Museum

Linda Davidson The Washington Post Mark and Jackie Barden hug their 11-year-old daughter, Natalie, before she goes to school in Newtown, Conn., in May. T hey had promised to try everything, so Mark Barden went down into the basement to begin another project in memory of Daniel. The families of Sandy Hook Elementary were collaborating on a Mother's Day card, which would be produced by a marketing firm and mailed to hundreds of politicians across the country. "A difference-maker," the...

BALTIMORE — The Jewish Museum of Maryland in Baltimore is celebrating the opening of the new Superman movie and the museum's comic book exhibit with a bar mitzvah party for the superhero. The party at the museum will be Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Superman, who was created 75 years ago by two Jewish artists, will be there, and there'll be music, dancing, food and a special bar mitzvah cake. The museum says guests who bring their opening weekend movie ticket stub will get a...

Visitors to the Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens in Northwest Washington are attracted by acres of flowers, history, breathtaking china and curiosity about Marjorie Merriweather Post, the businesswoman, heiress and socialite who bought the estate in 1955. When Post died in 1973, she bequeathed the house, with its French and Russian art collections, to the public. The estate's popularity is growing among Washington museums: Attendance last year was up 22 percent over 2010, and last month's visitors set a monthly record, says communications...

Regarding the June 7 Style article " At the Museum of African Art, hair issues that can't be brushed off ": I teach English to immigrants, a number of whom are from sub-Saharan countries. Many of the women seem never to have been told that there is "something wrong" with their hair. So they leave it alone and are gorgeous. Hopefully this won't change but, sadly, it might. Women like to mess around with their appearance, no matter how great they look. R.M. Titus , Alexandria

The best thing about the new National Children's Museum ? "Frederick" was the verdict from my 8-year-old. He ran into an old classmate he hadn't seen in a while and he said that seeing Frederick was the highlight of his visit to the new $7 million interactive children's museum that's been eight years in the making. And I have to agree with him. Compared with children's museums across the country that we have visited — Baltimore, Boston, New York, Miami, Durham, N.C., San Francisco, and Santa Ana...

Planning a visit to the new National Children's Museum in National Harbor? Here's what you need to know. Where: 151 St. George Boulevard, Oxon Hill, in National Harbor When: Open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. How much: $10; free for age 12 months and younger. Beginning in January, the museum will offer free admission on the third Friday of the month from 5 to 8 p.m. Best for: Age 9 and younger For more information: Call 301-392-2400 or visit www.c cm.org .

The National Museum of Language in College Park opened in 2008 as the first of its kind in the United States -- a museum dedicated to teaching the history of the world's languages. But museum members are worried that a lack of funding could spell the end for an idea that was nearly 40 years in the making. "We need money," said James McFadden, the museum's treasurer. "Visitors are impressed, but the problem is translating that interest into a membership. " The museum offers free admission and has relied almost entirely...

LOS ANGELES, April 7 -- The J. Paul Getty Museum said Tuesday that it will send a piece of an ancient Roman wall painting back to Italy. A 35-by-31-inch piece of a 1st-century landscape fresco is being returned because it appears to belong with another fragment returned earlier by another collector, according to a museum statement. It has two painted panels, bordered in red and gold, which depict several Roman buildings in a cityscape. The piece was donated to the museum by a couple in 1996.

While reading the June 16 front-page article " The fine art of museum real estate ," about the Corcoran Gallery of Art's location problem, I was reminded of a museum I once visited in southern Arizona. The museum, which told the interesting story of the copper mining town of Bisbee, was operated by the local historical association in what was once the town's Copper Queen Hotel. After touring the locally prepared exhibits on the first floor, I found on the second floor a first-class exhibit on the enormous, open-pit copper mine outside...

DALLAS — There are twisted girders from the twin towers of the World Trade Center, the bullhorn he used from atop the pile of rubble at Ground Zero in New York, an exact replica of his Oval Office and, yes, even his personal collection of signed baseballs. When visitors tour the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum , they will find a facility that reflects the character and personality of the former president: straightforward, confident, unapologetic and willing to let history be...

