Smithsonian's 150th Anniversary
Rose Parade Float
Launches Celebration
The Smithsonian float, "Remembering, Imagining, Discovering", in the 107th Tournament of Roses Parade marked the opening of the Institution's 150th anniversary celebration.
(Smithsonian Photo by Jeff Tinsley)
The Smithsonian's "Remembering, Imagining, Discovering", a spectacular, 20-by-50-foot panoramic view of human achievement.
Here it is seen on the parade route New Year's Day, after an all-night session to complete it's decoration with flowers and other natural materials. Floral scenes include the Wright Brothers bi-plane, an Apollo astronaut, African and American masks, a giant panda, an oversize baseball autographed by Babe Ruth, a 13-star flag and a replica of the Smithsonian Castle.
"America's Smithsonian", a traveling exhibition of more than 150 treasures from the Smithsonian collections, travels to 11 cities across the nation during 1996-1997. The exhibition features artifacts that are testaments to more than 300 years of America's cultural, social, scientific and artistic heritage.
Objects include George Washington's sword, famed gems and crystals, first ladies gowns, a George Catlin painting, Dizzy Gillespie's trumpet, the Apollo 14 command module, an Edison light bulb and Amelia Earhart's flight suit.
This is the 150th anniversary of the Smithsonian Institution. In 1827 an Englishman named James Smithson wrote a will that eventually left his estate "to the United States of America, to found, at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge."
Established by an act of Congress in 1846, the Institution has has grown into the world's largest museum complex and an international center for research. The Smithsonian preserves and cares for more than 140 million objects in 16 museums and several research facilities, archives, and libraries, and maintains living animals in the National Zoological Park. It is our country's treasure house, reflecting the diversity and complexity of our world.
(Tournament of Roses Photo)
Each New Year's Day, the world focuses its attention on the city of Pasadena, California, home of the Tournament of Roses Parade and Rose Bowl Game. It's a celebration that's more than a century old--a festival of flowers, music and sports unequaled anywhere in the world.
The Tournament is more than just a parade and football game. It's America's New Year Celebration, a greeting to the world on the first day of the year, and a salute to community spirit and love of pageantry.