View header image

Historic Pictures of the Smithsonian

 
 

Follow the Smithsonian's growth through photographs from its founding to the world's largest museum complex today.

National Museum of African American History and Culture The National Museum of African American History and Culture was established in 2003 to preserve the history and culture of African Americans. A preliminary design for the new museum was completed in 2010 and construction is scheduled to be completed in late 2015. History of the National Museum of...  
National Museum of African Art Established in 1964 by private collector Warren Robbins, the Museum of African Art in Washington, DC, was transferred to the Smithsonian in 1979. In 1981, the Museum was renamed the National Museum of African Art and in 1987, re-opened in a new building as part of the Smithsonian’s Quadrangle...  
National Air and Space Museum and Udvar-Hazy Center The National Air and Space Museum was established in 1946 to care for the Smithsonian’s growing aeronautical collections. On July 1, 1976, a new building opened on the National Mall to showcase the collection. In December of 2003, the Udvar-Hazy Center opened near Dulles Airport in Virginia to...  
Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery The Smithsonian American Art Museum began as an art gallery in the Smithsonian Institution Building, the Castle. A National Gallery of Art was formally created in 1906 in the US National Museum. In 1968, the collection moved to the American Art and Portrait Galleries, and its Renwick Gallery...  
' /> National Museum of American History The National Museum of American History, known as the National Museum of History and Technology until 1980, was established in 1957 to house the growing US National Museum’s collections on the social, cultural, scientific, and technological history of the United States. The new museum opened in...  
National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian has its origins in the collections of George Gustav. In 1989, the collection was transferred to the Smithsonian and now consists of the George Gustav Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City, the Cultural Resources Center...  
' /> Anacostia Community Museum The Anacostia Neighborhood Museum opened on September 15, 1967, in the historic Carver Theater in Anacostia, Washington, DC, as a “store-front museum” to reach underserved communities. In 1987, the museum relocated to a new building at 1901 Fort Place SE, Washington, DC. In 2006, it was renamed...  
Arts and Industries Building 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...  
' /> Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Folklife presentation, education, and research began at the Smithsonian Institution in 1967 with the first annual Festival of American Folklife held on the National Mall. To this day, the festival features performers, crafts people, and community groups from the United States and foreign countries...  
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum The Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, located in New York City, was established as the Cooper Union Museum in 1897 as part of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. In 1967, this museum of design was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution and relocated to the historic...  
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center is located near Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, on land donated by Robert Forest in 1965. Initially a field station, the center focused on environmental research, including the work of the Radiation Biology Laboratory. Today, the Center studies links between...  
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery The Freer Gallery of Art houses the Asian and impressionist art collection of Charles Lang Freer, who donated art works and an endowment to the Smithsonian in 1906. In 1982, Arthur M. Sackler donated a complementary collection housed in the Sackler Gallery in the Smithsonian Quadrangle Complex...  
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Established in 1890, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory was one of the earliest observatories to practice the "new astronomy," or astrophysics. Originally located behind the Smithsonian Institution Building, the Castle, in 1955, the Observatory moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Today, the...  
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden opened in 1974 to house the modern art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. Located west of the Arts and Industries Building, in the first truly modern building on the National Mall, the Museum and Sculpture Garden feature artists such as Calder, de Kooning...  
National Zoological Park The National Zoological Park was founded in 1889 to preserve, teach, and conduct research about the animal world. The zoo opened in Rock Creek Park, Washington, DC in 1891, on a site designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, and has been home to giant pandas, Asian elephants, and...  
National Museum of Natural History 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...  
National Portrait Gallery Although planning began in 1919, the National Portrait Gallery was not created until 1962, and it opened to the public in the historic Patent Office Building in 1968. Known for its iconic collections of portraits of a broad spectrum of Americans, the gallery is also noted for its Hall of Presidents...  
National Postal Museum The National Postal Museum was established in 1990 under an agreement between the Smithsonian and US Postal Service to preserve and display the National Philatelic Collection, formerly part of the National Museum of American History. The Postal Museum moved to the Washington City Post Office...  
Smithsonian Institution Building, the Castle The Smithsonian Institution’s first building, the Castle, was designed by architect James Renwick. Until 1881, it housed all aspects of Smithsonian operations, including research, administration, lecture and exhibit halls, library, laboratories, collections storage, and living quarters for the...  
The South Yard The South Yard behind the Smithsonian Institution Building, the Castle, is bordered on the east by the Arts and Industries Building and west by the Freer Gallery of Art. In the late 19th century, it was the site of small buildings for the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Taxidermy Studio,...  
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama was founded in 1923 as the Barro Colorado Island Laboratory to study tropical biology. In 1946, it was placed under Smithsonian aegis as the Canal Zone Biological Area. Although still based in Panama, today its researchers study biodiversity and...  
Smithsonian Gardens Smithsonian Gardens was established in 1972 as the Horticultural Services Division of the Office of Plant Services to provide appropriate landscaping outside of Smithsonian museums and decorative greenery inside Smithsonian buildings. Today, Smithsonian Gardens is an accredited museum that provides...  
Smokey Bear Smokey Bear, the character, was created by the Forest Service in August 1944 as the lead symbol in its Wildfire Prevention Campaign. However, there was also a real, living Smokey Bear, himself the victim of a forest fire as a young cub.  Smokey was born in 1950 in the Lincoln National Forest in New...