The Smithsonian Institution began the collection of postal
history with a number of ten-cent Confederate stamps, and through this, the
National Philatelic Collection was founded in 1886. The collection grew through
gifts and donations from individual donors and governments around the world, as
well as a number of direct purchases, and in 1908, the Smithsonian began
displaying the collection in the Arts and Industries Building. The collection
was housed there until 1963, when it was proposed that the collection was to be
moved to the National Museum of American History, where the collection began to
also display exhibits on postal history and on how stamps were produced. 

The collection remained in the National Museum of American
History until November 6, 1990, when the Smithsonian Institute and the United
States Postal Service decided to make the collection into a museum of its own:
the National Postal Museum. The collection was moved into the City Post Office
Building, which served as the post office of Washington, DC, for decades, and
on July 30, 1993, the Museum opened its doors to the public. Today, the Museum’s
collection continues to grow. The Museum works to circulate more exhibits on
all aspects of postal history, and does so by offering many public programs and
exhibitions for the education of visitors interested in the rich history of the
postal service.

Website

Established in 1993, the National Post Museum serves as part of the Smithsonian Institute dedicated to educating its visitors about the history and worldwide influence of the postal service, as well as the inner workings of it. The Museum holds one of the world’s largest stamp collections, as well as historic postal artifacts that date to before the advent of stamps, all of which can be seen in the Museum’s many displays and exhibits. In addition to postal history exhibits, the National Post Museum also offers research opportunities for those interested in researching postal history.

The National Postal Museum 

Contributor

The Smithsonian Institution encompasses some of the world's the best-known and most-visited museums. This tour takes visitors through Smithsonian museums, most of which are centrally located around or near the National Mall. These museums preserve and interpret collections of historical and anthropological artifacts, art, and natural history.  This tour includes the Smithsonian institutions on the National Mall as well as some that require the Metro such as the Anacostia Community Museum and the National Zoological Park in Woodley Park. Although this tour cannot be completed in a single day, we did our best to arrange the tour in a way that minimizes travel and utilizes the Metro for the museums beyond the National Mall.

In the early 1990s, the Smithsonian and&nbsp;Congress began to explore the creation of&nbsp;a museum dedicated to American Indians. The effort was the result of conversations with&nbsp;numerous Native communities and historians. Although these dialogues were originally efforts to discuss the
ground-level requirements for the museum, these ideas branched out to discuss
how the lives and cultures of Native peoples could be incorporated into the
actual building itself. Some of these ideas manifested in a natural landscape
being constructed around the museum, as well as the building being constructed
to seem as though it was weathered and constructed by nature.

The construction of the landscape was inspired by the Native
belief that the earth retains memories of its past. In considering this
concept, the landscape was designed in such a way to resemble the landscape of
the Americas prior to contact from European settlers. Some considerations that
were included are, for example, hardwood forests, wetlands, meadows, traditional
croplands, grandfather rocks, and cardinal direction markers.

The museum itself displays a number of both temporary and
permanent exhibits on American Indian life and culture. Some of its permanent
exhibits focus on Native cosmology, the history of Native peoples and how they
once lived, and also examinations of contemporary Native culture and life.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is a recent addition to the historical museums of the Smithsonian. Unlike almost any other museum in the country, the NMAI displays exhibits that center upon the life, history, and culture of Western Hemisphere Native Americans. The museum opened to the public on September 21st, 2004. Prior to that time, the creation of the museum was a collective venture between the Smithsonian and various Native communities that began in the early 1990s. Through this cooperation, the museum creates and maintains exhibits on Native peoples and their history. The architecture of the building also incorporates many thematic elements central to the lives and culture of Native peoples.

Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

The founding of Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum finds is directly related to the establishment of the Smithsonian Institue itself. In 1876, the Institute was gifted twenty kites from the Chinese Imperial Commission. These kites were the first artifacts to be added to the collection, and along with other items that were gifted and sought out over the years, they were displayed in a building nicknamed the “Tin Shed” behind the Smithsonian Castle in 1920. The Shed was the Air and Space Museum’s home for some time, and as time went on, President Harry Truman signed a bill to create the Smithsonian National Air Museum in order to collect more artifacts. As the collection quickly outgrew the Tin Shed’s space, much of the collection was stored in an abandoned aircraft factory.

In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson changed the Museum to the National Air and Space Museum in order to reflect the nation’s developments in both aeronautic and space flight, starting with adding rockets and missiles to the Museum’s collection. As the collection expanded, the Museum received funding for a new building in 1971 to be constructed in the National Mall. As construction began in 1975, the Smithsonian Institute had a team working to bring together research and artifacts for the museum, as well as to actively bring together research on spacecraft data. In a short span of time, the Museum was fully constructed and filled with exhibits in time for its opening on July 1, 1976. The National Air and Space Museum was instantly a national sensation; it received over five million visitors in just six months of being active.

To this day, the National Air and Space Museum is still one of the most popular museums in the nation, and one of the most active, as well. Within the Museum’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies division, team members are active in all current Mars and Moon missions. On the Museum floor, themed tours are held throughout the day and&nbsp;Discovery Stations&nbsp;give visitors hands-on interactions&nbsp;with scientific displays and artifacts. Talks with Museum curators and NASA scientists, engineers, and astronauts&nbsp;are often held in the Moving Beyond Earth gallery.&nbsp;The Albert Einstein&nbsp;Planetarium presents&nbsp;live shows&nbsp;on the night sky and screens films, while the&nbsp;Lockheed Martin&nbsp;IMAX Theater shows 3D films and Hollywood movies.&nbsp;Outdoors along Independence Avenue, the Phoebe Waterman Haas Public Observatory,&nbsp;named for one of the first female astronomers to earn a doctorate,&nbsp;facilitates solar observation through a variety of telescopes and hosts special nighttime observation events.&nbsp;

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum houses the largest collection of artifacts related to space and aviation. With both the location in Washington, D.C. and the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, the National Air and Space Museum is the most popular museum in the country, drawing in more than eight million visitors per year. Dating back to its founding in 1876, the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum holds true to its mission to educate, inspire, and celebrate the history and progress of both air and space flight.

Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum 

Plans for a modern art museum on the National Mall dates back to 1938,
when Congress provided Smithsonian Institution with funds to create a museum
and select a site. It followed the National Gallery of Art, funded a year prior
by Andrew Mellon. However, the modern art museum project received no such
benefactor until 1964, when Joseph H. Hirshhorn agreed to donate his
collection to the Smithsonian. Hirshhorn was an entrepreneur and
financier who made a great deal of money from investing in uranium mining.
Hirshhorn’s amassed a prolific collection of modern and contemporary art,
considered the largest private collection at the time. He obtained a dynamic
and varied collection that included works of the French Impressionism movement,
American Modernism, and various types of sculpture. The Smithsonian’s
acquisition of Hirshhorn’s collection was part of broader expansions and
educational initiatives undertaken by S. Dillon Ripley, Secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution from 1964 to 1984. With the support of President Lyndon B. Johnson
and First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, the gift was officially accepted in May 1966
and the museum established by an act of Congress in November. By the mid-twentieth century, the National Mall contained most
of the museums standing today. Planning involved careful consideration for the
National Mall’s past and future, including architectural styles, the logistics
of traffic, and views of iconic sites like the United States Capitol and
Washington Monument. Because the 1938 act that stipulated the modern art museum
be situated on the National Mall, Secretary Ripley and Hirshhorn considered a
variety of sites, including at the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building and
near the National Archives. Hirshhorn, however, sought a larger space where a
more memorable structure could be built to house his legacy. They selected a
site contained the Army Medical Museum, built in the 1880s by the War Department to house the Office of the
Surgeon General’s museum, library, and archive. Debates ensued between the Smithsonian
and other government agencies, including the Department of Defense (which
supported the plan), the National Park Service (which designated the building a
historic landmark), and Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (which operated the
museum). They grappled old and competing visions for the National Mall. Because
the collections, rather than the building itself, was deemed more historically
significant, the Smithsonian received congressional approval to build on this
site. The Army Medial Museum was demolished in 1969 and collections moved to
Walter Reed Medical Center. The Smithsonian hired Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings and
Merrill to design what he considered “a piece of sculpture on the Mall.” He created
a massive cylindrical structure raised fourteen feet off the ground on concrete
piers with an interior courtyard and fountain. In contrast to the museum’s
imposing concrete, the sculpture garden provided open air galleries and
artistic greenery. Furthermore, the Hirshhorn Museum design solidified the National
Mall’s shift from Neoclassical structures like the National Museum of Natural
History to modern architectural styles found in the National Museum of American
History and National Air and Space Museum. Some art critics appreciated the
round design, which created flow and softness, while others felt it was
unimpressive, raising questions about how much a museum building should embody
its collections. Construction began in 1969 and the museum opened in 1974.Symbolically, however,&nbsp;the museum represents the success of
immigrants in America. Hirshhorn emigrated from Latvia when he was six years
old. During the inauguration of the museum, Hirshhorn said, “It is an honor to
have given my art collection to the people of the United States as a small
repayment for what this nation has done for me and others like me who arrived
here as immigrants. What I accomplished in the United States I could not have
accomplished anywhere else in the world.”The Hirshhorn Museum welcomed a million visitors in its first
six months. Since then, the Hirshhorn has transformed and adapted over the
years, keeping up with the times and consistently providing its patrons with
fresh exhibits and the latest artists and projects of the modern-art world. The
museum has grown its exhibition spaces to incorporate more immersive
experiences. New acquisitions include Yoko Ono’s “Wish Tree for Washington DC,”
a permanent piece that has been in the Sculpture Garden since 2007. This piece
was installed as part of her&nbsp;Imagine
Peace&nbsp;billboard project.
Since 2007, the Hirshhorn has hosted After Hours parties three times per year.
In 2009, the museum’s After Hours initiative began collaborating with the Pink
Line Project, which promotes creativity in the Washington DC area. One of their
main missions is to get both visitors to and residents of the DC area to see it
as a creative hub as well as a center for institutions and politics. In 2010,
the Hirshhorn created ARTLAB+, a digital arts studio that offers free after-school
programs for teenagers. The Sculpture Garden was renovated in the 1990s and usually
exhibits about fifty pieces at a time, which are moved or replaced four to five
times per year.&nbsp;

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is a modern art museum that opened in 1974 and was established by an Act of Congress in 1966. With an indoor space of 60,000 square feet to house exhibitions and almost four acres making up its two-level sculpture garden, it is one of the nation’s largest modern art museums. The site where it was built was originally the Army Medical Museum and Library. The idea for an art museum on the National Mall began as early as the thirties, but the project was postponed due to the Second World War. It is named for entrepreneur and financier Joseph H. Hirshhorn, who donated his priceless art collections to the Smithsonian.

Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

When the United States accepted the late&nbsp;James Smithson's estate in 1836,&nbsp;it was originally not known what kind of institution would be established.&nbsp;The&nbsp;first Smithsonian Secretary, Joseph Henry, envisioned&nbsp;a museum and library that would be "the two modes of increasing and diffusing knowledge." This museum would house&nbsp;collections of natural history, American history, anthropology, and art and put them on display,&nbsp;"free of expense," for the&nbsp;public.1 In 1850, Henry appointed&nbsp;Spencer F. Baird as the first curator of the Smithsonian's collections, which were originally housed&nbsp;in the&nbsp;Smithsonian Institution Building, also known as&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=15326">the Castle</a>.&nbsp;As a naturalist, Baird focused on amassing a large collection of specimens that illustrated North American flora and fauna. In 1876, the Smithsonian also received collections and exhibitions&nbsp;from&nbsp;the Centennial International Exposition in Philadelphia.&nbsp;Baird understood that in order to continue growing, the Smithsonian would&nbsp;need more space and more methodical&nbsp;organization.2 Baird's&nbsp;dream came true with the National Museum Building. Constructed&nbsp;between 1879 and 1881,&nbsp;the National Museum Building&nbsp;was worldly in its collections and its&nbsp;architecture. Collections included&nbsp;natural history, American history, anthropology, and art. The National Museum&nbsp;Building&nbsp;was&nbsp;inspired by world's fairs and exposition architecture and&nbsp;borrowed Greek, Byzantine, and Moorish designs&nbsp;that were in&nbsp;fashion at the time. Its&nbsp;red brick complements the Castle yet&nbsp;contrasts much of&nbsp;the modern National Mall, which is lined with museums and monuments made of light-colored stone and marble. Architects chose red brick because it was&nbsp;"fireproof, economical, and versatile."&nbsp;The Building's&nbsp;design was open and festive&nbsp;with&nbsp;geometric patterns, skylights,&nbsp;colored brick accents and tiling,&nbsp;and a central rotunda.&nbsp;With its brilliant use of windows and ventilation, artificial lighting and heating and cooling systems were seldom needed. The&nbsp;National Museum&nbsp;Building hosted President James&nbsp;Garfield's inaugural ball&nbsp;on March 4, 1881, and opened to the public in October of that year.3 By 1910, the&nbsp;Smithsonian collections had already outgrown the&nbsp;National Museum Building.&nbsp;The natural history collections moved&nbsp;to the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=15371">National Museum of Natural History</a>&nbsp;across the Mall. The National Museum Building&nbsp;was then renamed the Arts and Industries Building and focused on&nbsp;displaying treasures of art and history,&nbsp;such as the Star-Spangled Banner, the&nbsp;Spirit of St. Louis, and First Ladies' dresses. Over the course of the&nbsp;twentieth century, the Smithsonian&nbsp;moved&nbsp;collections out of the Arts and Industries Building and into newly-constructed museums. Because so many museums originated from&nbsp;the Arts and Industries Building, it&nbsp;is often nicknamed the "incubator." These museums include the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=15064" title="Link: https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=15064">National Museum of American History</a>, the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=12245">S</a><a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=12245">mithsonian American Art Museum</a>, the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=14700" title="Link: https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=14700">National Portrait Gallery</a>,&nbsp;the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=15332">National Air and Space Museum</a>, and the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=13665">National Postal Museum</a>.&nbsp;As collections departed,&nbsp;the Arts and&nbsp;Industries Building held exhibits, such as 1876: A Centennial Exhibition celebrating the fair that helped build the National Museum. Gardens added beautiful landscaping to the grounds in the 1980s.4 In the new&nbsp;millennium, the Arts and Industries Building thrived culturally, yet&nbsp;deteriorated&nbsp;physically. In 2004,&nbsp;though&nbsp;the Arts and Industries Building was home to&nbsp;exhibits, archives, offices, and 500&nbsp;employees of various&nbsp;Smithsonian organizations, it&nbsp;closed due to&nbsp;cracks in the walls and flooring, leaks in the ceiling, pests, and&nbsp;poor internal&nbsp;systems.&nbsp;Since then, the Building has undergone extensive renovations to restore its former glory&nbsp;and take advantage of its&nbsp;historically&nbsp;sustainable construction. The future of the&nbsp;Arts and Industries Building is still being planned. In the meantime, it provides a space for pop-up exhibits and special events.&nbsp;Today,&nbsp;the words&nbsp;"National Museum" are still visible on the building's&nbsp;facade,&nbsp;a testament to its place in both American history and Smithsonian history.5

