Smithsonian.com

Three Women, Hula Dancers, in Costume and with Leis Outside Thatch House. Image courtesy of the National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.

Saturday, May 29: Festival Argentino: Live Celebration of Tango, Rock, and Folk Music

In this event sponsored by the Smithsonian Latino Center, enjoy Washington DC’s only local festival that celebrates Argentina’s multifaceted musical traditions. On top of that, savor the country’s cuisine and crafts and get a lesson in how to dance the tango. Musical performers will include Facundo Saravia, Los Musiqueros Entrerrianos, Daniel Bouchet, and others. Tickets are required. Rates are: $20 per person. To purchase tickets and for more information, visit www.festivalargentinousa.com. Thomas Jefferson Theater, 4:00-10:00 PM.

Sunday, May 30: Decorative Tile Workshop

Painted tiles are a part of Mexico’s decorative arts tradition, and in today’s workshop, artist Wanda Aikens will help you create your own painted tiles. Free. If you would like to make a reservation, call 202-633-4844. Anacostia Community Museum, 1:00 PM.

Monday, June 1: 3-Day Cultural Festival: Celebrate Hawai’i: Hula

Celebrate the end of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month by attending the 4th annual Celebrate Hawaii Festival where you can enjoy the cultural riches of our 50th state! This is the last day of a three day festival. Come on out and enjoy the following activities:

10:30 AM–12 Noon: Kapa Pounding, Kapa Stamping and Hawaiian Barklcloth Demonstration (Outdoor Area off of Potomac). Repeats at 1 PM – 4:30 PM.
10:30 AM–12 Noon: Learn to play traditional Hawaiian games with NMAI Cultural Interpreters (Outdoor Amphitheater). Repeats at 1 PM – 4:30 PM.
10:30 AM–12 Noon: Hawaiian Plants: Samuel M. ‘Ohukani‘ōhi‘a Gon III, senior scientist and cultural advisor at the Hawai’i Nature Conservancy, discusses indigenous Hawaiian botany (Potomac Alcove). Repeats at 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM.
10:30 AM–12 Noon: Kapa Pounding and Kapa Stamping Family Workshop (Education Classroom, Room 3010).
10:30 AM-1 PM: Lei Making Demonstration with Bill Char (Upper Potomac). Repeats at 2 PM – 4:30 PM.
10:30 AM–1 PM: Hawaiian Musical Implements Demonstration with Kumu Hula Chinky Mahoe (Potomac Alcove).
11 AM: Short Films from Hawai’i: This showcase features narrative shorts from young Hawaiian filmmakers (Rasmuson Theater).
11:30 AM–12:30 PM: Hawaiian Cooking Demonstration: Mitsitam Native Foods Cafe executive chef Richard Hetzler demonstrates the art of Hawaiian cooking. (Outdoor Akaloa Fire Pit; rain location: Potomac).
12 Noon: Learn the Hula: Join local musicians and dancers to learn some hula moves (3rd Level, Resource Center).
1 PM: Hula Dancing and Hula Workshop: Hālau Ho’omau I Ka Wai Ola O Hawaii performs. A hula dance lesson is included (Potomac Atrium).
2 PM: The Natural World of the Hula: Dr. Samuel M. ‘Ohukani‘ōhi‘a Gon III discusses the symbolism of the hula and how it relates to the land and sea (Rasmuson Theater).
3:00 PM–3:30 PM: Hawaiian Musical Implements with Kumu Hula Chinky Mahoe: Learn more about the instruments used for the Hula through this musical presentation (Potomac Alcove).
3:30 PM: Hula Dancing and Hula Workshop: Hālau Ho’omau I Ka Wai Ola O Hawaii performs. A hula dance lesson is included (Potomac Atrium).
3:30–4:30 PM: Hawaiian Plants: Samuel M. ‘Ohukani‘ōhi‘a Gon III, senior scientist and cultural advisor at the Hawai’i Nature Conservancy, discusses indigenous Hawaiian botany (Potomac Alcove).
4 PM: Short Films from Hawaii: This showcase features narrative shorts from young Hawaiian filmmakers (Rasmuson Theater).

