Descriptive Entry

This record unit consists of SNAP administrative records that document program activities. The records include correspondence and memoranda with Smithsonian Institution offices and bureaus, corporations, members, and grant foundations; annual appeals, promotional material, bequests, accounting summaries, and special events files of the Contributing Membership Program; course curricula and publicity information of the Lecture and Seminar Program; operations manual and reports of the Regional Events Program; and brochures of the Selected Studies Program.

Historical Note

The Smithsonian National Associates Program (SNAP) was established in 1970 in conjunction with Smithsonian magazine. Through Smithsonian magazine, and in cooperation with other Smithsonian Institution bureaus, SNAP provides educational and cultural activities for contributing members throughout the nation and around the world, in order to "increase their awareness of the Institution and encourage support for its work."

In 1975, Robert H. Angle was appointed general manager of SNAP. The following year SNAP was composed of three units: the Regional Associates Program, the Contributing Membership Program, and the Associates Travel Program, each offering benefits directed toward increasing membership interaction with the Smithsonian. Regional Associates was renamed the Regional Events Program in 1978. Also that year a Selected Studies Program was established, and Angle's title was changed to director. Angle served in this capacity until Jacqueline Austin, a program director of the Associates Travel Program, replaced him in 1982. The Regional Events Program eventually merged with Selected Studies, in 1985, to form the Lecture and Seminar Program.

Staff of SNAP has included Robert H. Angle, general manager, 1975-1977, and director, 1978-1981; Jacqueline Austin, program manager of Associates Travel, 1977-1981, and director, 1982- ; Joseph Carper, assistant director, 1985- ; Charlene James-Duguid, program coordinator of Regional Associates, 1976-1977, program manager of Regional Events, 1978-1983, and program manager of Lectures and Seminars, 1984- ; Jessie A. Brinkley, program assistant, 1976-1977, program coordinator, 1978, and program manager of Contributing Membership, 1979-1981; Fern Segerlind, program manager of Contributing Membership, 1986- ; Janet Fesler, program manager of Contributing Membership, 1982-1985; Nancy Starr, program manager of Selected Studies, 1978-1983, program assistant for Lectures and Seminars, 1984; Abby Whitenack, administrative coordinator, 1981, and program analyst, 1982-1983; and Prudence Clendenning, program coordinator of Associates Travel, 1976-1977, deputy program manager, 1978-1981, and program manager, 1982- .