Abby Epplett, Historian

This week, I am taking a short break from the Appendixes to share my next set of character illustrations. I have designed eight variations on Elves: Vanyar (Valinor), Ñoldor (Rivendell), Ñoldor (Wandering), Ñoldor (Lothlórien), Teleri (Lothlórien), Teleri (Mirkwood), Teleri (The Shire), and Teleri (Lindon). While most of the physical traits and clothing of the Elves appear throughout the Legendarium, and are accessible through online databases, I have used my own knowledge of clothing history, an understanding of Middle-earth botany, real-world genetics, and creative license when creating these prototypical characters.

While the physical exhibition currently touring the country through the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) will not reach the northeast until late 2025 and early 2026, the online equivalent of The Bias Inside Us can be viewed at any time from anywhere in the world. This succinct and informative conversation piece on understanding bias comes with an educators toolkit and links to research used when created the exhibit. The experience includes a brief introduction, a six-part online exhibition, and a thorough “About” section to learn highlighting the many contributing voices. Introduction A clever scrolling digital art piece at the start of the introduction gave the definition of bias as used in the exhibition along with the increasingly familiar quote, “We are all members of the same race… the human race.” Unfortunately, because I usually set my browser font size to “large” due to visual impairment, the bottom of each card in the section overv...

Last year during Day 2 of Smithsonian National Education Summit 2023 , I learned about Becoming US , a high school level educational resource for teaching about immigration and migration. Based on the website of the National Museum of American History (NMAH) , this resource includes classroom guides, a glossary, news articles, videos, and activities for students in 8 th through 11 th grade. Although I have not been in that demographic for over ten years, I enjoyed learning about these topics from multiple perspectives. About This section explained that the online project began in 2014 as part of a collection of in-person, print, and virtual productions. The exhibit Many Voices, One Nation and accompanying book Many Voices, One Nation: Material Culture Reflections on Race and Migration in the United States provided much of the material found in the lessons. Resources Preparing to Teach NMAH provides a forty-four page guide made in collaboration with Teachi...

Today — July 20, 2023 — was the second full online day of the Smithsonian National Education Summit , with the Welcome Reception held two nights ago and the first full online day on Wednesday . I attended three history-focused sessions inspiring students and teachers to learn about their past in order to change their school, community, country, and the world for the better. Inspire Creative Changemakers During this fast-paced session based on an article by the same name published on July 13 , six Smithsonian educators used artifacts from their respective museums to demonstrate how to teach students to become creative changers , or “people who intervene to in creative ways solve a social problem”. The educators used routines like “See Wonder, Connect Times Two” from Harvard’s Project Zero to lead the audience through thinking critically about the objects. The lively text chat for viewers was monitored by Stephanie Greenhut , a Smithsonian Learning Lab product owner. ...

Earlier today — Wednesday, July 19, 2023 — I attended several sessions during the first full day for the online version of the Smithsonian National Education Summit after the Welcome Reception last night . Two of the sessions had a strong focus on history and presented ways to share concepts with students and visitors of all ages, inspiring them to deeply engage with artifacts and artwork.

Early today — Tuesday, July 18 at 6:00 p.m. — I watched the online Welcome Reception to the Smithsonian National Education Summit . Held online over the next two days, and in-person throughout this week, the summit brings educators together from across the United States to discuss improvements in American education. The theme for this year is “Together We Thrive: Fostering a Sense of Belonging” and has a special focus on the experiences of Black male students. Dr. Monique M. Chism, who works as the Smithsonian’s Under Secretary for Education , hosted the opening panel. She noted that students are getting the lowest test scores in decades after the COVID-19 pandemic, and teachers are leaving the field. This effect is felt by Black male students more than other demographics, as they are disproportionately suspended and expelled and most likely to dropout of high school and college. On the stage to discuss education were Secretary of the Smithsonian, Lonnie Bunch III ; Distric...