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Dearborn's Arab American National Museum celebrated its 10th anniversary Friday morning with a ribbon-cutting in its new 4,700-square-foot addition, the Annex.

And in a sign of this small museum's growing reach, AANM Director Devon Akmon also announced the honor that "Little Syria, N.Y.," an exhibition organized by the museum, has been invited to travel to the Ellis Island Immigration Museum in October.

Among the 75 or so guests and dignitaries at the ceremony in the new Annex were Congresswoman Debbie Dingell and Dearborn Mayor John O'Reilly Jr.

Dingell, D-Dearborn, called the museum "one of the most important cultural institutions in the country" for its work countering the misunderstanding and stereotypes that have plagued the Arab-American community since Sept. 11.

Dingell, who's on the museum's national advisory board, specifically cited its show, "Patriots & Peacemakers: Arab Americans in Service to Our Country," which has exhibited in Los Angeles, Topeka, San Antonio and the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.

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