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The Raccoons

The Raccoons is a Canadian animated television series that ran on CBC from November 11, 1985, to March 19, 1991, in Canada and on Disney Channel from July 4, 1985, to August 28, 1992, in the U.S., with three preceding television specials from its inception in 1980, and one direct-to-video special in 1984. The franchise was created by Kevin Gillis with the co-operation of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Synopsis
The series revolves around Bert Raccoon and married couple Ralph and Melissa Raccoon, of whom Bert is a friend and roommate. The series mostly involved the trio's efforts against the industrialist forces of greedy aardvark millionaire Cyril Sneer, who regularly tries to destroy the forest for personal wealth. However, the Raccoons always save their forest from Cyril's schemes, with help from their forest friends including Schaeffer, a gentle Old English Sheepdog; Cedric, Cyril's college graduate son; and Sophia Tutu, Cedric's girlfriend. As the series progresses, Cyril becomes more of a sympathetic character, eventually becoming an antihero, becoming more responsible in his priorities and business practices.

Originally, the story was set in a kind of hidden world in the Evergreen Forest where a small human family of a forest ranger and his children reside unaware of the struggles taking place out of sight. The second season had these human characters removed as the premise shifted to an unambiguous fantasy world of a sophisticated humanoid animal version of Canada with complex transportation systems, broadcasting media and heavy industry etc. In addition, Ralph's relatives become regular characters, especially his young nephew and niece, Bentley the insecure child technology prodigy and Lisa the statuesque athletic teenager who became an understated love interest for Bert.

Unlike many other cartoons of its time, it handled action, humour, and romance in a fairly sophisticated manner, while remaining sufficiently uncomplicated for younger viewers. Lessons featured in the series mainly focused on environmentalism. It also covered other topics, including friendship and teamwork.

Main

 * Bert Raccoon (voiced by Len Carlson) - the main protagonist of the series. He is Ralph and Melissa's houseguest and is their best friend from childhood. An energetic raccoon with a lot of imagination, Bert always likes to seek out adventure and to live life to the fullest. Although he is impulsive and prone to foolish decisions, he has a kind heart.
 * Ralph Raccoon (voiced by Bob Dermer) and Melissa Raccoon (voiced by Rita Coolidge (specials 1–2), Dottie West (special 3), Linda Feige (season 1) and Susan Roman (seasons 2–5)) – the happily married couple who live in the "Raccoondominium" with their more-or-less permanent houseguest Bert. Ralph tolerates Bert's antics to some extent and knows his heart is in the right place but it doesn't prevent him from getting frustrated by them. He is also the founder of "The Evergreen Standard" newspaper. Melissa is the more sensible of the three raccoons, and is always there to give the boys a push in the right direction. She often enjoys a good laugh too, usually when Bert or Ralph act silly or when Cyril's plans go embarrassingly awry.
 * Cedric Sidney Sneer (voiced by Fred Little (specials 1-3) and Marvin Goldhar (series)) – Cyril Sneer's nerdy son and Bert Raccoon's best friend, and heir to the Sneer fortune. Since the special "The Raccoons on Ice" Cedric has gained a crush on Sophia and usually acts nervous around her. In the specials, he was completely passive and subservient to his father, but gradually becomes more assertive as the series goes on.
 * Schaeffer (voiced by Carl Banas) – a large sheepdog, who is friends with the Raccoons. Originally portrayed as slow and dimwitted in the original specials, he quickly became one of the smartest characters on the series, and eventually opened the Blue Spruce Cafe as a bartender and assists with the Evergreen Standard's technical needs.
 * Broo (voiced by Sharon Lewis) – a sheepdog puppy who seems to favor Bert as his owner in season 2 after the human characters were dropped from the show.
 * Sophia Tutu (voiced by Sharon Lewis) – Cedric's ditzy girlfriend, who is a superb swan glider and diver. Although clearly an aardvark, she is much more human-shaped than either Cedric or Cyril. She is very feminine, but likes to ride bikes with Cedric and once participated in the Evergreen Games, coming in third place. She was phased out of the show in later years.
 * Cyril Sneer (voiced by Michael Magee) – originally the main villain of the series, Cyril is an aardvark, with a long, pink nose, a ruthless and greedy businessman and Cedric's father. Although Cyril starts off villainous, he later softens up, becoming distinctly less so as the series progresses, though he retains his treacherous, greedy nature. Despite his money-grubbing ways, he has shown to genuinely love his son and tries grooming him to take over the family business. He has a soft spot for Bentley and Lisa, Ralph's nephew and niece. He has a strict matter of pride about keeping promises, as shown in "Going it Alone!" and "Trouble Shooter!"
 * Snag (voiced by Michael Magee) – Cyril and Cedric Sneer's (non-anthropomorphic) pet dog. He has blue fur, a nose similar to his aardvark-owners' and a bad temper that rivals Cyril's, but he also loves Cedric and once saved him from a fire.
 * The Pigs (voiced by Nick Nichols (Pig One (special 3-episode 50; 58)), Keith Hampshire (Pig One (episode 51–60)), Len Carlson (Pigs Two and Three (series)) and Fred Little (Pig Three (special 3) – Cyril's three bumbling henchmen and assistants. They are almost never referred to by name, as they are simply listed as Pig One, Two and Three in the credits, although they occasionally refer to one another as "Lloyd". Fans of the show have referred Pig One as "Lloyd" and the other two as "Boyd" and "Floyd". Kevin Gillis said their names were "Lloyd, Lloyd and their somewhat gullible brother, Floyd". (However some fans point out this makes no sense from a logical point of view for two characters to have the same name).
 * The Bears (voiced by Len Carlson, Bob Dermer and Carl Banas) are Cyril Sneer's additional henchmen, workers, butlers, soldiers, spies, etc.
 * Bentley Raccoon (voiced by Noam Zylberman (episode 16–54) and Stuart Stone (as Stu Stone) (episode 55–60) – George and Nicole's son. He's an expert with computers, and is a very typical younger kid, with a tendency to overemphasize his personal setbacks. He often favours houseguest Bert while Cyril Sneer thinks highly of him. He is originally introduced as Ralph's cousin in his first appearance but later retconned into his nephew.
 * Lisa Raccoon (voiced by Lisa Lougheed) – Ralph's niece and Bentley's teenage basketball-playing sister, who becomes a prominent character in Season 5, after her first appearance in the Season 4 episode "Spring Fever", where she comes to visit.

Supporting

 * Dan the Forest Ranger (voiced by Rupert Holmes (special 1), Leo Sayer (special 2), John Schneider (special 3), Kevin Gillis (special 4 (uncredited)) and Murray Crunchley (series) – he is the caretaker of the Evergreen Forest, as well as the father of Tommy and Julie and owner of Schaeffer and Broo during the specials and Season 1. He is shown to be a single father as there is no mention of the mother of his children in neither the specials nor the series.
 * Tommy (voiced by Hadley Kay (specials) and Noam Zylberman (series)) – Ranger Dan's son and one of Schaeffer and Broo's original owners as well as Julie's little brother.
 * Julie (voiced by Tammy Bourne (specials) and Vanessa Lindores (series)) – Ranger Dan's daughter and one of Schaeffer and Broo's original owners as well as Tommy's older sister.
 * Mr. Mammoth (voiced by Carl Banas) – a rhinoceros who is the richest, most powerful character on the show, he speaks in incoherent mumbles that are translated by his assistant
 * Sidekick (voiced by Rick Jones, Seasons 1–2) and Dan Hennessey (Season 5) – Mr. Mammoth's canary assistant who translates his grumbles.
 * Mr. Knox (voiced by Len Carlson) – an acquaintance of Cyril Sneer, a southern crocodile/business mogul; he is married to Lady Baden-Baden, and owner of the television company K.N.O.X. TV. He and Cyril are rivals, though it is a friendly one.
 * Lady Baden-Baden (voiced by Bob Dermer) – a wealthy, melodramatic hen who eventually marries Mr. Knox. She was a theatre actress in her younger days, and now is an enthusiastic patron of the arts. She later becomes mayor of the Evergreen Forest.
 * Professor Witherspoon Smedley-Smythe (voiced by Len Carlson) – a goat who runs the Evergreen Museum.
 * Dr. Canard (voiced by Len Carlson) – a duck who is Cyril's doctor.
 * Mr. Willow (voiced by Carl Banas) – a friendly polar bear who is the owner of Willow's General Store.
 * Mrs. Suey-Ellen Pig (voiced by Nonnie Griffin) – the pigs' mother. She appears in two episodes, "Mom's the Word", where her name is revealed, and "Promises Promises".
 * Milton Midas (voiced by Len Carlson) – an eagle businessman and scam artist. He is responsible for the poisoning of the fishing hole at Rippling Pond in the series' penultimate episode "The One that Got Away".
 * George and Nicole Raccoon (voiced by Dan Hennessey and Elizabeth Hanna) – Ralph's respective older brother and sister-in-law and the father and mother of Bentley and Lisa Raccoon. A couple who were once nomads. George hosts "Chef Surprise", a cooking show on KNOX-TV.