Can’t make it out today? Check out this Web site to see what events will be happening during the first two days of the festival (May 29 and May 30). Free. American Indian Museum, 10:30 AM-4:30 PM.

For updates on all exhibitions and events, visit our companion site goSmithsonian.com

Long before Bo knew anything and Deion was Neon, there was Jim Thorpe, the original 20th-century world-class, multi-sport athlete. He set the standard for others to follow, dominating college football, winning Olympic gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon, and then following those up with a Hall of Fame professional football career. Oh yeah, and he played a little major-league baseball, too.

A grass roots campaign begun in 2000 to place Jim Thorpe on the cover of a Wheaties box came to fruition in November of 2001. Image courtesy of NMAI, SI

Thorpe was born 123 years ago today to a mixed-race couple in Prague, Oklahoma. Jacobus “Jim” Franciscus Thorpe was of Irish, French, and Sauk and Fox Native American ancestry. His parents raised him as a Sauk and Fox, and the translation of Thorpe’s Native name, Wa-Tho-Huk, “Bright Path,” foreshadowed the formidable athletic achievements he would make.

Within the collections of the Smithsonian Institution, a rather unique artifact honors the memory of the great athlete—the famous 2001 Wheaties cereal box bearing his portrait. A grass roots campaign began in 2000 to get Thorpe the honored cover position and today, one of the cereal boxes resides at the National Museum of the American Indian.

At age 16, Thorpe was sent to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, where he began exhibiting his legendary natural athletic prowess in track and field. But football would eventually capture his attention and become his true love. Under the tutelage of innovative coaching great Glenn Scobey “Pop” Warner, Thorpe used his combination of speed and power to dominate at several positions on offense and defense, leading Carlisle to a championship while earning All-America honors in 1911 and 1912.

Warner described the six-foot-one, 200-pound Thorpe as “the most complete athlete in the world” and suggested that he compete in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. It turned out to be an excellent suggestion, as Thorpe put on a show, utilizing his all-around athletic abilities to rack up gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon. “You, sir, are the world’s greatest athlete,” King Gustav V of Sweden congratulated Thorpe during the presentation ceremony. To which Thorpe famously responded, “Thanks, King.”

However, the hero who had returned home to a ticker-tape parade was stripped of his Olympic gold medals in 1913, when it was found that he had violated amateur status rules by playing semi-pro baseball before competing in the Olympics. This wasn’t something new, by any means. Many college players of the time did the same thing to pick up money on the side; but most did it on the sly, using aliases to protect their identities. Unfortunately for Thorpe, he had used his own name. Due to the commonality of the practice, there was little public outrage, but the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) came down hard anyway, retroactively revoking his amateur status, prompting the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to strip Thorpe of his medals.

Jim Thorpe with the New York Giants in 1913. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress

Now formally declared a professional, Thorpe signed with the New York Giants (baseball), and ended up playing sporadically over the next six years for three different teams. He spent his summers on the diamond and his winters on the gridiron, signing with the Canton Bulldogs in 1915. Thorpe was dominant on both sides of the ball, leading the Bulldogs to three unofficial world championships in 1916, 1917 and 1919, while raising the status of professional football with his world-class athletic reputation. And when the American Professional Football Association—which would go on to become the NFL—was first organized in 1920, Thorpe was named league president.

By the end of his sports career, Thorpe was struggling with alcoholism and health problems. He died of a heart attack in 1953. Following Thorpe’s death, the Pennsylvania boroughs of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk merged, renaming the town Jim Thorpe. They purchased Jim Thorpe’s remains from his third wife, and erected a monument in his honor.

While Thorpe’s athletic exploits increased the visibility of the Native American people, ironically not all Native Americans were even recognized as citizens of the United States as he was winning those gold medals. At that time the US government required certain concessions to be made by Native Americans in order to be granted citizenship. There were also some unproven rumblings that his medals were stripped due to his Native American heritage.

After many years of efforts by Thorpe supporters, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) restored the athelete’s medals in 1983, 30 years after his death. His legendary reputation stands today, and as recently as 1999 he finished third in an Associated Press poll of the top athletes of the century, behind only Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan.

