, has announced plans to close several of its facilities, including the Conservation and Research Center, a 3,200-acre field station near Front Royal, Va. Part of the National Zoo, which in turn is part of the Smithsonian, the center is internationally known for its work training conservation scientists and restoring endangered species,...

WASHINGTON - The Smithsonian Institution yesterday announced it is closing its world-famous zoological research center and making other major cutbacks despite record amounts of private donations and a $50 million increase in its White House-approved budget. Nearly 200 jobs will be eliminated. The taxpayer-funded Smithsonian is the world's largest museum, education and research complex, with 16 museums in Washington and New York and six research centers, including the zoological center.

WASHINGTON -- To spiders, scorpions, termites and othe creepy crawlies, Orkin Pest Control is the enemy. But to hundreds of insects at the Smithsonian Institution's insect zoo, the Orkin Man is a friend.The Atlanta-based company contributed $500,000 for renovation of the popular exhibit at the Museum of Natural History, which will reopen in September as the "O. Orkin Insect Zoo" -- after Otto Orkin, the company's founder.The gift highlights the Smithsonian's funding dilemma. The sprawling complex's needs are outstripping its public funding, but the search for alternative resources is raising accusations of a sellout.

Marvette Perez acknowledges that she's no avid fan of hip-hop. Even now, she wouldn't list it among her favorite kinds of music. But when the Smithsonian museum curator talks about hip-hop, she sounds as if she's from the genre's "old school," reeling off the names of pioneers DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa or alluding to the genre's influences, whether Jamaican toasting (rhythmic, poetic boasts) or recording artist James Brown. SAMPLES FROM THE FUTURE HIP-HOP EXHIBIT ON VIEW / / through Sept.

WASHINGTON - The Smithsonian Institution has received a bit of red, white and blue Americana from St. Paul, Minn. - a pair of barber poles manufactured by the William Marvy Co.The Marvy company, the only commercial manufacturer of barber poles in the Western Hemisphere, donated the poles to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.One of the poles is the 75,000th manufactured by the company."Barbershop poles evoke many memories of the American main street. It is a symbol of American life," said David Shayt, curator in the museum's cultural history division.

WASHINGTON -- After 10 years of planning, the Smithsonian Institution will break ground today for the National Museum of the American Indian on the last empty plot on the National Mall, which runs between the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument.The museum's limestone-clad design -- created in consultation with Indian leaders and shaped to evoke the wind- and water-carved rock formations of the American West -- is expected to contrast sharply with the Greek Revival, Victorian and modern buildings lining the Mall.