Completed in 1881, the Arts and Industries building was the second structure on the National Mall and the first building dedicated solely to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum. It housed early collections of natural history, American history, anthropology, and art. As the Smithsonian Institution grew, these collections were given their own museums on the National Mall. Currently undergoing renovations, the Arts and Industries Building is open for special events and pop-up exhibitions. The grounds are home to the beautifully landscaped Mary Livingston Ripley Garden. The Arts and Industries Building, one of the finest examples of architecture inspired by the world's fairs, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 and named a National Historic Landmark in 1971.

Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building

This museum was originally housed in a townhouse on Capitol Hill that was once owned by African American abolitionist and statesman Frederick Douglass. The museum became part of the Smithsonian Institution in August 1979 following the enactment of Public Law 95-414. It was renamed the National Museum of African Art in 1981 and relocated to a new facility on the National Mall in 1987.Located in the quadrangle complex on the grounds of the National Mall behind the Smithsonian Institution Building, the museum is a unique place, with 96 percent of its collections below ground. The building is part of the Smithsonian's Quadrangle Complex, designed by the famous Boston-based architect Jean Paul Carlhian. The Quadrangle Complex also houses the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and the S. Dillon Ripley International Center, all linked underground and capped of with the Enid A. Haupt Victorian Garden on the roof. The museum collection consists of more than 10,000 works and treasures, including over 400 modern and contemporary works of art, making it the most extensive publicly held collection of modern and contemporary African art in the United States. Objects range from ceramics, exceptional photographs, textiles, sculptures, paintings, and more. Over fifty years, the museum has continued to advance Warren Robbins’s vision of sharing the beauty and power of the diverse arts and cultures of Africa.

Established in 1963 as a freestanding museum near Capitol Hill in a townhouse, this museum grew to become part of the Smithsonian Institution in 1979. After an act of Congress in 1981, the museum was renamed the National Museum of African Art. The museum was created thanks to the leadership and advocacy of Warren M. Robbins, a prominent art collector, and former U.S. Foreign Service Officer who saw this museum as a way to foster an appreciation of this heritage and an understanding of the African continent generally. When the museum opened to the public in May 1964, it was the first museum in the United States dedicated to African art exclusively. Today it is the only national museum in the United States dedicated to the collection, exhibition, conservation, and study of the arts of Africa.

Smithsonian National Museum of African Art

Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987) fostered his interest in
art in New York City, where he visited museums and took art classes. While he
focused his academic studies and career in psychiatry, the study of the human
mind, Sackler collected art as a way to understand society and culture. After
graduating from New York University, Sackler and his brothers researched mental
health together at New York State’s Creedmoor Psychiatric Hospital in Queens.
Seeing medicine as the best method of treatment, the Sackler brothers acquired
the pharmaceutical company Purdue Frederick in 1952. Thanks to Arthur Sackler’s
novel use of advertising campaigns, Purdue was highly successful in selling prescription
and over-the-counter medicines along with disinfectants and other household
products. The company

These business ventures increased Sackler’s wealth and
ability to collect works of art and artifacts. Seeing himself more as a curator,
Sackler grew his collections for study and exhibition in various museums, in
particular the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He acquired a number of his Chinese
collections as antiquities dealers relinquished their collections in light of
China’s new and more insular Communist government. From the 1950s to the 1970s,
Sackler focused on loaning art and artifacts to other institutions. In the
1970s and 1980s, he began establishing institutions in his name, including the Arthur
M. Sackler Museum at Harvard University, the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art
and Archaeology at Peking University in Beijing, and the Jillian &amp; Arthur
M. Sackler Wing at the Royal Academy in London, along with a number of
institutes and schools dedicated to health and science. 

In 1979, Congress approved construction of a new
quadrangle of museums and gardens alongside the Freer Gallery and Smithsonian
Castle. One of these museums would expand upon the Freer Gallery and emphasize
Asian art. Sackler joined the Japanese and Korean governments in donating
millions to the project. In 1982, he donated his collections to the Smithsonian
Institution. The Sackler Gallery, operating jointly with the Freer Gallery,
opened on September 28, 1987. It was designed
by Yoshimura Junzō and completed by Jean Paul Carlhian. While
the Freer Gallery only exhibits works within the museum’s collection and does
not loan anything to other institutions, the Sackler Gallery engages in loaning
items and accepting loaned items. In this way, the Sackler Gallery continues
its namesake’s vision of traveling its collections and exhibitions. The Freer | Sackler hosted the United States' first major exhibit focusing on the Quran, along with traveling&nbsp;exhibits such as&nbsp;Turquoise Mountain, a collection of art created by independent&nbsp;artists in Kabul, Afghanistan.&nbsp;

Opened in 1987, the Sackler Gallery, along with the adjoining Freer Gallery, are the nation’s premier museums of Asian art. It is named for physician and pharmacologist Arthur M. Sackler, who donated his collection of Asian art to the Smithsonian Institution. 

