Why is the Smithsonian more than the ""Nation's Attic?"" Or more than a museum complex? As Wilton S. Dillon shows, the Smithsonian came to be the institution we know today under the twenty-year leadership of ""Sun King"" S. Dillon Ripley.
Ripley aspired to reinvent the Smithsonian as a great university—with museums. Although little understood by the public at large, it began as a basic research center. The Smithsonian remains a key contributor to the world of higher learning and functions diplomatically as the ministry of culture for the United States. Dillon provides backstage insights into Ripley's quest for the wholeness of knowledge. He describes how he inspired its role as a ""theater of ideas as well as artifacts."" Under his tutelage, the National Mall became a playground for world intelligentsia, an ""intellectual free trade zone"" in the shadow of the nation's political capital.
Dillon reminds us that interdisciplinary, international Smithsonian symposia foreshadowed twenty-first-century issues and trends. His descriptions of the educational rewards of balancing tradition with the avant-garde are inspiring. As Dillon reminds us, Ripley's twenty-year reign may well have helped spark the waning embers of the Enlightenment.
By:
Wilton S. Dillon
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Weight: 752g
ISBN: 9781032920443
ISBN 10: 1032920440
Pages: 408
Publication Date: 14 October 2024
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
"Foreword by Robert D. Sullivan Prologue Part One Curtain Time, Stages, Characters 1 My Smithsonian Beginning 2 Man and Beast: Two Inquiries, 1969 and 1986 3 The Cultural Drama: Identity and Ferment 4 Our Simply Sensational Salon: The South Tower 5 Savants and Muses in the Castle Part Two Enrichments 6 Our French Connection 7 Variations on Indian and Chinese Themes 8 Space Age on the Ground 9 Play and Inventiveness 10 New Generations at the Smithsonian Part Three Interactions 11 Encountering the White House, Congress, and Judiciary 12 Owls and Falcons 13 Imagining a Museum of Humankind 14 Elizabeth Taylor and Mr. Smithson's Ghost 15 Linking Yves Klein and Marcel Mauss Part Four Commemorations 16 Celebrating Copernicus 17 Whither ""STEM"" and the Liberal Arts? 18 Einstein Redux 19 Pax Americana: 1976 20 Edinburgh 1984: The Enduring Scottish Enlightenment Acknowledgments and Epilogue Appendices A Harvest of Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge Major Symposia and Participants Index"
