Description: Historian Lonnie Bunch is the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Smithsonian’s 19th museum. Growing up with a love of history and a sense that African Americans deserved “a voice,” his education and early career gave him the research, museum, and management experience that allowed him to successfully develop an idea into a
Description: As the Smithsonian geared up to celebrate its 175th anniversary, the Libraries and Archives decided to revisit the online exhibition From Smithsonian to Smithsonian, created a quarter of a century ago. Today, on the Smithsonian’s birthday, we are pleased to celebrate the launch of a new, refreshed and greatly expanded web exhibition, Smithson to Smithsonian.
Description: The Smithsonian Castle sits just over a mile away from Washington D.C.’s most notable address,1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. We are more than just a short walk away from the White House, however—we are directly tied to it and its occupants. Not only does the Smithsonian collect the history of United States Presidents (including, yes, Lincoln’s top hat and even the hair of a few
Description: Link Love: a weekly post with links to interesting videos and stories about archival issues, technology and culture, and Washington D.C. and American history.
Description: On May 16, 1929, an exhibition of American Negro Artists opened on the ground floor of the Smithsonian’s US National Museum building. The exhibition featured fifty-one works by twenty-seven black sculptors and painters who won a juried competition sponsored by the Harmon Foundation.1Though the work selected remained distant from the most radical new work being created by
Description: On National Visit the Zoo Day, a look at a unique exhibition at the National Zoological Park, the National Museum of Natural History, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden: “Animal In Art,” an exhibit and series of “sketch-ins,” part of an international campaign for the World Wildlife Fund.
Description: The history of the long campaign to bring a national museum for African Americans to the National Mall, the National Museum of African American History and Culture.