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

In 1826, a French-born British citizen named James
Smithson drafted a clause in his Last Will and Testament that would
dramatically change the history of the United States and the city of
Washington, D.C. Smithson had lived a successful life as a scientist who published
at least 27 academic papers and was an active member of the scientific
community in Europe. Despite extensive travels, Smithson had never been to the
United States. Yet when Smithson died and left his estate to his nephew, the
will instructed that should his nephew die without heirs, Smithson’s estate
would be gifted to the United States. In 1835, after his nephew, Henry James
Hungerford, died, Smithson’s estate of $500,000 was given "to the United
States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian
Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”1Smithson’s gift ignited ten years of debates in Congress
that not only shaped the Smithsonian Institution, but also challenged the young
nation to better understand its federal authority. Congress wondered, is the
United States allowed to create a national institution? The Constitution gave
no such authority. Yet Federalist arguments for “increasing and diffusing
knowledge” won out, and the gift was formally accepted in 1836. Congress faced
yet another dilemma: what would this “Smithsonian Institution” be? They
considered a university, education fund, a research institute, a national
library, a publishing house, or a museum. After a decade of debate, they
settled on a museum with exhibits, collections, and a library. On August 10,
1846, President <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=1792">James K. Polk </a>signed the Smithsonian Institution into law, which
established a Board of Regents and a Secretary to oversee the Institution and commissioned
a new building within walking distance of the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=20279" title="Link: https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=20279">United States Capitol</a>. The
Smithsonian was a unique branch of the federal government in its time and it
remains such today. Unlike other federal organizations, the Smithsonian
controls only its buildings and grounds and is recognized as a 501(c)(3)
tax-exempt educational organization.2&nbsp;The Castle was designed to reflect
institutions of higher learning, like those in England, and to evoke themes of
the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom. Architect James Renwick Jr. designed the Castle
in the Norman architectural style, a combination of late Romanesque and early
Gothic motifs. The Castle is built of Seneca Redstone, a type of sandstone mined
in Maryland’s Seneca Quarry. The bricks had a distinct red color caused by
rusted iron in the sandstone and were also fireproof. At the time of the Castle’s
construction, Seneca Quarry was owned by John Park Custis Peter, the
great-grandson of George Washington’s wife. Despite its aesthetic beauty, the
redstone was more than likely quarried by slaves. Scottish contractor Gilbert
Cameron managed construction. Once completed in 1855, the Castle was the first
building on what would become the National Mall in the late nineteenth and
early twentieth century. At the time, the land was an empty, isolated swamp.3&nbsp;Called the “nation’s attic,” the Castle
originally housed museum collections, exhibits, administrative offices, a
library, laboratories, lecture halls, and rooms for visitors to stay. Within
these walls, scientists made important discoveries, visitors explored wonders
of the world, speakers debated current events such as slavery and abolition,
and meteorologists fostered what would become the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.weather.gov/timeline" title="Link: https://www.weather.gov/timeline">National Weather Service</a>. General laborers also cared for the building and its exhibits on a day-to-day basis; one of whom, <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://siarchives.si.edu/history/featured-topics/stories/solomon-brown-first-african-american-employee-smithsonian-institution ">Solomon Brown</a>, was the first African American employee at the Smithsonian and served as the Institution's "eyes and ears."&nbsp;The
first Secretary of the Smithsonian, <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://siarchives.si.edu/history/joseph-henry" title="Link: https://siarchives.si.edu/history/joseph-henry">Joseph Henry</a>, and his family resided in the
Castle’s East Wing.&nbsp;By the 1880s, the Smithsonian was rapidly outgrowing its
space. In 1881, the Smithsonian built its first museum, now called the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=46368">Arts and
Industries Building</a>. A few years later, in 1889, animals on the Castle
grounds were moved to the Rock Creek area to establish the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=15072" title="Link: https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=15072">National Zoo</a>.4The Castle’s purpose and physical nature has
changed over time. A fire destroyed large portions of the building in January
1865, when water sources to extinguish the fire were frozen. Most of
James Smithson’s papers were also lost in the fire. Such devastation to the
building and its resources prompted major fireproofing initiatives in the late
nineteenth century. The Castle welcomed telephones in the mid-1880s and
electric lighting in 1895. In 1901, the first children’s museum in Washington
was installed in the South Tower Room. The exhibit halls&nbsp;changed as collections moved out of the Castle and into new museums lining the National Mall.&nbsp;In the 1960s, the Castle
underwent a major renovation to include heating and air conditioning, new roofs
and staircases, elevators, and a restaurant. At one time, the Castle was home
to the Smithsonian Institution Archives and the Woodrow Wilson International
Center for Scholars.5Today, the Castle carries on its tradition of welcoming a diverse community of&nbsp;visitors&nbsp;and
administrators. It
houses an information center to orient visitors as they explore all that the
Smithsonian and Washington, D.C. has to offer. Two outdoor gardens, the Enid A. Haupt Garden and Folger Rose Garden, show the&nbsp;beauty of nature through flowers and fountains.&nbsp;Exhibits inside the Castle tell the history of the
Smithsonian Institution, which now comprises nineteen museums, research
centers, and a zoo. These branches of the Smithsonian&nbsp;are historically and architecturally important in and of themselves.
The Smithsonian Institution produces publications, including&nbsp;Smithsonian&nbsp;and&nbsp;Air &amp; Space&nbsp;magazines, and also manages invaluable&nbsp;libraries, archives, and collections. Although the epicenter of
the institution is Washington D.C., there are Smithsonian facilities in
other states and countries, including Arizona, Maryland, Massachusetts, New
York City, Virginia, and Panama. More than 200 other museums are considered
Smithsonian Affiliates.6




































One modest alcove of the Castle is also the
final resting place of James Smithson. When he died in 1829, Smithson was originally
buried near Genoa, Italy. Alexander Graham Bell championed the cause to bring Smithson's remains to the United States in 1904. Originally, the proposals for Smithson’s
tomb - such as sprawling gardens and monuments that would have&nbsp;made the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=18647">Lincoln Memorial</a>&nbsp;look small - proved too expensive for the government at this time. Instead, the Smithsonian chose a simpler
and more economical design that laid Smithson to rest in a chapel within the Castle.
His sarcophagus is topped with a pine cone, representing the seeds he sowed for
the “increase and diffusion of knowledge.”7

Completed in 1855, the Smithsonian Institution Building, commonly known as the Castle, was the first building of the Smithsonian Institution and also the first building on the National Mall. Its beautiful Norman, Romanesque, and Gothic architectural styles earned it the nickname “the Castle.” It was the first building to house Smithsonian exhibits and collections of natural history, history, anthropology, and art. Today, the Castle houses administrative offices, an information center, exhibits, and the crypt of James Smithson, the benefactor and namesake of the Smithsonian Institution. 

Smithsonian Institution Building, the Castle

After a lucrative career in manufacturing and railroads, Charles
Lang Freer (1854-1919) of Detroit devoted his retirement to collecting art and
traveling. Though he began his art collection in the 1880s, he began actively
collecting upon his retirement in 1900, and by 1904, approached President
Theodore Roosevelt with the idea of donating his collection to the United
States government. Freer collected more than 9,000 pieces of art and manuscripts,
focusing on works from China, Japan, Egypt, India, and the Middle East. Freer
owned one of the largest collections of art by American artist James McNeill
Whistler, Asian-inspired works likely sparked Freer’s interest in Asian art.

Freer donated his private collection to the Smithsonian
Institution in 1906, with stipulations that the gallery could not loan the art to
other institutions nor receive loans from other institutions. He envisioned an
institution that was highly accessible to scholars and students of art. By
establishing a distinct art gallery outside the walls of the Smithsonian
Castle, the new Freer Gallery moved forward the Smithsonian’s broader vision of
creating more museums throughout the twentieth century.&nbsp;

The Italian Renaissance structure was constructed between
1916 and 1921, designed by American architect and landscape planner Charles A.
Platt. The Freer Gallery added another museum to the National Mall, joining the
Castle (1855), the Arts and Industries Building (1879), and the National Museum
of Natural History (1910). Its design also stood out from its neighboring
museums, which were built in either the Romanesque style (with red brick) or
the neoclassical style (with columnns and marble). Like the Natural History
Museum, the Freer Gallery’s interior incorporated rich limestone, marble, and
granite.

