Description: [edan-image:id=siris_sic_14623,size=300,left]Born in 1936 in Washington DC, John Robert Edward Kinard would become the first African American director of a Smithsonian museum at the age of 31. Kinard’s circuitous path into museum work took him from development work in Africa to community organizing on Maryland’s Eastern Shore to a dilapidated theater on Nichols Street in DC’s
Description: A year ago on September 24, 2016, the Smithsonian gained a new museum — the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Since then, 2.5 million people have visited the museum. In honor of their historic opening, we look back at photographer Michael Barnes' favorite images from the year.[view:sia_slideshow==77271]Related ResourcesHistory of the National Museum of
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.