Anacostia Community Museum

A dynamic, community-oriented exploration of the cultural expressions and social experience of African Americans awaits visitors of the Anacostia Community Museum.

Exhibits:

Outdoor Sculpture: Real Justice by Allen Uzikee Nelson

05/26/2004 - Ongoing
Near front entrance
Real Justice, the museum's first public sculpture installed May, 26, 2004, was created by Washington metal sculptor Allen Uzikee Nelson. This 15-foot weathered iron sculpture is dedicated to the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and is reflective of African art, as Adinkra symbols are used to depict the justice system and aspects of Marshall's life.

The African Presence in Mexico: From Yanga to the Present

11/08/2009 - 07/04/2010
Main Gallery
This traveling exhibition looks at the history, culture, and art of Afro-Mexicans, beginning in the colonial era and continuing to present day. Highlights of the exhibition include "casta" paintings -- paintings used to delineate racial categories and the ever-increasing complexity of racial mixture -- and discussions of African slavery in Mexico and the hero/slave rebel Yanga; artifacts related to the traditions and popular culture of the Afro-Mexicans; and many paintings, masks, photography, and other works of art.

The African Presence in Mexico also includes a section on "Who Are We Now? Roots, Resistance, and Recognition," which charts the history of the relationship between Mexicans and African Americans in the United States, as well as the relationship between African Americans and the country of Mexico.

Separate and Unequaled: Black Baseball in the District of Columbia

11/10/2008 - Ongoing
Program Room
Please Note: Call first to check the monthly viewing schedule as the exhibition may not be available when an activity is taking place in the Program Room: 202-633-4820 (recording).

After a recent successful run at the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., a condensed version of this popular exhibition is on view at the museum. From Reconstruction to the second half of the 20th century, baseball, the great American pastime, was played in Washington, D.C., on segregated fields. This exhibition looks at the phenomenal popularity and community draw of this sport when played by African Americans. Featured are such personalities as Josh Gibson and "Buck" Leonard, star players of the Negro Leagues most celebrated team, the Washington Homestead Grays. The show also highlights community teams that gave rise to the various amateur, collegiate, and semi-pro black baseball teams and leagues.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Together, the Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery of Art form the national museum of Asian art for the United States.

Exhibits:

In the Realm of the Buddha

03/13/2010 - 07/18/2010
Sublevel 1, Main Gallery & Northeast Galleries
Two distinct exhibitions offer fascinating encounters with the sacred art of Tibetan Buddhism.

• Lama, Patron, Artist: The Great Situ Panchen: In studying the sacred arts of Tibetan Buddhism, we seldom know who the artist was, let alone his life story. Through new scholarship and recently discovered paintings, this exhibition focuses on an extraordinary Tibetan artist Situ Panchen (1700-1774), who was not only a renowned painter and designer of paintings, but also a revered scholar, teacher, and the founder of Palpung monastery. By bringing together thangkas painted and designed by Situ, sculptures of his chosen deity Tara, and Chinese works from the Freer Gallery of Art collection, this exhibition reveals not only Situ Panchen's genius and enduring influence, but also his engagement with transnational Buddhist culture.

• The Tibetan Shrine from the Alice S. Kandell Collection: On public display for the first time, this privately held reconstructed shrine room features Tibetan Buddhist sacred art created between the 13th and 19th centuries. Works of art on view include bronze sculptures, thangkas (scroll paintings), ritual objects, textile banners, and painted furniture, all presented in a religiously correct manner. This shrine is acknowledged by practicing Buddhists as a sacred place.

Perspectives: Hai Bo

03/27/2010 - 02/27/2011
Street Level, Pavilion
As part of the Perspectives series of contemporary Asian art, on view are five large-scale photographs from Hai Bo's Northern Series, which invite viewers to enter the vast panoramas of the artist's childhood memories, observe the subtle changes of nature across seasons, and encounter the gentle transience of life. Hai Bo (born 1962, Changchun, China) looks to the desolate plains of northeastern China for his images. Trained as a painter, Hai Bo took up photography in the 1980s as he became captivated by the camera's ability to stop time and evoke memories. For over two decades, he has been returning to his hometown in Jilin Province to capture the people and places of his youth, creating deeply moving portraits of resilience amidst the growing isolation of rural China.

Through photography and video, Yeondoo Jung (b. 1969, Jinju, Korea) invites the viewer into the dreams and memories of others. This exhibition features two new video works, including a multi-screen installation, in which anonymous strangers are filmed recalling moments in their lives. As stories of past loves, youthful ambitions, hardship, or lifelong secrets are shared, a team of stagehands reconstructs the settings for these memories. By orchestrating clever set re-creations and filming the process from beginning to end, or manipulating camera angles and lighting effects in long outdoor sequences, Jung emphasizes the artifice of the scene unfurling before the viewer's eyes. Ultimately, these videos suggest that reality, filtered through nostalgia and the passage of time, exists somewhere between truth and imagination.

Illustrated catalogue: $40 (paper)

Sculpture: Monkeys Grasping for the Moon

- Ongoing
Sky-lit Atrium to Sublevel 3
It was originally created as a temporary display by expatriate Chinese artist Xu Bing (b. 1955) for the 2001 exhibition Word Play: Contemporary Art by Xu Bing. In order for it to remain on permanent view, it was re-created under Xu Bing's supervision and was given to the museum by the family of Madame Chiang Kai-shek in 2004 to coincide with the Year of the Monkey. This sculpture -- suspended from the sky-lit atrium down to the 3rd-level reflecting pool -- is composed of 21 laminated wood pieces, with each forming the word "monkey" in a dozen different languages. Based on a Chinese folktale, the monkeys linked arms and tails to form a chain to reach down to the pool below to capture the shimmering moon, only to discover it was a reflection. Moral: We often waste much time on futile goals.

Sculpture of South and Southeast Asia

11/26/1992 - Ongoing
Sublevel 1, South Corridor Galleries
Sculptures from 3 major religions are presented: Hindu stone, bronze, brass, and terra-cotta temple sculptures from India; and Jain and Buddhist bronze, gilt bronze, and stone sculptures from India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Tibet.

Contemporary Japanese Porcelain

- Ongoing
Sublevel 3
Twentieth-century Japanese artists give fresh interpretations to the time-honored art of porcelain in this selection of works from the Sackler Gallery's collection. The distinctive decorations, which range from natural motifs to more abstract designs, are created using iron and cobalt pigments and platinum, gold, and silver enamels.

The Arts of China

11/18/1990 - Ongoing
Sublevel 1
A variety of materials, techniques, and motifs, which span almost six thousand years, are explored in this exhibition of 228 objects highlighting the Sackler Gallery's permanent holdings of Chinese art. The exhibition features jades and bronzes, Buddhist sculpture and wall paintings, glass, lacquerware, furniture, and paintings from the Neolithic period to the 20th century.

Taking Shape: Ceramics in Southeast Asia

04/01/2007 - Ongoing
Sublevel 1, Galleries connecting Freer & Sackler Galleries
This exhibition of approximately 200 diverse and visually striking ceramic vessels from Southeast Asia explores the migration of pots from their makers to their users. This exhibition also illuminates the dimensions of international trade that brought southern Chinese ceramics into mainland Southeast Asia and from there reaching distant markets -- from Japan to Turkey. Spanning four millennia on invention and exchange, from the prehistoric period to the present, the vessels on view were crafted for rituals, burials, domestic use, and trade. These clay pots and jars, made permanent by firing in bonfires or kilns, form the most enduring record of human activities, interactions, and ideas about form and decoration in mainland Southeast Asia.

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution is the only museum in the nation devoted exclusively to historic and contemporary design.

Exhibits:

Quicktake: Tato Nano

02/18/2010 - 04/25/2010
1st Floor, Great Hall
Unveiled last year in India by Tata Motors, India's largest automobile manufacturer, the Tata Nano is targeted to families who had not previously been able to afford a car. Billed as "the people's car," the base model starts at $2,200 in India and can accommodate up to five adults. A bright, sunshine yellow Nano is on display, along with diagrams and a short film describing its concept, development and production.

Design USA: Contemporary Innovation

10/16/2009 - 04/04/2010
1st Floor Galleries
This exhibition celebrates the accomplishments of the winners honored during the first 10 years of the prestigious National Design Awards. The exhibition features outstanding contemporary achievements in American architecture, landscape design, interior design, product design, communication design, corporate design, interaction design, and fashion. Developed in collaboration with the renowned firm 2x4, this exhibition focuses on innovation through the lens of technology, material, method, craft, and transformation.

Freer Gallery of Art

The Freer holds one of the finest collections of Asian art and the greatest collection of work by the American artist James McNeill Whistler in the Western world.

Exhibits:

Ancient Near Eastern Art

02/03/2010 - Ongoing
West Corridor
Text to come.

Sculptures

- Ongoing

North corridor at northwest and northeast corners (Jefferson Drive entrance):

• Two huge Kongorikishi (also known as Ni-o) warriors: Japan, Kamakura period, early 14th century, wood

Inside south doors (near Independence Avenue entrance):

• Vimalakirti: A huge 6th-century stone Buddhist sculpture: China, from the Binyang cave at the Longmen Grottoes in Henan Province

Outdoor Sculpture: Twisted Form by Shiro Hayami

- Ongoing
Outdoors near Jefferson Drive entrance
Twisted Form (Traveler's Guardian Spirit), 1981, an Agi stone and Peruvian granite sculpture by Shiro Hayami

Buddhist Art

05/09/1993 - Ongoing
Gallery 17
Buddhism, a religion that originated in India during the 6th century B.C.E., spread eastward across much of Asia during the next thousand years. While its followers are now established worldwide, Buddhism continues to have an especially strong religious and cultural presence throughout the Asian continent. Each of the civilizations that has embraced Buddhism has given a local and distinctive interpretation and sensibility to the representation of the Buddha as well as to the other images and symbols characteristic of Buddhist art.

Garden: Mary Livingston Ripley Garden

05/25/1988 - Ongoing
Outside, between Arts & Industries Building & Hirshhorn Museum
The Mary Livingston Ripley Garden, named for its donor, comprises more than 200 varieties of plants in hanging baskets, borders, and raised serpentine beds flanking an unusual curvilinear walkway designed by architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen. Plantings are augmented seasonally with annuals and exotics.

Cornucopia: Ceramics from Southern Japan

12/19/2009 - 01/09/2011
Galleries 6a, 6, & 7 (Japanese Art)
This exhibition illuminates the engaging variety of local styles of glazing and decoration invented by Kyushu potters over three centuries. Around the year 1600, a heightened fascination with the design and uses of ceramics combined with new access to advanced technology launched an era of extraordinarily diverse and accomplished ceramic production. Southern Japan -- in particular, the island of Kyushu -- was the center for this efflorescence, which included both stoneware coated in muted glazes and porcelain ornamented with cobalt blue or multicolored enamels. Hundreds of kilns produced vessels for the domestic market (with a focus on utensils for dining and for the tea ceremony) and also for export to Europe and Southeast Asia.

Children at Play in Chinese Painting

11/18/2009 - 05/23/2010
Gallery 13 (Chinese Art)
Children at play in fragrant gardens or at work in lush fields have been a recurring theme in Chinese art over the past two millennia. Objects and paintings dating from the first through the 20th century, complemented by ceramics and ivory carvings, depict children playing in urban and rural settings. Relationships among family members, from infants in mothers' arms to siblings splashing in a tub of water, are explored through various media. Common childhood delights of catching butterflies and skipping rope are juxtaposed with lively images of boys herding oxen and romping in fields, all lovingly depicted in engaging scenes throughout the centuries.

The Texture of Night: James McNeill Whistler

06/06/2009 - 06/06/2010
Ground Floor
Whistler's Nocturnes, the artist's term for his nearly abstract moonlit landscapes, represent his signature contribution to 19th-century art. Beginning with oil paintings of the river Thames, Whistler expanded his exploration of urban darkness to include other sites and a range of media: lithography, watercolors, and above all, etching. This exhibition highlights 15 of these works on paper. Though small in scale, these nighttime views of London, Venice, and Amsterdam are among Whistler's most aesthetically suggestive and technically innovative works.

The Religious Art of Japan (rotating)

12/21/2002 - Ongoing
Gallery 8 (Japanese Art)
Important works from the Freer's collection of Japanese religious art are exhibited in several thematic rotations over a period of several years.

The Peacock Room

- Ongoing
Gallery 12
The Peacock Room, originally designed by architect Thomas Jeckyll, was once the dining room in the London home of Frederick R. Leyland, a wealthy shipowner from Liverpool, England. Although the architect merely asked for advice about what color to paint the shutters and doors, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) took over and eventually transformed the entire room. Between 1876 and 1877, he enhanced the room with golden peacocks, painting every inch of the ceiling and walls to create an elegant setting in which Leyland could display his blue-and-white porcelain as well as Whistler's painting The Princess from the Land of Porcelain. Purchased by Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919) in 1904 and installed in the Freer Gallery of Art after his death, the Peacock Room is on permanent display.

Korean Ceramics

03/01/1997 - Ongoing
Gallery 9 (Korean Art)
Ceramics have always been an integral part of Korean culture and an important vehicle of the Korean aesthetic. This gallery presents 30 Korean ceramics made between 200 and 1900 -- from the Three Kingdoms period (1st-7th centuries) Choson period (1392-1910) -- ranging from tableware and Buddhist cinerary urns made for courtiers to bowls, bottles, and storage jars used by peasants.

Japanese Screens (rotating)

05/09/1993 - Ongoing
Gallery 5 (Japanese Art)
Features a selection from the nearly 200 screens held by the Freer Gallery. Ranging in date from the 15th to the 19th century, the screens represent the major thematic and stylistic examples of this popular format.

Note: Screens rotate periodically.

Charles Lang Freer and Egypt

06/13/1998 - Ongoing
Gallery 16
Some 70 small glass vessels, bronzes, amulets, and sculptures from the New Kingdom (1550-1070 B.C.) to the Roman Period (30 B.C.-A.D. 395) are on view from Freer's eclectic collection of Egyptian artifacts. These objects illustrate many features of this ancient civilization, including deities, scripts, and materials and techniques of manufacture. Gallery founder Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) visited Egypt on three separate occasions between 1906 and 1909. He was deeply attracted to the rich blue and green colors of Egyptian glass and glazes and their often luminous appearance.

Black & White: Chinese Ceramics from the 10th-14th Centuries

12/18/2004 - Ongoing
Gallery 18 (Chinese Art)
This exhibition of 43 objects -- mostly tablewares, wine jars, and vases, ranging from everyday goods to those fit for an emperor -- showcases the variety of glossy black-glazed wares, brilliant white porcelains, and eye-catching combinations of both colors on single vessels created during the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1279-1368) dynasties. These striking works (including notable Ding, Cizhou, Jian, and Jizhou wares from the Freer's collection) were produced as a result of important developments in Chinese ceramic technology, including the use of streaked dark glazes and different modes of decoration.

Arts of the Islamic World

05/03/1998 - Ongoing
Galleries 3 & 4 (Islamic Art)
The arts of the Islamic world flourished in a vast geographic area extending from Morocco and Spain to the islands of Southeast Asia. Although distinct in their cultural, artistic, ethnic, and linguistic identities, the people of this region have shared one predominant faith, Islam. The works on view here represent the three principal media for artistic expression in the Islamic world: architecture (both religious and secular), the arts of the book (calligraphy, illustration, illumination, and bookbinding), and the arts of the object (ceramics, metalwork, glass, woodwork, textiles, and ivory).

