Elementary, dear Scurlock

Remind me not to go to anything on the Mall on a weekend. I guess I've been pretty spoiled by the smaller museums I've visited and also by the low volume of weekday visitors. Having taken a sick day yesterday, today MAD went to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Maybe not one of its busier days, but it was way too crowded for me.

Whatever. The exhibit I saw The Scurlock Studio and Black Washington - Picturing the Promise - was just terrific. The Scurlocks were THE photographers of black Washington DC from the time Addison set up his studio in 1911 until the last son in the business closed it down in 1994. This exhibit is a collaboration between the Smithsonian Museum of American History and the National African-American Museum of History and Culture - which will open its own building on the Mall in 2015. You can be sure that MAD will visit there.

Scurlock was known for portraits of middle- and upper middle-class families as well as luminaries. Also the official photographer of Howard University for many years. And son Robert was also a photojournalist, shooting with a camera from his studio at U and 9th during the riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., when much of the shooting was being done with guns.

My DC home is very near the corner of New Hampshire and U; many of the street photographs were taken quite nearby and seeing them reminded me of the not very long-ago history of the neighborhood. Who was living in my house during those years?

The husband of MAD joined me today and after the Smithsonian we went to Politics and Prose to hear Lonnie Bunch - director of the NMAAHC, Michelle Delaney, Paul Gardullo and Jacquelyn D. Serwer talk about the meaning of Preserving the Promise and sign copies of the book. Gardullo told the story of meeting Dorothy Height and her recollections of the events shown in a particular picture. Serwer spoke of a day she spent in Highland Beach (instead of in school) when visiting her cousins - a memory evoked by the photograph of a group of young girls at the Beach. The are hoping to be able to identify many of the anonymous subjects of the photographs and to hear their stories as well. Fortunately for us and the community, the Scarlock collection was acquired in 1997 by the Archives Center in the American History Museum. So take a look at some of these 4000 photos that can be viewed online. Maybe you'll see some one you know.

Lions & ......

Not in the mood for art today- still filled with Looking In: Robert Franks' The Americans; not in the mood for history today- still thinking about the African-American Civil War stuff. Not in the mood for the Mall on a Sunday. What then? Nature!

Walked over to the National Geographic Museum to an exhibit on Lions & Leopards - The work of Dereck & Beverly Joubert. I wasn't particularly interested in big cats (or little cats either) but I was immediately engrossed in this exhibit. A sign warned that some of the photographs and films showed violence. The Jouberts believe that "...the idea that predation is harsh and somehow wrong makes a mockery of our ecosystems, evolving since time and life began on earth" and their work reflects all aspects of their subjects' lives, even those the viewer may find unpleasant.

"Equal partners in the adventure of a lifetime", 30 years ago they decided on the life they wanted and then found a way to make it work, living in a tent or out of a survey vehicle. Their passion for human stewardship of threatened species was apparent in the visual depiction that documents their painstaking following and observing of leopards and lions.

Even more fascinating to me is how they found, share and live out this passion. Together they have co-produced 20 remarkable films, 6 books and many articles. I can't wait to see what they will do next.

MAD in St. Louis

Spent a few days in St. Louis visiting my younger son who goes to Washington University in St. Louis (It's in St. Louis) and thought I would have a break from MAD. But the Anheuser-Busch Tour had a room full of exhibits and memorabilia so then I thought if I told you about it I would maybe have a day off when I got back to the District. And since I am the creator of MAD, I get to make the rules.

The A-B tour was very packaged; you were moved around from place to place but left feeling like you didn't see anything real. The memorabilia was interesting - if you like beer; the beechwood aging tanks were enormous and the view of the packaging plant made me well aware of how few people actually are involved in the work of getting the beer out.

I started the tour hoping to see the Clydesdales and wasn't disappointed. In person they are impressive and beautiful ; they also live in conditions that prompted my husband to compare them to the living conditions of people both nearby and around the world. No offense to the Clydesdales.

Tim was our guide and he responded to my questions after the tour concerning the workforce and the economy. A-B was recently purchased by Inbev and the plant employs several thousand fewer workers since the acquisition.

How did a company that produced beer manage to survive so many dry years? Prohibition was mentioned in both the museum section and on the tour. Apparently A-B was able to prepare for it by manufacturing other items and stayed in business for the 13 years it took to get back to beer. How was Prohibition enacted politically? There must have been enormous economic and social consequences.

The tour ended with a free beer - I tried Shocktop - and a free bag of pretzels. I overheard "if you want real pretzels, go over to Gus'" so we did. A few blocks away we found the real thing, hand-twisted since 1920. Cash only .

A good day to be MAD.

205,145

If you drive by, or even walk by, the African American Civil War Memorial, you'll see Spirit of Freedom, Ed Hamilton's monumental bronze statue of three soldiers and one sailor on one of its sides and a scene of a soldier's leavetaking of home on the other. Behind the sculpture you'll see rows of horizontal steel bands. You have to stop when you walk by to see that the bands are engraved with the 205,145 names of the African American soldiers, white officers and Hispanic surnamed members of the US Colored Troops and sailors who fought in the Civil War.

To get background in preparation for viewing the monument I had stopped at the African American Civil War Museum on the way down U Street to the Memorial. Curator Hari Jones shared his knowledge and passion to bring the history alive for me. A descendant of one of the men whose name is on the Wall of Honor at the Memorial, he first learned about his forebear's contributions as a young child in Oklahoma.

