TRAVERSE CITY — Imagine what it would be like to see the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia capsule in-person.

Not a replica of the capsule — the capsule Neil Armstrong stepped out of and onto a ladder that led to the surface of the moon.

Would you utter Armstrong’s famous words 52 years after the crew of astronauts landed?

“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

You wouldn’t be the first. Tourists frequent the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. to do just that, which hosts the Apollo 11 capsule today.

And, now, the doors are open for the Dennos Museum in Traverse City to loan national artifacts most are only able see in-person by traveling to the nation’s capital.

The Dennos Museum Center at Northwestern Michigan College was approved for status as a Smithsonian Affiliate, joining 200 museums in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Panama.

In exchange for offering artifacts that might contribute to a collection at a Smithsonian museum in Washington, Smithsonian Affiliate museums are allowed to request loans of artifacts and host traveling exhibits from those same museums.

That means Traverse City residents may someday get an in-person look at an artifact like Abraham Lincoln’s top hat, the 1903 Wright Flyer, the Hope Diamond or the desk Thomas Jefferson used to write the Declaration of Independence.

All have been curated by Smithsonian museums.

It’s a two-way conversation, according to Craig Hadley, Executive Director at the Dennos Museum.

“They’re also looking for partners who can feed into the Smithsonian system,” Hadley said. “So for us being able to offer our Inuit collections as an opportunity to share with Smithsonian — that is appealing for them as well.”

The Dennos Museum’s collection of Inuit Art is one of the largest in the nation, hosting nearly 3,000 works of art. Approximately 1,600 are prints and sculptures made by the Inuit people of the Canadian Arctic, Greenland, and Alaska.

Established in the 1960s, Hadley is excited to share the collection with the National Museum of the American Indian.

Those conversations are already happening, Hadley said.

“They reached out to us actually about a narwhal exhibit that they’re putting together,” Hadley said. “They said, ‘Hey, you’ve got a collection that certainly ties in with Arctic wildlife, and we’d love to talk to you more about traveling shows that we’re repackaging.

“I think right away their curatorial staffs are interested in getting in touch with us and in bouncing some ideas around.”

There’s only five other museums in the state of Michigan who hold Smithsonian Affiliate status, all downstate. Smithsonian affiliates are the Yankee Air Museum in Bellville; the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn; the Michigan Science Center in Detroit; the Michigan State University Museum in East Lansing; and Air Zoo in Portage.

The Dennos Museum applied for affiliate status in March of 2020, right when museums in the U.S. closed their doors because of COVID-19 concerns. In December, Hadley said the Dennos Museum found out its application was accepted.

He said the vetting process was based off of things like: What types of collections does the museum have? How close are affiliates located to each other?

Another part of the application process was proving that the Dennos met museum standards for conservation, collections care and galleries to borrow Smithsonian artifacts. That’s a process that could takes up to a year with paperwork and loan fees, Hadley said, and likely won’t take place until at least 2022.

“We have a Hubble feed and all kinds of space-related content in our children’s gallery,” Hadley said. “One idea we came up with as a staff was ‘would that make sense to maybe borrow something connected to a space mission? Or moon exploration?’ Where else in Traverse City would you get to actually see something like that?”

For now, Hadley said TC-area residents will be able to take advantage of digital artifacts through the Smithsonian channel.

“We can offer Smithsonian films and media through the museum, whether that’s an in-person screening or we can stream content,” Hadley said “That’s something that we’re excited to bring to members in the community.”

He stressed that the Dennos Museum is still open through the pandemic and will continue to open up more, encouraging members to see the new programming it has to offer.

“We’ve got two relatively new shows open,” Hadley said. “We have photographs by New York-based artist Dexter R. Jones and then we have our inflatable contemporary art show blow up, too.”

The museum is open Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Admission for adults is $6, for children 17 and under it is $4, children 3 and under are free.

Membership opportunities are available beginning at $50.

NMC students and faculty are free with ID.

“I think right away their curatorial staffs are interested in
getting in touch with us and in bouncing some ideas around.” Craig Hadley, Dennos executive director

Follow Andrew Rosenthal on Twitter @ByAndrewR

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