Main

 * Len Carlson – Bert Raccoon / Boyd (Pig Two) / Floyd (Pig Three) / Mr. Knox / Additional Voices
 * Michael Magee – Cyril Sneer / Snag
 * Bob Dermer – Ralph Raccoon / Lady Baden-Baden / Additional Voices
 * Linda Feige – Melissa Raccoon (1985–1986)
 * Susan Roman – Melissa Raccoon (1987–1991) / Additional Voices
 * Marvin Goldhar – Cedric Sneer / Additional Voices
 * Sharon Lewis – Sophia Tutu / Broo
 * Carl Banas – Schaeffer / Bears / Mr. Mammoth / Mr. Willow
 * Nick Nichols – Lloyd (Pig One) (1983–1990; 1991)
 * Keith Hampshire – Lloyd (Pig One) (1990–1991)
 * Murray Cruchley – Dan the Forest Ranger
 * Noam Zylberman – Tommy / Bentley Raccoon (1987–1990)
 * Stuart Stone – Bentley Raccoon (1990–1991) / Danny
 * Vanessa Lindores – Julie
 * Dan Hennessey – George Raccoon / Sidekick (1990)
 * Elizabeth Hanna – Nicole Raccoon
 * Lisa Lougheed – Lisa Raccoon
 * Geoffrey Winter – Narrator

Additional voices

 * Debra McGrath – Nurse Peck
 * Les Lye – Samaritan "Sammy" Sneer
 * Rick Jones – Sidekick (1985–1987)
 * Derek Diorio – Haggis Lamborgini
 * Pauline Rennie – Aunt Gertie
 * Nonnie Griffin – Mrs. Suey-Ellen Pig
 * Bob Segarini – Woodchuck Berry
 * Barry Bailey – Troy Malone
 * Jeremiah McCann – Bonneville Knox
 * Peter Messaline – The Great Tromboni
 * Kay Hawtrey – Miss Primrose
 * Bruno Gerussi – Edward Miller
 * Barbara Frum – Miss Barbara LaFrum
 * Theresa Sears – Ingrid Bellamour
 * Terrence Scammell – Classmate #1
 * Tara Charendoff – Donna
 * Lisa Yamanaka - Patty

Production
The Raccoons franchise was originally conceived by Kevin Gillis in the 1970s, while appearing in shows like Celebrity Cooks and Yes You Can. The initial idea for the show was created by Gillis and columnist Gary Dunford. They drew their inspiration for Ralph Raccoon from a dilemma that happened at a cottage in Ottawa. Dunford backed out, but Gillis took his idea to Ottawa lawyer Sheldon S. Wiseman, who saw a potential in Gillis' idea and put together a large group – animators, musicians, and writers, to create the first special to star the characters known as The Christmas Raccoons. Production on the special began in 1979 and was completed in 1980, and the special was shown on the December of the same year on CBC Television. It was also shown in countries all over the world, including the U.S. and the United Kingdom. The special was a huge hit and resulted in two sequel specials The Raccoons on Ice and The Raccoons and the Lost Star and a direct-to-video special, The Raccoons: Let's Dance!. In 1981, US television networks CBS, NBC and ABC approached Sheldon Wiseman about producing a 13-episode "Raccoons" television series. In 1984, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Disney Channel began funding on the television series, which cost about $4.5 million to make. In the U.S., the show was run on The Disney Channel from July 4, 1985 until August 28, 1992. In Canada, it was shown on CBC on Monday evenings for the first season and was shown in a block consisting of The Wonderful World of Disney and Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock on Sundays for the next two seasons before moving to Wednesdays in its fourth, sharing an hour block with The Beachcombers and then eventually Tuesdays in its fifth and final season.

Music
The series had a new wave soundtrack including the theme song "Run with Us" by cast member Lisa Lougheed. Season 1 ended with a different version of the song, not sung by Lougheed. "Run with Us" was performed in season 1 by Stephen Lunt. In the first season, Canadian singer Luba performed several songs, several of which were later re-recorded by Lougheed for use in other seasons. There were also several other songs performed by other musicians such as Rita Coolidge and Rupert Holmes who performed songs for the first special, Leo Sayer and Coolidge again for the second, and John Schneider and Dottie West for the final TV special. Due to contractual reasons, Schneider's vocals on three of the songs were replaced with Frank Floyd and Hank Martin when they were released on the accompanying soundtrack album for the fourth special. Rory Dodd, The Dior Bros. (actually Kevin Gillis and Jon Stroll under a pseudonym), and many other musicians also had songs performed, although somewhat rarely compared to the aforementioned people. According to Jon Stroll, Frank Floyd, the frontman of the 1970s R&B funk group The Writers, was originally selected to be the main male singer for the series but backed out at the last minute. Needing a replacement, they brought in Curtis King Jr. at the suggestion of backup singer Valerie Wilson.

The earlier version of "Run with Us", like quite a few of the other songs from The Raccoons, were never officially released. The songs from the first two specials were released on the album Lake Freeze – The Raccoons Songtrack in 1983. A soundtrack for the fourth special was released in 1984, but featured vocals from Frank Floyd and Hank Martin to replace John Schneider. Nine of the songs from the series featured on Lougheed's album Evergreen Nights (1987), though Lougheed only sang some of the songs (sometimes in duets), while some were sung by other artists (Curtis King Jr. and Stephen Lunt). The French version of "Run with Us", as well as most of Luba and Lisa Lougheed's songs, was performed by the Quebecois Canadian singer Jano Bergeron with "Run with Us" being renamed in French to "Viens Vers Nous".

The instrumental music was composed by Kevin Gillis and Jon Stroll and performed largely by the National Arts Centre Orchestra from Ottawa, Canada, though due to contractual reasons, they were credited as the National Raccoon Orchestra and later the Royal Raccoon Orchestra on the accompanying soundtrack albums. Most of the instrumental cues heard in the series were actually recorded for The Raccoons and the Lost Star and re-used. Only six of the instrumental tunes (two from The Raccoons on Ice and four from The Raccoons and the Lost Star) have ever been released officially (they can be found on the Lake Freeze and Let's Dance! albums).

Animation
From 1979 until 1985, Canadian animation studio Atkinson Film-Arts provided the animation for the four specials and first season of the series. In 1986, after producing the first 11 episodes, Hinton Animation Studios took over to animate the remaining seasons of the show (seasons 2–5).

Telecast and home media
The Raccoons ran on CBC from November 11, 1985 until March 19, 1991 in Canada. It was also shown in countries all over the world, including the U.S. and the United Kingdom (BBC). In the U.S., the show ran on The Disney Channel from July 4, 1985 until August 28, 1992. In Canada, it was shown on CBC on Monday evenings for the first season and was shown in a block consisting of The Wonderful World of Disney and Fraggle Rock on Sundays for the next two seasons unitl moving to Wednesdays in its fourth, sharing an hour block with The Beachcombers and then eventually Tuesdays in its fifth and final season. In the late 1990s, Trio, a US cable network then partially owned by the CBC, aired repeats of the show.

Embassy Home Entertainment released the specials and Season 1 on home video from 1982 to 1987. Embassy also released the specials on Laserdisc, CED and Betamax formats. Other distributors, such as Catalyst and GoodTimes Home Entertainment released some specials and episodes on VHS.

In the United Kingdom, Embassy Home Entertainment released the four Raccoons specials on VHS in the mid-1980s, before the distribution rights went to Channel 5 Video (a division of Polygram Video) in 1986. They re-released the four specials on video, as well as released another video called The Raccoons Big Surprise with two Season 1 episodes "Surprise Attack" and "Going It Alone" (Cat. No. CFV 05042). Then three videos with Season 2 episodes were released, the first two were by Picture Music International (PMI) that included "Double Play" and "The Sweet Smell of Success" on volume 1, released in 1988 and then "Blast from the Past" and "Power Trip" on volume 2, released in 1989. Then Video Collection International Ltd released a third tape which contained the episodes "Stop The Clock" and "The Artful Dodger" on 13 August 1990 (Cat No. VC1191). That same tape was re-released again by Video Collection International Ltd on 22 July 1991, as part of their Children's Club range (Cat No. KK0019).

In 2003, Morningstar Entertainment released the show on DVD for the first time. Two 9-episode boxsets were released, each containing 3 discs that were also available separately. The discs were released without any region coding in NTSC format. The first set contained nine of the ten episodes from season 2 (omitting "Stop the Clock") and the second set contained the first nine episodes of season 3. The extras include character bios, a chance to create your own scene from The Raccoons and Raccoon-A-Roma DVD-ROM content, like QuickTime animated sequences. For this release, Len Carlson also reprised his role as Bert during menus and gave in-character commentary before and after episodes. Both sets are now out of print, and no North American DVD release has come out since then.

A 2-disc Region 2 PAL DVD release of the complete series 1 was released on September 17, 2007 through Fabulous Films Ltd. The bonus features on set 1 were duplicated from the Canadian release, mainly the create a scene and Raccoon-A-Roma DVD ROM content. They later released a DVD entitled "Three Adventures With The Raccoons" on April 7, 2008. This DVD contained the first 3 episodes of Series 1 with no extras. Series 2 was released on April 20, 2009 by Fabulous Films Ltd. in another 2-disc set. DVD extras on the set include character model sheets and a documentary.

In September 2009, MORE Entertainment released an 8-disc DVD set in Germany, containing all 60 episodes (7–8 per disc) and no extras. The language track is German only. Later in November 2013, MORE released a DVD featuring all four Raccoons specials. As with previous complete series set, the only language track is German.

In December 2009, the first season of The Raccoons was released on iTunes in Canada. It was also released on iTunes in the U.S. in April 2010. The first two seasons were released on DVD to Netflix in the U.S. in early-2010 and in Canada on August 2011.

As of June 2020, the full-episode series is now available on YouTube.

Since March 27, 2023, the series in its 4K remastered form currently airs on Boomerang Canada (formerly Cartoon Network Canada).

Reception
The Raccoons was well received by critics. The New York Times, in its review for their second TV special, said "the Raccoons are an adorable lot, supported nicely by an attractive production." Variety praised the third special, The Raccoons and the Lost Star, calling it "a rollicking good adventure filled with space-age animation, high-tech gadgetry, lilting tunes, a lovable sheepdog, and the delightful Raccoons team."

In 2022, series creator Kevin Gillis said that the show was seeing a resurgence of interest, speculating that it was due to the "original audience now having young families of their own and want[ing] to reach back to what helped form their early lives."

The show was nominated for many awards, including a Gemini Award for Best Sound and Best Writing, and won the Gemini for Best Animated Series.

Legacy
In 1990, Bert and Lisa were named the mascots of the Canadian Olympic team. That year, the Canadian Junior Olympics were held.

Its theme song "Run with Us" was also featured in the 2011 film Hobo with a Shotgun.

In January 2022, the show was featured in the premiere episode of Son of a Critch. Mark, the main character, is forced to stop watching The Raccoons by his father.

