Washington – The Apollo 13 space capsule has been to Hutchinson, Kan.
Kermit the Frog has gone to Dubuque, Iowa.
A triceratops skull went to Anniston, Ala.
Lincoln’s top hat, the one he was wearing the night of his assassination, visited Danville, Calif.
The four trips are part of a plan to get the Smithsonian Institution to empty its closets. In exchange for a $2,500 annual fee, museums may become Smithsonian “affiliates” and borrow artifacts.
Some are less important items. Some are icons. Some go out on a short-term basis. Some, long-term. Now 146 museums and cultural organizations are part of the program, called Smithsonian Affiliations.
The Smithsonian owns about 136 million objects. Ninety-nine percent of them are in storage. Through the affiliates program, more than 7,000 have gone on the road in 10 years.
The loans give local museums a stamp of approval and can help boost attendance.
The California Science Center in Los Angeles borrowed an Apollo command module from the National Air and Space Museum and meteorites from the National Museum of Natural History.
The Oklahoma Historical Society borrowed the Gemini 6 spacecraft, piloted by Tom Stafford of Oklahoma. The Museum of Discovery in Little Rock borrowed Jim Lovell’s flight suit from his Apollo 13 mission and John Glenn’s foil-wrapped malted-milk tablets from his Friendship 7 flight.
“We make it clear they are not mini-Smithsonians or satellites,” says Harold Closter, a longtime Smithsonian administrator who directs the affiliations office. “They are independent and responsible for administration and finances. They are good partners.”