Perhaps 1912 Olympic silver medalist Abel Kiviat summed up Jim Thorpe’s talents the best, “What he had was natural ability. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do. All he had to see is someone doin’ something and he tried it…and he’d do it better.”

Golden Gate Bridge by Ray Strong, 1934. Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Seventy-three years ago today, President Franklin D. Roosevelt opened California’s Golden Gate Bridge. More than 6,463 feet long and over 754 feet tall, the Golden Gate on the day it opened became the longest suspension bridge in the world, a record it held until 1964. Today, eight other bridges surpass it.

Construction began on January 5, 1933 and was completed April 1937. The infamous color of the bridge, International Orange, was originally only the hue of the sealant, but public opinion convinced its designer to pick a similar orange for the final paint shade. Artist Ray Strong paid glowing homage to the construction project in his 1934 depiction, which for a time hung in Roosevelt’s White House and is now a part of the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  Looking north into the foothills of Marin County, the busy shipping lane that the bridge would eventually span is filled with tugboats and a freighter.  And in the foreground, the workers are dwarfed by the massive pylons and other preconstruction structures.

Below see archival footage of the parade of cars and other celebrants took to the new bridge on opening ceremony.

Two white-naped crane chicks (one shown above) were born at the National Zoo's Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia this month. Photo by Mehgan Murphy.

The National Zoo has two new long-necked, long-legged friends.

The white-naped crane chicks, born May 12 and May 14, are the newest residents of the zoo’s Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia. Native to China, Russia and Korea, the cranes number just an estimated 5,000 in the wild due to destruction of its native wetland habitat.

Breeding the rare birds has become something of a specialty at the institute. Researchers there have managed to successfully breed older birds, or birds with behavioral or physical problems, using artificial insemination. The process has resulted in the births, over the past eight years, of nine “genetically valuable” chicks, as researchers like to call the birds who are bred to capture genes that otherwise would have been lost. Currently the institute is home to 12 of the 60 cranes that are part of the breeding program, the North American White-Naped Crane Species Survival Plan.

The chicks’ mother was artificially inseminated at the end of March, and the chicks’ eggs were laid in April.

One chick will be raised by first-time crane parents (including the biological mother); the second will be raised by an older, unrelated pair of cranes. The genders of the chicks are unknown for now—but we hope we find out (and maybe even name them!) soon.

They’re watching you. The eyes in the miniature paintings at the American Art Museum, that is. In this week’s “Ask Joan of Art,” an online feature by the museum’s resident art experts, a visitor asked what was so special about miniature eye paintings. Lovers used to give miniature portraits of their eyes to each other to wear in secret, according to Joan of Art. The museum has seven of these miniature paintings in its collection. Read more about the history of the 18th century trend in Joan of Art’s column, or ask your own question via her website or Twitter.

Now that we know you’re wearing eyes, we might as well get personal. What’s on your to-do list? How about in your suitcase? The way artists have represented those things are among the favorite items of Liza Kirwin, the curator of manuscripts at the Smithsonian Institution Archives of American Art and the author of the new book Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists. In this online feature, she gives a tour of some of the items included in the book. Among them: Adolf Konrad’s (1915–2003) drawing of what he packed in his suitcase in 1963 on a trip to Cairo (including what appears to be red and white striped boxer shorts) and a page from Janice Lowry’s (1946–2009) journal, which blends a mix of things to do (like make a doctor’s appointment) with a drawing of a whimsical man wearing red-tipped elf slippers. An exhibit about the book is also showing in the Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery at the Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture.

And while we’re at it, what exactly do you do all day? We find out what some of our experts have been up to in this video feature (embedded above) about Off-Beat Smithsonian Experts, including a butterfly hatcher and a fossil-model maker. (How can you resist knowing what it takes to be a giant squid de-humidifier?)

But the burning question is, what would you do all day if you had to feed the zoo’s animals? “Making sure they eat their leafy greens,” of course, says Mike Maslanka, head nutritionist at the National Zoo.  Go behind the scenes with this video that shows how nutritionists prepare eats for the 2,000 animals that live there. (Including how they helped their male Andean Bear, Nikki, shed a few pounds.)