Children's novels based on the series were published by Cardiff-based publisher Candy Jar Books in 2024.

title: The Raccoons


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Rainbow Brite

Rainbow Brite is a media franchise by Hallmark Cards, introduced in 1984. The animated Rainbow Brite television series first aired in 1984, the same year Hallmark licensed Rainbow Brite to Mattel for a range of dolls and other merchandise. A theatrical feature-length film, Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer, was released by Warner Bros. in 1985. The franchise was rebooted in 2014 with a three part mini-series released on Hallmark's online streaming video service, Feeln. A line of new merchandise by Hallmark online and in its shops debuted in 2015.

Production
Rainbow Brite made her animated debut in the syndicated prime-time television special, "Peril in the Pits," which was first aired on June 27, 1984. Later, a pair of two-part specials were produced: "The Mighty Monstromurk Menace" and "The Beginning of Rainbowland."

A theatrical feature-length film, Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer, was released by Warner Bros. in 1985. The specials became part of DIC's weekly syndicated Kideo TV block of programming starting in April 1986, which were followed up with eight more episodes for a total of thirteen, which is one season in American television, and were rerun until the end of March 1987, after which the show was replaced on the Kideo TV schedule by Lady Lovely Locks & the Pixietails. All were published on VHS videotapes in the United States and other countries, along with two live-action programs. One of these was a program intended for use at kids' birthday parties ("It's Your Birthday Party"); the other was made on location at the San Diego Zoo ("San Diego Zoo Adventure").

Premise
In Gen 1 continuity, and most of the franchise's backstory, a young girl named Wisp is brought to a gray, desolate land with the mission to bring color to this fictional world by locating the Sphere of Light. Along the way, she befriends a furry creature (called a sprite) named Twink and a magnificent horse named Starlite and finds a mysterious baby who turns out to be the key to her mission. With the help of her new friends, Wisp locates the legendary Color Belt and rescues the seven Color Kids, who had been trapped by the King of Shadows. Using the Color Belt, Wisp and the Sphere of Light defeat the King of Shadows, liberate the sprites, and bring color and beauty to the land, henceforth called Rainbow Land. Wisp is renamed Rainbow Brite in honor of her new role as leader of the Color Kids, who are together in charge of all the colors in the universe.

The Color Kids spread color across the universe from the Color Console inside the Color Castle. Each Color Kid is in charge of their respective color, has a personal sprite and manages a number of like-colored sprites that mine Color Crystals from the nearby Color Caves. These crystals are processed into Star Sprinkles which are the essential components to brightening and coloring any object or place. The Star Sprinkles also power Rainbow Brite's Color Belt, which manifests a powerful multicolored energy force she uses to fight evil and help Starlight travel on. Rainbow Brite and the Color Kids' mission is often complicated by the likes of Murky Dismal, his sidekick Lurky, and other villains. Brian, a boy from Earth, sometimes assisted Rainbow Brite in her adventures.

In the movie, Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer, the setting expands to include the diamond planet, Spectra. All the light in the universe must pass through Spectra before coming to Earth. However, Earth soon falls into a wintry darkness when the diamond-obsessed Dark Princess decides to steal Spectra for her own. Rainbow Brite and her horse, Starlite, must team with Spectra's boy warrior, Krys, and his robotic horse, On-X, to defeat the powers of darkness and save Spectra, Earth, and the universe.

Gen 2 continuity took a radical departure from any other generation's story, focusing as much on ethnic diversity as the colors of the rainbow. Rainbow Brite had an entirely new and smaller group of friends called the Color Crew. Despite distribution and marketing in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia, the toy line never reached the success of its predecessor and ended after little more than a year.

Gen 3 was basically a relaunch of Gen 1 in 2003, with the same story, but a smaller range of characters produced. The dolls from Toy Play were similar to but not exact copies of the Gen 1 versions. There was also a sizable amount of Rainbow Brite merchandise from various other manufacturers just as in Gen 1.

Gen 4A celebrated the 25th anniversary of Rainbow Brite in 2009 with continuity returning the setting again to Rainbow Land, which looked nothing like the original version. This time, Rainbow Brite and her friends' mission was to bring hope and happiness to the far corners of the universe, making hearts lighter and worlds a little more colorful along the way. The story focuses on Rainbow Brite, Tickled Pink, and Moonglow, each representing one of Rainbow Land's Sky Powers, which determine the cycles of the days and seasons. Gen 4 continuity makes Rainbow Brite a girl originally from Earth (Return to Rainbow Land). Rainbow Brite's absence from the world is explained in a story that sees Rainbow return to her home on Earth for a brief visit with her family after many adventures spreading color throughout Rainbow Land and the universe. But when the Dark Princess erases Rainbow Land from Rainbow Brite's memory while on Earth, she never returns to her duties in Rainbow Land. Rainbow Brite eventually returns to Rainbow Land with the help of Starlite and Puppy Brite. These dolls had a more mature fashion doll-like design, which was totally unlike all of the previous dolls in the series. The three girl dolls were wearing training bras and panties under their clothes. The line suffered a delay, which caused the toys to not be available until after the holiday season that year. It saw scarce distribution as retailers were not impressed with it and was canceled after just seven months and before the first release was completed.

Feeln's (part of Hallmark) Gen 4B animated reboot retained most Gen 1 story elements and recognizable but not identical character designs. It introduced a few new story elements, one being the Sentinels of Light, which included Rainbow Brite as a guardian of light and color and Krys as the protector of light unseen. Stormy also played a more prominent role. After a falling out with her pal, Rainbow Brite, Stormy joined the forces of darkness and became a formidable frenemy. As the Dark Princess's manipulations became more transparent, Stormy started questioning where her true loyalties lay and returned to Rainbow Land as Rainbow Brite's friend. Gen 4B consisted solely of web content from Hallmark and only resulted in a minuscule amount of give-away merchandise. None of the items were available for purchase.

Gen 5 began in 2015 with dolls and toys very similar to those of Gens 1 and 3. Hallmark worked on the design, storylines, distribution and sales which have, so far, been limited to Hallmark shops in the United States and Canada, and the Hallmark website. The line began with a limited production of Hallmark's Itty Bittys plush miniatures before expanding to larger Twink & Starlite plushes, a 16" Rainbow Brite doll, a series of hard cover story books, women's clothing, and an expansion of the Itty Bittys line. In the fall of 2016, Hallmark released a Stormy doll with her own horse.

First Generation: Mattel
For the first Rainbow Brite generation (1984–1987), Mattel produced the dolls and many of the toys along with a large line of school supplies only sold in Italy. Other Rainbow Brite licensed merchandise was produced by various companies. This included many story and activity books by Western Publishing (Little Golden Books), a number of puzzles, a line of costume jewelry, banks and suitcases by Kat's Meow, clothes, toys, games, doll and child furniture, radios, child cosmetics, linen, towels, personal care items, lamps, figurines, VHS videocassettes, audio cassettes, records, bicycles, bedding, curtains and much more sold in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The rest of Europe saw a smaller variety of merchandise, though this varied from country to country.

Books, comic books, sticker albums and audio tapes were the best selling licensed items outside the United Kingdom, but other items did exist in different countries. In Germany alone there were no less than thirty-one story cassettes and forty-six comic books. Germany also had an exclusive version of the Dress Up Rainbow Brite doll that included a story cassette. This cassette was not sold separately but was produced by Europa, producer of the other 30 story cassettes. It is unknown if the cassettes were sent to the Asian factory that made the dolls or were put into the dolls' boxes in Germany. A line of five 3D erasers in the form of various Rainbow Brite characters was sold in Europe with Mattel branding, while the same line was also sold in Australia under the name of Harveston Super Action figures with the addition of an additional character (Lurky) not sold in Europe. A number of Gen 1B (the second release of the first generation) dolls made for the American and Mexican markets ended up being sold in Germany because of strong demand there. These dolls had their English or Spanish names covered by a sticker with the German name or sometimes nothing at all. Two Rainbow Brite dolls plus Twink and Starlite were also produced in Brazil by Estrella. These were not exported anywhere and came in their own unique white packaging with all writing less the Rainbow Brite name in the Brazilian version of Portuguese. Because of Rainbow Brite's extreme popularity soon after she was launched, a number of other companies not related to Mattel produced many unlicensed lookalike (fake or bootleg) items that were sold in North America and Europe.

The Mattel line of toys and dolls was quite large. There were three large dolls, five medium dolls (Emotions) 12 small dolls, nine animals, 50 sprites (including those that came with the small dolls), four large boxed toys, ten boxed wallhangings and doll carriers, and 27 small carded toys for a total of 111 different items and this does not include generational (some dolls were sold in two different boxes over time in some markets) and international packaging variations. These toys were expensive for their time and Mattel responded by producing a lower priced line of toys sold loose with tags called the 'Emotions' line. The Emotions line included five dolls including a 15" Buddy Blue doll that was sold only in Canada. The extra sprite in the line happened to be Champ. Also included were five Sprites, Starlite the horse and Lurky. Oddly enough, the Emotions dolls were larger than the small dolls in the regular line, but the Emotions horse was smaller than the normal version. As such the Emotions dolls were neither in scale with the Emotions horse or the regular Mattel version. And of course the Emotions dolls were too big to sit on the Emotions horse or the normal one. Not all toys were sold in all markets, and the Emotions line was never sold outside the United States and Canada.

Mattel's Dress Up line of dolls and horses is the most sought after part of the entire Mattel line, particularly Moonglow who was only sold in Germany. Although Stormy's doll was shown in the Mattel catalog and on the backs of the Dress Up doll boxes, she was never produced for retail even though the character did appear in some cartoon episodes and several German comic books. There was also a line of cataloged clothing for the Dress Up dolls, but like Stormy, it was never produced. The two horses, Starlight and Sunriser, were made from hard plastic rather than being stuffed. They were in fact from Mattel's line of 'Barbie' merchandise. The Dress Up line was only made for about one year. That makes the two horses and Moonglow very difficult to find today, especially MIB. The Tickled Pink and Rainbow Brite Dress Up dolls are somewhat difficult to find these days compared to the rest of the Gen 1 line.

Televised commercials for Mattel's Rainbow Brite dolls frequently featured the song, "Over the Rainbow," from The Wizard of Oz, often with altered lyrics or arrangements. Child actors Tracey Gold, Kellie Martin and Heather O'Rourke, famous for their roles in 1980s television and film, also appeared.