Arts of the Indian Subcontinent and the Himalayas

10/16/2004 - Ongoing
Galleries 1 & 2 (South Asian Art)
To show the cultural and religious diversity of the Indian subcontinent and the Tibetan plateau, this new long-term rotating exhibition currently features 39 artifacts, including Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain sculptures, as well as rarely exhibited paintings and luxury arts from the Mughal, Rajput, and Deccani courts.

Ancient Chinese Pottery and Bronze

03/07/1997 - Ongoing
Galleries 14 & 15 (Ancient Chinese Art)
The selection of ceramic and bronze vessels on view begins at the important juncture between the end of the Neolithic pottery tradition and the emergence of the metalworking tradition (around 2000 B.C.E.), and stops at the end of the Bronze Age and the rise of glazed stoneware (around 200 C.E.). The exhibition shows the complex, changing relationship between two of China's oldest artistic traditions.

Surface Beauty: American Art and Freer's Aesthetic Vision

02/23/2008 - Ongoing
Gallery 19 (Special Exhibitions)
This exhibition features a group of decorative paintings by American artists Thomas Dewing (1851-1938) and Dwight Tryon (1849-1925) -- whose interest in surface beauty resonated with the work of James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) -- and a selection of ceramics from the Detroit Pewabic Pottery to highlight the importance of surface beauty to Charles Lang Freer's aesthetic philosophy. Freer began collecting American paintings in the early 1890s and while his focus shifted to Asia by the turn of the century, his interest in tonal, textured surfaces remained constant, allowing him to establish "points of contact" between his Asian and American collections.

Freer & Whistler: Points of Contact

02/23/2008 - Ongoing
Galleries 10 & 11 (American Art)
Some 23 oil paintings represent a choice selection of the more than 1,300 paintings, prints, and drawings by Whistler in the gallery's collection. The works on view were chosen to exemplify both Freer's philosophy of collecting and Whistler's own self-conscious synthesis of western and Asian artistic traditions. Highlights include a sequence of views of the Thames from Whistler's Chelsea residence; an ensemble of Nocturnes (Whistler's term for his paintings of the moonlit urban landscape), and a pair of full-length portraits, including the magnificent Arrangement in Black: Portrait of F.R. Leyland, which depicts the patron of the renowned Peacock Room, adjacent to this exhibition.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

The eye-catching architecture of the Hirshhorn sets it apart from the other museums on the National Mall. The Hirshhorn is an arresting, elevated hollow cylinder that is 82 feet high and 231 feet in diameter.

Food:

Outdoor Cafe (seasonal)
Featuring Hot Dogs, Italian Sausages, Wraps, Salads, and Soft Drinks
Hours: Daily 10a.m.-3p.m.

Exhibits:

ColorForms

03/11/2010 - Ongoing
Lower Level
A selection of artworks from the Hirshhorn's collection and several paintings on loan from the National Gallery's renowned Mark Rothko holdings reveals some of the diverse ways that contemporary artists explore color's evocative possibilities, from the purely optical to the metaphysical. Dating from the post-war era to the present, on view are works by Wolfgang Laib, James Turrell, and Paul Sharits, along with a linear yarn sculpture by Fred Sandback, a spherical sculpture by Anish Kapoor, and luminous paintings by Mark Rothko.

Outdoor Sculptures

10/04/1974 - Ongoing
Plaza and Sunken Sculpture Garden
-- Hirshhorn Plaza: The plaza redesign, by landscape architect James Urban (completed in 1993), includes granite surfaces, trees and other plantings, areas of lawn, an outdoor pathway, and ramp accessibility from the northwest end of the Ripley Garden. (For more details, see October 1991 Torch article.)

Works on view include: Spatial Concept: Nature (1959-60, cast 1965) by Lucio Fontana; Subcommittee (1991) by Tony Cragg; Needle Tower (1968) Kenneth Snelson; Last Conversation Piece (1994-95) by Juan Munoz; Geometric Mouse: Variation 1, Scale A (1971) by Claes Odenburg; Antipodes (1997) by Jim Sanborn; and Throwback (1976-79) by Tony Smith.

Note: Calder's stabile Two Discs was removed (effective Oct. 7, 2006) for conservation and is now on loan.

Addition:
• Brushstroke: This 32-foot-high by 20-foot-wide towering black-and-off-white painted aluminum sculpture reinforced with I-beams is one of the last examples of Roy Lichtenstein's (American, 1923-1997) ongoing engagement with the brushstroke motif. Based on a model created in 1996, it was enlarged and fabricated 2002-2003 by Amaral Custom Fabrications in Massachusetts under the supervision of the Lichtenstein estate. Installed week of September 16, 2003, on the Plaza near Jefferson Drive.

-- Sunken Sculpture Garden: The garden's extensive renovation that included making it wheelchair accessible with new landscaping and reinstallation of approximately 75 contemporary sculptures was completed Sept. 15, 1981.

Works on view include: The Drummer by Flanagan; Nymph by Maillol; Standing Woman (Heroic Woman) by Lachaise; Burghers of Calais, Monument to Balzac, and Walking Man by Rodin; Horse and Rider by Marini. Other sculptors represented include Archipenko, de Kooning, Giacometti, Lipchitz, Manzu, Miro, Moore, Shea, and Smith.

Addition:
• For Gordon Bunshaft 2007: This site-specific work by conceptual artist Dan Graham consists of a triangular pavilion with two-way mirrors (with glass doors to enter the structure) and an open wooden lattice that stands approximately 7.5-foot tall. The two-way mirrors allow visitors inside and outside to simultaneously see themselves, each other, and the surrounding landscape. Graham describes this mirror-and-wood structure as a hybrid because one side is derived from traditional Japanese architecture while the other two sides allude to modern corporate architecture and Bunshaft's design of the iconic Hirshhorn building. Installed near the reflecting pool in the Sunken Sculpture Garden May 30, 2008.

• Are Years What? (for Marianne Moore) 1967: Installed in the street level section adjacent to the sunken sculpture garden, this sculpture created by Mark di Suvero (b. 1933) is composed of industrial I-beams painted bright red and rises some 40 feet from the ground. The 10-ton work refers to a poem by the American poet Marianne Moore (1887-1972). Installed August 22, 1999.

Note: The book A Garden for Art: Outdoor Sculpture at the Hirshhorn Museum is available in the Museum Store for $15.95.

Permanent/Indefinite: Collection Highlights

- Ongoing
Lower Level, 2nd Floor, 3rd Floor
Collection Highlights is a rotating display of works from the museum's permanent collection. Each installation offers a different grouping of works gathered around a theme or individual artists and provides new ways of looking at its diverse holdings as well as in-depth exploration of notable artists. These installations often display rarely seen or innovative recent works as well as favorite masterpieces.
Note: The term "Gyroscope" has been phased out and replaced by the term "Collection on View" and has since changed to "Collection Highlights."

Lower Level:
This level provides a first view of recent additions to the collection.

2nd Floor: This level also provides a first view of recent additions to the collection, as well as space for traveling exhibitions.

3rd Floor: The galleries offer an in-depth look at 5 individual's work: the groundbreaking mobiles of Alexander Calder; the modern figural paintings of Balthus; a chronicle of Willem de Kooning's expressionist style as it evolved during his 50-year career; the abstract, richly textured creations by Clyfford Still; and the recently restored paintings by D.C.-based Color Field artist Morris Louis. Recent acquisitions are also on view.

Josef Albers: Innovation and Inspiration

02/13/2010 - 04/11/2010
2nd Level
This exhibition presents more than 60 of Albers' works from the museum's collection, along with key objects on loan from the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation on view for the first time. The exhibition encompasses the artist's distinguished career from his years teaching at Germany's famed Bauhaus through his influential role at Black Mountain College in North Carolina after he moved to the United States in 1933. He was best known for the standardized format that he called Homage to the Square, in which images created optical illusions and challenged viewers' visual acuity. Also on view are documentary photographs, a video, and examples of his teaching aids, and conclude with several galleries representing a range of works by artists who knew, studied under, worked with, or were influenced by Albers.

Black Box: Phoebe Greenberg

11/30/2009 - 04/11/2010
Lower Level
The Black Box theater showcases rotating exhibitions of contemporary artists who use film or video as their creative medium. Films or videos run continuously.

November 30, 2009-April 4, 2010:
Curator and arts advocate Phoebe Greenberg worked with Caroline Binet, Denis Villeneuve, Jacques Davidts, and a feature film-style team to bring this part dream, part morality tale scenario to life.

Next Floor (12 min., 2008, created and produced by Phoebe Greenberg) -- part nightmare, part morality tale -- is inspired by the lavish cinematic tableaux associated with Peter Greenaway and responds to the endless appetites of pre-economic crash consumerism. The themes suggested in this film continue to resonate during a time of global struggle to regain economic equilibrium. In 2008, it was awarded Best Short Film in Cannes, France.

Outdoor Installation: UP7TH

10/02/2009 - Ongoing
Offsite at the corner of 7th & H Streets, NW
The Hirshhorn Museum debuts new works by animator David Polonsky (b. 1973, Kiev, USSR) on three massive high-resolution LED screens outside above the Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro Station (7th and H Sts.). Several times each hour, a 30-second-long artwork appears.

Directions -- John Gerrard

11/05/2009 - 05/31/2010
3rd Floor
As part of the Directions series, this exhibition features works by Irish artist John Gerrard (b. 1974, Dublin) who photographed actual sites of farms and oil fields from 360 degrees and then simulated cinematic movement around the sites using the computer, complete with shifting, natural lighting effects.

With new technologies offering artists opportunities to create works with dimensions no one has seen before, he uses customized 3-D gaming software to re-imagine landscape art. A former student of the Art Institute of Chicago, Gerrard is inspired by the look, the history, and politics of the Dust Bowl region. He creates contemplative, vivid scenes of farms and oil fields that raise questions about the effect of human progress on the environment.

National Air and Space Museum

Since the building opened in 1976, the National Air and Space Museum has been the most-visited museum in the world, and a must-see for visitors to Washington, DC.

Food & Entertainment:

Dining Court features McDonald's, Boston Market and Donatos Pizzaria
Features hamburgers, French fries, chicken, pizza, salad and desserts
Group and bulk packages available
Hours: Daily 10a.m.-5p.m.

McCafé
Features panini and wrap sandwiches, pastries, specialty coffees and teas
Hours: Daily 10a.m.-5p.m.

Outdoor Kiosk (seasonal, weather permitting)
Providing hot dogs, chips, bottled beverages and ice cream
Hours: Daily 9a.m.-4p.m.

Flight Simluators
Experience being an engineer and.or astornaut during a space shuttle mission.

Exhibits:

Military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)

04/24/2008 - Ongoing
1st Floor, West End, suspended above Gallery 104
On view are 6 aircraft -- Military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) -- that represent a cross-section of modern unmanned flight systems technology. These aircraft are commonly used by all four military services around the globe to perform many types of missions, including reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition, bomb damage assessment, and attack. The evolution of unmanned military aircraft began during World War I and continues today.

Flight and the Arts

07/01/1976 - Ongoing
Gallery 211, 2nd Floor, East Wing
Note: This hall features changing exhibitions, generally art exhibitions related to flight. See "New" section (keyword: Flight and the Arts) for the current exhibition.

Welcome Center with Murals by Robert T. McCall and Eric Sloane

07/01/1976 - Ongoing
Independence Ave. Lobby (South Lobby), Gallery 108, 1st Floor
The South Lobby/Welcome Center features the information desk and the following:

• Robert T. McCall Mural: The Space Mural -- A Cosmic View by Robert T. McCall portrays the past, present, and future of the universe with a depiction of the Big Bang, an Apollo astronaut on the Moon, and a lunar rover and second astronaut.

• Eric Sloane Mural: Earth Flight Environment by Eric Sloane illustrates different weather phenomena in our atmosphere -- lightening, rain, a rainbow -- and a variety of cloud forms as a single airplane streaks across the sky.

• Trophy Case
The following objects are on view:
- The Aero Club Trophy for Aviation Excellence, along with a list of winners.
- The NASM Trophy for extraordinary achievements in aerospace.
- A model of Ascent by John Safer, a 65-foot sculpture installed at the Udvar-Hazy Center.

• Voyager: Around the World Without a Pit Stop
For details see separate entry under Permanent/Indefinite.

Voyager: Around the World without a Pit Stop

09/14/1986 - Ongoing
Independence Ave. Lobby (South Lobby), Gallery 108, 1st Floor
This exhibit features the Voyager, the first aircraft to fly around the world without landing or refueling. The flight was made by pilots Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager Dec. 14-23, 1986.

Outdoor Sculptures

07/01/1976 - Ongoing
Outdoors
Near Jefferson Drive entrance:

• Ad Astra sculpture by Richard Lippold

Near Independence Avenue entrance:

• Continuum -- cast bronze sculpture (1976) by Charles O. Perry

Black Wings: The American Black in Aviation

09/23/1982 - Ongoing
Pioneers of Flight, Gallery 208, 2nd Floor, Center
Note: This exhibition is part of Pioneers of Flight. For details, see Pioneers of Flight.

Moving Beyond Earth

11/19/2009 - Ongoing
Gallery 113, 1st Floor, East Wing
This exhibition explores the achievements and challenges of human spaceflight in the United States during the space shuttle and space station era through artifacts, immersive experiences, and interactive computer stations. Highlights include:

• a 12-foot-tall space-shuttle model and other launch-vehicle models
• astronaut gear, space gloves, and parts of the Hubble Space Telescope, including COSTAR, an instrument designed to correct the Hubble's spherical aberration
• the suit worn by space tourist Dennis Tito and a model of the Ares launch vehicle
• a Presentation Center for live events, broadcasts, and Webcasts

Organized to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the first Apollo Moon Landing on July 20, 1969.

The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age

10/11/2003 - Ongoing
Gallery 209, 2nd Floor, East Wing
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' historic first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903, this exhibition presents the Wrights' technical achievements and examines the cultural impact of early powered flight. The centerpiece of the gallery is the original 1903 Wright Flyer, displayed on the ground for the first time since acquired by the Smithsonian in 1948. Also on view are 250 photographs and 150 other artifacts, including the stop watch used to time the first powered flights, a Wright wind tunnel test instrument used in unlocking the secrets of aerodynamics, a reproduction of the Wright Brothers' 1899 experimental kite, and full-size reproductions of their 1900 and 1902 experimental gliders.

Hands-on stations and interactive computer stations: both provide an understanding of flight

Free Family Guide

World War II Aviation

07/01/1976 - Ongoing
World War II Aviation, Gallery 205, 2nd Floor, West Wing
This gallery highlights land-based aviation during World War II and features fighter aircraft from each of 5 countries.

Space Race

05/16/1997 - Ongoing
Space Race, Gallery 114, 1st Floor, East Wing
This major exhibition traces the competition in space between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union from its origins in the 1950s to the recent international cooperation. Objects include a Soyuz TM-10 spacecraft, a Kosmos 1443 "Merkur" spacecraft, and a space suit made for the never-accomplished mission to land a Russian on the Moon.

Sea-Air Operations

07/01/1976 - Ongoing
Sea-Air Operations, Gallery 203, 2nd Floor, West Wing
This gallery explores overwater flight, focusing on carrier operations from 1911 to the present.

Pioneers of Flight, Barron Hilton

07/01/1976 - Ongoing
Pioneers of Flight, Gallery 208, 2nd Floor, Center
Note: This gallery closed for renovation February 1, 2009, and is anticipated to reopen August 2010 (TBA).

This gallery features famous "firsts" and record setters. Since the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk, men and women have had to break both physical and psychological barriers to flight. In these historic aircraft, individuals strived to claim their place in aviation history.