The Freer Gallery opened on May 9, 1923. Freer died in
1919 before his gallery opened, but his legacy lives on in his namesake museum.
Since its opening, the Freer Gallery has collected more than 22,000 objects
from Asia, the Middle East, India, and the Islamic world. In 1979, Congress
approved construction of three new structures and gardens near the Freer
Gallery, which would comprise a quadrangle behind the Smithsonian Castle. The
adjoining Sackler Gallery opened in 1987 as the Smithsonian’s second museum
dedicated to Asian art. Together, the Freer and Sackler Galleries are the
nation’s premier museums for Asian art.

One of the most famous works at the Freer Gallery is the
Peacock Room, built by architect Thomas Jeckyll and redesigned as a work of
decorative art by James McNeill Whistler. The room originated from the London
mansion of Frederick R. Leyland, a British shipping magnate, and served as his
dining room. It also displayed Leyland’s collection of Chinese porcelain and
one of Whistler’s original paintings. Whistler reimagined the room between 1876
and 1877, painting Jeckyll’s Asian-inspired design in blue-green hues and
accenting in metallic gold leaf. Though Leyland disliked the redesign, Freer
was so captivated by the space that he purchased it after Leyland’s death. The
room was disassembled and shipped to Freer’s Detroit home until it was permanently
installed in the Freer Gallery.

Opened in 1923, the Freer Gallery of Art was the first art museum of the Smithsonian Institution. It is named for Charles Lang Freer, who donated his collection of Asian and American art to the United States government in 1906. With the adjoining Sackler Gallery, the Freer and Sackler Galleries comprise the nation’s premier collections and exhibits of Asian, Middle Eastern, Indian, and Islamic art, as well as the largest research library in the United States related to these forms of art. 

Freer Gallery of Art 

In 1915, Black veterans of World War I launched a movement to create a national museum dedicated to African American veterans.&nbsp;In 1916, African American attorney&nbsp;Ferdinand Desoto Lee challenged Black leaders to create a “permanent memorial to colored soldiers and sailors.”&nbsp;Missouri Republican Congressman Leonidas Dyer, the same Congressman who advocated on behalf of an anti-lynching bill,&nbsp;introduced legislation the same year that Lee chartered the National Memorial Association. Echoing the call of Lee's organization, Dyer's legislation called for the creation of a commission to create "a monument or memorial" for Black soldiers and sailors. In 1919, Dyer called for the creation of a national monument for Black veterans to be built on the National Mall. In 1920, Lee's National Memorial Association expanded their plans to include both a monument and a building with exhibits dedicated to African American achievements. Ten years later, Congress passed legislation allowing for the creation of a monument to Black soldiers. However, Congress failed to allocate funds for the project.Franklin Deleano Roosevelt places the creation of the monument towards the bottom of the administration's goals in 1933, the same year that Ferdinand Lee passed away. Similar measures failed throughout the next six decades, including a 1965 bill calling for the creation of a "Negro History Museum. Similar to previous efforts, Congress failed to act on this bill and efforts throughout the 1960s and 1970s receive little more than verbal support. Even in the immediate wake of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, a bill to explore the creation of a national repository of Black history failed to receive support. Congressman John Lewis, a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement, likewise tried and failed to secure passage of a bill to create a National African American History Museum in the 1990s. Although a bipartisan commission working between 2002 and 2003 secured the passage of a law authorizing the creation of a public commission to create a Black history museum with the Smithsonian, it&nbsp;appeared that the National Museum of African American History and Culture Act would meet a similar fate. As funding efforts stalled, a group of&nbsp;private foundations and African American athletes and&nbsp;celebrities took action, raising $240 million to support the museum. The federal government matched private fundraising efforts, allowing for the construction and operation of the museum. On September 24, 2016, the first African American president dedicated the new museum.&nbsp; The museum's galleries are arranged chronologically, beginning with the gallery entitled "From Slavery to Emancipation." Visitors travel seventy feet below ground to start their historical journey in this gallery, which begins with life in Africa and the slave trade. After visitors pass through exhibits that relate slavery throughout the Americas and the British colonies, they see how slavery was woven into the the political and economic fabric of the nation, including the Constitution itself. Later exhibits show how people of African descent confronted slavery, culminating with exhibits about the African American experience in the Civil War.&nbsp; The second series of galleries are dedicated to the topic "From Segregation to Today." These exhibits reveal the complexities of Reconstruction and the emergence of Jim Crow. Emotional highlights of these galleries include the original coffin that held the body of 14-year old Emmett Till, "white only" signs,&nbsp;and portions of ropes and other tools of racial violence that were used to maim and kill African Americans during first half and mid-20th century. The upper galleries include special rotating exhibits that demonstrate the resiliency of African American communities and and highlight Black culture and achievement.&nbsp;

The National Museum of African American History & Culture was authorized by Congress and President George W. Bush in 2003. After 13 years of planning and construction, the museum opened on September 24th, 2016. The museum holds over 40,000 artifacts within its vaults, most of which were donated by institutions and individuals. Several thousand of artifacts are included in the museum's twelve galleries. The museum's three-tiered form is meant to symbolize hands held in prayer and was modeled from the shape of a traditional Yoruban crown. 

As of November, 2016, this museum uses a timed pass system to accommodate large crowds. 

 Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture

The National Museum of American History traces its roots to the Smithsonian Institution's original collections dating back to the 1840s. These collections were first housed in the Smithsonian Institution Building, also known as the Castle, and then the National Museum Building, now called the Arts and Industries Building, which opened in 1881. The National Museum housed treasures of American history natural history, anthropology, and art. Together, they fostered a "national heritage" for the former colony. Objects of American history were often associated with famous figures, such as Abraham Lincoln's hat, George Washington's uniform, and Benjamin Franklin's printing press, or were connected to innovation in science, technology, transportation, textiles, and musical instruments. Over the course of the twentieth century, the Smithsonian constructed new museums to house collections of natural history, anthropology, and art, leaving the Arts and Industries Building to focus solely on American history. It soon amassed collections of modern industry, photography, clothing, and objects of everyday life. The Arts and Industries Building held the first exhibits of the First Ladies' dresses, the Star Spangled Banner, and, until the establishment of the National Air and Space Museum, collections of airplanes and spacecraft.As collections, exhibits, and visions of the museum continued to grow, the Smithsonian Institution planned a larger museum dedicated to American history. In 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized funding of a new museum building. Its design put a modern twist on classical architecture, indicating that this building would be one that honored the past and looked toward the future. The Museum of History and Technology opened to the public in 1964. The museum also continued collecting artifacts of both distant and recent past, such as Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz and the Woolworth's lunch counter from the Greensboro sit-ins. In 1980, the museum’s name was changed to the National Museum of American History to represent its mission to reflect the historical experience of America and its people. The museum closed between September 2006 and November 2008 to undergo renovations to the architectural core of the museum and the infrastructure.Today, the National Museum of American History uses its collections of more than three million artifacts to understand the United States of yesterday and today. One of the most signficant artifacts is the Star-Spangled Banner, which has its own gallery in the museum. The exhibit showcases the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner," a poem that later became the United States National Anthem. It was raised over Fort McHenry on September 14, 1814, in celebration of a victory over British forces. Also, in the spirit of creating a dynamic museum that caters to presenting present-day America’s story, as well as its past, there is a space for visitors to share what the American flag symbolizes to them.The Museum uses artifacts to convey larger ideas, such as in the exhibit “American Stories,” which showcases more than 100 historical and cultural artifacts, including the rarely displayed walking stick used by Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln’s gold pocket watch, Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves, and a fragment of Plymouth Rock. One of the most beloved exhibits is “America on the Move,” which uses sights, sounds, and sensations to explore the history of transportation in the United States from 1870 to the present. While the trains and cars in this exhibit seem like the largest artifacts in the collection, that title belongs to the two-and-a-half-story house in the exhibit "Within These Walls," which interprets ordinary home life. The Museum has tackled complex topics and underrepresented stories such as the 2012 exhibit "Slavery at Jefferson's Monticello: Paradox of Liberty," the first national exhibit on slavery, presented by Monticello and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.The Museum is also home to the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, which leverages research and education to inspire modern innovation. Research opportunities in the museum's collections and archives further understanding of the United States and its place in the world. STEM-focused exhibits such as the Spark!Lab promote creative thinking and innovation for families of all ages, while Wegmans Wonderplace is a space dedicated for children ages 0-6.Currently, the museum is undergoing further renovation to its west exhibition wing to add a center for education, new spaces for performance, new galleries, and a more updated infrastructure for the west wing of the museum.