Second Generation: Up, Up and Away
The second Rainbow Brite generation (1996–1997) greatly differed from any generation before or since. It used the Rainbow Brite name but not the same characters or backstory. The master license was held by Up, Up and Away, a company which is no longer in business.

Rainbow Brite no longer had anything do with making colors and was now in charge of diversity. Although this version did have rainbow-colored hair, the characters resembled real-world children more than their previous animated and doll counterparts. In the second generation's story, Rainbow Brite had four friends, called the Color Crew, which included Amber (Latina), Cerise (Asian), Ebony (African-American) and Indigo (Middle Eastern, the only character name borrowed from the original Color Kids).

Rainbow Brite was produced as large and small dolls while the Color Crew was represented only in the small doll range. The large Rainbow Brite dolls came with three pots of Color-Glo Paint and a brush, while the small dolls included a single pot of Color-Glo Paint and a brush. The large doll was released in two different boxes, the first lacking a window so buyers could not see the doll inside. As the doll was sold with three different wardrobes, buying one was a gamble regarding which look she would have (unless one read the small code box on the bottom of the package indicating the doll's shoe color). The large doll later came in a window box with a simplified single wardrobe. The small dolls came boxed at first and then blister carded on two different types of cards. They are noted for being the only Rainbow Brite dolls ever produced with Dutch text on the packaging.

The Canadian importer was Irvine, a company which is currently still in business, and their product packaging was printed in both French and English texts. Ideal Toy Company was the importer for most of Western Europe, though Euro Play imported the line for Germany. The large doll was also distributed in Italy by GiG with only Italian text on the box. There were no other toys or accessories for the second generation dolls other than additional pots of Color-Glo Paint, which were sold in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. There was also a version of at least the large doll in a box with Spanish-only text. Another 15" Rainbow Brite doll with a Color Glo Bear and paint set was prototyped, as was a black version, which was produced in very small numbers. But only the black version was ever produced and then in very limited numbers. There was a Gen 2B which had simplified packaging and outfits as an effort to keep the line going by cutting costs. The second generation had nowhere near the success the first generation had at retail and was discontinued after less than two years on the market.

Third Generation: Toy Play
The third Rainbow Brite generation (2003–2005) was also the 20th Anniversary Release. The master toy licensee was Toy Play, a defunct subsidiary of The Betesh Group. The parent company is still in business. Nick Jr. was the television network that advertised the line. Hot Topic was the lead merchandiser with a unique Rainbow Brite doll not manufactured by Toy Play and many items of women's clothing, accessories and stationary.

Without being an exact copy of the originals, this generation returned to the look and feel of the Mattel line even if the product line was much narrower than the first generation. Toy Play followed the first generation's character roll out, producing Rainbow Brite, Red Butler, Canary Yellow and Patty O'Green characters but no more Color Kids followed. Starlite, Puppy Brite and the Sprites were also represented in various merchandise.

Characters were produced in different sizes, from three to twenty-eight inches tall across the line which went from PVC plastic figurines to plush dolls. Toy Play produced both retro-style plush dolls with wiring in their limbs to make them poseable along with plastic dolls wearing soft clothing and having articulated arms and legs. Some dolls were sold with a Region 1 DVD in English featuring a single episode of the original cartoon. Some Toy Play products were sold in Canada with English-French packaging. Toy Play's 18 inch talking Rainbow Brite doll notoriously omitted the color green when 'speaking' all of the colors of the rainbow. Toy Play indicated that the missing color would be added for future production runs, but this never happened because the line died out before a corrected version appeared.

Toy Play was the first (and so far only) merchandiser to produce a Color Castle playset, the Light Up Musical Castle, which included small articulated figurines of Rainbow Brite, Red Butler, Twink and Puppy Brite. The playset's box showed pictures of forthcoming product (a Rainbow Brite and Friends Sprites' village playset, an in-scale Starlite with brushable mane, as well as figurine 2-packs to include Rainbow Brite and Twink, Red Butler and Romeo, Patty O'Green and Lucky, Canary Yellow and Spark, and Murky Dismal and Lurky) though these were never produced. There was also a wide range of other merchandise, mostly clothing, that was available during Gen 3.

Fourth Generation: Playmates Toys
The fourth Rainbow Brite generation (2009–2010) was the 25th anniversary release and was accompanied by a series of web-episodes produced by Animax Entertainment that were available to stream on www.RainbowBrite.com., which no longer exists. The master toy license belonged to Playmates Toys and their line of Rainbow Brite toys was expected to be in stores in the fall of 2009. Production delays saw the line actually debut in stores on December 24 of that year, which of course missed the 2009 holiday shopping season.

The line's initial product release only included three plastic fashion dolls (Rainbow Brite, Tickled Pink, and Moonglow) and three plastic horses with rooted manes (Starlite, Sunriser, and Shimmer). A larger 15" Rainbow Brite doll was also produced. The line initially omitted the Color Kids altogether in favor of a more sky-power oriented storyline. The packaging art hinted at a possible Stormy doll to come, though yet again she never arrived.

The Playmates line never caught on with its target audience. Most retailers refused to carry the line and those that did saw stock run out by July 2010. If any reorders were placed, they were not in quantities that justified continued production. The line was only on the market for about seven months and was not available in all of the Contiguous United States.

In the Fall of 2010 three Sprite dolls appeared at retail in Mexico. These included Twinkle (a renamed Twink) for Rainbow Brite, Nite Sprite for Moonglow and Twilite for Tickled Pink. These were already in production when US retailers dropped the line. The fourth generation saw a number of licensed products similar to the third generation, some in the original Gen 1 style and some in the new Gen 4 style. This included mostly clothing and stationary, plus a small bicycle. The final products during the fourth generation came from Madame Alexander, and included a traditional Madame Alexander-style Gen 1 Rainbow Brite doll with Twink, as well as Gen 4-style plush dolls of Rainbow Brite and Tickled Pink.

Feeln
A three-part animated miniseries was launched on November 6, 2014 by Video On Demand site Feeln. The reboot showcased updated character designs for the cast, and starred Emily Osment as the voice of Rainbow Brite and Molly Ringwald as the voice of Dark Princess. The second episode was shown on November 13, 2014 and the series concluded on November 20, 2014.

Fifth Generation: Hallmark Toys
Hallmark introduced the fifth generation of Rainbow Brite toys, along with clothing and other merchandise in July 2015. A limited edition line of Rainbow Brite Itty Bittys featuring Rainbow Brite, Twink, Champ, O.J., Lucky and I.Q. arrived first, each produced in limited quantities of 500 units. The demand led to Hallmark reissuing the Itty Bittys with slightly revised designs in much greater numbers along with the first Rainbow Brite Itty Bittys boxed set featuring Red Butler, Romeo, Indigo and Hammy. These items were followed by an 8" Twink plush and 11" Starlite plush in September 2015, as well as a 16" Rainbow Brite doll that November.

In 2016 Hallmark released another Itty Bitty boxed set featuring Patty O'Green, Buddy Blue, Lucky & Champ. A 24" Rainbow Brite Jumbo Itty Bitty arrived in December. A limited edition Shy Violet Itty Bitty was released as a Hallmark online exclusive that Summer. In Fall of 2016 many new Rainbow Brite items were available at Hallmark stores and online, including several new story and activity books, a new range of greeting cards, and a 1,000 piece Rainbow Land puzzle. A Starlite Itty Bitty was released in November, as well as 11" Sunriser and Skydancer plushes, and for the first time ever a 16" Stormy doll. Packaging for the single items consists only of attached tags with the product name, Hallmark logo, copyright notice and barcode, while the boxed sets feature Rainbow Land displayable backgrounds. These toys are sold only in the United States and Canada. Additionally, Hallmark Keepsake Rainbow Brite holiday ornaments were sold in 2015 (a reissue of Hallmark's 2013 ornament) and 2016.

A Rainbow Brite comic was published by Dynamite Entertainment for five issues from October 2018 to February 2019.

title: Rainbow Brite


text:
Robert Jungk

Robert Jungk (born Robert Baum, also known as Robert Baum-Jungk; 11 May 1913 – 14 July 1994) was an Austrian writer, journalist, historian and peace campaigner. He wrote mostly on matters relating to nuclear weapons.

Life
Jungk was born into a Jewish family in Berlin. His father, known as Max Jungk, was born David Baum in Bohemia.

When Adolf Hitler came to power, Robert Jungk was arrested and released, moved to Paris, then back to Nazi Germany to work in a subversive press service. These activities forced him during World War II to move through various cities including Prague, Paris, and Zürich. After the war, he continued working as a journalist.

His book Brighter than a Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists, was the first published account of the Manhattan Project and the German atomic bomb project. Its first Danish edition implied that the German project's workers had been dissuaded from developing a weapon by Werner Heisenberg and his associates, a claim strongly contested by the Danish 1922 Physics Nobel Prize winner Niels Bohr. This led to questions about a 1941 meeting between Bohr and Heisenberg in Copenhagen, Denmark, which became the subject of Michael Frayn's 1998 play Copenhagen.

In 1986 Jungk received the Right Livelihood Award for "struggling indefatigably on behalf of peace, sane alternatives for the future and ecological awareness."

In 1992 he made an unsuccessful bid for the Austrian presidency on behalf of the Green Party.

Jungk died in Salzburg on 14 July 1994.

Personal life
In 1948 Jungk married Ruth Suschitzky (1913–1995). Their son is journalist and writer Peter Stephan Jungk.

Recognition

 * 1970: Honorary Professor at the Technical University of Berlin
 * 1986: Right Livelihood Award
 * 1989: Honorary Citizen of the City of Salzburg
 * 1992: Alternative Büchner Prize
 * 1993: Honorary Doctor of the University of Osnabrück
 * 1993: Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art
 * 1993: Salzburg Award for Future Research
 * 2000: The anti-Wackersdorf reprocessing plant monument on the Mozartplatz in Salzburg is also dedicated to him, among others.

title: Robert Jungk


text:
KB Pivdenne

Pivdenne Design Office (Державне конструкторське бюро «Південне» ім. М. К. Янгеля), located in Dnipro, Ukraine, is a designer of satellites and rockets, and formerly of Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), established by Mikhail Yangel. During the Soviet era the bureau's OKB designation was OKB-586.