Milestones of Flight

07/01/1976 - Ongoing
Milestones of Flight, Gallery 100, 1st Floor, Center
This gallery features famous airplanes and spacecraft that exemplify the major achievements in the history of flight.

Lunar Exploration Vehicles

07/01/1976 - Ongoing
Lunar Exploration Vehicles, Gallery 112, 1st Floor, East Wing
This gallery highlights NASA lunar surface exploration.

Highlights include:
• Apollo Lunar Module: a duplicate of the spacecraft that carried astronauts to the surface of the moon in the Apollo Program, late 1960s and early 1970s
• Surveyor Spacecraft: soft-landed on the moon to study lunar soil composition and physical properties of the lunar surface, 1966-68
• Lunar Orbital Spacecraft: circled the moon to perform mapping of the entire lunar surface, 1966-67
• Ranger: provided the first closeup photographs of the lunar surface, 1962-65
• Clementine: designed for a two-month mapping mission in orbit around the moon in 1994. Clementine provided answers to many of the questions about the moon that remained from the Apollo era.

Looking at Earth

05/08/1986 - Ongoing
Looking at Earth, Gallery 110, 1st Floor, East Wing
This gallery traces the development of technology for viewing Earth from balloons, aircraft, and spacecraft. The quest for ever-higher, ever-clearer images of the Earth is reflected in photographs and spacecraft images from a few feet to 7.5 million miles away. Some photographs are mural-size.

Legend, Memory, and the Great War in the Air (WWI Aviation)

11/13/1991 - Ongoing
Great War in the Air, Gallery 206, 2nd Floor, West Wing
This gallery features the emergence of air power in World War I. Gear, pontoons, and a streamlined boat hull examine the real nature of WWI aviation, plus the power of legend and public perception in history.

Jet Aviation

07/01/1981 - Ongoing
Jet Aviation, Gallery 106, 1st Floor, West Wing
This gallery illustrates the first 40 years of jet aviation (1939-1979), including the evolution of commercial and military jet aircraft.

How Things Fly

09/20/1996 - Ongoing
How Things Fly, Gallery 109, 1st Floor, East Wing
This interactive gallery explains the basic principles of air and space flight through hands-on activities. The gallery features a Cessna 150, a section of a Boeing 757 fuselage, a model of the International Space Station, and more than 50 interactives.

The Golden Age of Flight

04/05/1984 - Ongoing
Golden Age of Flight, Gallery 105, 1st Floor, West Wing
This gallery covers the years between the World Wars (1919-1939) but focuses on the period shortly after Lindbergh's flight in 1927 through 1939. Described as "golden" because of many advances in aviation technology, record-making flights, and intense interest by the public in aviation events, the era produced many of today's legendary aviation heroes. Aircraft and engines, newsreel coverage of aviation events, photographs, models and reproductions, and newspaper headlines are included. Opening coincided with the 60th anniversary of the takeoff of the Douglas World Cruisers, a major event during the Golden Age.

Exploring the Planets

- Ongoing
Exploring the Planets, Gallery 207, 2nd Floor, West Wing
This gallery highlights the history and achievements of planetary exploration, both Earth-based and by spacecraft.

Highlights include:
• Voyager: full-scale replica of the spacecraft that explored Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune in the 1970s and 1980s
• A Piece of Mars? A meteorite fragment discovered in Antarctica in 1979 and thought to be from Mars (placed on view 6/16/1990)
• Surveyor 3 television camera: retrieved from the surface of the Moon by the Apollo 12 astronauts

Explore the Universe

09/21/2001 - Ongoing
Explore the Universe, Gallery 111, 1st Floor, East Wing
Through objects, interactives, and videos, this exhibition explains what scientists think our universe is like, how the present scientific view of the universe came to be, how it is being shaped today, and what mysteries remain. With the development of each new tool to explore the universe -- telescopes, photography, spectroscopy -- our understanding of the universe changed dramatically. Despite these new advances, many of our questions remain unanswered: What is the universe? How big is it? How old is it? How did it begin? A changing section on what's new in our exploration of the universe will keep the exhibition up to date and attempt to answer these questions.

Early Flight, The Samuel P. Langley Gallery of

03/26/1980 - Ongoing
Early Flight, Gallery 107, 1st Floor, West Wing
This re-created indoor aeronautical exhibition (circa 1913) highlights the early history of the airplane from antiquity through the first decade of powered flight. Period furnishings, talking mannequins, and ragtime music combine to bring back the special ambience of the time.

Beyond the Limits: Flight Enters the Computer Age

05/12/1989 - Ongoing
Beyond the Limits, Gallery 213, 2nd Floor, East Wing
The gallery illustrates how the electronic computer has revolutionized aerospace engineering, aviation, and spaceflight. Computers are used to design and build air- and spacecraft, monitor air traffic, navigate and control flights, and train pilots.

Apollo to the Moon

07/01/1976 - Ongoing
Apollo to the Moon, Gallery 210, 2nd Floor, East Wing
This gallery traces NASA's manned space program beginning with Project Mercury's Freedom 7 (5/5/61); then the Gemini Project (1965-66); followed by the Apollo Program (1967-1972), with Apollo 17 as the last manned exploration of the moon.

America by Air

11/17/2007 - Ongoing
1st Floor, NW Wing, Gallery 102 (previously Air Transportation)
How did the first commercial airline companies get off the ground? How has the experience of air travel changed over the past century? How will the politics of today affect the way we fly tomorrow? These are some of the issues in the development of commercial air transport this new gallery explores, while expanding on the history of air transportation from only a few years after the invention of powered flight to the commercial challenges and technical sophistication of the 21st-century jet age.

National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

The National Air and Space Museum's spectacular Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is a massive complex displaying aviation and space artifacts both large and small.

Food & Entertainment:

McDonald's
Full service McDonald's menu featuring burgers, fries, chicken sandwiches, sodas, and sundaes.
Group and bulk packages available
Hours: Daily 10 a.m.-5p.m.

McCafé
Offering specialty coffees, teas and pastries
Hours: Daily 10 a.m.-5p.m.

Flight Simluators
Experience being an engineer and.or astornaut during a space shuttle mission.

Exhibits:

World War II Prints by Robert Taylor

- Ongoing
1st Floor, near Claude Moore Education Center
On view are prints by Robert Taylor that depict World War II.

Case: Japanese American Pioneers of the Jet Age

- Ongoing
Near Dulles International Airport, Rt. 28 & Air & Space Pkwy.
In 1955, Pan American World Airways -- in an effort to become the pre-eminent carrier for routes over the Pacific -- recruited Japanese American stewardesses as ambassadors to the growing tide of world travelers and established an Asian language base in Honolulu. Photographs and such memorabilia as uniforms, flight bags, and scrapbooks provide a peak at the role of these Japanese America stewardesses.

James S. McDonnell Space Hangar

11/01/2004 - Ongoing
West of Aviation Hangar
Some 154 large and 500 smaller space history artifacts are on view to illustrate the scope of space exploration history as organized around the following 4 main themes: rocketry and missiles, human spaceflight, application satellites, and space science.

Cases: Balloonamania

12/15/2003 - Ongoing
Boeing Aviation Hangar
The commotion created when the Montgolfier brothers sent the first successful unmanned balloon aloft in 1783 in France was as great as that created by the Wright Brothers' first flight a century later. Because communication worked differently in the 18th century, historic events were recorded visually on a variety of objects from clocks to teacups. Some 400 objects from the museum's collection of ballooning memorabilia illustrate the impact of ballooning upon the public's imagination of the day both in Europe and America. Included in the 2 exhibition cases are such items as ceramic saucers; ashtrays; pocket watches; paperweights; boxes of tortoiseshell, ivory, and amber; and 18th-century walnut chairs -- all beautifully decorated with ballooning scenes. Also on view is the barometer carried by American physician John Jeffries on the first balloon crossing of the English Channel in January 1785.

Boeing Aviation Hangar

12/15/2003 - Ongoing
Main Level
Some 163 aircraft are currently on view to illustrate the scope of aviation history, including military, commercial, business, sports, and pre-1920 aviation and vertical flight (helicopters).

National Museum of African Art

The National Museum of African Art is America's only museum dedicated to the collection, conservation, study and exhibition of African art in all its forms.

Exhibits:

Pavilion Sculptures (rotating)

- Ongoing
Pavilion
Note: Objects on display in the Pavilion are rotated constantly.

The following are examples of objects that have been displayed:

• Pair of Figures (mid 20th century): Senufo peoples, Cote d'Ivoire. Wood.
• Medicine Staff (18th to 19th century): Edo peoples, Benin Kingdom, Nigeria. Iron.
• Vessel (early to late 20th century): Nsei peoples, Bamessing Chiefdom near Bamenda Grassfields region, Cameroon. Terracotta.
• Door with Lock (20th century): Nuna peoples, Burkina Faso. Wood and iron.
• Reduced Angled Spouted Black (1990): Magdalene Odundo. Ceramic.

Artful Animals

07/01/2009 - 07/25/2010
Sublevel 1
Dedicated to young audiences, this exhibition explores how African artists create striking works of art using images from an array of domestic and untamed animals. On view are approximately 125 works that capture not only the physical characteristics of animals but also the many ways that animals, from spiders to leopards, act out our human shortcomings and successes. From rock art to contemporary painting, animals are used as symbols of royal arts and in masquerades for the ancestors. Many of the elements of design are derived through direct observation of the animals in their natural habitat. It is the animal's conduct and distinct behaviors that carry the messages in performances, stories, and proverbs. Themes include notions of nurturing, power, wisdom, transformation, beauty, and aggression.

Ceramics at the National Museum of African Art

01/14/1998 - Ongoing
Sublevel 3
Drawn from the museum's extensive collection of 140 ceramic works, on view are 14 vessels representing various regions of the African continent, including five objects that have never been exhibited in the museum. The vessels are representative of master potters, primarily women who display their dexterity by hand-building a variety of vessels. A few pieces from an important group of 85 vessels from Central Africa are on display, along with a beer container from the Chewa of Malawi, a water vessel from the Yoruba of Nigeria, and water and oil containers from the Berber of Algeria.

Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Highlights

05/18/2009 - Ongoing
Sublevel 1
On view are 60 objects and 4 in the lobby from this comprehensive 525-piece collection of African art representing 20 African countries and 75 peoples and covers 5 centuries of African art, including most major styles ranging from a highly abstract Cameroon mask to a naturalistic carved wooden male figure from Madagascar. Many of the works inspired such 20th-century artists as Picasso and Juan Gris.

Catalogue: $39.95 (paper)

National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

The National Museum of American History collects artifacts of all kinds, from gowns to locomotives, to preserve for the American people an enduring record of their past. The Museum has more than three million artifacts in its collection.

Food & Entertainment:

Stars and Stripes Cafe
The main eatery for the National Museum of American History is the newly renovated Stars and Stripes Cafe, which seats 600 and is large enough to accommodate groups. Menu includes all-American barbeques, soups, salad bar, burgers, pizza and desserts. Cash and credit cards accepted.
Hours: 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

Constitution Cafe
The new Constitution Cafe, open the same hours as the Museum, is the perfect place for morning coffee, a light lunch or a mid-afternoon ice cream. Its large picture window has a terrific view of the Museum’s fountain and the street.
Hours: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

Ride Simulators
If taking a short, wild adventure is your idea of a break, then you will enjoy our new ride simulators. They will take you on a variety of journeys like driving a racecar or riding a roller coaster.

Exhibits:

The Modern Gown Gallery: A First Lady's Debut

03/10/2010 - Ongoing
2nd Floor, West, First Ladies at the Smithsonian's new gallery
This new gallery features 11 inaugural gowns from the country's contemporary first ladies, beginning with Mamie Eisenhower to Michelle Obama. It focuses on the public interest and media coverage of the first lady's "debut" during the inauguration, using contemporary accounts to relay first impressions of each woman and the role she might play in the White House. The white chiffon, one-shoulder, floor-length gown that Jason Wu designed for Michelle Obama to wear to the 2009 inaugural balls is displayed in a case in the center of the gallery. Also on view are watercolor sketches of 14 gowns from the collection. This gallery is an extension of the First Ladies at the Smithsonian exhibition and collectively the two galleries feature a total of 24 dresses and more than 100 other objects.

YouTube Video: Museum staff members provide a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the work involved in conserving the first ladies' dresses and accessories.

For more information on First Ladies at the Smithsonian, see separate listing.

Outdoor Sculptures

- Ongoing
Outdoors, Mall Entrance and Northwest Grounds
• Gwenfritz, a mammoth stabile by Alexander Calder, is on the northwest museum grounds (installed 1968)
• Infinity, a stainless-steel sculpture by Jose de Rivera, is at the Mall entrance (installed 1967).

Landmark Object: Vassar Telescope

11/21/2008 - Ongoing
1st Floor, West Wing Corridor
This landmark object -- the Vassar Telescope -- identifies the science and innovation wing of the museum.

On view is the telescope used by Maria Mitchell (1818-1889), the first professional woman astronomer in the United States.

Landmark Object: John Bull Locomotive

- Ongoing
1st Floor, East Wing Corridor (outside America on the Move)
This landmark object -- the John Bull Locomotive -- identifies the transportation and technology wing of the museum.

On view is the steam locomotive John Bull and a section of the first iron railroad bridge in America.

Landmark Object: Greensboro Lunch Counter

12/16/1994 - Ongoing
2nd Floor, East Wing Corridor
This landmark object -- the Greensboro Lunch Counter -- identifies the American ideals wing of the museum.

This section of the Woolworth's lunch counter with 4 stools from Greensboro, North Carolina, represents the February 1, 1960 sit-in that challenged segregated eating places.

On February 1, 1960, four African American students -- Ezell A. Blair, Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), Franklin E. McCain, Joseph A. McNeil, and David L. Richmond -- sat down at this counter and politely asked for service. Their request was refused. When asked to leave, they remained in their seats. They were all enrolled at the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College. Their "passive sit-down demand" began one of the first sustained sit-ins and ignited a youth-led movement to challenge injustice and racial inequality throughout the South.

To be on view Jan. 15, 2010-July 2010 (TBA)
-- A banner and timeline of Civil Rights events to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the sit-in.

Landmark Object: George Washington Sculpture

- Ongoing
2nd Floor, West Wing Corridor
This landmark object -- the George Washington Sculpture -- identifies the American lives wing of the museum.

On view is the marble statue of George Washington commissioned by Congress in 1832 to commemorate the centennial of our first president's birth.

Landmark Object: Disneyland's Dumbo the Flying Elephant

- Ongoing
3rd Floor, West Wing Corridor
This landmark object -- Disneyland's Dumbo the Flying Elephant -- identifies the entertainment, sports, and music wing of the museum.

On view is one of the elephants from the Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride from the original Disneyland theme park in Los Angeles, California.

Landmark Object: Clara Barton's Red Cross Ambulance

- Ongoing
3rd Floor, East Wing Corridor (outside The Price of Freedom)
This landmark object -- Clara Barton's Red Cross Ambulance -- identifies the American wars and politics wing of the museum.

This ambulance is one of eleven vehicles purchased in 1898 by the Central Cuban Relief Committee of New York for use by Clara Barton and the American National Red Cross.

A Letter from George Washington, November 30, 1785

02/25/2010 - 05/07/2010
Albert Small Documents Gallery, 2nd Floor, East Wing
On view is the letter George Washington wrote on November 30, 1785, to David Stuart, a trusted associate and stepfather to Washington's grandchildren. Washington wrote it during the short period of his first retirement -- 1783 to 1787 -- after serving as commander in chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. It addresses many of the central issues of the day concerning the future of the country under the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States from 1781 to 1788.

