Greetings from the SmithsonianA Postcard History

See how Washington, DC and Smithsonian visitors have shared their trips with others by taking a historic look at the Smithsonian through the picture postcard.

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National Air and Space Museum

The National Air Museum was created by a congressional act on August 12, 1946. Its name was changed to the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in 1966 as part of a congressional act authorizing a separate building to house its collections. The museum opened to the public on July 1, 1976. The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center located in Chantilly, Virginia, opened to the public on December 17, 2003 and has allowed NASM to display more and larger air and space artifacts and expand storage space. The postcards in this gallery show several of the air and space crafts from the National Air and Space Museum. Several of these postcards have pre-printed messages for tourist to fill in.