The company is in close co-operation with the PA Pivdenmash multi-product machine-building company, also situated in Dnipro. Pivdenmash is the main manufacturer of the models developed by Pivdenne Design Office.

Directors

 * 1954–1971 Mikhail Yangel
 * 1971–1991 Vladimir Utkin
 * 1991–2010 Stanislav Konyukhov
 * 2010–2020 Oleksandr Dehtiariov

Ballistic missiles

 * Hrim-2

Orbital launch vehicles

 * Zenit rocket family
 * Zenit-2
 * Zenit-2M
 * Zenit-3F
 * Zenit-3SL
 * Zenit-3SLB
 * Antares first stage core, in cooperation with Orbital Sciences Corporation
 * Dnepr, converted R-36 ICBM
 * R-36 ICBM, NATO reporting name SS-18 'Satan'

Rocket engines

 * Main engines
 * RD-843
 * RD-853
 * RD-859
 * RD-860
 * RD-861K
 * RD-866
 * RD-868
 * Steering engines
 * RD-8
 * RD-855
 * RD-856
 * Thrusters
 * Tsyklon-3 thruster (30 N)
 * Tsyklon-3 thruster (100 N)
 * Okean-O thruster (30 N)
 * Tsyklon-4 thruster (30 N)

Orbital launch vehicles

 * Tsyklon rocket family
 * Cyclone-4M – first launch planned for 2023
 * Mayak rocket family

Rocket engines

 * Main engines
 * RD-801
 * RD-809
 * RD-809K
 * RD-810
 * DU-802

Satellites

 * Sich-2-1
 * Sich-2-M
 * Sich-3-O
 * Sich-3-P
 * YuzhSat
 * YuzhSat-1
 * Mikrosat
 * Ionosat

Retired

 * Tsyklon rocket family
 * Tsyklon 2
 * Tsyklon-3
 * Kosmos-2I
 * Kosmos-3M
 * R-12 Dvina TBM, NATO reporting name SS-4 'Sandal'
 * R-14 Chusovaya ICBM, NATO reporting name SS-5 'Skean'
 * R-16 ICBM, NATO reporting name SS-7 'Saddler' (see also Nedelin catastrophe)
 * R-26 ICBM, NATO reporting name SS-8 'Sasin'
 * R-36 ICBM, NATO reporting name SS-9 'Scarp'
 * RT-20 ICBM, NATO reporting name SS-15 'Scrooge' (planned but never deployed)
 * MR-UR-100 Sotka ICBM, NATO reporting name SS-17 'Spanker'
 * RT-23 Molodets ICBM, NATO reporting name SS-24 'Scalpel'

title: KB Pivdenne


text:
National Museum of Natural History

The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 million visitors in 2023, it was the second most-visited museum in the United States.

Opened in 1910, the museum on the National Mall was one of the first Smithsonian buildings constructed exclusively to hold the national collections and research facilities. The main building has an overall area of 1.5 e6ft2 with 325,000 ft2 of exhibition and public space and houses over 1,000 employees.

The museum's collections contain over 146 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, human remains, and human cultural artifacts, the largest natural history collection in the world. It is also home to about 185 professional natural history scientists—the largest group of scientists dedicated to the study of natural and cultural history in the world.

1846–1911
The United States National Museum was founded in 1846 as part of the Smithsonian Institution. The museum was initially housed in the Smithsonian Institution Building, which is better known today as the Smithsonian Castle. A formal exhibit hall opened in 1858. The growing collection led to the construction of a new building, the National Museum Building (known today as the Arts and Industries Building). Covering a then-enormous 2.25 acre, it was built in just 15 months at a cost of $310,000. It opened in March 1881.

Congress authorized construction of a new building on June 28, 1902. On January 29, 1903, a special committee composed of members of Congress and representatives from the Smithsonian's board of regents published a report asking Congress to fund a much larger structure than originally planned. The regents began considering sites for the new building in March, and by April 12 settled on a site on the north side of B Street NW between 9th and 12th Streets. The D.C. architectural firm of Hornblower & Marshall was chosen to design the structure. Testing of the soil for the foundations was set for July 1903, with construction expected to take three years.

The Natural History Building (as the National Museum of Natural History was originally known) opened its doors to the public on March 17, 1910, in order to provide the Smithsonian Institution with more space for collections and research. The building was not fully completed until June 1911. The structure cost $3.5 million (about $85 million in inflation-adjusted 2012) dollars. The Neoclassical style building was the first structure constructed on the north side of the National Mall as part of the 1901 McMillan Commission plan. In addition to the Smithsonian's natural history collection, it also housed the American history, art, and cultural collections.

1981–2003
Between 1981 and 2003, the National Museum of Natural History had 11 permanent and acting directors. There were six directors alone between 1990 and 2002. Turnover was high as the museum's directors were disenchanted by low levels of funding and the Smithsonian's inability to clearly define the museum's mission. Robert W. Fri was named the museum's director in 1996. One of the largest donations in Smithsonian history was made during Fri's tenure. Kenneth E. Behring donated $20 million in 1997 to modernize the museum. Fri resigned in 2001 after disagreeing with Smithsonian leadership over the reorganization of the museum's scientific research programs.

J. Dennis O'Connor, Provost of the Smithsonian Institution (where he oversaw all science and research programs) was named acting director of the museum on July 25, 2001. Eight months later, O'Conner resigned to become the vice president of research and dean of the graduate school at the University of Maryland. Douglas Erwin, a paleontologist at the National Museum of Natural History, was appointed interim director in June 2002.

2003–2007
In January 2003, the Smithsonian announced that Cristián Samper, a Colombian with an M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Harvard University, would become the museum's permanent director on March 31, 2003. Samper (who holds dual citizenship with Colombia and the United States) founded the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute and ran the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute after 2001. Smithsonian officials said Samper's administrative experience proved critical in his appointment. Under Samper's direction, the museum opened the $100 million Behring Hall of Mammals in November 2003, received $60 million in 2004 for the Sant Hall of Oceans, and received a $1 million gift from Tiffany & Co. for the purchase of precious gems for the National Gem Collection.

On March 25, 2007, Lawrence M. Small, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and the organization's highest-ranking appointed official, resigned abruptly after public reports of lavish spending.

2007–2012
On March 27, 2007, Samper was appointed Acting Secretary of the Smithsonian. Paul G. Risser, former chancellor of the University of Oklahoma, was named acting director of the Museum of Natural History on March 29.

In May 2007, Robert Sullivan, the former associate director in charge of exhibitions at the National Museum of Natural History, charged that Samper and Smithsonian Undersecretary for Science David Evans (Samper's supervisor) ordered "last minute" changes in the exhibit "Arctic: A Friend Acting Strangely" to tone down the role of human beings in the discussion of global warming, and to make global warming seem more uncertain than originally depicted. Samper denied that he knew of any scientific objections to the changes, and said that no political pressure had been applied to the Smithsonian to make the changes. In November 2007, The Washington Post reported that an interagency group of scientists from the Department of the Interior, NASA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and National Science Foundation believed that, despite Samper's denial, the museum "acted to avoid criticism from congressional appropriators and global-warming skeptics in the Bush administration". The changes were discussed as early as mid-August 2005, and Dr. Waleed Abdalati, manager of NASA's Cryospheric Sciences Program, noted at the time that "There was some discussion of the political sensitivities of the exhibit."

Although the exhibit was due to open in October 2005, the Post reported that Samper ordered a six-month delay to allow for even further changes. The newspaper also reported that it had obtained a memo drafted by Samper shortly after October 15, 2005, in which Samper said the museum should not "replicate" work by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. A few weeks later, a NOAA climate researcher advised a superior that the delay was due to "the debate within the administration and the science community over the existence and cause of global warming". During the delay, Samper asked high-level officials in other government agencies and departments to review the script for the exhibit, ordered his museum staff to make additional changes, and rearranged the sequence of the exhibit panels so that the discussion of climate change was not immediately encountered by museum visitors. Shortly before the exhibit opened in April 2006, officials at NOAA and the United States Department of Commerce expressed to their superiors their opinion that the exhibit had been changed to accommodate political concerns. In an interview with The Washington Post in November 2007, Samper said he felt the exhibit displayed a scientific certainty that did not exist, and expressed his belief that the museum should present evidence on both sides and let the public make up its own mind.

The issue became more heated after the press reported that Samper gave permission for the museum to accept a $5 million donation from American Petroleum Institute that would support the museum's soon-to-be-opened Hall of Oceans. Two members of the Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents (which had final say on accepting the donation) questioned whether the donation was a conflict of interest. Before the board could consider the donation, the donor withdrew the offer. Risser resigned as acting director of the museum on January 22, 2008, in order to return to his position at the University of Oklahoma. No new acting director was named at that time. Six weeks later, the Smithsonian regents chose Georgia Tech president G. Wayne Clough as the new Secretary. Samper stepped down to return to his position as Director of the National Museum of Natural History.

In June 2008, the Victoria and Roger Sant family donated $15 million to endow the new Ocean Hall at the museum. The museum celebrated the 50th anniversary of its acquisition of the Hope Diamond in August 2009 by giving the gemstone its own exhibit and a new setting. In March 2010, the museum opened its $21 million human evolution hall.

In January 2012, Samper said he was stepping down from the National Museum of Natural History to become president and chief executive officer of the Wildlife Conservation Society. Two months later, the museum announced it had received a $35 million gift to renovate its dinosaur hall, and a month later the Sant family donated another $10 million to endow the director's position. On July 25, 2012, Kirk Johnson, vice president of research and collections at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, was named Samper's successor effective October 29, 2012. By 2013, as Sant Director, Johnson oversaw a museum with 460 employees and a $68 million budget. A four-year strategic plan was released in 2021. The museum's Mall building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2023.

Research and collections
Research in the museum is divided into seven departments: anthropology, botany, entomology, invertebrate zoology, mineral sciences, paleobiology, vertebrate zoology.