Archives Center Cases: Selections from The Lockwood Greene Engineering Records, 1871-2004

01/19/2010 - 03/31/2010
1st Floor, West Wing
In changing display cases, the Archives Center features items from the museum's archival collection that document America's history and its diverse cultures, ranging from correspondences, diaries, financial and legal documents, photographs, and sound recordings. The following case is on view:

• Selections from The Lockwood Greene Engineering Records, 1871-2004

On view are documents, including drawings, from the recently acquired Lockwood Greene Engineering Records. Founded by Amos Lockwood, who brought in Stephen Greene as his business partner, the firm first focused on the supervision of construction of textile mills and later expanded into factories and other commercial buildings. The company is still in operation today as a subsidiary of CH2M Hill Companies.

Note/s:
• No photography permitted

• Bobcat Machines

On view are photographs, product literature, advertisements, and other documents related to the Bobcat Co. to illustrate the progression of a once-small, North Dakota family-owned company that emerged as an industry leader. The Bobcat Co. was originally named Melroe Manufacturing Co., which had its beginnings in 1947, as a family-owned agricultural equipment maker. In 1962, Melroe introduced the "Bobcat," a skid-steer loader, that became so successful the company took the Bobcat name. These archival materials record the company's contribution to American entrepreneurship and its role in the history of American manufacturing.

Note/s:
• No photography permitted

Invention Case: Hot Spots of Invention

11/06/2009 - Ongoing
1st Floor, West Wing
This case featuring rotating displays complements the Lemelson Hall of Invention exhibit nearby on the first floor and its case on the third floor.

• Hot Spots of Invention

Invention happens everywhere, but sometimes a "hot spot of invention" takes shape when the right mix of creative people, resources, and inspiring surroundings come together. In the 1930s, a hot spot began to form among the industrial labs and universities of New England. As World War II neared, this hot spot matured at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This case highlights how three war-era labs at MIT helped transform Cambridge, Massachusetts, into a dynamic place of invention.

Holidays on Display

11/13/2009 - Ongoing
3rd Floor, West Wing, near National Treasures of Popular Culture
This exhibition examines the art, industry, and history of holiday displays across the United States, primarily between the 1920s and the 1960s, at the height of their popularity. On view are photographs, postcards, and illustrations of parade floats and window displays -- featuring Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and Marshall Field and Company's Christmas windows -- as well as objects relating to the early creation of these displays.

Artifact Walls: Constitution Ave. Entrance Corridor

11/21/2008 - Ongoing
Constitution Ave. Entrance Corridor
On view in floor-to-ceiling, glass-fronted walls on both sides of the Constitution Avenue entrance are objects highlighting the depth and breadth of the museum's permanent collection and our nation's rich and diverse history. The objects are organized around the following themes:

• Arts
• Popular Culture
• Business, Work, and the Economy
• Home and Family
• Community
• Land and Natural Resources
• Peopling America
• Politics and Reform
• Science
• Medicine
• Technology
• America's Role in the World

On view in floor-to-ceiling, glass-fronted walls flanking the grand staircase near the Constitution Avenue entrance are five cases dedicated to the following themes:

• Fifty Years of Lasers
March 5, 2010-September 2010 (new opening date)
During 1960, scientists in the U.S. invented three different types of lasers. Since then many other lasers have been developed and adopted for a range of uses. This case features objects from the inventors on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of this important invention. Also displayed are objects representing both practical and entertaining uses of lasers, including a laser disc player.

• Cameras Before Digital
October 28, 2009-TBA
This case features from the museum's collection 22 cameras -- from daguerreotype and view cameras to 20th-century military, aerial, digital, and promotional models -- that reveal the technological progress made from the camera's invention in 1839 to the advent of digital photography.

• Creating Hawai'i
August 21, 2009-August 2010
Objects from the museum's collection highlight Hawaii's unique culture and the extensive changes in tradition and diversity throughout its history -- from kingdom to republic, and from territory to state. Celebrates the 50th anniversary of Hawaii becoming the 50th state (1959).

• Producing for the American Table
This case highlights how Mexican American food production has shaped the United States economy and culture.

Stories on Money

06/11/2009 - Ongoing
1st Floor, East Wing
Through objects from the museum's National Numismatic Collection, this exhibition explores the development and meaning behind American coinage and currency and demonstrates the interplay among people, money, and history from the earliest times to the present.

• "America's Money" shows what money looked like in colonial America and at pivotal times in the nation's history, including the gold rush, the Great Depression, and the current era. It also compares coins from the 19th century with those produced during the renaissance of American coinage in the early 20th century.

• "The Power of Liberty" features an array of coins from the U.S. and around the world depicting Liberty, the feminine personification of freedom, as well as coins featuring real and mythological women.

Interactive stations allow visitors to view enlarged images and learn more about numismatic history.

Within These Walls...

05/16/2001 - Ongoing
2nd Floor, West Wing
This exhibition tells the history of the re-created, 2 1/2-story, Georgian-style house that stood at 16 Elm Street in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and 5 of the many families who occupied it from the mid-1760s through 1945. The exhibition explores some of the important ways ordinary people, in their daily lives, have been part of the great changes and events in American history. Walking around the exterior of the house, visitors can view -- through open walls, windows, and doorways -- settings played out against the backdrop of Colonial America, the American Revolution, the abolitionist movement, the industrial era, and World War II. Near the exit is a list of all the families who lived in the house through the 1960s.

Science in American Life

04/27/1994 - Ongoing
1st Floor, West Wing
This exhibition examines the interaction between science and society from 1876 to the present. Through artifacts, historical photographs, computer interactives, and multimedia technology, the exhibition brings to life many of the scientific issues, controversies, and achievements that have shaped modern American culture.

The Star-Spangled Banner: The Flag that Inspired the National Anthem

11/21/2008 - Ongoing
2nd Floor, Center
After undergoing an 8-year conservation period, the nation's flag is the centerpiece of the museum. Soaring above the entrance to the gallery is an architectural representation of a waving flag -- approximately 40 feet long and up to 19 feet high and composed of 960 reflective tiles made of polycarbonate material.

An introductory section in the entry corridor sets the scene for the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812. Around the corner, the 30-by-34-foot wool-and-cotton flag is on view in a new dramatic display behind a 35-foot-long, floor-to-ceiling glass wall in a climate-controlled gallery that re-creates the dawn's early light, similar to Francis Scott Key's experience the morning of September 14, 1814, when he saw the flag flying over Ft. McHenry in Baltimore Harbor, inspiring him to pen the famous lyrics. The first stanza of the national anthem is projected prominently on the wall above the flag. Sections in the exit corridor trace the flag's history, including its safekeeping by Major George Armistead and his descendants, the Smithsonian's efforts to preserve it for more than 100 years, and how both the flag and the national anthem have come to represent diverse ideas of patriotism and national identity.

Also at the exit are an interactive table with a virtual, life-size image of the flag and a tactile panel with an outline of the flag and a full-size star for visitors who are visually impaired.

No photography permitted

Price of Freedom: Americans at War, The

11/11/2004 - Ongoing
3rd Floor, East Wing, Armed Forces History Hall
This exhibition surveys the history of America's military from the Colonial Era to the present conflict in Iraq, exploring how wars have been defining episodes in American history. Through more than 800 artifacts, images, and interactive stations, the exhibition reveals how Americans have fought to establish the nation's independence, determine its borders, shape its values of freedom and opportunity, and define its role in world affairs. It also explores the social impact of America's wars, presenting the link between military conflict and American political leadership, social values, technological innovation, and personal sacrifice.

Power Machinery

- Ongoing
1st Floor, East Wing
By the late 19th century, America's Industrial Revolution had a full head of steam. This hall follows the development of the increasingly efficient power machinery that helped the United States become a world leader in industrial production during this time. Full-size engines and models illustrate attempts to harness atmospheric force (1660-1700), the early age of steam power (1700-1770), the development of high-pressure and high-speed engines (1800-1920). The exhibition also shows the evolution of steam boilers and the steam turbine and progress in the techniques of harnessing water power. A number of pumps, waterwheels, and historic internal combustion engines are also on view.

National Treasures of Popular Culture

11/21/2008 - Ongoing
3rd Floor, West Wing
This exhibition displays iconic and well-loved artifacts -- Dorothy's ruby slippers, Minnie Pearl's hat, Warner Brothers cartoon animation cells, Jim Henson's Kermit the Frog, -- that mirror the ways music, sports, and entertainment have played major roles in American life, shaping our national memory and often defining what is American to the nation and to the world.

- Rotation of Objects:
Added December 1, 2009:
-- Carol Burnett's "Went with the Wind" dress from her 1970s TV musical comedy show
-- Fonzie's jacket from the 1970s TV show Happy Days
-- Rafiki costume and Simba mask from the Tony Award-winning musical The Lion King

Added February 19, 2010:
-- Olympic objects, including Anastasia "Nastia" Luikin's pink gymnastics leotard worn during the 2008 Beijing games, Brian Boitano's ice skates worn during the 1988 Calgary games, a relay torch from the 1984 LA opening ceremonies, and Apolo Ohno's speed skates worn during the 2002 Salt Lake City games, to name a few

Musical Instruments Hall

- Ongoing
3rd Floor, West Wing, North Gallery
The Hall of Musical Instruments -- made up of a Concert Hall and north and south galleries -- presents samples of instruments and music relating to the history, performance styles and techniques of European and American music and the development of musical instruments dating from the 17th century. Some have been carefully restored to playing condition.

Included in the Hall are several instruments made by Antonio Stradivari, universally acknowledged to have been the greatest of all violin makers. The Servais Cello (1701) is considered to be one of the best preserved Stradivarius cellos. Also included is the Herbert R. Axelrod Quartet of Decorated Instruments, also made by Stradivari. Among only 11 rare decorated Stradivarius instruments that survive today, the Axelrod Quartet features the following: Violin, the Ole Bull (1687); Viola, the Axelrod (1695); and Violin, the Greffuhle (1709). While generally on display, these instruments also are used for performances of the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society.

Notes:
• Because many of the musical instruments are used during special concerts, some instruments may be off view periodically.
• The south gallery remains under renovation.

Lemelson Center Case: Jerome Lemelson: Toying with Invention

11/21/2008 - Ongoing
3rd Floor, West Wing
This changing exhibition case complements the Lemelson Hall of Invention on the first floor.

• Jerome Lemelson: Toying with Invention

On view in this case are notebooks with sketches of toy ideas and examples of some of the toys Jerome Lemelson invented. Lemelson earned more than 600 patents; some 70 of them describe toys -- inflatable toys, jumping toys, toys with propellers, toys that run on tracks, target games, dolls, and more. In fact, Lemelson's first patent, issued in 1953, was for a new kind of propeller beanie.

Invention at Play

11/21/2008 - Ongoing
1st Floor, West, Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Hall of Invention
What do the inventors behind Post-it Notes, robotic ants, Kevlar, and the telephone have in common with children? Play! Created especially for families, this exhibition focuses on the similarities between the ways children and adults play and the creative skills and processes used by inventors. Through interactive and engaging activities, it encourages various playful habits of mind that underlie invention: curiosity, imagination, visual thinking, model building, and problem solving. It introduces inventors and innovators through compelling personal stories, photos, and artifacts. It even provides a chance to try learning to windsurf on the Sailboard Simulator, which is based on a design by sailboard inventor Newman Darby. This is the first exhibition in the new Lemelson Hall of Invention.

Gunboat Philadelphia

- Ongoing
3rd Floor, East Wing
Built in 1776, the gunboat Philadelphia is the oldest American fighting vessel in existence. She sank on October 11, 1776, in Lake Champlain during the battle of Valcour Island, when an American flotilla commanded by General Benedict Arnold was defeated by a British fleet. The gunboat Philadelphia was raised in 1935 and came to the museum in 1964, complete with the 24-pound ball that sent it to the bottom.

Additions:
mid-December 2009 (tentative):
• Information about the gunboat Philadelphia's recovery in 1935, the history of its display at Lake Champlain, and its early preservation and acquisition by the museum
• Historical video footage of the 1935 raising of the gunboat Philadelphia from Lake Champlain
• New cases featuring artifacts recovered with the gunboat and the crew payroll

First Ladies at the Smithsonian

12/19/2008 - Ongoing
2nd Floor, West Wing
This exhibition highlights the role of the first lady and features 13 first ladies' gowns, as well as portraits, White House china, and personal possessions from the Smithsonian's collection. A section discussing the tradition of the first ladies' inaugural gown answers some of the most frequently asked questions about the gown collection. The final section focuses on the contributions of the first ladies, the country's expectations of them, and the ways in which they have supported the most powerful office in the country.

Gowns on view include those worn by Helen Taft, Martha Washington, Dolley Madison, Sarah Polk, Mary Todd Lincoln, Lucy Hayes, Frances Cleveland, Florence Harding, Grace Coolidge, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

For information on the new gallery added to this exhibition, see separate listing The Modern Gown Gallery: A First Lady's Debut, opening March 10, 2010.

Electricity: Lighting a Revolution

- Ongoing
1st Floor, East Wing, Electricity Hall
This exhibition reveals -- through five interwoven stages -- how Thomas Edison's incandescent electric light bulb and other inventions began to transform our world and examines the similarities and differences between the process of invention in Edison's era and today.

Highlights include:
• several of Edison's early light bulbs

Communities in a Changing Nation: The Promise of 19th-Century America

02/12/1999 - Ongoing
2nd Floor, West Wing
This permanent exhibition explores the excitement and dynamism of American life during the 19th century through the experiences of 3 communities: Industrial Era Bridgeport, Connecticut; Jewish Immigrant Community of Cincinnati, Ohio; and African-Americans living in 19th-century Charleston, South Carolina. Major artifacts include a model of an Eli Whitney cotton gin and an Edison light bulb.

Cases: Taking America to Lunch

04/13/2004 - Ongoing
Lower Level, near entrance to Stars and Stripes Cafe, south wall
On view are more than 50 children's and workers' illustrated metal lunch boxes and beverage containers dating from the 1890s through the 1980s to celebrate the history and endurance of American lunch boxes. After reaching the height of their popularity at the dawn of the television era, lunch box sales became barometers for what was current in popular culture.

See September 2004 Smithsonian magazine, pp. 43-44

Bradford Dollhouse

- Ongoing
3rd Floor, West Wing (south of original location)
This miniature dollhouse represents a romantic view of the life of a large and affluent American family in the early 1900s. Its 23 rooms contain more than 800 items, including furniture, linens, toys, and other household items. The late Faith Bradford, a records expert at the Library of Congress, spent more than a half century designing and building the miniature furnishings; it was donated to the museum in 1951. Also on view is Ms. Bradford's scrapbook, which shows her methods of creating the house.

Bon Appetit! Julia Child's Kitchen at the Smithsonian

08/19/2002 - Ongoing
1st floor, West Wing
Ms. Child's 14-foot x 20-foot kitchen -- custom-made by her husband -- has been reassembled here exactly as it was in her Cambridge, Massachusetts home. The kitchen, which Child (1912-2004) used as the set of three television shows and as the testing ground for many recipes featured in her cookbooks, is composed of more that 1,200 individual pieces, including everything from her stainless-steel kitchen sink, to her six-burner Garland commercial range, to her personal cookbooks. The kitchen represents Julia Child's extraordinary influence on the way Americans think about their food and its history. When Child moved back to her home state of California in 2001, she donated her kitchen to the museum. The museum staff packed and catalogued the entire kitchen, then reassembled it in the museum exactly as it was in Child's home.