The museum uses primary materials - frequently in the form of photographs and newspaper reprints. Interesting to look at, and even more compelling when Hari tells the stories behind them. Garland White was born in slavery in Richmond and escaped to become a preacher in Indiana. He joined the Colored Troops as a private and was discharged so that he could be commissioned as a chaplain. Grant appointed him to lead the US army into Richmond and while at the head of the troops he was recognized by his mother.

Why is this such a surprise to me? Hari says it's not only to me; that this information has been suppressed and mentions W.E.B. DuBois' essay "The Propaganda of History" by way of explanation. In the meantime, this museum and memorial highlight an essential contribution that we all should know more about.

Not What I Had in Mind to Do

President's Day and I thought it would be stirring to see the original Emancipation Proclamation on display for just a few days at the the National Archives. Apparently so did a lot of other people, including the school kids who were off from school and the government workers and the tourists. When I got to the Archives a sign stated that "The Rotunda has reached its capacity and the line will be moving soon. From this point on you have an approximately 45 minute wait" The line wasn't moving and that sign was only about halfway back. MAD was very happy that so many Americans (and visitors) were interested in seeing the real documents but not interested in waiting all that time.

Good thing MAD is so flexible. I went across the street to the National Gallery of Art. I got to see Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans . This was another way to explore America on President's Day and it was stirring in its own way.

In 1955 and 1956 Frank obtained a Guggenheim fellowship and spent 10,000 miles travelling across and back the US taking 27,000 images along the way. The exhibit showed a whole wall of his raw work. He narrowed them down to 83 and published a book that was innovative and provocative. It's 50 years old and is still innovative and provocative. You can buy it in the National Gallery of Art gift shop and you can also buy a catalogue of the exhibit . It contains all of the pix and lots of information about their context. Hint, hint.

This exhibit shows all 83 images in the order they appeared in the book. Curated by Sarah Greenough, it was packed with information both interesting and sometimes distracting. Frank quotes Antoine De Saint Exupery "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye". So while Art is created by the artist the viewer sees it with her own heart and it can mean something other than what the artist intended. Photos #20 and 21 are both pictures of elderly men - one in a run-down Berkeley apartment building, one on a bench at a Yale graduation. The notes talk about the differences between these people; MAD saw the similarities. It was easy to see it both ways and a lot of other ways as well. I would love to know what information the curator's notes were based on - whether they came form the artist or her own observation and interpretation.

Frank's photos are fascinating visually, emotionally and create their own archive of America. I left his Americans but they didn't leave me. How pleased I was that lots of people got to see the Archives and even more pleased that I wasn't one of them.

Bait and Switch

You can check: right on the Kennedy Center website it says "interactive exhibit on the life and presidency of John F. Kennedy". Doesn't that count as a museum?

These interactive exhibits are videos with audio that you can theoretically listen to but that I couldn't get to work. Am I technologically challenged? Maybe - or maybe they were broken. WHO CARES. At the Kennedy Center the building itself is the show, even if the impressive scale is not to your taste.

In the huge Hall of Nations - flags of all the countries recognized by the US - and Hall of States the flags float like clouds high above the concert- and theatre-goers who will miss them if they don't look up. There was, however, the famous bust of Kennedy which is special to see in person.

And I had something else to enjoy (the real reason I had selected the Kennedy Center for MAD): One of the free concerts presented on the Millennium Stage 365 Days a Year. The Paschall Brothers are an a capella gospel group from the Virginia Tidewater and they filled the space with their sound and spirit.

Who says I can't expand the definition of "Museum"?

My Father's Calendar

Two Septembers ago we spent three weeks in a rented brownstone on T Street. My parents, who live in Calabasas, California, joined us for one of those weeks. During that time they visited the National Museum of American Jewish Military History . Visiting my parents over the weekend, I saw the calendar from the museum hanging on the wall. Since I now live in walking distance I decided to go there for today for an interesting and compelling MAD.

This museum is part of the Dupont-Kalorama Museums Consortium and as an off-the-mall spot doesn't get a tremendous amount of traffic. What a shame. The exhibits are clear and detailed. I was told that the lobby - light-filled with glass walls open to the first floor exhibits - is new. The museum has plans for additional $750 million of renovations and they know that in this economic time it will be difficult.

A few of the other exhibited are devoted to military Women, the Jewish War Veterans' Protest March Against Nazi Germany - 75th Anniversary,and the role of Jewish members of the armed forces in helping post-war Displaced Persons find new homes. A lovely small chapel honors the memory of Joshua L. Goldberg and and exhibit is devoted to the life of Major General Julius Klein, former national commander of the Jewish War Veterans . The Hall of Heroes displays a portrait of each of the Jewish Congressional Medal of Honor recipients and their citations.

The idea of a museum devoted to Jews in the military may seem kind of narrow but the stories of the men and women who served are affecting whether you are Jewish-American or simply American.

A Mother's Grief tells the story of Sanford L. Kahn of Kearny, New Jersey. Objects and photographs show him to us - from photographs of his early childhood - to his high school diploma - to his handwritten letter stating that his 18th birthday was the best day of his life because he was able to enlist - to the letter from the Army to his parents confirming his death in action on July 11, 1944. Through this exhibit, Sanford has become history, but the reality of his 19 years is brought to vivid life though the items on display and serves as one particular emblem that must be multiplied by all those who were lost.

My father, talking about a friend of his killed in the War, says softly, "He missed a whole life". This Military History Museum made me remember how many others did as well.