I had my first introduction to the Smithsonian Institute in February of 1973 when at the age of nine I found a copy of Smithsonian magazine in the bin marked “For Cut Out” at the Inlet Common School.
The bin was filled with donated magazines intended to be used for art projects.
They were great for finding things to sketch/copy in my artist’s notebook and to find out more about the world.
The Watergate scandal was the topic of news at the time and the magazine—filled with stories of historical facts and findings—offered a diversion from the continual and boring news coverage.
It was a link to things I did not know and it was the first of many brushes I would have with the Smithsonian over the next 40 years.
As a family, we toured the Smithsonian on a visit to the nation’s capitol.
It was a whirlwind tour as we hustled through exhibit after exhibit and I was not able to take it all in.
Later in life a few of my close friends worked at the Smith-sonian, doing jobs such as leading tours, archiving and exhibit installation.
They shared many special things with me when I needed data or reference material on the American Revolution period—my hobby passion.
But this first brush with the Smithsonian collection came through the pages of this magazine.
I would lay in bed at night, carefully turning each page and finding cool things to try and copy with my trusty pencil.
I didn’t draw as many thumbnails as intended as the stories on the pages captivated me and offered me a world of knowledge on the subject at hand.
The photo of a newly-installed sculpture of Peter Paul Rubens on the exterior of the Renwick Museum inspired me to find out more about the artist, one of the world’s master painters.
Recording the items of our past culture in my sketchbooks helped me to remember dates, people, places and history.
It still serves as my file cabinet of how I evolved.
Most of my growing up Adirondack experiences are noted by endless drawings on those pages.
After all these years I have only scratched the surface on what the Smithsonian has to offer.
I still take great pleasure in filling my sketch books with tiny thumbnails of items that continue to inspire me to learn more about the museum’s vast collection.
Mitch Lee, Adirondack native & storyteller,
lives at Inlet. ltmitch3rdny@aol.com