Artifact Walls: Mall Entrance Corridor

11/21/2008 - Ongoing
Madison Dr. Entrance Corridor
On view in floor-to-ceiling, glass-fronted walls on both sides of the Mall entrance are objects highlighting the depth and breadth of the museum's permanent collection and our nation's rich and diverse history. The objects are organized around the following themes:

• Arts
• Popular Culture
• Business, Work, and the Economy
• Home and Family
• Community
• Land and Natural Resources
• Peopling America
• Politics and Reform
• Science
• Medicine
• Technology
• America's Role in the World

See November 2008 Smithsonian magazine, pp. 27-30

American Presidency: A Glorious Burden, The

11/15/2000 - Ongoing
3rd Floor, Center Corridor, Views into the Collection Gallery
More than 900 objects related to the 43 men who have held the nation's highest office are used to explore the public, personal, ceremonial, and executive boundaries of the presidency. Composed of 11 thematic sections, the exhibition addresses such topics as inaugural celebrations, presidential roles, life at the White House, limits of presidential power, assassinations and mourning, the influence of the media, and life after the presidency.

America on the Move

11/22/2003 - Ongoing
1st Floor, East Wing, Transportation Hall
This major exhibition examines how transportation -- from 1876 to 1999 -- has shaped our American identity from a mostly rural nation into a major economic power, forged a sense of national unity, delivered consumer abundance, and encouraged a degree of social and economic mobility unlike that of any other nation of the world.

Arranged chronologically and through 19 sections, historical moments explored include the coming of the railroad to a California town in 1876, the role of the streetcar and the automobile in creating suburbs outside of cities, and the transformation of a U.S. port with the introduction of containerized shipping in the 1960s.

Picturing Words: The Power of Book Illustration

11/21/2008 - 05/03/2010
1st Floor, West Wing, SI Libraries Gallery
Through 40 rare books from the Smithsonian Institution's libraries, as well as objects from the museum's Graphic Arts Division, this exhibition explores the power of pictures and book illustrations by answering the following questions:

-- Why are pictures so powerful? Pictures influence, inform, and inspire us in many ways. They attract us, offering a feast for the eye as well as food for the mind. They explain complicated ideas at a glance and even teach those who cannot read.

-- Why do books include pictures? Pictures reach audiences more directly than text alone. They add beauty, color, and life to the printed page. They communicate the author's tone and approach to the subject, and enhance our understanding and enjoyment of the text. They engage us, prompt our imagination, and appeal to readers and non-readers alike.

Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life

01/16/2009 - Ongoing
3rd Floor, Center, Rose Gallery, enter from American Presidency
To celebrate Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday in 2009, this exhibition explores the life and legacy of our 16th president through objects from the museum's collection, augmented with personal stories told by him and the people who knew him best. It showcases more than 60 historical treasures associated with Lincoln's life -- from an iron wedge he used to split wood in the early 1830s in New Salem, Illinois, to his gold pocket watch and his iconic top hat he wore the night he was assassinated at Ford's Theatre.

Video (runs continuously)

On the Water: Stories from Maritime America

05/22/2009 - Ongoing
1st Floor, East Wing, American Maritime Enterprise
Marine transportation and waterborne commerce underlie American history like a strong and steady ocean current. Maritime trade established major cities, created connections between people and places, and opened the continent. This exhibition traces American maritime history from 18th-century sailing ships, to 19th-century steamboats and fishing craft, to today's huge container ships. Items featured include rigged ship models, patent models, documents, and images from the Smithsonian's National Watercraft Collection. American maritime history is brought to life through the stories of whaling crews, fishermen, shipbuilders, merchant mariners, passengers, and many others who work on the nation's waterways.

Audio and video components
Interactive stations

National Museum of Natural History

The wonders of the natural world await you beneath the dome of this classical building, which has recently been undergoing extensive renovation.

Food:

Atrium Cafe (Ground Floor)
Featuring natural and sustainable foods including natural beef burgers, rotisserie chicken. pizza, taqueria, sandwiches, soups, salads, pastas and desserts.
Discounts for Smithsonian members
Group packages available
Hours: Mon-Fri: 11a.m.-3p.m. Sat: 11a.m.-5p.m. Sun: 11a.m.-4p.m.

Firday Night Jazz Cafe
call 202-633-1000 for schedule and details

Fossil Cafe (First Floor)
Espresso/Cappuccino bar featuring sandwiches, salads, soups and desserts.
Discounts for Smithsonian Members
Hours: Daily 10a.m.-7p.m.

Specialty Ice Cream and Coffee Bar (Ground Floor)
Daily from 11:30a.m.-5p.m., 7p.m. on Fridays

Outdoor Carts (seasonal)
Hot Dogs, Pretzels, Sodas, Ice Cream and Dippin' Dots
Hours: Daily 10a.m.-3p.m. Sat-Sun: 11a.m.-5p.m.

Exhibits:

Natural History Museum Turns 100 on March 17, 2010

- Ongoing

The museum celebrated its 100th anniversary March 17, 2010. For more information, see the following links:

100 Years of the Natural History Museum

Video: Natural History Museum is 100 Years Old

The David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins: What Does It Mean To Be Human?

03/17/2010 - Ongoing
1st Floor, Northwest Wing (Halls 11 & 12)
Exhibit hours:
• March 17 and 18: 12 Noon-3 PM
• Starting March 19: regular museum hours

This major new exhibition hall focuses on the story of human origins and probes the ecological and genetic connections that human beings have had with the natural world over time. It examines the shared framework of humankind -- the biological and cultural history we all share -- as well as the differences that exist and preoccupy us today.

A Rare Encounter: The Hope and Wittelsbach-Graff Diamonds

01/29/2010 - 08/01/2010
2nd Floor, East Wing, Gems Hall, Harry Winston Gallery
The Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond is displayed together with the Hope Diamond for the first time. The Wittelsbach-Graff's deep blue color, flawless clarity, and royal history make it one of the most celebrated gemstones known. Its story goes back over 340 years, and the diamond has not appeared in public for more than 50 years. Both diamonds come from India and share their rare blue color. Could they have come from the same mine? Smithsonian scientists compare the properties of both gems and explore this intriguing possibility.

Welcome to the National Museum of Natural History

10/24/1991 - Ongoing
Ground Floor, Constitution Ave. Lobby
This exhibition offers an array of objects selected for their beauty including minerals, fossils, sea shells, butterflies, Pueblo ceramics, prehistoric stone artifacts, and totem poles and wood carvings from Northwest Coast Indian cultures.

• The Easter Island Head -- without the hat (which was not original) -- was installed on the east side of the lobby the week of Aug. 29, 2005. Also called a Moai, this ancestor sculpture from the South Pacific had previously been on view in Pacific Cultures Hall (which is now permanently closed).

• Totem Poles, Northwest Coast: The 3 Northwest Coast totem poles near the east stairwell of the lobby are from the Haida and Tsimshian tribes of British Columbia. They previously had been on view at the Arts and Industries Building. The display includes an ongoing video about these tribes.

• Yap Money: The Yap Money (large stone "coin") is located on the ground floor near the entrance to the main Museum Store. It had previously been on view in Pacific Cultures Hall (which is now permanently closed).

Note: The Research Case, located on the southeast wall, features changing exhibitions highlighting the work of museum staff (see On View).

Outdoor Sculptures, including Sculptures from Nature

- Ongoing
Outside
Near Constitution Avenue entrance:

• Colossal Head: This replica of an Olmec "Colossal Head" (Monument #7) from San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan in Veracruz, Mexico, was sculpted by Ignacio Perez Solano of Veracruz. Installed Oct. 19, 2001.

• Triceratops Head: The bronze statue of a Triceratops head was installed on July 19, 2001.

Near Madison Drive entrance: Sculptures from Nature:

• Banded Iron Ore Boulder: On one plinth is a banded iron ore boulder, 7 x 5 feet in size and approximately 2.25 billion years old. One side is cut and polished. The boulder is from Ishpeming, Michigan. Installed March 16, 1985.

• Petrified Logs: On the other plinth are two petrified logs, each 8 feet long x 3 feet in diameter and over 180 million years old. One end of each log is cut and polished. The logs are from Holbrook, Arizona. Installed March 16, 1985.

Curator: Dept. of Paleobiology

Korea Gallery

06/08/2007 - Ongoing
2nd Floor, Center, North Corridor (Hall 24)
To celebrate the country's distinctive art, culture, and 2,000-year history, on view are some 85 objects, including Korean ceramics, wooden furniture, stone and wooden sculptures, paintings, and textiles.

Ice Age: Ice Age Mammals and the Emergence of Man

- Ongoing
1st Floor, East Wing (Hall 6)
This hall provides a glimpse of the Ice Age, one of the most extraordinary times in earth's history. Mounted skeletons of some of the largest Ice Age mammals dominate the hall: a towering giant ground sloth, a woolly mammoth, an Irish elk, a long-tusked American mastodon, a saber-toothed cat, the mummified remains of a big horned bison, and dozens of other Ice Age animals are displayed. At the northeast entrance, is a life-sized diorama of a reconstructed Neanderthal burial site depicting a Neanderthal family burying a young man in a shallow grave, along with tools and food; the reconstructed diorama is based on a 70,000-year-old site found in the Regourdou cave in Dordogne, France.

Fossils Galore: A Grand Opening

- Ongoing
1st Floor, East Wing, Entrance to Dinosaurs Hall
This exhibition documents the dramatic explosion of hard-shelled life at the beginning of the Paleozoic Era 570 million years ago. Rare 530-million-year-old fossilized soft-bodied animals of the Burgess Shale are on display here. These fossils, which are among the Smithsonian's greatest finds, were discovered in 1910 by the Institution's 4th Secretary, Charles D. Walcott.

Early Life: Earliest Traces of Life

06/27/1986 - Ongoing
1st Floor, East Wing (1st half of Hall 4), near Dinosaurs Hall
Presented is an overview of the origin and early evolution of life. Included is the oldest fossil, a cabbage-sized, 3.5-billion-year-old fossil algal mat, as well as the earliest animal fossils, to relate a large portion of the earth's history known as the Precambrian.

Discovering Rastafari!

11/02/2007 - Ongoing
1st Floor, Northeast Wing, African Voices Focus Gallery (Hall 7)
Featuring rare photographs, artifacts, and ephemera, this exhibition moves beyond the popular Jamaican music known as reggae to explore the origins and practice of the Rastafari religion in Jamaica and the movement's subsequent spread across the Caribbean and around the world.

Video footage featuring male and female Rastafari of different ages, nationalities, ethnicities, and socioeconomic classes highlights the unity of the movement. An overview of the three major "mansions" (organizations) reveals the diversity of Rastafari and the core of sacred practices that guide the daily lives of its practitioners.

Burgess Shale Diorama

- Ongoing
1st Floor, East Wing, inside entrance to Dinosaurs Hall (Hall 2)
Soft-bodied and hard-shelled animals, tall sponges and algae offer a rare glimpse into the earliest explosion of animal life about 515 million years ago. This plethora of weird wonders was reconstructed based on fossils preserved in the rocks of the Burgess Shale. In 1909, Charles Wolcott, then Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, discovered the Burgess Shale fossil deposit in British Columbia, Canada. The museum houses more than 65,000 Burgess Shale fossils, many of which are still intensively studied by scientists around the world. Dozens are on display.

See Smithsonian magazine: February 1983, p. 153, and August 2009, pp. 15-17.

The Sant Ocean Hall

09/27/2008 - Ongoing
1st Floor, North Center (Halls 8, 9, & 10)
Covering 71% of the Earth's surface and containing 97% of the planet's water, the ocean is a vast and complex ecosystem; it is intrinsically connected to other global ecosystems and is essential to all life, including our own. In this new hall, the importance and complexity of the ocean is revealed through a cross-disciplinary perspective -- biological, geological, and anthropological. Information on understanding and predicting changes to the Earth's environment and on how to conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet our nation's economic, social, and environmental needs is also highlighted.

Highlights include a life-size model of a 45-foot North Atlantic right whale, based on the real female whale named Phoenix, the centerpiece of the exhibition; two giant squids; a set of 7-foot-tall jaws of the extinct great white shark (Carcharodon megalodon), the biggest shark that ever lived; and a 26-foot long Northwest Coast canoe, carved especially for the exhibition by a Tlingit master carver.

Butterflies + Plants: Partners in Evolution

02/15/2008 - Ongoing
2nd Floor, Southwest Wing, near Insect Zoo (Hall 30)
This exhibition shows how butterflies have evolved, adapted, and diversified with their plant partners over millions of years. Housed within this exhibition is a special Butterfly Pavilion, which looks like a cocoon, where visitors can walk among hundreds of live butterflies and pesticide-free plants to observe butterfly behaviors ranging from flying and sipping nectar at flowers to roosting and emerging from chrysalides. These butterflies will hatch from pupae raised on farms in Africa, Asia, and North and South America.
Note: To maintain an environment conducive for butterflies, the temperature inside the Pavilion will be 80-85 degrees with high humidity.

For operating hours, visit the Web

For ticketing information, visit the Web

The Sant Ocean Hall Focus Gallery: Deeper Than Light

02/20/2010 - 05/23/2010
The Sant Ocean Hall, 1st Floor, North
In 2004, curiosity drove a team of scientists on the Norwegian research vessel G.O. Sars to study the vast, unexplored depths of the north Atlantic Ocean to learn about the creatures that live there and answer the following questions: How do they survive? How do they interact? How can we protect them? This exhibition retraces this team of scientists' journey into this relatively undiscovered world using art, images, models, and multimedia.

This traveling exhibition is on loan from the Bergen Museum, University of Bergen, Norway.

Nature's Best 2009 Photography Awards: Windland Smith Rice International Awards

11/12/2009 - 05/02/2010
2nd Floor, Northwest Wing, Special Exhibit Gallery (Hall 25)
On view are winners in 19 categories from the 2009 Nature's Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Awards, including the Grand Prize, Conservation Photographer of the Year, Youth Photographer of the Year, and selected Highly Honored images. The annual awards honor the best amateur and professional nature photographers from around the world.

Since Darwin: The Evolution of Evolution

09/12/2009 - 07/18/2010
1st Floor, West Wing, Special Exhibit Gallery (near Mammals)
This exhibition reveals the significant role Darwin's theories have played in explaining and unifying all the biological sciences. Specimens from the museum's diverse collections, along with documentation from its ongoing research, illustrate the importance of evolution as a scientific foundation and how our knowledge of evolution has evolved over the last 150 years. Included in the exhibition is Darwin's groundbreaking book On the Origin of Species, first published November 1859.

Celebrates the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of On the Origin of Species.

See February 2009 Smithsonian magazine, pp. 40-48 and 50-54.

See also related exhibition Cases: Darwin's Legacy

Cases: Darwin's Legacy

09/10/2009 - 09/12/2010
Ground Floor, Constitution Ave. Lobby, East & West Sides
Charles Darwin served as an unpaid naturalist on the H.M.S. Beagle during a scientific expedition around South America and the Galapagos Islands from 1831 to 1836. The studies he performed and the specimens he collected during that voyage served as the basis of his theory of evolution by natural selection, which he expounded in his groundbreaking book On the Origin of Species. These two cases -- on the east and west sides of the lobby -- feature objects and books related to that voyage to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species and the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth.

Highlights include:
• Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships 'Adventure' and 'Beagle' between the years 1826 and 1836 (4 volumes)
• Beautifully illustrated volumes from the Zoology of the H.M.S. Beagle, edited by Charles Darwin and published 1838-1843
• Galapagos land iguana and mockingbird specimens from the museum's collections
• Charles Darwin's silk neckerchief
• Portrait of Charles Darwin

See also related exhibition Since Darwin: The Evolution of Evolution.

