Royal Danish Embassy

For a number of years my wife has wanted to go to Washington DC for the European Union's embassy weekend in May.  That weekend most member nations host special events and experiences at their embassies and open them to the public.  A few years ago we even went with the intention of going but instead ended up walking around the National Mall all day.

The first embassy on our list to visit was the Danish embassy.  While it wasn't likely to be the most crowded it was the one I wanted to make sure that we visited due to the LEGO company's connection with the country.

The embassy is at the end of a cul-de-sac and there were a few people there before us, but not too many were in line.

Just like many of the other embassies they had extra security out front to screen their extra guests.

Once inside the grounds we walked down the driveway to where tents had been set up.

Of course we were greeted by a Lego sculpture.

The Danish military had a booth emphasizing their cooperation with the US.

The Greenland tourism booth had quite a bit of information, which befitted a landmass that dwarfs its parent country.

I took some time to build out of Lego bricks.

I ended up with what I think was a decent car.  I'd had my Scrooge McDuck minifigure with me and posed him a number of places around the city for fun that weekend.

Also on display were some bicycles.  We could have taken a tour of the residence and in the future certainly might, but this time we had other places we wanted to go and so didn't take the time.

Wind power is big in Denmark so of course they featured a Lego model of a wind turbine.

It was a short visit, but a fun one.  I'd go back if we're in the area for another embassy weekend.  You can see my photos from the grounds in this album.

~Matt

National Museum of American History - Gallery of Numismatics

I've enjoyed currency for many years.  No, I don't mean American money that I can spend, though that is useful.  I've enjoyed collecting foreign coins that I will rarely or never be able to spend.  The exception was when I got a large number of Canadian coins.  I was able to use a number of them on a trip to Ontario.  Otherwise my collection has stayed at home unspent, but over the years it has grown thanks to the kindness of missionaries and foreign travelers that I've known and asked for a few coins or bills.  I've also added to it myself some, such as when I went to Thailand a decade ago--I made sure not to spend all of the the money that I exchanged so that I could bring it home and add to my collection.

When we went to the Smithsonian last spring and toured parts of the National Museum of American History I was naturally drawn to the Gallery of Numismatics.  I think there is probably a Benjamin Franklin quote for just about every situation.

The Smithsonian's National Numismatic Collection (NNC) is America's collection of monetary and transnational objects. This diverse and expansive global collection contains objects that represent every inhabited continent and span more than three thousand years of human history.

The NNC is comprised of approximately 1.6 million objects including coins, paper money, medals, tokens, commodity and alternative currencies, coin dies, printing plates, scales and weights, financial documents and apparatuses, credit cards, and objects that reflect established and emerging digital monetary technologies.
--from National Museum of American History website

These coins are from a collection put together by former president Ulysses S. Grant.  His wife Julia donated these Japanese coins after his death.

Obviously all of the coins are inside secure cases and the doorway to the exhibit looks like an entrance to a vault.

I definitely think that the artistry of money is something that is amazing to explore.  There are so many different bills and coins from all over the world that are wonderful works of art.
"...the art of money is not only in its design, but also in the way in which numismatic artwork can convey the importance of money in society and its power as a means of communication for governments and artists."
--from exhibit signage

The first national $5 bill produced in 1864 contains a replica of the painting of Columbus that was installed in the Capitol Rotunda.

I have a number of books full of smashed pennies, or as they're labeled in this display "elongated coins."  I love collecting them whenever we travel.

The artists behind these medals and plaques include August Saint-Gaudens, whose home we visited in Vermont in 2018.

Have you ever thought about the messages communicated by money?
Through images and text, governments use money to make political and cultural statements about a nation's identity, leadership, heritage, and values.  Money created for special circumstances, such as tokens and emergency currencies, conveys messages about its time and place simply through its creation and use.
--from exhibit signage

In colonial America there wasn't one set of official coins in use, instead money from a variety of different locations and countries was utilized, such as some of these examples.  Some of the most popular were from the Spanish colonies in Latin America.

Today of course we have a number of non-traditional currencies like credit cards and digital forms of payment.

These bills were issued by South Sudan back in 2011 as soon as it became independent from Sudan.

Personally I'm not a huge fan of the Euro, but it might not be because of the reason that you might think it would be--I hate the fact that we had so many different currencies to collect and instead now just have one (though I know the backs are different), so it isn't as much fun to collect.

I like tracking maps by the addition of new countries, but I supposed that you could also track them by the appearance of new currencies or the disappearances of old ones if you were an avid numismatist.

As different as bills can be from each other, there are also many features they can have in common, like historic portraits being very popular.

These are examples of ancient Chinese coins and money alongside some much newer Japanese and Korean examples.

These are more modern Chinese coins from the last couple centuries.

Have you ever seen an $100,000 note before?  It is real, but it never entered general circulation

This is the end of my posts on our visit to the National Museum of American History, but you can check out a few more pictures in this album.

~Matt

National Museum of American History - The First Ladies

Another exhibit that we toured while at the National Museum of American History last fall covered the history of America's First Ladies.

The First Ladies explores the unofficial but important position of first lady and the ways that different women have shaped the role to make their own contributions to the presidential administrations and the nation. The exhibition features more than two dozen gowns from the Smithsonian’s almost 100-year old First Ladies Collection, including those worn by Frances Cleveland, Lou Hoover, Jacqueline Kennedy, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama. A section titled “Changing Times, Changing First Ladies” highlights the roles played by Dolley Madison, Mary Lincoln, Edith Roosevelt, and Lady Bird Johnson and their contributions to their husband’s administrations. The First Ladies encourages visitors to consider the changing role played by the first lady and American women over the past 200 years.
--from National Museum of American History website

The position of First Lady (usually held by the President's wife--but not all presidents have been married so sometimes the hostess position has been held by others) is one of long tradition, but one not codified in law.  So many different first ladies have had different perspectives on the position.  The exhibit covers a number of them.

