Description: The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) and the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) are two different museums that had their origins in the Smithsonian’s National Gallery of Art. They have been housed in the old Patent Office Building since 1968. The American Art Museum was established in 1907 under the name “National Gallery of Art.” The National Portrait Gallery was
Description: [view in Spanish]Matthew Stirling's career in anthropology and archaeology was spent almost entirely at the Smithsonian Institution. Geographically, it spanned from New Guinea to the Americas, and his contributions to scholarship were equally as broad. Educated at the University of California at Berkeley and The George Washington University, he was both an active field worker
Description: The Arts and Industries Building was the first building to serve as the US National Museum. Designed by architects Cluss & Schulze, this brick building with expansive galleries opened in 1881, with exhibits on art, culture, history, geology, and natural history. It was renamed the Arts and Industries Building in 1910. History of the Arts and Industries BuildingAdditional
Description: [view in Spanish][edan-image:id=siris_sic_13396,size=200,left]Ephraim George Squier was a self-educated journalist and diplomat who made substantial contributions to the archaeology and ethnology of the Americas. Born in 1821, he worked as a journalist in New York and Connecticut before moving to Ohio. There Squier developed an interest in the large earthen mounds believed to