Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service's Blog

More Than Baseball: Clemente's Story has Broad Appeal

You may remember how excited we were a few months ago when we posted our first-ever podcast. Now it's official, other people (not just our production team and our mothers) agree that it was a great piece!

Beyond Baseball: The Life of Roberto Clemente batted against more than 200 other podcasts last week at the American's Association of Museum's conference in Denver, and it won a silver medal. Here's what the judges had to say:

"The elegance of its presentation and organization of its themes, the compelling and inspirational stories, and production values which let you lose yourself in its time and place all add up to a concise and excellent podcast series. For both those who remember Clemente and those for whom Clemente has little resonance, the podcasts are engaging, informative, inspirational and bring little-known information and context to light. The voices, music, and background sounds are appropriate and a pleasure to listen to. 

Clemente’s story is about clashing cultures, tolerance and understanding, perseverance and integrity, politics and social justice, and how a place on the world stage can be exploited for greater good--a wealth of subtexts for personal contemplation and further discussion. It is also a great story about baseball and American life, assuring broad interest. The podcast successfully augments a website which presents images from the traveling exhibition, videos, and lesson plans for middle schoolers. Versions in both Spanish and English will help assure broad access. Both in association with the traveling exhibition and by itself, this podcast promises to be an enduring resource. The website describes Clemente’s story as the “ascendancy of man to myth.” These podcasts are truly “Beyond Baseball."'

>>Hear the podcast

>>Check out the website

History Mystery

>>Immediate gratification is available

Roberto Clemente Podcast

We've officially entered the new digital world. SITES is proud to announce that its first-ever podcast is now online. The subject: the extraordinary life and accomplishments of baseball great Roberto Clemente.

Clemente became a legend during the 1960s and '70s with his explosive throwing arm, lightning speed, and highly effective line-drive swing, but he was much more than an astounding athlete. For millions of fans across the world, especially in his native Puerto Rico and throughout Latin America, Clemente was a cultural hero who gave underprivileged people a voice. His story is a study in character, drive, and the ascendancy of man to myth. Clemente died tragically in 1972 when his plane crashed while carrying aid to earthquake-stricken Nicaragua.

A bilingual (English/Spanish) podcast about Clemente accompanies the traveling exhibition Beyond Baseball: The Life of Roberto Clemente, crisscrossing the country until 2012.

Go to Beyond Baseball to listen to Clemente's family, friends, and teammates talk about how this larger-than-life sports hero changed the world on and off the field.

First Ladies in First Ladies

It’s always a challenge working on an exhibition that features living individuals. Life doesn’t stop. First Ladies: Political Role & Public Image is a perfect example. We launched the national tour just weeks after the 2004 election. In order to make sure that our timeline of first ladies was accurate, we had two designs—a second term with first lady Laura Bush or a new first lady in Teresa Heinz Kerry—waiting to go to production as the votes were counted. We also made special arrangements with the White House to ensure that we had a current object added to the exhibition—the winter white Oscar de la Renta Day Suit and Coat Mrs. Bush wore for the 2004 inauguration.

It’s hard to believe that the exhibition has just opened at its final location—the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.Over the course of the past four years, we’ve been honored with visits from four former-first ladies as the exhibition has traveled the country: Barbara Bush in Omaha, Neb.; Hillary Clinton in New York; Rosalynn Carter in Atlanta; and, most recently, Laura Bush in Philadelphia.

"I want to encourage people to visit the National Constitution Center and see this exhibit,” said Mrs. Bush. “First Ladies throughout our entire history have been very influential both to their husbands, but also to our country.  And I think we see that in this show.”

-Jennifer Schommer, Assistant Director of Public Relations

Baseball Exhibition Nearing Completion

A few days ago, SITES staffers braved rush-hour traffic in Northern Virginia for a sneak preview of Beyond Baseball: The Life of Roberto Clemente. This long-anticipated exhibit is finally near completion after several years of intense planning.

The payoff for that effort is big! We're happy to report that the exhibit looks fantastic, with a brilliant color palette and an engaging design that will resonate with anyone who has a passion for the game.

