The Whatcom Museum has recently been accepted into the Smithsonian Affiliate program. This affiliation gives the Whatcom Museum access to the Smithsonian Institution's collections and resources, including education and performing arts programs, expert speakers, teacher workshops and technical assistance.
"We are very excited about the opportunities the Smithsonian Affiliation offers our museum," says Patricia Leach, Director of the Whatcom Museum. "This partnership allows us to bring important art works and artifacts to Bellingham which haven't been seen in Bellingham before."
Since 1997, Smithsonian Affiliates have borrowed more than 7,000 artifacts from the Smithsonian collections including the Apollo 13 space capsule (Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, Hutchinson, Kansas), Amelia Earhart's flight suit (The Women's Museum: An Institute for the Future, Dallas, Texas), Ray Bolger's scarecrow costume from The Wizard of Oz (Durham Western Heritage Museum, Omaha, Nebraska), and more than one hundred mineral specimens (Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum, Bisbee, Arizona and The Museum of Arts and Sciences, Daytona Beach, Florida).
Smithsonian Affiliates also have access to career development workshops for museum professions, stipend internships for Affiliate-based students, and stipend research opportunities for Affiliate-based visiting professionals.
There are over 150 Smithsonian Affiliate Museums throughout the country, with four located in Washington state: Wing Luke Asian Museum (Seattle), Museum of Flight (Seattle), Northwest Museum of Art & Culture (Spokane), and Whatcom Museum (Bellingham). Museums become Smithsonian Affiliates after a rigorous application process to determine that the applicant museum's mission is parallel to the Smithsonian's and that it demonstrates a strong commitment to serving their communities.
For more information, contact the Whatcom Museum.
Date Posted: Jun 24, 2008