The NMNH represents 90% of the Smithsonian Institution’s collections and forms one of the largest, most comprehensive natural history collection in the world. The Smithsonian gives an approximate number for artifacts and specimens of 146 million. More specifically, the collections include 30 million insects, 4.5 million plants preserved in the Museum's herbarium, and 7 million fish stored in liquid-filled jars. The National Collection of Amphibians and Reptiles has more than tripled from 190,000 specimen records 1970 to over 580,000 specimen records in 2020. Of the 2 million cultural artifacts, 400,000 are photographs housed in the National Anthropological Archives. Through off-site active loan and exchange programs, the museum's collections can be accessed. As a result, 3.5 million specimens are out on loan every year. The rest of the collections not on display are stored in the non-public research areas of the museum and at the Museum Support Center, located in Suitland, Maryland. Other facilities include a marine science center in Ft. Pierce, Florida and field stations in Belize, Alaska, and Kenya.

The museum is estimated to hold more than 5000 Native American remains that have not been repatriated. Some of these may belong to the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

One collection of nearly a million specimens of birds, reptiles, and mammals kept at the museum has been maintained by the Biological Survey unit of the U.S. Geological Survey. This division had started in 1885 as an economic ornithology unit of the Agriculture Department. Clarence Birdseye and Clinton Hart Merriam had worked in this organization. As of February 2018, the unit's funding is planned to be cut, and it is not clear what would happen to the collection.

Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals
The National Gem and Mineral Collection is one of the most significant collections of its kind in the world. There are currently over 15,000 individual gems in the collection, as well as 350,000 minerals and 300,000 samples of rock and ore specimens. Additionally, the Smithsonian's National Gem and Mineral Collection houses approximately 45,000 meteorite specimens, including examples of every known type of meteorite, and is considered to be one of the most comprehensive collections of its kind in the world. The collection includes some of the most famous pieces of gems and minerals, including the Hope Diamond and the Star of Asia (one of the largest sapphires in the world), and the Carmen Lúcia Ruby, one of the largest and most valuable Burmese rubies in the world.

The collection is displayed in the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals, one of the many galleries in the Museum of Natural History. Some of the most important donors, besides Hooker, are Washington Roebling, the man who built the Brooklyn Bridge, who gave 16,000 specimens to the collection; Frederick A. Canfield, who donated 9,000 specimens to the collection; and Isaac Lea, who donated the basis of the museum's collection of 1312 gems and minerals.

Hall of Human Origins
The David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins opened on March 17, 2010, marking the museum's 100th anniversary. The hall is named for David H. Koch, who contributed $15 million to the $20.7 million exhibit.

The Hall is "dedicated to the discovery and understanding of human origins," and occupies 15000 sqft of exhibit space. This exhibit includes 76 humans skulls, each of a different species, eons apart. Each of these species is a human, signified by the "Homo" genus name. One species that can be found in this gallery is the Homo heidelbergensis, which lived 200,000–700,000 years ago. In addition, there is a female skull from Homo floresiensis, a human species that possibly only went extinct just 17,000 years ago. The exhibit includes an interactive human family tree that follows six million years of evolution, and a "Changing the World" gallery that focuses on issues surrounding climate change and humans' impact on the world. The Hall's core concept idea is "What Does It Mean To Be Human", and focuses on milestones of human evolution such as walking upright, bigger brains, and symbolic thought. Also covered is the Smithsonian's significant research on the geological and climate changes which occurred in East Africa during significant periods of Human Evolution. The exhibit highlights an actual fossil Neanderthal and replicas created by famed paleoartist, John Gurche. The exhibit has been criticized for downplaying the significance of human-caused global warming.

The exhibit also provides a complementary web site, which provides diaries and podcasts directly from related fields of research. The companion book, What Does It Mean To Be Human, was written by Richard (Rick) Potts, the curator, and Christopher Sloan. The exhibit was designed by Reich + Petch.

Deep Time Exhibit/Fossil Hall
The Hall of Dinosaurs has fossilized skeletons and cast models, including a Tyrannosaurus rex cast facing a Triceratops cast. This Triceratops exhibit shows the first accurate dinosaur skeleton in virtual motion, achieved through the use of scanning and digital technology." The collection consists of 46 "complete and important specimens" of dinosaurs.

In May 2012, billionaire David H. Koch donated $35 million toward the cost of a $45 million upgrade to the 30-year-old, 25000 sqft dinosaur hall. The hall closed in April 2014 and reopened in June 2019.

In June 2013, the Smithsonian obtained a 50-year lease on a T. rex fossil skeleton owned by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. It is the first T. rex skeleton to be displayed at the museum, which until now has only had the cast of a skull. The specimen, known as the "Wankel" or "Devil" rex, was found on Corps-owned land in the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge in Montana in 1988. It has since been on display at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana (which helped excavate the fossil). The "Wankel rex" (whose skeleton is 85 percent complete) was to be unveiled at the Museum of Natural History on National Fossil Day, October 16, 2013, and was supposed to be on display until the dinosaur hall exhibit closed for renovation in the spring of 2014. The 35 ft long skeleton is the centerpiece of the dinosaur hall since it re-opened in 2019. The Museum of the Rockies (which did not own the skeleton but was the repository for it) has about a dozen T. rex specimens, including one which is eighty percent complete. Only about six museums in the United States have a T. rex skeleton. The Museum of the Rockies is a Smithsonian affiliate museum, and had long promised to find a T. rex for the Smithsonian to display.

Due to the 2013 federal government shutdown, the fossil did not arrive in Washington, D.C. Smithsonian officials said it remained in storage in Montana, and would not arrive at the Smithsonian until late spring 2014. Packed up in 16 crates, the T. rex, named "Nation's T. rex" by the Smithsonian, traveled from the Museum of the Rockies and arrived at the National Museum of Natural History on April 15, 2014. The T. rex was displayed in the Rex Room, while specialists performed a conservation assessment and the Smithsonian Digitization Program scanned each bone, to create a 3-D model for research. The Nation's T. rex is the centerpiece of the new fossil hall, which opened in 2019.

Hall of Mammals
The Behring Hall of Mammals was designed by Reich + Petch. The mammal specimens are presented as works of modern art within minimal environmentals. Visitors discover mammal's evolutionary adaptions to hugely diverse contexts, and ultimately discover that they too are mammals.

The museum has the largest collection of vertebrate specimens in the world, nearly twice the size of the next largest mammal collections, including historically important collections from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its collection was initiated by C. Hart Merriam and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (later the Department of the Interior), which expanded it in the 1890s-1930s.

Insect Zoo
The O. Orkin Insect Zoo features live insects and exhibits about insects and entomologists. Different habitats have been created to show the type of insects that live in different environments and how they have adapted to a freshwater pond, house, mangrove swamp, desert, and rain forest. The zoo is sponsored by Orkin, a pest control company.

Ocean Hall
The Sant Ocean Hall opened on September 27, 2008, and is the largest renovation of the museum since it opened in 1910. The hall includes 674 marine specimens and models drawn from the over 80 million specimens in the museum's total collection, the largest in the world. The hall is named for the Roger Sant family, who donated $15 million to endow the new hall and other related programs.

The collection includes: a North Atlantic right whale, a giant Lion's mane jellyfish model, a 1500 USgal aquarium, one female giant squid displayed in the center of the hall and a male displayed off to the side, an adult coelenterate, and a Basilosaurus.

The museum also provides the Smithsonian Ocean Portal, a complementary web site that provides regularly updated, original content from the museum's research, collections, and Sant Ocean Hall as well as content provided by more than 20 collaborating organizations, including Archive, Census of Marine Life, Consortium for Ocean Leadership, Encyclopedia of Life, INDUCT, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, National Geographic, NOAA, New England Aquarium, Ocean Conservancy, Oceania, Pew Charitable Trusts, Sea Web, Save Our Seas, Scrips Institution of Oceanography, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, World Heritage Marine Programmer.

African Voices
This exhibit and associated website "examines the diversity, dynamism, and global influence of Africa's peoples and cultures over time in the realms of family, work, community, and the natural environment."

Butterflies + Plants: Partners In Evolution
The Butterflies + Plants is a live butterfly pavilion which allows "visitors to observe the many ways in which butterflies and other animals have evolved, adapted, and diversified together with their plant partners over tens of millions of years." The exhibit was designed by Reich + Petch.

Bone Hall
This exhibit displays a "variety of vertebrate skeletons grouped by their evolutionary relationships."

Q?rius
Opened since 2013, this exhibit is the museum's interactive and educational area. Using microscopes and touch screens, the area hosts various interactive activities and puzzles visitors can experience and contains a "collection zone" that houses over 6000 different specimens and artifacts visitors are able personally handle. The area also hosts various events such as allowing visitors to meet and discuss with Smithsonian scientists and hosting school groups.

Western Cultures Hall
"This hall explores some examples from various cultures in the western world including northern Iraq, ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome and the recent discovery of the Iceman, a Copper Age mummy found in an Italian glacier." This exhibit was closed on September 26, 2010.

Korea Gallery
The Korea Gallery was a special showcase to celebrate Korean traditions and examine its unique influence and complex role in the world today.

The exhibit expressed the continuity of the past by highlighting enduring features of Korean culture which have influence and resonance today. The exhibit used the Smithsonian ceramics collection as well as a rich selection of photographs, ritual objects and traditional Korean carpentry to communicate and connect to both the local Korean community and an international audience. Traditional art forms, such as ceramics and calligraphy, along with mythological figures, language, large feature photographs and illustrations spoke to a range of shared historical memories which connected Koreans at home and abroad.

Personal stories of modern Koreans, as told in their own voices, provide a context to discuss some of the many issues that face the divided country today. Korea's incredible transformation from 'The Hermit Kingdom' to a world power is traced through its impact on the arts, the economy and popular culture. The exhibit was designed by Reich + Petch. This exhibit closed in 2017.

Facility
In the lower level, there is a bird exhibit, Urban Bird Habitat Garden, with all the migratory and native birds to Washington, D.C.

The Global Volcanism Program is housed in the department of Mineral Sciences.

The museum frequently hosts sleepovers through the Smithsonian Associates for children ages 8–12.

