Day One Orientation: Off to the Smithy! (Castle and American History)
Having just moved to the Washington D.C. area, I have proudly deemed myself a fake tourist; meaning a local that likes to do tourist-y things. Clearly not every local here (or in places like Paris, New York, Orlando…etc.) is a fake tourist. In fact, I have many Washingtonian/NOVA friends that find tourist-y things to be boring/uninteresting and only do them if they have family visiting that they must entertain somehow.
To me, that’s just a real shame. Think of all the things that you can learn about your own town in order to be proud of the place that you live in! (Especially here where there is literally culture, history, and interesting stuff EVERYWHERE.)
I suppose though I have a pretty good excuse for being a fake tourist. I just moved (which I guess makes me a fake local too *sigh*), so I haven’t been on boring school field trips to the monuments since I was five, nor had my parents dragged me to a museum every other weekend to be amused by permanent fixtures of dino bones. In fact, I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of all the fun things our nation’s capital has to offer. Yeah basically, I’m as close to a real tourist as a fake tourist can get, but soon that will all change. I have decided to enroll myself as Smithsonian volunteer in order to learn more about the various museums and become an informed local, in addition to being a fake tourist. I will document my museum experiences (and maybe some other fake tourist excursions) in this blog.
Today was my orientation day, which was held in the Smithsonian Castle.
Today was my orientation day, which was held in the Smithsonian Castle.
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| James Smithson's crypt is inside. I didn't take a picture of it because it seemed kinda morbid to have a crypt not only in an institution building but also by the front door... |
When I met with Michael, our volunteer and training coordinator, he asked if I’d been inside the Smithsonian Castle before. Well, I lied and said I had even though I hadn’t. It would have been too much trouble (and a little awkward) to explain that the few times I have been to the National Mall I didn’t want to waste time over at an information desk (which is ironically enough the program I will be volunteering with, info desk). That’s basically what the Castle is; a building that acts as an information hub for all the Smithsonians in Washington D.C.. Needless to say, I tried to suppress my touristy nature within the building. However, I still took a picture of the Christmas tree they still had on display and of these circle chairs I found to be interesting.
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| Unusually shaped furniture interests me. |
It was decorated with tons of little snowy owls. They all looked like baby Hedwigs! Michael said that the décor was inspired by the fact that in the 1970’s two owls decided to live in the tower of the Castle and staff named them Increase and Diffusion. The geek in me automatically assumed it was because an increase in pressure within an enclosed space causes a faster rate of diffusion across a semi-permeable membrane, but Michael said it was because the mission of Smithsonian was to increase the diffusion of knowledge to all. My mistake.Pro tip: If you ever want to take a tour of the Castle, go on a Sunday because then you can both tour the downstairs and also the upstairs. That’s where the library is and the reagent room, where the board of directors for Smithsonian have their super important meetings. We had our orientation in the library and it was quite beautiful and fancy. (You know you’re a giant nerd when you just enjoy being in beautiful libraries.)
According to Michael, we won’t know what museum we will be placed in yet. Before our rigorous training schedule (starts in two weeks, YAY), he will ask us for our volunteer time preferences and then assign us based on the time slot openings. I personally don't have a preference about which museum I get. All of them sound very interesting. And if after 3 months I want to change museums, they’ll apparently allow it.
Orientation didn’t last long (only about an hour), so afterwards I thought I would go to the National Museum of American History. I have never been before, but I’ve always wanted to. It’s famous for housing both the original Star Spangled Banner (which of course I wasn’t allowed to photograph) and Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz (the exact ones that Judy Garland wore).
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| Sexy George Washington is sexy. I had no idea he had a six-pack. |
Many other cultural artifacts that were highlighted include Michael Jackson’s hat, Nastia Liukin’s Olympic leotard, Thomas Jefferson’s bible, 1960’s Disneyland Dumbo ride seat…thing, historic military uniforms, a replica of a Vietnam War helicopter. (I’m not kidding, a helicopter was in the building!) Now all that is grand and dandy, but I was most excited to see a newer exhibit called “The First Ladies”.
If anybody knows me, they would know I’m into fashion like a librarian is into alphabetizing. So duh, I loved looking at all the First Ladies’ dresses. The most fascinating thing (and yet most obvious) is that each dress not only represents the woman, but also the time period. For example, look at the below picture and think of the time period it looks to be from and then guess the First Lady.