The National Museum of American History is dedicated to the "infinite richness and complexity" of American history. Located on the National Mall, it is one of the most-visited museums in the country. The Smithsonian collections of American history date back to the 17th century and efforts to preserve artifacts date back to the 1840s, while the current museum building opened in 1964 as the Museum of History and Technology. Its name was changed to the National Museum of American History in 1980. The museum's renovation from 2006 to 2008 included the construction of the new Star-Spangled Banner gallery, which holds the original flag that inspired the national anthem. The Museum includes exhibits dedicated to a plethora of topics, including politics and government, civil rights, gender and sexuality, military and war, business and innovation, indigenous Americans, ethnicity and immigration, disability history, religion, and food history.

Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

Even before the Smithsonian Institution was
founded in 1848, Americans were collecting specimens and objects that would
later fill the largest natural history museum in the United States. In the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, collecting was a way of categorizing and
making sense of the American landscape. Formal collecting was usually a leisure
activity reserved for wealthy individuals, who then displayed these collections
in “curiosity cabinets” in their homes. The United States government also
supported geological expeditions to map locations for transportation routes and
military posts, and the ambitious United States Exploring Expedition, which
surveyed the Pacific between 1838 and 1842. When British scientist James Smithson
gifted his estate to found “an establishment for the&nbsp;increase and diffusion of knowledge”
in Washington, D.C.,” the young democracy faced a fundamental dilemma. Should the
United States government to create a national institution, and what should this
institution look like? For more than ten years, Congress grappled with questions
of government authority, federal expansion, and Smithson’s broad vision. In the
end, they decided the Smithsonian gave an opportunity for the United States to
stand among established nations in science and culture, and the Smithsonian Institution
was signed into law on August 10, 1846.1

In 1855, the National Museum opened at the
Smithsonian Institution Building, more commonly known as “the Castle.” Originally,
the National Museum held historical, archaeological, and natural history
collections together. While some collections were purchased or donated, most
were collected on expeditions initiated by the first Smithsonian curator,
Spencer F. Baird. Yet these collecting efforts proved so successful that the
Smithsonian ran out of space in the Castle and in the&nbsp;National Museum Building,
now the Arts and Industries Building, opened in 1881. In 1902, Congress approved construction
of a new museum as part of the 1901
McMillan Commission Plan, which helped create the National Mall as it is today.
The McMillan Plan proposed removing the Victorian landscaping and replacing it
with grass and building neoclassical style museums, educational centers, and memorials along the Mall.2&nbsp;

The current natural
history museum building, then the new National Museum, opened on March 17,
1910. The building was inspired by Roman architecture with the granite columnns
and dome. Like in the past, this museum housed natural history collections
among history, art, and archaeology. It was not until the mid-twentieth century
that the National Museum separated natural history specimens from historical
artifacts, reflecting broader shifts in the museum profession and academic
disciplines of science, history, anthropology, and art. In 1969, after the
National Museum was dissolved, the building was renamed the National Museum of
Natural History and fully dedicated itself to pursuits of scientific research,
collection, and education.3

Today, the National
Museum of Natural History holds more than 126 million natural science specimens
and cultural artifacts, both on site and in off-site storage facilities. There
are permanent exhibitions dedicated to human origins and culture, paleontology,
mammals, ocean life, insects, bones, and geology. Research covers a broad
spectrum of science and is conducted at the museum and in laboratories, field
stations, and libraries&nbsp;around the world. An
Office of Repatriation inventories the origins of cultural artifacts and human
remains in the collection and can return them to federally recognized indigenous
groups. Since the founding of the Smithsonian Institution, science has
transitioned from an exclusive pursuit of wealthy, highly educated individuals
to one that can be studied and enjoyed by all walks of life. To bridge the
scientific and public communities, the Museum offers programs, citizen science
projects, and a science education center, Q?rius. The National Museum of
Natural History welcomes millions of visitors each year to explore wonders
of the world.4

The National Museum of Natural History is the most-visited natural history museum in the United States. Dedicated to inspiring curiosity and discovery of the natural world, the National Museum of Natural History preserves and interprets natural science, geology, and anthropology collections. The current building on the National Mall opened in 1910. Among the most popular exhibits are the Hall of Dinosaurs, Egyptian and Roman artifacts, the Hope Diamond, and the sarcophagus of the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen.

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

The National Portrait Gallery was established by an act of
Congress in 1962, but its story begins much earlier. The Smithsonian
Institution began collecting art, along with natural history specimens and
historical artifacts, in 1846, the year the institution was founded. Art
exhibits were originally held in the Smithsonian Castle and Arts and Industries
Building (then the National Museum). Portraits are a specialized art form that
capture appearances and personalities, represented through paintings,
photographs, sculptures, performing arts, and other mediums. Institutions
dedicated to these works, such as National Portrait Gallery in London, inspired
a movement to create a portrait gallery in the United States. The Smithsonian’s
collection of portraits in the early twentieth century set the National
Portrait Gallery in motion. In 1919, the Smithsonian endorsed the National Art Committee’s
initiative to hire artists who would create portraits of American and Allied
leaders in World War I. Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh industrialist, banker, and
Secretary of the Treasury from 1921 to 1932, donated large art collections to
the Smithsonian. With these efforts, the Smithsonian had acquired a substantial
portrait collection worthy of its own museum. In 1962, Congress created the
National Portrait Gallery and appointed a commission fully dedicated to
collecting portraits of men and women who made significant contributions to
American history and culture. 

In addition to collecting art, the National Portrait Gallery
Commission had to choose a site for the new museum. Though decades had passed
since the idea for a portrait gallery was conceived, the timing had its
advantages. Forming the National Portrait Gallery in the 1960s gave new life to
an architectural marvel in downtown D.C., the Old Patent Office Building. Built
from 1836 to 1867, the Old Patent Office Building was constructed by architect
Robert Mills to house paperwork and scale models of American inventions. Yet
the building had numerous purposes over its long history, housing government
offices including the Bureau of Indian Affairs and serving as a hospital and
barracks in the Civil War. After the Civil Service Commission vacated the
building in the 1950s, it was slated for demolition to create a parking lot. Famously
called the “noblest of Washington buildings” by poet Walt Whitman, the Patent
Office Building exemplified neoclassical architecture and welcomed famous
figures long before it exhibited portraits. Abraham Lincoln celebrated his
second inaugural in the Great Hall and Clara Barton worked there as a Patent
Office clerk. In the 1950s, preservation advocates and President Dwight D.
Eisenhower ensured the Old Patent Office Building’s survival. It opened in 1968
as the Smithsonian’s premiere art institution, home to both the National
Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum. The Old Patent Office Building has undergone extensive
renovations, most recently in 2006, to preserve its architectural majesty, accommodate
the millions of visitors who walk through its halls each year, and give the National
Portrait Gallery opportunities to educate the public and care for works of art.
Renovations created the Lunder Conservation Center, an innovative space that
allows visitors to look through floor-to-ceiling windows as art conservators
care for the national treasures entrusted to both museums. Improvements to the
building showcase dramatic architectural features including skylights, a
curving double staircase, porticos, and vaulted galleries illuminated by
natural light. The Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard, an enclosed courtyard
covered by a wavy glass and steel roof, complements the museum’s Greek Revival
building and stands as an homage to the museum’s historical past as well as its
relevance to present-day Washington DC. The National Portrait Gallery is
considered a “centerpiece” of downtown D.C. and greets Metro riders of the
second-busiest Metro stop in the city, Gallery Place.
























The National Portrait Gallery is a dynamic organization dedicated
to works of art and the stories they tell. The museum houses priceless
portraits of the United States presidents, Civil War photography by Mathew
Brady and Alexander Gardner, and portraits by Paul Cezanne, Mary Cassatt, Edgar
Degas, and Georgia O’Keeffe. One permanent exhibit, “American Origins:
1600-1900,” takes visitors through the first interactions between Native
Americans and colonial settlers to the Gilded Age. A special feature of this
exhibit is a rare collection of daguerreotype, an early form of photography,
and portraits of historically significant Americans. Also included among the
permanent exhibits is a collection titled “The Struggle for Justice,” which
tells the story of major cultural and political figures who were instrumental
in struggles to gain equal rights for marginalized groups. Included in this
exhibit are portraits of civil rights leader Frederick Douglas, women’s rights
leader Betty Friedan, and Native American activist Leonard Crow Dog. Works such
as these are not only exhibited, but thoroughly researched and catalogued. The
National Portrait Gallery maintains the extensive Catalog of American Portraits
(CAP) with over 200,000 works, studies storytelling and identity at the Center
for Visual Biography, and holds rare books and special collections in its
library. American history is told through the faces of well-known and
little-known people at the National Portrait Gallery.

The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery tells the story of America through individuals who have shaped its history and culture. Through the visual arts, performing arts, and new media, the Portrait Gallery portrays poets and presidents, visionaries and villains, actors and activists, and more. Established in 1962, the National Portrait Gallery is located in downtown Washington, D.C. and shares the Old Patent Office Building with the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The building is a fine example of neoclassical architecture built between 1836 and 1867. Today, the Smithsonian Institution gives it new life as a gallery exhibiting, preserving, and studying the lives of historical figures.

Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

The Smithsonian American Art Museum is an institution which
preserves and displays remarkable works produced by American artists over three
centuries. The Greek Revival building where the museum is located, originally
housed the US Patent Office. Designed by architects Robert Mills and Thomas U.
Walter the building is Registered National Landmark. &nbsp;The museum shares its historic building with
the National Portrait Gallery, another Smithsonian museum. The two museums are collectively
known as the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture.

Since 1972, the American Art Museum has also included the
Renwick Gallery, which is the home for the Smithsonian Institution’s craft and
decorative arts program. Located near the White House in a Second Empire-style
building, the Renwick features the best in two centuries of American clay,
fiber, glass, metal, and wood arts. Visitors can enjoy traditional native and
folk crafts, fine furniture, oil paintings, and whimsical contemporary glass
sculpture.

The museum also features two innovative public spaces: &nbsp;the Luce Foundation Center for American Art, situated
on the third and fourth floor of the museum; and the Lunder Conservation Center,
which allows visitors the unique opportunity to see conservators at work in
five different laboratories and studios in the building.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum represent more than
7,000 artists, and includes the nation's first and one of the world's largest
and most inclusive collections of art made in the United States, from the
colonial period to the present. The museum’s collection includes more than
41,000 artworks, spanning more than three centuries, including artwork from masters
such as John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart, Winslow Homer, John Singer
Sargent, Childe Hassam, Mary Cassatt, Georgia O'Keeffe, Edward Hopper, Jacob
Lawrence, Helen Frankenthaler, Christo, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Lee
Friedlander, Roy Lichtenstein, Nam June Paik, Martin Puryear, and Robert
Rauschenberg. 

Aside it’s permanent collection The Smithsonian American Art
Museum has maintained a traveling exhibition program since 1951. About 1,000
major artworks from the museum’s permanent collection traveled to 105 venues across
the United States during the renovation of the museum from 2000 to 2006.&nbsp;

The Smithsonian American Art Museum has one of the world's largest and most inclusive collections of art. It features the work of American artists from the colonial period to the present. The museum houses the largest collection of New Deal art in the world and features a number of exhibitions that highlight the contributions of African American and Latino artists. The Smithsonian American Art Museum has consistently maintained a traveling exhibition program since 1951. More than 2.5 million patrons have viewed the exhibitions to date. 

Smithsonian American Art Museum

James Renwick Jr. was an architect in the 19th
century United States.&nbsp; He designed many
timeless building including the Smithsonian Castle in Washington D.C. and St.
Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.&nbsp; It is
very interesting that he had no architectural background, but had a degree in
engineering instead.&nbsp; He was only 12
years old when he enrolled in Columbia to study engineering just as his father
had done.&nbsp; Renwick was 25 when he won his
first commission, in 1843, to build New York's Grace Episcopal Church.&nbsp; Renwick helped introduce the Second Empire style in the United States when he designed the Corcoran (now the Renwick Gallery).&nbsp; In his later years, he designed and built a house
for his parents in New York at 21 5th Ave., where Mark Twain resided
at a later date.The Renwick was inspired by an addition onto the Louvre in Paris.&nbsp; The design was heavily influenced by French buildings with the pavilions and mansard roofs.&nbsp; The words "Dedicated to Art" are etched into the stone that lies above the main entrance to the Renwick Gallery.&nbsp; Senator Charles Sumner dubbed the building "The American Louvre", as it put Washington D.C. on the map as cultural center.In November 2015, the Renwick Gallery re-opened its doors after a two year renovation.&nbsp; The entire museum was made into an immersive artwork gallery for the debut exhibition.&nbsp; Nine contemporary artists were given the task of turning the building into a giant work of art.&nbsp; Jennifer Angus, Chakaia Booker, Gabriel Dawe, Tara Donovan,
Patrick Dougherty, Janet Echelman, John Grade, Maya Lin, and Leo Villareal each had their own gallery in the building to create site specific artwork.

