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American Morning

Smithsonian Puts Items on Display Online

Aired August 15, 2001 - 11:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The Smithsonian Institute has taken some of its classic items out of mothballs and put them on display. They're part of the new Smithsonian Web site. You can see it right here. We're got it behind us.

Our Jeanne Meserve is joining us now from Washington. She has got some more details for us -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, hi.

It's hard to beat seeing the real thing, but the Smithsonian is the nation's repository of artifacts, from moon rocks to dinosaur bones. They have far more things, though, than they have places to show them. Only about 10 percent of what they own is on display.

So, as you mentioned, they now have moved cyberspace, where there happens to be a lot more room. To promote the new Web site, the Smithsonian pulled a few things out of storage -- for instance, Kermit the Frog in one of his final incarnations. Kermit went through a series of transformations back in the days when creator Jim Henson was just a Washington, D.C. puppeteer, using his characters on local TV and weather-casts and entertainment shows.

There are also -- here you see them -- are some ornate leech vases used in the 1700s and 1800s, when the slimy creatures were widely used in medicine. At the time, believe it or not, doctors still made house calls. And the beauty of the vases was thought to ease patients concerned about unattractive leeches.

Also on display -- you see it there -- a gift of the widow of actor and dancer Ray Bolger, the original Scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz" movie. The scarecrow costume came complete with extra straw, because when Bolger danced in the movie, little puffs of straw would scatter about and the costume would need to be retouched. Museum curator Spencer Crew expects the history-wired Web site to expand the reach of the Smithsonian and the horizons of the user.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPENCER CREW, SMITHSONIAN CURATOR: It's a combination of things. It's sort of trying to find those things that people, we think, are excited about, like Kermit and the Scarecrow, but also things that are favorites of the curators as well, because sometimes the public doesn't know what we have. And what we try to do is to determine, through our own research, the kinds of things that might be of interest to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: And the Smithsonian is loaded with stuff. It is in fact the world's most visited museum. And tomorrow we'll be coming to you live from the Smithsonian with a look at what the public sees and what it doesn't see.

So join us for that, Leon.

HARRIS: Oh, goodness. I'll tell you what. Let me know who buys the leech vase. I don't want to go to dinner over at their place.

MESERVE: I wish they were for sell, but they're not. You can't buy those things.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: Oh, God.

All right, thanks, Jeanne. We'll see you later on.

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