Most of all, the exhibition reflects Clemente's commitment to community and his cultural pride. He was a hero to millions of Latin American fans. "I think the bottom line for Clemente," one of the ballplayer's friends noted, "was trying to show...other human beings that regardless of how poor you are, the color of your skin, your main language, if you dedicate yourself to a cause, you can be a winner."

There are a lot of exhibitions out there that remind us of the grim reality of history and the world we inhabit. This one is different. It's inspiring and lives up to Clemente's insistence that "anytime you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don't do it, you are wasting your time on this earth."

From Sea to Shining Sea in Your Town!

The NOAA/SITES poster set, From Sea to Shining Sea: 200 Years of Charting America's Coasts opened at 200 locations across the country in June 2007 and reports from the field have been pouring in!

Alongside the posters, the Pensacola Historical Society in Pensacola, FL, presented overviews of local maritime history, Pensacola hurricanes (ranging from the storm of 1906 to Hurricane Ivan in 2004), and historic artifacts from the collection including a sextant, a telescope, binoculars, a coastal chart from the 1940s, and a NOAA Hurricane warning flag.

In Kirtland, OH, the Lakeland Community College Library worked with the Lake County Historical Society to augment the posters with an exhibit about their local waterways, entitled When Water Was THE Way. The display features maps and pictures of local waterways and ports while highlighting their economic and recreational value.

The exhibition was part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Museum of Science History in Corpus Christi, TX. The museum supplemented the poster exhibit with two table top cases of surveying instruments from their collection and 1860s maps of the Texas coast made by Felix Blucher, an early surveyor in south Texas. Simultaneously, the museum presented a children's exhibit that included an interactive lighthouse and shrimp boat. On the day of their celebration, their visitor count was 2,123 compared with 382 visitors that same Saturday in 2006.

The Museum of the Gulf Coast in Port Arthur, TX, worked with the local Seafarers Center and Women's Maritime Club to promote the exhibit, which was augmented with surveying instruments, charts, and maps.

Thanks for the feedback, folks!

-Jennifer Bine, SITES Project Director

Dateline: Nashville - Impressions of Hatch Show Print

I recently traveled to Nashville with some SITES colleagues to meet with our partners at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. We’re collaborating on American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show Print. Hatch has been creating bold and distinctive posters for almost 130 years and a lot of that history is on display in a large store front in the heart of Nashville. These are my first impressions of the historical print shop.

The simple façade of the building doesn’t give a hint at the activity or the visual stimulation that lies just beyond the door. A few posters from recent concerts and events line the front window and a lone neon sign reading “Hatch Show Print” hangs above the door. As the door swings open, a cow bell announces our arrival. And now the problem: where do I look first?

In front of me is a long shop counter with display cases holding t-shirts, mugs, books and prints. The wall to the left has shelves stacked with posters. Both the left and right walls are filled with posters—Johnny Cash, Elvis, B.B. King, Airstream trailers, state fairs, the Grand Ole Opry—reaching to the 20-foot high ceiling.

Stepping beyond the counter I can start to feel it—the hum of activity. There are at least 10 artists creating new pieces. Selecting wood blocks for the floor to ceiling shelves that line the left wall. Sorting type at the drawers lining the right wall. In the center, there are a few folks huddled around a work table setting type and blocks into new designs. Not far away, someone rolls the ink onto a frame of blocks and type, places a sheet of paper on top, and pulls a roller across—printing one piece at a time by hand.

The shop stretches back another 30 feet to the back of the building. The space is filled with more shelves of hand-carved wood blocks and photo plates, drawers of type, printing machines, and projects.

These are my first two minutes at Hatch Show Print, and all I want to do is sit in a corner and soak it all in.

-Jennifer Schommer, Assistant Director of Public Relations

Jim Henson exhibition

I am so excited about this exhibition. The brochure is wicked cool! Henson was really a creative force from his earliest days. I have a feeling that this will be a really popular exhibition, especially among the folks who grew up watching Sesame Street, the Muppet Show, and all the other short films Henson created. Believe it or not, the movie The Dark Crystal now has something of a cult following.