Western Cultures Hall: Origins of Western Culture

- Ongoing
2nd Floor, West Wing (Hall 26)
The institutions, traditions and ideals of North American cultures are deeply rooted in those of western Asia, northern Africa, and Europe. This hall explores some examples from various cultures in the western world including northern Iraq, ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome and the recent discovery of the Iceman, a Copper Age mummy found in an Italian glacier.

Reptiles

- Ongoing
2nd Floor, West Wing (Hall 29)
Life-size displays illustrate the eating habits, defenses, and locomotion of a variety of snakes and amphibians. Reptiles on view include a preserved king cobra, reticulated python, and boa constrictors from the Malayan and Amazonian jungles; sea turtles; crocodiles; and lizards.

Osteology: Hall of Bones

- Ongoing
2nd Floor, West Wing (Hall 28)
Hundreds of skeletons of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes -- ranging from the gigantic extinct Steller sea cow to the tiny pocket mouse -- are shown in characteristic poses and grouped by order to illustrate their relationships. Exhibits show how bone structures evolved in adaptation to environment.

Mammals, Kenneth E. Behring Family Hall of

11/15/2003 - Ongoing
1st Floor, West Wing, Mammals Hall (Halls 14, 15, & 16)
This hall showcases some 274 mammals and explores their diversity and how they originated and adapted to changing landscapes and environments over the last 225 million years -- from polar to desert regions and from dry to humid environments. The exhibition addresses such questions as: What is a mammal? Why do some mammals live in groups while others live alone? How many kinds of mammals are there and what are their habitat preferences? How are mammals related? How and why do scientists study mammals? The exhibition also shares information about the unusual -- the oddest specimens (including egg-laying mammals), the rarest specimens (an okapi from Africa), and the oldest known mammal (Morganucadon) from 210 million years ago.

Life in the Ancient Seas

05/18/1990 - Ongoing
1st Floor, East Wing (Hall 5), near Dinosaurs Hall
Fantastic marine fossils tell the story of evolution and extinction in the seas in three acts: the Paleozoic Era (540 to 250 million years ago), when odd prehistoric creatures such as trilobites abounded; the Mesozoic Era (250 to 65 million years ago), when marine reptiles such as mososaurs appeared; and the Cenozoic Era (65 million years ago to today), when the numbers and kinds of shelled animals increased, and when the primitive whale took to the seas.

Insect Zoo, O. Orkin

09/10/1993 - Ongoing
2nd Floor, West Wing, near Reptiles
The Insect Zoo focuses on insects and their relationships with plants, animals, and humans. The exhibition contains a section about the evolution of insects and showcases live insects and their environments, including:

• The Termites' Turf
• Water-loving Bugs
• Familiar Insects
• The Bee Hive
• Desert Dwellers
• Rain Forests--Home to Millions

Geology, Gems, and Minerals, Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of

09/20/1997 - Ongoing
2nd Floor, East Wing (Halls 18, 19, & 20)
This hall features 2,500 minerals and gems, including the Hope Diamond, Hooker Emerald Brooch, and Star of Asia sapphire. It also explores the birth and evolution of the solar system and the earth's changing surface through computer interactives and video presentations

Garden: Butterfly Habitat Garden (outside, seasonal)

06/30/1995 - Ongoing
Outside along 9th Street between Madison Dr. & Constitution Ave.
The Garden has signs that identify four habitats: wetland, meadow, wood's edge, and urban backyard. The signage discusses the connections between plants and butterflies and explains butterfly behaviors. As many as 30 species of butterflies may be attracted to the native plants in the Garden. The Garden is a joint project of the Horticultural Services Division and NMNH, with partial funding from the Smithsonian Women's Committee.

Fossil Plants and Animals: The Conquest of Land

04/17/1980 - Ongoing
1st Floor, East Wing, (2nd half of Hall 4), near Dinosaurs Hall
This exhibition focuses on the earliest plants and animals to evolve the complex adaptations needed to live on land. In an animated video, evoking television coverage of the first lunar landing, characters Frank Anchorfish and Arthur Pod explain the characteristics plants and animals needed to pioneer the harsh, dry terrestrial environment. Just beyond an arbor formed by a diorama of the first forests are still more fossils: specimens of a 16-foot fossil of an early tree, Callixyon; other fossil trees and smaller plants from the ancient coal forests of North America.

Fossil Mammals: Mammals in the Limelight

05/30/1985 - Ongoing
1st Floor, East Wing (Hall 3), behind Dinosaurs Hall
This exhibition focuses on the spectacular evolution of mammals as the dominant class of vertebrates following the extinction of the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago.

Dinosaurs: Reptiles: Masters of Land

12/04/1981 - Ongoing
1st Floor, East Wing (Hall 2)
All of the old favorites are on view in the exhibition hall, including the gigantic 90-foot-long Diplodocus, horned Triceratops, and the Stegosaurus model. Other attractions include Quetzalcoatlus, a huge toothless pterosaur with a 40-foot wingspan, posed in flight; a nest of dinosaur eggs; and the meat-eating Allosaurus -- 8 feet tall and 20 feet long -- challenging newly re-mounted Stegosaurus.

Blast from the Past (case)

06/27/1997 - Ongoing
1st Floor, Dinosaurs Hall (Hall 2), south side of FossiLab
This showcase features a 11.5-meter tubular core sample that shows physical and biological effects of Earth's collision with a giant asteroid 65 million years ago, which resulted in the extinction of the dinosaurs. The sample, taken from 130 meters below the ocean floor east of St. Augustine, Florida, contains the best preserved Cretaceous/Tertiary sequence yet recovered. The exhibition highlights the work of Smithsonian micropaleontologist Brian Huber, who interprets past climate change by studying tiny marine fossils.

Birds of the District of Columbia

- Ongoing
Ground Floor, East Ambulatory
Year-round and seasonal residents, migrants and vagrants--hundreds of bird species--are displayed. They all live in the region extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the Allegheny Mountains. Learn where and when to look for a snowy owl or ruffed grouse, warbling vireo or orange-crowned warbler, chickadee or indigo bunting.

African Voices

12/15/1999 - Ongoing
1st Floor, Northeast Wing, African Cultures Hall (Hall 7)
This exhibition examines the diversity, dynamism, and global influence of Africa's peoples and cultures over time in the realms of family, work, community, and the natural environment. Included are historical and contemporary objects from the museum's collections, as well as commissioned sculptures, textiles, and pottery. Video interactives and sound stations provide selections from contemporary interviews, literature, proverbs, prayers, folk tales, songs, and oral epics.

African Elephant

- Ongoing
1st Floor, Kenneth E. Behring Family Rotunda & 2nd Floor Balcony
The museum's 8-ton, 14-foot-tall African elephant is in a setting that re-creates the Angolan bush. Important ideas in botany, entomology, mineral sciences, and zoology, as well as information on the ancestors of modern-day elephants and the elephants' importance in African cultures, are discussed.

Hands-On Interactive Components
Theater: 10-minute detective story about soil (runs continuously)
Soil Display: On view are 54 soil samples representing each U.S. state and territory and the District of Columbia.

Written in Bone: Forensic Files of the 17th-Century Chesapeake

02/07/2009 - 01/06/2013
2nd Floor, West, between Reptiles & Western Cultures (new space)
This exhibition features archaeological discoveries that reveal the historic importance of Jamestown and its contribution to the American way of life. The exhibition addresses such subjects as life and death in the colonies, activity and physical labor, health and disease, dietary resources, internal strife, and inter-population relationships and includes the stories of all peoples affected by the colonization of North America -- Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans -- and their role in the formation and function of the first permanent settlements and capitals of Maryland and Virginia.

National Museum of the American Indian

The National Museum of the American Indian is home to one of the largest and most diverse collections of American Indian art and cultural objects in the world.

Food:

Mitsitam Cafe
"Mitsitam" means "let's eat!" in the Native language of the Delaware and Piscataway peoples. The museum's Mitsitam Native Foods Cafe enhances the museum experience by offering Native-inspired cuisines from five regions of the Western Hemisphere including the Northern Woodlands, South America, the Northwest Coast, Meso America and the Great Plains.
Menu includes tamales, roasted turkey, grilled salmon, homemade seasonal soups, buffalo burgers, Indian fry bread, and a seasonal variety of aqua fresca.
Discount for Smithsonian members
Group dining packages available
Hours: Daily 10a.m.-5p.m.

Exhibits:

Cases: Orientation Exhibition

11/13/2008 - Ongoing
1st Level, South Wall, Potomac Atrium
These nine introductory exhibition cases cover the following topics:

• Our Place in the Universe
• Ceremony
• Native Identities
• Leadership
• Contact and Confrontation
• Challenges and Solutions
• Achievements and Contributions
• Learning More

IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas

11/10/2009 - 05/31/2010
2nd Level, Sealaska Gallery
Compelling text with powerful graphics on 20 banners discusses the cultural integration and diffusion of African American and American Indian people, especially those of blended heritage. This exhibition also sheds light on the dynamics of race, community, culture, and creativity and addresses the human desire to belong.

Related publication
10-minute video

Brian Jungen: Strange Comfort

10/16/2009 - 08/08/2010
3rd Level, W. Richard West Jr. Contemporary Changing Gallery
This major survey features iconic works by Brian Jungen (Dunne-za First Nations/Swiss/Canadian), as well as major pieces never before seen in the United States. Jungen is widely regarded as the foremost Native artist of his generation; his art transforms the familiar and banal into exquisite objects that reference themes of globalization, pop culture, museums, and the commodification of Indian imagery. He first came to prominence with Prototypes for New Understandings (1998-2005), which fashioned Nike footwear into masks that suggested Northwest Coast iconography. Later works have included a pod of whales made from plastic chairs, totem poles made from golf bags, and a massive basketball court made from 224 sewing tables.

Outdoor Sculptures: Buffalo Dancer II and Always Becoming

09/21/2007 - Ongoing
Outside
• Buffalo Dancer II: 2010-Indefinitely:
On view outside the main entrance to the museum is George Rivera's 12-foot, 2,000-pound bronze sculpture depicting an American Indian performing a sacred dance.

• Always Becoming: September 21, 2007-Indefinitely:
On view outside near the Maryland Ave. entrance to the museum is a family of five sculptures hand-built by artist Nora Naranjo-Morse (Santa Clara Pueblo, Espanola, N.M.), winner of the museum's outdoor sculpture design competition. Based on aboriginal architecture and made of organic, nontoxic materials -- dirt, straw, sand, clay, wood, and moss -- the tipi-like forms are from 6 to 15 feet tall and 3 to 4 inches deep. Each will take on a life of its own as the elements of nature slowly erode the organic materials over time, thus the name Always Becoming. Note: Nora Naranjo-Morse is the first Native American woman to create an outdoor sculpture in Washington, D.C.

Window on Collections: Many Hands, Many Voices

09/21/2004 - Ongoing
3rd and 4th levels
These permanent displays feature more than 3,500 items from the museum's collection that reveal the remarkable breadth and diversity of Native American objects. Located on the third and fourth levels of the museum and housed in drawers and glass-fronted cases, objects are arranged by categories, including beadwork, peace medals, arrowheads and other projectile points, containers, dolls, and animal objects.

Sculptures and Individual Art Installations

- Ongoing

• Crux: (as seen from those who sleep on the surface of the earth under the night sky) (2008): Brian Jungen's suspended mobile depicts five animal and is constructed from steel, new and used suitcases, and a wooden rowboat. 1st level, Potomac Rotunda (opened late July/early August 2009).

• Sacred Rain Arrow (1988, 94" x 58"): Allan Houser's bronze sculpture represents the legend of a young Apache warrior selected in times of drought to shoot a sacred arrow to the heavens carrying his people's prayer for rain to the Spirit World. 3rd Level, near entrance to Our Lives (new location as of July 22, 2009).
Note: Previously on view 1st Level, Potomac Rotunda.

Return to a Native Place: Algonquian Peoples of Chesapeake

11/13/2006 - Ongoing
2nd level
Through photographs, maps, ceremonial and everyday objects, and interactives, this panel display provides both an overview of the history and events affecting the Native peoples -- Nanticoke, Powhatan, and Piscataway tribes -- of the Chesapeake Bay region (what is now Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.) and information on their continued presence today.

Our Universes: Traditional Knowledge Shapes Our World

09/21/2004 - Ongoing
4th level
Focusing on Native cosmology and organized around one solar year, this exhibition explores the annual ceremonies of Native peoples as a window on their ancestral teachings. Under a "night sky" of fiber-optic stars and constellations, discover how celestial bodies shape the daily lives -- and establish the calendars of ceremonies and celebrations -- of Native peoples today. Featured communities: Mapuche (Chile), Lakota (South Dakota), Quechua (Peru), Yup'ik (Alaska), Q'eq'chi, Maya (Guatemala), Santa Clara Pueblo (New Mexico), Anishinaabe (Hollow Water, Manitoba, Canada), and Hupa (California). The exhibition also highlights the Denver (Colorado) March Powwow, the North American Indigenous Games, and the Day of the Dead -- seasonal celebrations that bring Native peoples together.

Our Peoples: Giving Voice to Our Histories

09/21/2004 - Ongoing
4th level
This exhibition discusses events that shaped the lives and outlook of Native peoples from 1491 to the present. The first part of the exhibition reveals the forces that affected the lives of Native peoples; it shows how Native peoples have struggled to maintain traditions in the face of adversity, and explains why so little of this history is familiar. The second area consists of eight small galleries that recount the histories of individual tribes: Blackfeet (Montana), Chiricahua Apache (New Mexico), Kiowa (Oklahoma), Tohono O'odham (Arizona), Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation (North Carolina), Nahua (Mexico), Ka'apor (Brazil), and Wixarikari -- sometimes known as Huichol -- (Mexico). The exhibition also includes a "wall of gold" featuring over 400 gold figurines, dating back to 1490, along with European swords, coins, and crosses made from melted gold.

Our Lives: Contemporary Life and Identities

09/21/2004 - Ongoing
3rd level
This exhibition examines the identities of Native peoples in the 21st century, and how those identities, both individual and communal, are the results of deliberate, often difficult choices made in challenging circumstances. This exhibition explores the forces in modern Native life that Native peoples are profoundly influenced by -- their families and communities, the language they speak, the places they live and identify with, and their own self determination. Eight communities contributed their stories to this telling: the Campo Band of Kumeyaay Indians (Southern California), urban Indian community of Chicago (Illinois), Yakama Nation (Washington State), Igloolik (Nunavut, Canada), Kahnawake Mohawk (Quebec, Canada), Saint-Laurent Metis (Manitoba, Canada), Kalinago (Dominica), and Pamunkey (Virginia).

National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustav Heye Center

Opened in October 1994, the George Gustav Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian, at the historic Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in lower Manhattan, serves as the National Museum of the American Indian's exhibition and education facility in New York City.

Exhibits:

Hide: Skin as Material and Metaphor: Part I

03/06/2010 - 08/01/2010
George Gustav Heye Center, Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
The featured artists selected for this exhibition draw upon this rich subject in multifaceted ways, using both the material and concept of skin as a metaphor for widespread issues surrounding race, representation, as well as personal, historical and environmental trauma and perseverance. Part I includes a solo installations by Sonya Kelliher-Combs (Inupiaq/Athabascan) and works by Nadia Myre (Anishinaabe).