Baird Auditorium
Beneath the building's rotunda is the Baird Auditorium, named for the second Secretary of the Smithsonian Spencer Fullerton Baird. The Baird Auditorium was completed in 1909, designed and built by the R. Guastavino Company under the direction of Rafael Guastavino, Jr. using Catalan vault tile ceiling. The American Institute of Architects calls the Baird Auditorium the museum's "greatest interior space." According to architectural scholar Dr. John Ochsendorf, the Baird Auditorium's "daring geometry" in tile construction by the Guastavino company "spans 90 feet (27 meters) with a remarkable shallow dome in acoustical tile, and could only have been built by a company with decades of experience in tile vaulting."

Baird Auditorium Events
The Baird Auditorium has a long history of performances and events. The Baird was the location of the astronomical 'Great Debate,' also called the 'Shapley–Curtis Debate,' on April 26, 1920 on the topics of spiral nebulae and the size of the universe. Merle Travis gave a country guitar music concert in the Baird Auditorium on October 23, 1976. In early February 1977, Muddy Waters performed in the Baird as part of the Smithsonian Institution's blues series presented by the Division of Performing Arts.

In popular culture

 * The exteriors of the Museum were used as a model for the "Leyendecker Museum" in the Sierra On-Line 1992 adventure game The Dagger of Amon Ra.
 * In the 2008 video game Fallout 3, a derelict exhibit at the museum serves as the entrance to Underworld, a civilization established by ghouls.
 * In the 2008 film Get Smart, the fictional spy organization CONTROL is located underneath the National Museum of Natural History.
 * The giant squid from the National Museum of Natural History inspired the octopus that comes to life in 20th Century Fox's 2009 film Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.
 * A version of the museum is featured as a partially-explorable location and one of the few quarantined areas in the 2019 third-person shooter The Division 2.
 * A drawing of the museum was featured in an episode of the animated comedy Inside Job in 2021.

title: National Museum of Natural History


text:
Mayors for Peace

Mayors for Peace (founded as The World Conference of Mayors for Peace through Inter-city Solidarity, renamed in 2001 ) is an international organization of cities dedicated to the promotion of peace that was established in 1982 at the initiative of then Mayor of Hiroshima Takeshi Araki, in response to the deaths of around 140,000 people due to the atomic bombing of the city on August 6, 1945.

The current mayor of Hiroshima, Kazumi Matsui, is the President of the organization as of his April 2011 inauguration.

Mayors for Peace was started in Japan, and since then Mayors throughout the World have signed on. When Mayors sign on, it means they support the commencement of negotiations towards the elimination of nuclear weapons by the year 2020.

In August 2023, Mayors for Peace counted over 8,200 member cities in 166 countries and territories around the world.

The Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign
The 2020 Vision Campaign is the main vehicle for advancing the agenda of Mayors for Peace, a nuclear-weapon-free world by the year 2020. It was initiated on a provisional basis by the Executive Cities of Mayors for Peace at their meeting in Manchester, UK, in October 2003. It was launched under the name 'Emergency Campaign to Ban Nuclear Weapons' in November of that year at the 2nd Citizens Assembly for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons held in Nagasaki, Japan. In August 2005, the World Conference endorsed continuation of the Campaign under the title of the '2020 Vision Campaign'.

From May 2008 till May 2009, the main focus of the work of the 2020 Vision Campaign has been the signature drive for the Cities Appeal in support of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol. The Protocol embeds the objective of the 2020 Vision Campaign in a realistic framework. As a protocol to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), it seeks to challenge national governments to follow through on the commitments they made in Article VI the Treaty.

By signing the Cities Appeal, Mayors and elected local officials around the world are given the chance to get behind the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol ahead of the formal and final presentation of the results of the international signature drive at the 2010 NPT Review Conference at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Activities in the U.S.
In western Massachusetts, a campaign was spearheaded from grassroots organizers in eleven towns. After two years of hard working starting in the autumn of 2005 and continuing today, all eleven Western Mayors have signed on to the campaign.

This encouraged some legislative action, and the state Republicans brought forth a resolution for nuclear abolition by 2020 which passed in the Massachusetts House and Senate. Senator Ted Kennedy was asked to bring the resolution to the federal level. However, after Kennedy died, there are no plans to see the resolution at a national level.

2011 Nobel Peace Prize nomination
Mayors for Peace were nominated for 2011 Nobel Peace Prize by 1976 Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire. Maguire, who nominated Mayors for Peace and Nihon Hidankyo jointly for the prize, said she believes that "both organizations have fulfilled the wish of Alfred Nobel to work for peace and disarmament and awarding the prize jointly to them would recognize the great sacrifice of especially the hibakusha and give support and encouragement to all working on one of the greatest challenges to humanity – to rid the world of all nuclear weapons and build peace amongst the human family."

title: Mayors for Peace


text:
Takeshi Araki

Takeshi Araki (荒木 武) was the mayor of Hiroshima from 1975 to 1991.

In April 1947, he was elected as member of the Hiroshima city council, and as member of the Hiroshima Prefectural Assembly in 1951.

Araki was elected mayor of Hiroshima in 1975. In 1976, he protested the air show held in Texas, in which the US Air Force held an imitation of the atomic attack on Hiroshima in the form of a mushroom cloud in the desert, and in 1977 protested to the Japanese government about the possibility of further such reenactments. As a mayor, Araki approached the US government to work for nuclear disarmament. On November 26, 1976, he held a meeting in Washington D.C., with head of Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Fred Ikle, a meeting attended also by mayor Yoshitake Morotani of Nagasaki with the purpose of promoting US policy of nuclear disarmament. On November 30, the two mayors met US Permanent Representative to the UN William Scranton and conveyed the same message. The two mayors met UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim on December 3. Araki later described his meeting with Waldheim as follows: There we, as survivors, living witnesses, testified the true facts of our atomic bomb experiences, and we strongly appealed for the total abolition of nuclear weapons and the renunciation of war.

To this appeal of ours, both Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim and President H.S. Amerasinghe of the General Assembly, representing the United Nations, respectively emphasized that the sufferings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are sufferings to be shared by the whole of mankind, and that a new concept of world order should be built from the ashes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They deeply sympathized with us, expressing their earnest desire to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In May 1978, spoke at a special session of the United Nations General Assembly, dealing with disarmament, and was the first Mayor of Hiroshima to appear at an official UN session.

Being a hibakusha himself, he helped found the organization Mayors for Peace in 1982. He also concluded a number of Sister City agreements with Hannover, Germany (1983) and Chongqing, People's Republic of China (1986).

title: Takeshi Araki


text:
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft and is part of the Smithsonian Institution. It was conceived as the United States' museum of contemporary and modern art and currently focuses its collection-building and exhibition-planning mainly on the post–World War II period, with particular emphasis on art made during the last 50 years.

The Hirshhorn is situated halfway between the Washington Monument and the US Capitol, anchoring the southernmost end of the so-called L'Enfant axis (perpendicular to the Mall's green carpet). The National Archives/National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden across the Mall, and the National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian American Art building several blocks to the north, also mark this pivotal axis, a key element of both the 1791 city plan by Pierre L'Enfant and the 1901 MacMillan Plan.

The building itself is an attraction, an open cylinder elevated on four massive "legs", with a large fountain occupying the central courtyard.

Founding
In the late 1930s, the United States Congress mandated an art museum for the National Mall. At the time, the only venue for visual art was the National Gallery of Art, which focuses on Dutch, French, and Italian art. During the 1940s World War II shifted the project into the background.

Meanwhile, Joseph H. Hirshhorn, then in his forties and enjoying great success from uranium-mining investments, began creating his collection from classic French Impressionism to works by living artists, American modernism of the early 20th century, and sculpture. Then, in 1955, Hirshhorn sold his uranium interests for more than $50-million. He expanded his collection to warehouses, an apartment in New York City, and an estate in Greenwich, Connecticut, with extensive area for sculpture.

A 1962 sculpture show at New York's Guggenheim Museum awakened an international art community to the breadth of Hirshhorn's holdings. Word of his collection of modern and contemporary paintings also circulated, and institutions in Italy, Israel, Canada, California, and New York City vied for the collection. President Lyndon B. Johnson and Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley successfully campaigned for a new museum on the National Mall.

In 1966, an Act of Congress established the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution. Most of the funding was federal, but Hirshhorn later contributed $1-million toward construction. Joseph and his fourth wife, Olga Zatorsky Hirshhorn, visited the White House. The groundbreaking was in 1969 and Abram Lerner was named the founding director. He oversaw research, conservation, and installation of more than 6,000 items brought from the Hirshhorns' Connecticut estate and other properties to Washington, DC.

Joseph Hirshhorn spoke at the inauguration (1974), saying:

"It is an honor to have given my art collection to the people of the United States as a small repayment for what this nation has done for me and others like me who arrived here as immigrants. What I accomplished in the United States I could not have accomplished anywhere else in the world."

One million visitors saw the 850-work inaugural show in the first six months.

Institutional leadership
In 1984, James T. Demetrion, who had served as director of the Des Moines Art Center in Iowa for 14 years, succeeded Abram Lerner as the Hirshhorn's director. Art collector and retail store founder Sydney Lewis of Richmond, Virginia, succeeded Senator Daniel P. Moynihan as board chairman. Demetrion held the post for more than 17 years.

Ned Rifkin became director in February 2002, returning to the Hirshhorn after directorship positions at the Menil Collection in Texas and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. Rifkin was previously chief curator of the Hirshhorn from 1986 until 1991. In October 2003, Rifkin was named Under Secretary for Art of the Smithsonian.

In 2005, Olga Viso was named director of the Hirshhorn. Viso joined the curatorial department of the Hirshhorn in 1995 as assistant curator, was named associate curator in 1998, and served as curator of contemporary art from 2000 to 2003. In October 2003, Viso was named deputy director of the Hirshhorn, a post she held until her 2005 promotion to director. After two years, Ms. Viso accepted the position of director at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, departing in December 2007.

Chief Curator and Deputy Director Kerry Brougher served as acting director for more than a year until an international search led to the hiring of Richard Koshalek, who was named the fifth director of the Hirshhorn in February 2009.