The Renwick Gallery is a Branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum dedicated to exhibiting American contemporary craft.  The Renwick Gallery is just on the other side of the White House in the heart of historic federal Washington. This National Historic Landmark was designed by architect James Renwick Jr. in 1858.  This was the first building that specifically made to be an art museum in the United States. 

Renwick Gallery

The National Zoo developed out of the Smithsonian’s interest in
educating the public, researching wildlife, and protecting endangered species. It
was founded at a time when the Smithsonian Institution consisted of one administrative
building, the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=15326">Castle</a>, and one museum, the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=46368" title="Link: https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=46368">United States National Museum</a>, which
exposed public audiences to natural history specimens and artifacts. The
National Zoo’s roots can be traced back to the work of Smithsonian taxidermist
William T. Hornaday, renowned for his ability to present animals in natural
settings. In 1886, Hornaday traveled to the Rocky Mountains for a collecting expedition
and realized that the American bison, an ecologically important creature and symbol
of the national landscape, was facing extinction. When he returned, he established
the Department of Living Animals on the Smithsonian Castle grounds, publicly exhibiting
the animals he used as live models for taxidermy studies. In the nineteenth
century, zoos began appearing in Europe and in American cities such as New York,
Cincinnati, and Philadelphia. Prior to these zoos, the public could only get
close to wild animals through hunting, circuses, or at fanciful menageries.
Hornaday began advocating for a zoo focused on conservation, research, and
education.1The National Zoological Park was established in 1889 for “the
advancement of science and the instruction and recreation of the people.”2 The
Smithsonian chose 166 acres of hilly, forested land in Rock Creek. Renowned
landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted, designed the park, while the third
Smithsonian Secretery, Samuel P. Langley, expanded its mission to include more
species. The National Zoo opened in 1891 with Hornaday as its first director. The
early years focused on&nbsp;addressing&nbsp;challenges such as construction,&nbsp;animal
acquisition, and working within&nbsp;a tight budget. The zoo was designed to offer not only public
entertainment, but to provide refuge for endangered species, such as the bison
and the beaver. The zoo’s original collection included 185 animals; a modest
number compared the now 1,800 animals that call the zoo home today.3Over the years, the National Zoo&nbsp;and its exhibits have physically
transformed to accommodate visitors and changing understandings of animal
wellbeing in manmade environments. New Deal relief programs, including the Public Works Administration
and Federal Arts Program, developed beautiful animal houses, murals, mosaics,
and statues that creatively depict the natural world. The 1960s and 1970s saw
another round of construction that created the Big Cat exhibits and Beaver
Valley. The National Zoo’s most recent renovations began in the early 2000s,
with the new Asia Trail and overhauls of the American Trail, Elephant Trails,
and Elephant House. These renovations not only provided the public with higher quality&nbsp;exhibits &nbsp;but also the animals.Limited funds, however, have constrained which exhibits can
and cannot be renovated. For example, the Kids’ Farm nearly closed in 2011 and
the Invertebrate Exhibit, often overlooked by visitors, shut down in 2014. Future
development at the National Zoo includes the renovated Bird House, which will
reopen in 2021 with a focus on migration. The National Zoo organizes its
exhibits by natural habitats, rather than separating species by broader
families.4 The National Zoo is a preeminent institution for
conservation research and a top destination for visitors. In the 1960s, National
Zoo began breeding and studying endangered species. The zoological research
division was created in 1965 for the purpose of studying reproduction,
behavior, and ecology of the species in the zoo and to generally understand how
to best meet the needs of the animals. At the time, not much was known&nbsp;about the animals’
breeding behavior. Research conducted by the zoological research
division helped scientists understand why some species could raise
young successfully in the zoo and others could not. The Zoo’s Conservation and
Research Center (CRC) was founded in 1975. In 2010, it was renamed the
Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) and its large facility is&nbsp;located in Front Royal, Virginia. The National Zoo's&nbsp;Migratory Bird Center was
founded in 1991 to understand one of the planet’s most mysterious phenomena and
address bird conservation issues.&nbsp;The zoo’s ethos of conservation has matured throughout
its history and into the present day.5Visitors to the National Zoo take part in the tradition of
enjoying wildlife in the nation’s capital. A number of visitors, both distant
and local, support educational and fundraising&nbsp;initiatives through the Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ),
founded in 1958. Furthermore, visitors have also created their own traditions on the National Zoo grounds. In
1891, African Americans in the D.C. area began celebrating Easter Monday at the
National Zoo. Banned from attending the Easter Egg Roll on the White House
lawn, thousands of African American families held their own Easter Egg Roll on
the National Zoo’s Lion-Tiger Hill. Easter Monday is now an official event
within the National Zoo for all visitors to play games, hunt for eggs, and meet
the “Easter Panda.” The National Zoo is also known for its Halloween celebration,
Boo at the Zoo, and holiday light and music show, Zoolights. Additionally, the Smithsonian
Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia, is open to the public
each year for Conservation Discovery Day.6




























The National Zoo is an impressive testament to research,
conservation, and education in the heart of D.C. Today it is home to around 300
species including&nbsp;the American bison,&nbsp;the animal that inspired the zoo’s
founding, which was welcomed back in 2014 in honor of the National Zoo's 125th anniversary.&nbsp;

The National Zoological Park, more commonly referred to as the National Zoo, is one of the oldest zoos in the country. Originally conceived as the National Museum’s Department of Living Animals in 1886, the National Zoo was formally established in 1889 by an Act of Congress that sought to provide scientific knowledge to the public and a place for recreation in the city. The National Zoo is part of the Smithsonian Institution and thus admission is free. Visitors can enjoy and learn about wildlife from around the world.

Smithsonian's National Zoological Park

The Anacostia Community Museum was originally a gesture from the Smithsonian toward DC's African American community. John Kinard, the appointed director, was a dedicated activist within his community. Kinard was a minister, and had a great passion for leadership and organization. Although he was not the original mastermind behind the museum, he was appointed as the best candidate for making the Anacostia Community Museum rich and fulfilling. His efforts have done much to shape the museum into what it is today (Anacostia Community Museum). At the museum's opening, however, it was not much of an African American history museum. The museum's first exhibition was simply a mix of work and artifacts from other museums by Smithsonian. The African American community, as well as board members of the museum, gave feedback. They wanted the museum to reflect their own culture and experiences. Thus, the museum began to focus almost solely on African American history (Anacostia Community Museum). The Anacostia Community Museum boasts a large focus on education. The museum reaches out to schools and churches alike in order to promote education of African American history. The museum also has a children's room for the learning and betterment of the children who visit. It also sports many educational programs. The Anacostia Community Museum is likely one of the best places in DC to learn about African American history and culture (Anacostia Community Museum).

The Anacostia Community Museum is a museum of African American History sponsored by the Smithsonian. It was founded in 1967 as the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum. S. Dillon Ripley, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, was the mastermind behind this museum. The appointed founding director of the museum was activist John Kinard. The Anacostia Community Museum serves as a rich resource of knowledge of African American history (Anacostia Community Museum).

Tour of All 17 of Washington DC's Smithsonian Museums

The National Postal Museum

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information