Dresses are more than simple articles of clothing for Native women-they are aesthetic expressions of culture and identity. Embodying messages about the life of the wearer, dresses offer Native women the opportunity to blend artistic tradition and bold innovation while preparing themselves, their families, and their communities to partake in the "dance of life." Bringing together a vast array of dresses and accessories from the Plains, Plateau, and Great Basin regions of the United States and Canada, Identity by Design highlights Native women's identity through traditional dress and its contemporary evolution. The exhibition examines the individual, communal, and cultural identity of Native women, and explores how women, gifted with highly developed artistic skills, benefited not only their families, but the entire community.

Ramp It Up: Skateboard Culture in Native America

12/11/2009 - 06/27/2010
George Gustav Heye Center, Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
This exhibition features rare and archival photographs and film of Native skaters, as well as skatedecks from Native companies and contemporary artists, to celebrate the vibrancy, creativity, and controversy of American Indian skate culture. Skateboarding is one of the most popular sports on Indian reservations and has inspired American Indian and Native Hawaiian communities to host skateboard competitions and build skate parks to encourage their youth. Native entrepreneurs own skateboard companies and sponsor community-based skate teams. Native artists and filmmakers, inspired by their skating experiences, credit the sport with teaching them a successful work ethic.

A Song for the Horse Nation

11/14/2009 - 07/07/2011
George Gustav Heye Center, Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
This exhibition presents the epic story of the horse's influence on American Indian tribes from the 1600s to the present. It features approximately 100 works from the museum's collection to reveal how horses shaped the social, economic, cultural, and spiritual foundations of American Indian life, particularly on the Great Plains. Highlights include historical ledger drawings, beaded bags, hide robes, and paintings, including new works by contemporary Native artists. Also on view is a Hunkpapa Lakota winter count by Long Soldier (c. 1902) that depicts the horse's first appearance in the community.

Orientation Exhibition

10/30/1994 - Ongoing
George Gustav Heye Center, Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
Informational panels provide a brief history of the Delaware or Lenni Lenape tribe, one of the first inhabitants of Manhattan; the museum's mission; and the architecture of the Custom House.

Beauty Surrounds Us

09/23/2006 - Ongoing
George Gustav Heye Center, Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
In this space especially designed to showcase the integration of art and daily life in Native cultures throughout the hemisphere, the exhibition features 77 extraordinary objects from the museum's permanent collection. Highlights include an elaborate Quechua girl's dance outfit, a Northwest Coast chief's staff with carved animal figures and crest designs, Seminole turtle shell dance leggins, a conch shell trumpet from pre-Columbian Mexico, a Navajo saddle blanket, and an Inupiak (Eskimo) ivory cribbage board.

National Portrait Gallery

Generations of remarkable Americans are kept in the company of their fellow citizens at the National Portrait Gallery. The National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum are located in the heart of downtown Washington, DC.

Food:

Courtyard Cafe
Featuring soups, sandwiches, salads, antipasti, desserts, ice cream, coffee, beer, wine, and soft drinks.

Hours
Daily, 11:30 AM-4 PM: See menu above
Daily, 4 PM-6:30 PM: Limited selection of menu above

Portico Cafe (seasonal and weather permitting)
Features pastries, sandwiches, specialty coffees and beverages. Wine, beer and cocktails are available in late afternoon and evening hours.
Hours: 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

Exhibits:

Glimpse of the Past: A Neighborhood Evolves

03/05/2010 - 01/08/2012
2nd Floor, Riley Gallery
Experience the sights, scenes, and beautiful buildings that make up the ever-changing Penn Quarter neighborhood in downtown Washington, D.C. Featuring photographs, postcards, and posters from the 1850s to the present, the history of the neighborhood comes alive. Works include the evolution of the Hecht's building, construction of the Metro stop, Chinatown bike tours, the arrival of the Verizon Center, and a visual history of the Patent Office Building -- one of the oldest federal buildings in Washington, D.C., now home of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum. Also, an interactive piece in the exhibition features snapshots of the area during the 1960s and 1970s made by Washingtonian Chris Earnshaw.

New Arrivals (rotating)

01/30/2009 - Ongoing
1st Floor, North Side, Corridor
This rotating exhibition highlights newly acquired objects -- paintings, drawings, sculptures, posters, prints, and photographs -- in the National Portrait Gallery collection.

Renovating a Landmark: From Patent Office to Reynolds Center

11/17/2007 - Ongoing
Historic Fabric Room, 1st Floor, S. of F St. Lobby, near lockers
This small exhibition commemorates the opening of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard, the final phase of a major renovation of the National Historic Landmark building that houses the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. It highlights aspects of the renovation with photographs, architectural artifacts from the building, and objects discovered during the excavation of the courtyard. Also included are historic images of the building, a 7-foot segment of one of the 19th-century cast iron fountains from the courtyard, and an architect's model of the building.

Related publication: Temple of Invention: History of a National Landmark by Charles Robertson, who is also the guest curator of the exhibition: $19.95 (paper)

America's Presidents

07/01/2006 - Ongoing
2nd Floor, South Wing
This exhibition displays multiple images of the 43 presidents of the United States, including the greatest historical painting in our nation's history, Gilbert Stuart's "Lansdowne" portrait of George Washington. Also included are whimsical sculptures of Presidents Johnson, Carter, and Nixon by caricaturist Pat Oliphant. Five presidents are given expanded attention because of their significant impact on the office: Washington, Andrew Jackson, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Audio and video interpretive materials augment the exhibition.

Recent Addition:
• President George W. Bush's portrait, painted by artist Robert Anderson, was installed on December 19, 2008.

The Struggle for Justice

02/12/2010 - Ongoing
2nd Floor
This new permanent exhibition showcases major cultural and political figures -- from key 19th-century historical figures to contemporary leaders -- who struggled to achieve civil rights for disenfranchised or marginalized groups. On view are more than 40 photographs, paintings, posters, buttons, and sculptures, including portraits of Civil Rights leaders Frederick Douglass, Thurgood Marshall, and Martin Luther King Jr.; women's-rights advocates Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Betty Friedan; Native American activist Leonard Crow Dog; cultural icons Jackie Robinson and singer Marian Anderson; United Farm Workers organizer C‚sar Ch vez; gay and lesbian rights leaders, and Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

A video created exclusively for the exhibition and narrated by Soledad O'Brien is also featured.

From FDR to Obama: Presidents on Time

02/12/2010 - 09/26/2010
2nd Floor
Regardless of how newsworthy a person may be, there is no magic formula for getting one's picture on the cover of Time magazine, with one exception: the president of the United States. Founded in 1923, Time has put on its cover all incumbent presidents from Warren Harding to Barack Obama, with the exception of Herbert Hoover. Beginning with Franklin Roosevelt, this exhibition explores the modern presidency through the covers of America's oldest and most recognized weekly news magazine. The show includes approximately 30 works of presidential cover art, representing a variety of mediums, from traditional oil paintings to a pop-art sculpture bust of Richard Nixon made from strips of newspaper headlines.

One Life: Echoes of Elvis

01/08/2010 - 08/29/2010
1st Floor, East Side
The One Life gallery within the museum is devoted to the exploration of the life of one individual.

This exhibition features Elvis Presley and celebrates the 75th anniversary of his birth. Although Elvis died more than 30 years ago, the world remains fascinated with his image and music. His records have continued to sell by the millions and public interest in his music, career, and life has yet to subside. During the last half century, Elvis became part of the artistic discourse as well. Early in Elvis's career, Andy Warhol illuminated the role he played in the new and youth-powered popular American culture; later, Ralph Wolfe Cowan, Red Grooms, and others created mythical, spiritual, and earthly images of the man whose legacy includes multiple superlative moments in music, entertainment, life, and afterlife. To this day, both the historical Elvis Presley and the fantasy-based vision of Elvis are the subject of poetry, literature, music, film, and the visual arts.

Portraiture Now: Communities

11/06/2009 - 07/05/2010
1st Floor
How do we define community today? Through new electronic networking, our connections are increasingly widespread; yet, we are still drawn to the idea of small communities and face-to-face interaction. Three artists -- Rose Frantzen, Jim Torok, and Rebecca Westcott -- explore the idea of community in portraits of friends, neighbors, or family. On view are portraits of people from Frantzen's hometown Maquoketa, Iowa, that were created over a 12-month period; Torok's meticulous small-scale panel portraits of fellow New York artists and a series documenting three generations of a single family; and full-length images of Westcott's peers, often Philadelphians in their 20s.

Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009

10/23/2009 - 08/22/2010
2nd Floor
The National Portrait Gallery presents 49 of the finalists' works that were selected from the second triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. Dave Woody, winner of the competition, received the grand prize of $25,000 and an opportunity to create a portrait for the Portrait Gallery's permanent collection. The competition invited artists working in the figurative arts to submit portraits of people close to them. Submissions were accepted in all visual arts media, including film, video, and digital animation. Through January 18, 2010, the public can vote online or on-site for the artwork to receive the People's Choice Award.

Related catalogue: $13.95

Twentieth-Century Americans

07/01/2006 - Ongoing
3rd Floor, South Side and Mezzanines
Six galleries focus on 20th-century Americans:

3rd Floor, south side: Four galleries showcase the major cultural, scientific, and political figures of the 20th century. The exhibition also traces the unceasing struggle to achieve the American goal of justice for all from the reform movement of the first two decades to the social justice and civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and from World War I through the Persian Gulf War.

3rd Floor, mezzanines: Two additional exhibitions relating to the 20th century are featured:
• BRAVO! showcases individuals who have brought the performing arts to life, beginning with P.T. Barnum, who raised the curtain on modern entertainment in the late 19th century and continuing to the present.
• Champions showcases American sports figures whose impact has extended beyond the ring, the court, and the field to become a part of the larger story of the life and culture of our nation.
Note: A lively combination of portraits, artifacts, memorabilia, and videos enhances both exhibitions.

Lunder Conservation Center

07/01/2006 - Ongoing
3rd Floor Mezzanine & 4th Floor, West
The Lunder Conservation Center -- shared with the Smithsonian American Art Museum -- is the first facility that provides a unique opportunity for the public to view through glass walls conservators at work in several labs examining, treating, and preserving art.

Jo Davidson: Biographer in Bronze

07/01/2006 - Ongoing
2nd Floor, North and Northwest
On view are 14 bronze and terra-cotta portraits made by renowned American sculptor Jo Davidson between 1908 and 1946, including depictions of Gertrude Stein, Franklin D. Roosevelt, artist John Marin, and Lincoln Steffens.

American Origins, 1600-1900

07/01/2006 - Ongoing
1st Floor
In 17 galleries and alcoves, this exhibition chronologically arranged starts from the days of contact between Native Americans and European explorers through the struggles of independence to the Gilded Age. Major figures from Pocahontas to Chief Joseph, Sam Adams to Henry Clay, and Nathaniel Hawthorne to Mark Twain are included. Three of the galleries are devoted to the Civil War, examining this conflict in depth. Complementing this section is a group of modern photographic prints produced from Mathew Brady's original negatives. Highlights from its daguerreotype collection -- the earliest practical form of photography -- also are on view.

National Postal Museum

Don't look for it on the National Mall but on Capitol Hill at the corner of First St. and Massachusetts Ave., NE, just west of Union Station. The building, which was the Washington City Post Office from 1914 to 1986, is big and grand, and the National Postal Museum occupies most of the lower level.

Exhibits:

Delivering Hope: FDR & Stamps of the Great Depression

06/09/2009 - 06/06/2010
Lower Level
Franklin D. Roosevelt, president during the Great Depression, used stamps to communicate with the American people. A stamp collector himself, he understood the power of visual imagery, and he changed the look of stamps to convey messages of hope, optimism, and the solidity of the federal government. This exhibition offers novel insights into FDR's personality, his relationship with Postmaster General James A. Farley, and his concern for the welfare of the American people.

Philatelic Gallery

07/30/1993 - Ongoing
Lower Level, West, U.S. & International Stamp Galleries
The history of the stamp begins in 1840, when Great Britain issued the first gummed postage stamp. Since then stamps of every subject, shape, and design have been produced for consumer use or as collectibles. Some stamps tell stories while others contain secrets and hidden meanings. This gallery is for all collectors, as well as for those who know little about the renowned hobby of philately.

Moving the Mail

07/30/1993 - Ongoing
Lower Level, Center, Moving the Mail
Faced with the challenge of moving the mail quickly, the postal service looked to trains, automobiles, airplanes, and buses to deliver the mail, all of which are the focus of the museum's 90-foot-high Atrium gallery.

Customers and Communities

07/30/1993 - Ongoing
Lower Level, East, Customers and Communities
By the turn of the 20th century, nearly 10,000 letter carriers worked in over 400 cities. The nation's population was expanding at top speed, and with it, the nation's mail volume and the need for personal mail delivery. This gallery focuses on the modern changes in mail service introduced at the turn of the century

Binding the Nation

07/30/1993 - Ongoing
Lower Level, North, Binding the Nation
This gallery provides an overview of events in America from colonial times through the 19th century, stressing the importance of written communication in the young nation. As early as 1673, regular mail was carried between New York and Boston following Indian trails. That route, once known as the King's Best Highway, is now U.S. Route 1.

The Art of Cards and Letters

07/30/1993 - Ongoing
Lower Level, Northwest, The Art of Cards and Letters
While other galleries focus on mail service, this gallery emphasizes the art of letter writing, a cherished art form providing a window into history.

Hands-on learning activities

Amelia Earhart's Personal Collection

11/12/2007 - Ongoing
Lower Level, Southwest, Philatelic Gallery
Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, was an avid stamp and cover collector. On view are key pieces from her collection, including photographs and stamps commemorating her flights. She often flew signed pieces of mail that were then sold to philatelists to support her endeavors.

Victory Mail

03/06/2008 - 05/31/2011
Lower Level, Northwest, Art of Cards and Letters Gallery
This exhibition showcases the museum's collection of World War II V-mail correspondence. The V-mail system, named after the WWII "V for Victory" symbol, was developed to help reduce the shipping space needed for the massive increase in mail being sent between American armed forces overseas and their family and friends at home. By reducing letters to microfilm size for the trip, thousands of pieces of mail could be shipped taking up only a fraction of the space traditional letters used. Once transported, microfilmed mail was reproduced to a quarter of the original size for final delivery. More letters meant better morale and less shipping space ensured other vital war materials reached the battlefront.

Among the items on display are a rare strip of 16mm V-mail microfilm, which were usually destroyed after the contents were printed, and various letters that reveal the local color and humor of military life in the Pacific and European Theaters.

Alphabetilately: An Alphabet of Philately

09/26/2008 - 10/29/2010
Lower Level, Jeanette Cantrell Rudy Gallery (changing exhibits)
To celebrate the museum's 15th anniversary, this exhibition presents an alphabet of philately through 26 topics, in which each letter stands for some aspect of stamp collecting or the sending of mail. From Advertising Covers to Zeppelins, each topic is introduced by a non-postage stamp image (called a Cinderella), designed by 26 designers in the San Francisco area. The 26 topics and their delightful definitions provide an ideal showcase for displaying both historical and modern items from the museum's collection.

Abraham Lincoln Certified Plate Proofs

11/15/2008 - Ongoing
Lower Level, Philatelic Gallery
Eleven certified plate proofs for postage stamps honoring Abraham Lincoln are on view in the Philatelic Gallery pullout frames. Certified plate proofs are the last printed proof of the plate before printing the stamps. These plate proofs are each unique, with the approval signatures and date. Issued from 1894 to 1959, the stamps feature a variety of Lincoln portraits.

National Zoological Park

Come meet the Zoo's more than 2,400 animals. Fascinating creatures, great and small, inhabit our beautiful park's urban oasis in the heart of Washington, DC.