Richard Koshalek (born 1942) was president of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, from 1999 until January 2009. Before that, he served as director of The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles for nearly 20 years. At both institutions, he was noted for his commitment to new artistic initiatives, including commissioned works, scholarly exhibitions and publications, and the building of new facilities that garnered architectural acclaim. He worked with architect Frank Gehry on the design and construction of MOCA's Geffen Contemporary (1983), a renovated warehouse popularly known as the Temporary Contemporary. He also worked with the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki on the museum's permanent home in Los Angeles (1986). Koshalek resigned in 2013 after the Bloomberg Bubble controversy (see below).

On June 5, 2014, Hirshhorn trustees announced that they had hired Melissa Chiu, director of Asia Society Museum in New York City, to be the Hirshhorn's new director. Chiu, who was born in Darwin, Australia, is a scholar of contemporary Chinese art. Chiu oversaw the Hirshhorn's 40th anniversary celebration in the fall of 2014. Chiu began her tenure at the Hirshhorn in September 2014.

Collection highlights
Notable artists in the collection include: Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Mary Cassatt, Thomas Eakins, Henry Moore, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, Hans Hofmann, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, John Chamberlain, Francis Bacon, Willem de Kooning, Milton Avery, Ellsworth Kelly, Ching Ho Cheng, Louise Nevelson, Arshile Gorky, Edward Hopper, Larry Rivers, and Raphael Soyer among others. Outside the museum is a sculpture garden, featuring works by artists including Auguste Rodin, David Smith, Alexander Calder, Jean-Robert Ipoustéguy, Jeff Koons, and others.

Yoko Ono's Wish Tree for Washington, DC, a permanent installation in the Sculpture Garden (since 2007), now includes contributions from all over the world.

In 2018, the collection acquired its first piece of performance art, by Tino Sehgal: This You (2006), features a female singer performing outdoors.

In 2019, Barbara and Aaron Levine donated their entire Marcel Duchamp collection, one of the largest in the world, to the museum. The exhibit "Marcel Duchamp: The Barbara and Aaron Levine Collection" ran from November 9, 2019, to October 12, 2020.

Bloomberg Bubble controversy
In 2009, then Director Richard Koshalek announced that an inflatable structure would be erected over the Hirshhorn's central plaza to create a new public space. The Seasonal Inflatable Structure, to be called the "Bloomberg Bubble," was due to be erected in 2013 and would be inflated annually for one two-month period. It was supposed to create a 14,000-square-foot space for performance and lectures. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the proposal won a progressive architecture award from Architect magazine.

Hirshhorn officials began reconsidering the Bubble in 2013. Construction cost estimates for the structure more than tripled to $15.5 million from $5 million, and no major gifts for the project were received between 2010 and May 2013. A Hirshhorn study also concluded that the cost of programming (such as symposia and special events) using the Bubble were likely to run a $2.8 million annual deficit. The Hirshhorn's board of directors evenly split on a vote to proceed with the project in May 2013. In the wake of the vote, seen as a referendum on his leadership, museum director Richard Koshalek announced he would resign by the end of 2013. Constance Caplan, chair of the museum's board of trustees, resigned on July 8, 2013. She cited what the Washington Post characterized as "a board, a museum and the larger Smithsonian Institution at a crossroads, roiled by a lack of transparency, trust, vision and good faith". Four of the board's 15 members resigned between June 2012 and April 2013, and three more (including Caplan) in May, June and July 2013.

Architecture
The museum was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft (1909–1990) and provides 60000 sqft of exhibition space inside and nearly four acres outside in its two-level Sculpture Garden and plaza. The New York Times described it as "a fortress of a building that works as a museum." An original plan with a reflecting pool across the Mall was approved in July 1967. When excavation started, a controversy arose, resulting in a revised design, with a smaller footprint, which was approved on July 1, 1971.

 * Technical Information
 * Building and walls surfaced with precast concrete aggregate of "Swenson" pink granite
 * Building is 231 ft in diameter; interior court, 115 ft; fountain, 60 ft
 * Building is 82 ft high, elevated 14 ft on four massive, sculptural piers
 * 60000 sqft of exhibition space on three floors
 * 197000 sqft of total exhibition space, indoors and outdoors
 * 274-seat auditorium (lower level)
 * 2.7 acre around and under the museum building
 * 1.3-acre sculpture garden across Jefferson Drive sunken 6–14 ft below street level, ramped for accessibility
 * Second- and third-floor galleries have 15-foot-high walls, with exposed 3-foot-deep coffered ceilings
 * Lower level includes exhibition space, storage, workshops, offices
 * Fourth floor includes offices, storage

 * Architectural timeline
 * 1969. The Hirshhorn Museum groundbreaking takes place on the former site of the Army Medical Museum and Library (built 1887) after the brick structure is demolished. A controversy soon develops over naming a building on the historic National Mall after a living person, as well as the new federal museum's modern look and intrusively expansive sculptural grounds.
 * 1971. Amid this climate of controversy, Bunshaft's original conception for the Sculpture Garden-an elongated, sunken rectangle crossing the Mall with a large reflecting pool-is abandoned. He prepares a new design based on an idea outlined by art critic Benjamin Forgey in a Washington Star article. The new adaptation shifts the garden's Mall orientation from perpendicular to parallel and reduces its size from 2 acre to 1.3 acre. The design is deliberately stark, using gravel surfaces and minimal plantings to visually emphasize the works of art.
 * 1974. The museum opens with three floors of painting galleries, a fountain plaza for sculpture, and the Sculpture Garden. In preparation for the opening, Hirshhorn curators and staff spend several months scrupulously planning the locations of artworks, both indoors and outdoors. Lightweight foam-core "dummy" sculptures are used to resolve the final placement of works in the garden. The originals, many of which had been airlifted from Hirshhorn's Connecticut estate onto flatbed trucks for transport, are put into place in the weeks before the opening.
 * 1981. Closed since the summer of 1979, the Sculpture Garden reopens in September after a renovation and redesign by Lester Collins, a well-known landscape architect and founder of the Innisfree Foundation. The design introduces plantings, paved surfaces, accessibility ramps, and areas of lawn.
 * 1985. The Museum Shop is moved to the lobby, increasing exhibition space at its former location on the lower level.
 * 1993. Closed since December 1991, the Hirshhorn Plaza reopens after a renovation and redesign by landscape architect James Urban. The 2.7 acre area around and under the building is repaved in two tones of gray granite, and raised areas of grass and trees are added to the east and west.
 * 2014. The Museum Shop is moved back to the lower level. The ongoing installation of Barbara Kruger's Belief and Doubt connects the shop with the lower level exhibition space.
 * 2021. Extensive restorations to the outer portion of the building begin, requiring extended closures. In December 2021, the National Capital Planning Commission approved a large scale redesign and renovation of the Sculpture Garden by artist Hiroshi Sugimoto. The redesign is set to reopen underground access from the Sculpture Garden to the Hirshhorn building. Sugimoto's design was the subject of both criticism and critical approval from numerous artists, preservation groups, and academics due to its reimagining of the original Brutalist garden design.

 * Comments and criticisms
 * "The whole complex has been designed as one composition ... Bunshaft's design is not concerned with the grandeur of the Mall. It is concerned with the greater grandeur of his museum and it gives us an awful lot of beaux-arts pavement and pomposity that no longer seem to suit the taste and style of our times." Wolf Von Eckhardt, The Washington Post, February 6, 1971.
 * "The circular plan is not only clear, but also provides a pleasant processional sequence that goes a long way. ... The fortress quality of the Hirshhorn suggests some rather obvious thoughts about the nature of housing art in our time. But the building's architecture ... is less the product of a desire to make a statement ... than it is a logical progression in aesthetic development. ... " Paul Goldberger, The New York Times, October 2, 1974.
 * "[The building] is known around Washington as the bunker or gas tank, lacking only gun emplacements or an Exxon sign ... It totally lacks the essential factors of esthetic strength and provocative vitality that make genuine 'brutalism' a positive and rewarding style. This is born-dead, neo-penitentiary modern. Its mass is not so much aggressive or overpowering as merely leaden." Ada Louise Huxtable, The New York Times, October 6, 1974.
 * "The parched severity of [the original Sculpture Garden] was not without merit, but the appeal was more to the mind than to the senses, more theoretical than practical. ... The new design reinforces the identity of the garden as a welcoming urban park. ... [This] park for art ... serves the sculpture. The divisions of the space prove essential accents; artworks pop in and out of view as the spectator moves about the space. ... " Benjamin Forgey, The Washington Post, September 12, 1981.
 * "[The Hirshhorn is] the biggest piece of abstract art in town – a huge, hollowed cylinder raised on four massive piers, in absolute command of its walled compound on the Mall. ... The circular fountain ... is a grand concoction ... that for good reason has become the museum's visual trademark." Benjamin Forgey, The Washington Post, November 4, 1989.

Management
In 2013, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden drew around 645,000 visitors. It has a budget of $8 million, which does not include the $10 to $12 million in operational support supplied by the Smithsonian Institution.

In 2019, the museum drew around 890,000 visitors. The following year, the museum saw a significant decline in visitors due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related museum closures. The Hirshhorn remained closed to the public from March 2020 until August 2021. In 2020, visitor numbers fell to around 133,000. In 2021, visitor numbers rose to around 167,000.

Collections

 * Eros, Inside Eros by Arman
 * Monsoon Drift by Anthony Caro
 * The Drummer by Barry Flanagan
 * Large Hybrid by Richard Hunt
 * Kiepenkerl by Jeff Koons
 * Brushstroke by Roy Lichtenstein
 * King and Queen by Henry Moore
 * Last Conversation Piece by Juan Muñoz
 * Antipodes by Jim Sanborn
 * ''Post-Balzac by Judith Shea
 * Needle Tower by Kenneth Snelson
 * Cubi XXVI by David Smith
 * Throwback by Tony Smith
 * Are Years What? (for Marianne Moore) by Mark di Suvero
 * Geometric Mouse, Variation I, Scale A by Claes Oldenburg
 * Sphere Within Sphere by Arnaldo Pomodoro
 * The Burghers of Calais by Auguste Rodin

Other

 * DC Environmental Film Festival
 * National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden
 * Judith K. Zilczer
 * Architecture of Washington, D.C.

title: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden