Description: Even before the United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917, the conflict in Europe was front and center in the minds of many Americans who wanted to do their part. The employees of the Smithsonian were no exception. Through their own Red Cross auxiliary, applying their expertise to the war effort, and making changes in their private lives, Smithsonian employees took
Description: Natural history specimens and ethnographic artifacts were among the earliest collections of the US National Museum. In 1910, the National Museum of Natural History building opened to showcase these collections. Wings were added in the 1960s, and a collections storage facility in Maryland opened in 1983 to help house the National Museum of Natural History’s 126 million objects.