Description: As World War II raged throughout the world, many feared the threat of another attack on American soil. Washington, D.C., and the National Mall were obvious targets for the Axis countries which put the Smithsonian buildings and collections located there in danger. In order to protect the Smithsonian’s collections, staff took action and moved many materials off of the National
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