My wife enjoyed looking at the dresses.

There were quite a few of them on display from a number of different eras.  You can learn even more about the dresses belonging to the first ladies through the Smithsonian's online exhibition here.  Apparently the exhibit has existed in many different forms over the years and is perennially popular.

This dress and matching purse and choes belonged to Mamie Doud Eisenhower, first lady from 1953-1961.  They were designed for a 1957 state dinner held at the British Embassy.

Again while not officially codified the position of first lady can be very influential on things like state dinners, let alone initiatives.

A large section of the exhibit includes information on each of the first ladies throughout history as well as some of the china associated with that administration.

The first five first ladies ranged in age from 28 to 57 at the time their husband (or in Martha Jefferson Randolph's case her father) assumed office.

Here you can see china from the Washington and Jefferson administrations.

Two of Dolly Madison's dresses were on display as well.  She is well known for her efforts to save things from the White House before the British burned Washington DC during the War of 1812.

The next time you're in the area I'd encourage you to check out the exhibit and see what it looks like when you're there, because it may not be the same as when I saw it.

~Matt

Book Review: Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail by Theodore Roosevelt

Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail
with 83 illustrations by Frederic Remington
by Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt was quite a prolific author, producing several dozen books during his lifetime.  As he died quite a while ago there isn't an active copyright on his volumes, the one I'm reviewing here is one you can actually read for free online at the Internet Archive, though it looks like the artwork wasn't uploaded.

The copy I own is one I found at a library sale in Cincinnati in 2018.  It was published by the University of Nebraska Press and is a good edition from all that I can tell.  The original book was published in 1883 and the first copy of this edition was published in 1983, so almost a century later.

Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail describes Roosevelt's routine labor and extraordinary adventures, including a stint as a deputy sheriff pursuing three horse thieves through the cold of winter.  Whether recounting stories of cowboy fights or describing his hunting of elk, antelope, and bear, the book expresses his lifelong delight in physical hardihood and tests of nerve.
--from back cover copy

While the illustrations are in black and white they are an excellent complement to the text.  Some are small and others are relatively large.  There are even a few that take up an entire page, but most of the larger ones are about this size.

The stories are definitely dated, with all of the author's original beliefs and wording intact.  Roosevelt was definitely not a terrible person from everything I've read, but at times he was also a creature of his times.  Lands populated by Native Americans were "wilderness" that only counted as explored if another white man had ventured through them.  Wolves were creatures to be hunted down.  However, don't let that stop you from checking out this book.  It is a series of true adventures that illustrate the rough-and-tumble life on the frontier, even at the relatively late date of the 1880s when Roosevelt ranched in Dakota Territory (land now occupied by Theodore Roosevelt National Park, which I hope to be blogging about later this year).  Roosevelt not only owned the ranch, but he also pitched in and worked the cattle drives, hunting, and other necessary tasks.  He describes a number of hunts, some of which were for trophies, but mostly were to provide provisions for ranch hands.

If you enjoy first-person historical narratives or want to learn more about Theodore Roosevelt in his own words then definitely check out this book.  It isn't terribly long, but isn't too short either.  You'll definitely be left with a taste for the West and for Roosevelt's outlook on life by the time you finish.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Summary: A first person narrative of ranching life and hunting trips from Theodore Roosevelt's years ranching in the American West.
Technical: Softcover, 187 pages, includes all 83 advertised illustrations.

~Matt

National Museum of American History - Ruby Slippers

Upstairs in the National Museum of American History is a small exhibit that nevertheless has a big presence.  It even has its own gift shop.  The main attraction?  Dorothy's slippers from The Wizard of Oz.

The Ruby Slippers were made famous by Dorothy Gale, a character portrayed by Judy Garland (1922-1969), in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) and produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, this fantasy tale set in a magical land is recognized for its extensive use of Technicolor and has endured to become an American classic. The story had previously been adapted into a cartoon, stage musical, and several silent motion pictures.

To take advantage of new Technicolor technology, the slippers were changed from the book’s silver to an iridescent red hue. They were created by Gilbert Adrian (1903-1959), MGM Studios’ chief costume designer at the time. In the movie, Dorothy is gifted the slippers from Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, to keep them safe from the Wicked Witch of the West and to help her return home to Kansas. Over the years, they have become one of the most iconic parts of the film and of American culture. 
--from National Museum of American History website

When we arrived the exhibit was rather crowded.

It definitely was far from home.

Eventually I was able to get closer to the shoes.

I thought the signs around the side of the room were a great way to expand the exhibit when there weren't more artifacts to display.

The ruby slippers were not built to last beyond the film's final take, but the museum is responsible for ensuring that they survive for generations to come.  Over the years, the shoes have aged and their color has faded--a process begun on set with exposure to the intense brightness and heat of studio lights.  In 2016 the museum launched a major preservation project funded by a Kickstarter campaign that garnered contributions from 6,000 fans.
--from exhibit signage

It was fascinating to learn more about the conservation of the shoes.  For example did you know that the overlapping in sequins meant that some underneath others faded less?

The case itself was even specially designed to protect the shoes.  They still look nice when you get very close to them.

As I mentioned the exhibit isn't large, but well worth stopping by to see the next time you're in the area.

~Matt