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| Sorry for the glare.
Clearly, it’s a flapper dress, which must belong to a 1920’s First Lady. In this case it was Grace Coolidge (1923- 1929). Let’s try one more.
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| The First Ladies were so trendy! Love it! |
What other time period would it be possibly acceptable to wear lime green to a state dinner? Obviously the hippie centric 70’s and Betty Ford was the woman daring enough to do it.
Unfortunately, I won’t post all the pictures of all the First Ladies’ gowns. If you want to see them all, you’ll just have to go to the American History museum for yourself. (sorry) I will show you the highlight of the exhibit though. It’s the dress that made designer Jason Wu famous, Michelle Obama’s inaugural gown
Unfortunately, I won’t post all the pictures of all the First Ladies’ gowns. If you want to see them all, you’ll just have to go to the American History museum for yourself. (sorry) I will show you the highlight of the exhibit though. It’s the dress that made designer Jason Wu famous, Michelle Obama’s inaugural gown
The pictures honestly do not do the gown justice. In person, it is just beautiful and so detailed. Every sparkle, every embroidered leaf, and fabric flower seemed to be meticulously placed on the gown by a couture genius. It just looked so perfect and I was jealous as hell that I couldn’t own/wear it.
On a side note, I don’t know if anyone else remembers, but Michelle Obama got a lot of smack for consistently showing her arms in sleeveless and strapless gowns. At the time I kept thinking, “What’s the big deal? You hardly ever see any celebrity on the red carpet with sleeves anymore unless they’re over the age of 60.” Well, when you see all the gowns lined up and just about every single one of them has long sleeves and a covered neckline, I can see how Mrs. O was considered a boundary pusher by showing a little bit of skin as the First Lady.
Before I left, there was one more exhibit that I was very much interested in seeing. That’s Julia Child’s kitchen, which they replicated with a bunch of her original cookware and …stuff.
If you didn’t know that Julia Child was a chef, you’d walk into the exhibit and think she was some sort of professional medieval torturer.
That hook grabber thing is apparently a potato tong (to the left). The thing that looks like a comb with very pointy prongs is used to decorate icing on cakes (above). All in all, don’t get Julia man because those things look painful.
What really fascinated me about the exhibit was the fact that they had this large TV in the room that played her cooking show on loop. When I first walked in, there were literally just 20 people standing there watching her cook chicken... not looking at the other things to see... just watching Julia.
I guess that goes to show you that she was a legend for a reason. Can’t take your eyes off of her!
One last thought: The one thing about any museum that consistently amuses me to no end is when they have interactive boards or guest books for people to post their thoughts or comments on, either about the museum itself or on other things. The American History Museum does not disappoint in this area.
When I first walked into the building I saw this board next to the Star Spangled Banner exhibit.
I guess that goes to show you that she was a legend for a reason. Can’t take your eyes off of her!
One last thought: The one thing about any museum that consistently amuses me to no end is when they have interactive boards or guest books for people to post their thoughts or comments on, either about the museum itself or on other things. The American History Museum does not disappoint in this area.
When I first walked into the building I saw this board next to the Star Spangled Banner exhibit.
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| Today in 2001, Congress certified George W. Bush as the winner of the 2000 presidential election. What do you think are the lasting impacts of the 2000 election? |
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| I didn't write anything on the wall because I couldn't think of anything someone didn't already say nor could I think of anything witty. If you have some thing though, post it in comments. |
Another board was placed within the American science exhibit, which displayed both a robot car and a robot motorcycle. It asks, “What do you think driving will be like in the future?” Clearly the various comments the staff thought were interesting they pinned up and everything else was not.
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| I like the retractable wings. |
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| This person is obviously pissed off about the fact that the metro doesn't allow dogs on it. |
I was highly amused about the ones on the bottom that the staff didn't pick though.
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| He's from the future! (that's how he knows we're wrong) |
Pro tip: Whenever you are in a museum that asks for comments from its visitors, LEAVE ONE. People like me will appreciate it.
P.S. I think that every museum I go to, I’ll post one gift shop find that I think is funny of interesting. For the American History Museum I found this.
Giant lava lamp for $1000. I’m not kidding!
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