For The Air Age -- A National Museum

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Summary

  • Article gives a description of the Smithsonian Institution's proposed National Air Museum, and discusses the arrangement of exhibits within the museum and the site for the building itself. The article recognizes that redevelopment in Southwest Washington would and should occur, and with that eventuality in mind presents arguments in favor of a museum site in Southwest Washington, D.C., fronting Independence Avenue, between 9th and 12th Streets; comment is made that the proposed site was used by Samuel P. Langley, third Smithsonian Secretary, to conduct early experiments. It is stated that Smithsonian Secretary Leonard Carmichael and Paul E. Garber, head curator of the National Air Museum, favor a museum site plan that will both help area redevelopment, and establish a home for the air museum's expanding collections.
  • After noting that the U. S. Congress created the National Air Museum in 1946, the article urges congress to follow the Smithsonian's officials' lead and back a plan to select a site to build the museum it created so that the museum's collection may be properly housed under one roof. It should be noted that the actual site selected for the National Air and Space Museum was not the one recommended in the article.

Subject

  • Langley, S. P (Samuel Pierpont) 1834-1906
  • Garber, Paul Edward 1899-1992
  • Carmichael, Leonard 1898-1973
  • United States Congress
  • National Air and Space Museum
  • National Air Museum (U.S.)

Category

Smithsonian Institution History Bibliography

Notes

Reprinted article, copyrighted by the F. W. Dodge Corporation, includes drawings and photographs of the model of the proposed museum.

Contained within

Architectural Record (Journal)

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

September 1955

Topic

  • Design
  • Architecture
  • Secretaries
  • Architecture--Design and plans

Physical description

pgs. 163-170

Full Record

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