DON'T MISS The American University Museum is building a reputation as a champion of the Washington art scene. On Saturday from 6 to 9 p.m., the evidence of that will be on display as the museum hosts an opening reception for six new summer exhibitions , five of which focus on local artists. Bay Area painter Chester Arnold is the odd man out. Other shows spotlight the work of Washington artist Tim Tate, who works in glass and video, as well as Washington painters Raya Bodnarchuk, Nan Montgomery and Kitty Klaidman.

ARDMORE, Pa. — Turns out Rory McIlroy decided to do the Rocky thing before teeing off in the U.S. Open. The world's No. 2 ranked player said earlier this week that he was "half-thinking" of heading into the City of Brotherly Love to the spot where the fictional Rocky Balboa jumped up and down triumphantly after running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. On Wednesday the 24-year-old from Northern Ireland tweeted: "Can't come to...

WASHINGTON — Oprah Winfrey is giving $12 million to a museum being built on Washington's National Mall that will document African-American history, officials said Tuesday. The media mogul and former talk-show host previously gave $1 million to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the museum says her $13 million total contribution is its largest to date. As a result, the museum's 350-seat theater will be named after Winfrey, who is also a...

Philanthropist and media mogul Oprah Winfrey is donating $12 million to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture , officials announced Tuesday. Combined with the $1 million she gave in 2007, it is the museum's largest donation, and Winfrey's name will go on a 350-seat theater in recognition. The chairwoman and chief executive of the Oprah Winfrey Network has been a member of the museum's advisory council since 2004. "I am so proud of...

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Two 10th century Cambodian stone statues displayed for nearly two decades at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art were returned to their homeland Tuesday in a high-profile case of allegedly looted artifacts. The voluntary return of the pair of "Kneeling Attendants" statues by one of America's foremost cultural institutions is seen as setting a precedent for the restoration of artworks to their places of origin, from which they were...

The Smithsonian American Art Museum's Sunday concert series has been going for years, but still struggles to find a niche. Although the price is right (free), and the venue far more comfortable than the National Gallery (whose concerts are also free), attendance is often thin. Chinese pianist Ang Li gave a staid program of Mozart, Debussy, Chopin, Enrique Granados and "Last Dance," a short work by Clark Ross, for the contemporary offering. Li is an efficient, unfussy player,...

Piece by piece, the curls of wood have fallen from the ancient log to the floor at David A. Boxley's feet. Little by little, his adze and knife have carved from the fragrant cedar the image of the eagle, who was saved by the young Indian; the chief whose village was, in turn, saved by the eagle; and the people, who were spared by the cycle of good deeds. This week, in the Potomac Atrium of the Smithsonian's Museum of the American Indian , the renowned 59-year-old Tsimshian totem carver and his son, David R....

WASHINGTON(RNS) Planners of a Bible museum in Washington closed a $50 million deal Thursday (July 26) on a building two blocks from the National Mall. The Museum of the Bible, a nonprofit group planning the, as yet, unnamed museum, announced it will be housed at 300 D Street, SW, in what is now the Washington Design Center, a series of showrooms of luxury home furnishings. "Our intent is for this museum to showcase both the Old and New Testaments, arguably the world's most significant pieces of...

WASHINGTON — The Smithsonian Institution has appointed a new director for the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City. Caroline Baumann was named to the post Thursday. She has held several positions at the museum since 2001, most recently serving as acting director. Baumann succeeds Bill Moggridge, who died last year. The Cooper-Hewitt is in the midst of a $54 million renovation of its Upper East Side mansion to create more gallery space. It is the nation's only museum...

WASHINGTON — The property that houses Washington's Textile Museum is up for sale for $22 million as the museum prepares to move to George Washington University's campus. The Textile Museum announced in 2011 that it will move to the new George Washington University Museum scheduled to open in fall 2014. Now, the museum's historic home is up for sale. The building at 2320 S Street was commissioned by textile collector George Hewitt Myers in the early 1900s....