Editors' Picks: The Best of Smithsonian Magazine's 7th Annual Photo Contest

July 1, 2010 - February 28, 2011
Great Hall
For its 7th annual photo contest, Smithsonian magazine received over 45,000 entries from the United States and around the world in the following five categories: Altered Images, Americana, The Natural World, People, and Travel. A panel of judges selected 50 finalists, 30 of which are displayed in the Castle.

Winning photos were announced in the June 2010 issue of Smithsonian magazine (pp. 66-71) and on Smithsonian.com on July 1, 2010.

Notes:
- Smithsonian magazine editors selected winners for each category in addition to a grand prize winner.
- Between March 1 and March 31, readers voted online to select a readers' choice winner.

Read My Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection

June 18, 2010 - October 17, 2010 (new closing date)
Schermer Hall
This exhibition features pins from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's collection to explore the use of jewelry as a tool of diplomacy and to capture her wit and the expressive nature of her pins.

During her service as ambassador to the United Nations, and then as secretary of state, Albright came to understand how powerful a symbol an item of jewelry could be, and chose pins to reflect her diplomatic mission, reinforce her negotiating position, or express her pride of country and office. The pins on view span more that a century of jewelry design and range from dime-store pins to designer creations to family heirlooms. She wore these pins at meetings with world leaders and ordinary citizens alike, in settings both formal and informal.

Highlights include:
• the antique eagle purchased to celebrate her appointment as Secretary of State
• the zebra pin she wore when she met Nelson Mandela
• the Valentine Day's heart forged by her five-year-old daughter
• a dazzling array of flags, flowers, birds, bugs, fanciful designs, and even a man made out of vegetables.

Related publication: $40 (cloth)

See related article in Smithsonian magazine: June 2010, p. 28.

No photography permitted.

Note: The exhibition is open to the public during regular hours except during special events.

The Smithsonian Institution: America's Treasure Chest

- Permanent
The Commons (West Wing)
In display cases framing the walls of this historic room are selected objects representing all of the museums that offer a tantalizing sample of the breadth and depth of the Smithsonian's vast collections.

Note: The exhibition is open to the public during regular hours except during special events.

Garden: Folger Rose Garden, including the Keith Fountain (seasonal)

- Permanent
Outside, Jefferson Drive between Castle and Arts & Industries
The Folger Rose Garden features a bed of roses in a rainbow of colors, along with selected annuals, perennials, and woody plants chosen for year-round interest. It was donated by the Folger family in honor of their mother, Kathrine Dulin Folger.

The GUR-KARMA-RANA Keith fountain, donated by the Keith family, is the centerpiece of the garden, and was produced by the J.W. Fiske Company in New York in the mid-1800s. It features 3 tiers with water cascading over the sides and a granite basin with a seating ledge. The tiers, from top to bottom, are 15", 24", and 36" in diameter. A 1" pipe through the stem provides water. The name of the fountain is derived from the first letters of the names of Keith family members.

Before the creation of the Haupt Garden, the fountain stood in the Quadrangle. A replica of the fountain today stands in the courtyard of the Blair House.

Garden: Enid A. Haupt Garden

- Permanent
Outside, south of the Castle (The Quadrangle)
A 4.2-acre rooftop park, named for its donor, features an embroidered parterre in a geometric design of plants and flowers rotated seasonally. Other features include an Asian-influenced garden adjacent to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, a Moorish-influenced garden adjacent to the National Museum of African Art, and garden furnishings from the Smithsonian Gardens' Garden Furniture Collection.

The landscape design of the Haupt Garden was a collaborative effort of architect Jean Paul Carlhian; Lester Collins, landscape architect from Millbrook, New York; Sasaki Associates Inc. of Watertown, Massachusetts; and James Buckler, founding director of the Smithsonian's Office of Horticulture.

See November 2002 Smithsonian magazine, p. 20

Smithsonian Information Center

- Permanent
Highlights include:

• 2 information desks, serving the public and Smithsonian Associate members, which are staffed by volunteers from 8:30 AM-4 PM daily.
• 1 orientation theater (northeast wall) featuring an 10-minute video overview of the Institution (runs continuously, beginning at approximately 9 AM).
• 2 interactive "touch-screen" programs on the Smithsonian Institution in 6 languages.
• 1 scale model of Washington's monumental core.
• Smithson's Gift showcase (provides information on the history of the Institution).
• A tactile map of the Washington's monumental core with Braille labels.

Smithson's Crypt

- Permanent
First Floor, North Entrance (Jefferson Drive)
The final resting place of the Institution's benefactor, James Smithson (1765-1829), is a small chapel-like room located at the north entrance to the Castle. Exhibit cases contain a few of Smithson's personal effects as well as the Smithsonian's official Mace and Badge of Office. A panel exhibit explains how Smithson's remains came to the United States in 1904 and the Smithsonian's plans to build a memorial to him.

Exhibit Panels: The West Wing: A Chronology

- Permanent
Schermer Hall, West Wing
This 2-panel exhibit reveals the history of the west wing of the Castle -- from its first use as the Institution's library to its use as The Commons dining room (through June 20, 2004) -- through images and text. The text is adapted from The Castle, An Illustrated History of the Smithsonian Institution Building by Cynthia R. Field, Richard E. Stamm, and Heather P. Ewing.

Featured Areas: Children's Room, The Commons, Schermer Hall

- Permanent
First Floor
• Children's Room: (First Floor, South Entrance, Independence Avenue)
The Children's Room -- with the theme "Knowledge Begins in Wonder" -- was installed in the south tower of the Castle in 1901 and featured natural history exhibitions for children. The original decorative scheme by designer Grace Lincoln Temple was restored in the mid-1980s.

• The Commons: (First Floor, West Wing)
The Commons, in the 19th-century Gothic Revival architectural style, features a soaring, groin-vaulted ceiling, elaborate corbels, a ribbed-vaulted apse, and a rose window on the south wall. Encircling the room are 28 walnut exhibit cases built in 1871 and refurbished in July 2004 with selected objects representing the Smithsonian's collections (for details, see permanent exhibition The Smithsonian Institution: America's Treasure Chest). The room served as a dining facility for many years, closing in June 2004.

• Schermer Hall: (First Floor, West Wing)
Schermer Hall, named for Smithsonian donors Lloyd G. and Betty A. Schermer, is in the Romanesque Revival style with clerestory windows, rounded arches, and a barrel-vaulted ceiling. Furnishings from the Castle Collection include a pair of Rococo Revival gilded mirrors that belonged to Simon Cameron, Secretary of War (1860-1862) under President Lincoln; a pair of Renaissance Revival armchairs (c. 1860) that belonged to Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War (1862-1867) under Presidents Lincoln and Grant; and Georgian Revival tables (c. 1910) in mahogany and verdi marble with classically carved motifs, including anthemion and acanthus leaves and guilloche (running dog) borders. Also in this room is a small, 2-panel display on the history of the west wing; for details, see permanent exhibition The West Wing: A Chronology.