Food:

Cafes/Grills
Mane Restaurant on Lion/Tiger Hill
Panda Cafe near the Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat
Express Grill at Panda Plaza
Popstop across from the Small Mammal House (seasonal)

Snack Stands
Located throughout the park as are soda, water, and snack vending machines.

Bring Your Own Picnic
Visitors may bring their own food and beverages. Coolers are permitted but not grills or other cooking devices. There are picnic areas throughout the Zoo, available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Exhibits:

Seals

- Ongoing
Valley Trail (also referred to as Beaver Valley)
Note: On view through November 30, 2009. Closed until approximately 2012 due to construction of the upcoming exhibition Elephant Trails. The California sea lions moved to the Pittsburgh Zoo October 6, 2009.

Beaver Valley

- Ongoing
Valley Trail (also referred to as Beaver Valley)
Note: On view January 1, 1980-November 30, 2009. Closed until approximately 2012 due to construction of the upcoming exhibition Elephant Trails.

Bald Eagle Refuge

- Ongoing
Valley Trail (also referred to as Beaver Valley)
Note: On view July 4, 2003-November 30, 2009. Closed until approximately 2012 due to construction of the upcoming exhibition Elephant Trails.

Voyage - A Journey Through Our Solar System (outdoors)

10/17/2001 - Ongoing
Outside, south side of Jefferson Dr. between NASM & the Castle
In this outdoor exhibition, our solar system is presented at one ten-billionth actual size through 13 units -- one each for the 9 planets, the Sun, asteroids and comets, and 2 introductory units -- that stretch 650 yards from the Air and Space Museum to the Smithsonian Castle. The model brings to life the great distances between the planets, illustrates their unique characteristics, and reveals the Earth's place in our solar system and the Sun's place among the stars. The exhibition was developed by the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, NASA, and the Smithsonian Institution.

Free educational guide: Available at information desks at the Castle and the Air and Space, Hirshhorn, and Natural History museums

Notes:
• Status of Pluto: Because the status of Pluto is unclear, it is not identified as a planet on the Pluto panel. Some scientists think it may be a supercomet or some other class of object.
• See related article in Smithsonian magazine: October 2001, p. 40

Elephant Trails: Phase I

- Ongoing

As part of the Zoo's campaign to save Asian elephants, this expanded and transformed home for the Zoo's Asian elephants will provide at least 4 acres of indoor and outdoor space and will feature a variety of habitats that will support the natural behavior of the multi-generational herd.

The indoor habitats will feature soft flooring and an Elephant Community Center, where the elephants can be active and socialize throughout the year. The building will accommodate a natural, matriarchal herd and individual bulls -- between 8 and 10 elephants and their young -- with suites for individual elephants.

The outdoor habitats will feature diverse elements, including shade structures, pools, sand piles, and mud wallows to stimulate natural elephant behavior, along with an Elephant Trek -- a walking path to provide the elephants with exercise and foraging opportunities.

Construction began in June 2007 and is expected to be completed in 2011.

See also the Zoo's Web site at http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Support/OurPlansOurNeeds/

Wetlands Exhibition

- Ongoing
Near Bird House
On view are 6 ponds -- 5 different "environments" and a "courtship" pond -- where local birds and plants common to wetlands are on view. Raised walkways meander among the ponds allowing visitors viewing access to the areas. Although no captive birds inhabit this area, it is a nice place to birdwatch. Colorful mallards and wood ducks often swim on the ponds and black-crowned night herons can often be seen stalking the shallows.

Outdoor Sculptures: The Gathering, Lions, and Uncle Beazley

- Ongoing
Outdoors
• The Gathering: (near Think Tank)
A group of 7 life-size chimpanzee sculptures by Maryland artist Brad Walker was installed in a garden June 18, 2002. Each sculpture depicts a chimpanzee fulfilling a different social role within the troup: matriarch, servant, observer, alpha, ally, explorer, and youth.

• Lion Sculptures: (Connecticut Ave. entrance)
The two bronze lion sculptures -- one-third scale models of the lions gracing the Taft Bridge -- were unveiled Nov. 19, 2002.

• Uncle Beazley: (near Lemur Island)
Uncle Beazley, the 25-foot-long replica of a Triceratops, returned to view in a "dinosaur garden" on May 23, 2007. He had resided at the Elephant House since June 18, 1994, but was off view for several years. Before coming to the Zoo, Uncle Beasley inhabited the Mall outside the Natural History Museum. This statue of Uncle Beazley was created for a television show of the book The Enormous Egg; the show was filmed in part at the National Zoo.

How Do You Zoo?

06/27/2000 - Ongoing
Visitor Center: See Hours Note
This learning lab features the following 4 interactive areas for children ages 5-10:
• In the "Small Mammal House," they can don animal keeper uniforms and pretend to make morning rounds, keeping track of 6 different species of animals.
• In the "animal hospital," young veterinarians, with stethoscopes and syringes, can care for plush animals on an examining table.
• In the "keeper's office," there is research to be done.
• In the "commissary," plastic foods are on hand for daily feedings.

Note:
• Hours: Limited hours; call 202-633-1105 for schedule.

Heritage Gardens: African American and Native American

08/01/1992 - Ongoing
Lion/Tiger Circle
On view are living examples of plants used by Native Americans and African Americans for food and medicines.

Note: This was a Columbus Quincentenary exhibition.

Gibbon Ridge

05/14/1988 - Ongoing
Olmstead Walk, near Great Apes House
Gibbon Ridge, situated among tall trees near the Great Apes House, is home to 3 groups of white-cheeked gibbons -- famous for their wild acrobatics and resounding calls -- and a group of siamangs.

Cheetah Conservation Station

08/19/1992 - Ongoing
Olmsted Walk, past Visitor Center on the eleft
At the Cheetah Conservation Station, cheetahs can be seen engaged in natural behaviors in a grassland setting similar to their natural savanna habitat -- roaming through their habitat or sunning themselves on the gentle slopes -- giving visitors a chance to closely observe these highly endangered cats. The Cheetah Conservation Station is also home to Grevy zebra, maned wolves, Speke's gazelle, Scimitar-horned oryx, and Tammar wallabies.

Think Tank

10/27/1995 - Ongoing
Olmsted Walk, near Reptile Discovery Center
This exhibition explores the biology and evolution of animal thinking, focusing on primates. It also demonstrates how animals use tools, send sophisticated messages, and employ social strategies. In conjunction with this exhibition is the O-Line, an orangutan transit system for orangutans to travel from the Great Ape House to Think Tank.

Small Mammal House

04/01/1983 - Ongoing
Olmsted Walk, near Great Ape House
Most species in the Zoo's Small Mammal House are no bigger than a breadbox. The exhibition features the golden lion tamarin, the three-banded armadillo, the prehensile-tailed porcupine, naked mole-rats, tree shrews, meerkats, black-tailed prairie dogs, black-footed ferrets, and more.

Reptile Discovery Center

- Ongoing
Olmsted Walk
The Reptile Discovery Center is an interactive, educational exhibition designed for visitors to explore the biology of reptiles and amphibians. The Center features some 70 species from snakes to frogs to turtles to lizards to crocodiles to Komodo dragons.

Prairie Dog Playland

11/19/2005 - Ongoing
Near Prairie Dogs and Lemur Island
This prairie-dog-themed playground, designed for children ages 2-6, reveals a prairie-dog's perspective on survival. Children can crawl through a series of tubes that resemble prairie dogs' underground tunnels, can pop up "above ground," and can look through scopes to scan for large cutouts of such predators as black-footed ferrets and hawks.

Pollinarium

04/19/1996 - Ongoing
In Invertebrate Exhibit
Living plants, butterflies, and bees are used to explore pollination -- the means of plant reproduction. The evolution, beauty, and mechanics of pollination are examined. The exhibition also includes a 7-foot tall, 3-panel, glass enclosed beehive.

Lemur Island

10/18/2001 - Ongoing
Lemur Island (formerly Monkey Island)
This open-air exhibition is home to both ring-tailed (Lemur catta) and red-fronted (Eulemur fulvus rufus) lemurs. These prosimians -- a suborder of primates -- are found only on Madagascar, an island off the southeastern coast of Africa. Today's prosimians retain much of the appearance of the earliest primates. Like many other animal species, wild lemur populations are rapidly declining due to extensive habitat loss.

Kids' Farm

06/12/2004 - Ongoing
Near Rock Creek entrance
This child-friendly exhibition reveals that most of the food we eat comes from a farm and allows visitors to lend a hand around the farm.

Highlights include:
• A Play Area, featuring an oversize, climb-on pizza that connects familiar pizza ingredients with plants grown on a farm. The pizza garden includes tomatoes, herbs, garlic, onions, green peppers, and wheat. Note: Open weather permitting.
• The Barn gives visitors a view into how animals are housed and cared for.
• Goat and Miniature Donkey Yards, where visitors are able to touch the animals through the fence. The area also includes a Caring Corral, where children are invited inside to help take care of the animals.
• The Cow Pasture, where visitors are able to touch the animals when they approach the fence.

Additions:
• Late fall 2007: Alpacas and Ossabaw Island Hogs
• September 2008: Male silver fox rabbits

Invertebrates

05/07/1987 - Ongoing
Olmsted Walk, Reptile House, Lower Level
Invertebrates -- creatures without backbones -- are the most abundant creatures on earth, crawling, flying, floating, or swimming in virtually all of Earth's habitats. About 99 percent of all known living species are invertebrates. The Zoo's Invertebrate Exhibit is home to such invertebrate species as sea stars; spiny lobsters; sea anemones; corals; insects; spiders, including tarantulas; mollusks, and a giant Pacific octopus.

Great Cats (tigers)

10/01/1998 - Ongoing
Lion & Tiger Hill and surrounding area
This exhibition includes graphic panels, an education site for children to learn more about the Sumatran tiger, and an area featuring a bronzed Tyrannosaurus rex skull from the Museum of the Rockies.

Great Ape House

04/15/1981 - Ongoing
Olmsted Walk
Today, this exhibition is home to seven western lowland gorillas and six orangutans, which may be seen outside in the yard or inside the Great Ape House. The orangutans have access to the Think Tank by using the aboveground O Line; for details, see Think Tank.

The exhibition was designed to encourage physical activity and normal social interaction within each group. Features include 8 spacious, glass-fronted indoor areas, 2-3 stories high, equipped with floor-to-ceiling climbing structures; large outdoor areas with dry moats confining animals without visual obstructions; and interpretive graphics.

Giant Panda Habitat, Fujifilm

10/17/2006 - Ongoing

Father Tian Tian and mother Mei Xiang can be seen in their habitat wrestling in the grass, sleeping in a tree, munching on stalks of bamboo, or lounging in a misty grotto.

Notes:
• Tai Shan -- the first surviving Giant panda cub born at the National Zoo on July 9, 2005, to Mei Xian and Tian Tian -- was relocated to Wolong's Bifengxia Panda Base in Ya'an, Sichuan, in the mountains of south central China, on February 4, 2010, to be part of the breeding program that will help sustain giant panda populations in the wild. As part of the 10-year loan agreement in 2000 between the Zoo and the China Wildlife Conservation Association, any cubs born at the Zoo would be returned to China. The Chinese government granted two extensions for Tai Shan to remain at the Zoo: a two-year extension in April of 2007 and a second extension allowing him to stay to January 2010.

Elephant House

- Ongoing
Olmsted Walk
Note: The Elephant House, built in the 1930s, closed to the public September 14, 2009, to undergo renovation as part of the upcoming exhibition Elephant Trails (opening in phases beginning spring 2010; see separate listing for details).

In the meantime, the three Asian elephants -- a calf born in 2001, his mother, and another female -- can be seen in their outdoor habitat 10 AM-4 PM on most days (weather permitting), but occasionally, they may be indoors, during which time they will be off view.

Bird House and the Outdoor Flight Exhibit

- Ongoing
Bird House
The National Zoo is home to hundreds of birds from all over the world. Since birds are an integral part of virtually every ecosystem, it's not surprising that birds are all over the Zoo, too, as residents and visitors.

• Bird House: The widest variety of birds at the Zoo live indoors at the Bird House where a series of smaller exhibits encircle a large indoor jungle complete with free-flying tropical birds.

Asia Trail

10/17/2006 - Ongoing

This exhibition features Asian animals already living at the Zoo -- sloth bears, fishing cats, Asian small-clawed otters, and red pandas -- along with the clouded leopards (returning to the Zoo after several decades). Also featured are the beloved giant pandas (see separate listing).

Amazonia

11/18/1992 - Ongoing
Amazonia Building
Animals and plants of the New World are included in this rain forest habitat featuring a re-created microcosm of the world's largest rain forest and the Amazon River. Giant Amazon fish are a special feature.

Animals on View

- Ongoing

For a complete listing of animals on view at the Zoo, see the Web site at: nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/AnimalIndex/

Renwick Gallery

The Renwick Gallery, a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, is dedicated to exhibiting American crafts from the 19th to the 21st centuries.

Exhibits:

The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps, 1942-1946

03/05/2010 - 01/30/2011
Special Exhibitions Gallery, 1st Floor
Approximately 150 arts-and-crafts objects made by Japanese Americans in U.S. internment camps during World War II, along with photographs, are used to explore the internment experience. While incarcerated, the internees tried to gaman, a Japanese word that means to bear the seemingly unbearable with dignity and patience. Housed in tar-paper covered barracks furnished with nothing more than metal cots, the internees used scraps and found materials to create furniture, toys and games, musical instruments, pendants and pins, purses, and ornamental displays. These objects became essential both for simple creature comforts and emotional survival. Many are on loan from former internees or their families.

Sales Exhibitions

- Ongoing
1st Floor, Museum Store
Sales of fine crafts and exhibition-related products.

Octagon Room

- Ongoing
2nd Floor, South
The Octagon Room is furnished with paintings from SAAM's collection, including impressionism and the Gilded Age period.

Renwick Craft Invitational 2011

03/25/2011 - 07/31/2011
1st Floor, Special Exhibitions Gallery
This exhibition will feature works by the following four extraordinary artists, who create works of superior craftsmanship that address the classic craft notion of function without sacrificing a contemporary aesthetic:

• Cliff Lee (b. 1951), a former neurosurgeon who works in Stevens, Pennsylvania, creates elegant porcelain vessels with the exactitude of a doctor, often using his knowledge of chemistry to re-create medieval Chinese glazes long thought lost to history.
• Matthias Pliessnig (b. 1978), a furniture maker in Philadelphia, uses boat-building techniques in new ways to create graceful forms with curved wood strips that may have up to 5,000 points of contact without the aid of hardware.
• Judith Schaechter (b. 1961), a glass artist based in Philadelphia, brings a wealth of knowledge about traditional stained-glass practice to her moody windows.
• Ubaldo Vitali (b. 1944), a fourth-generation silversmith and master conservator of historic silver working in Maplewood, New Jersey, uses classical techniques he learned in Rome to create luminous works for popes, kings, and presidents.

Grand Salon Installation: Paintings from the Smithsonian American Art Museum

06/06/2009 - Ongoing
2nd Floor, Grand Salon
On view are 70 paintings from the 1840s to the 1930s -- landscapes, portraits, and allegorical works -- by 51 American artists, including Edward Mitchell Bannister, Romaine Brooks, Elliott Daingerfield, Daniel Garber, William Morris Hunt, George Inness, Homer Dodge Martin, Albert Pinkham Ryder, Abbott Handerson Thayer, John Henry Twachtman, and Irving R. Wiles. The room is installed salon style, with paintings hung one-atop-another and side by side.

Visitor Guide featuring short biographies of the artists: $16.95

Permanent Collection

- Ongoing
Craft Galleries, 2nd Floor
Features contemporary American crafts in glass, ceramics, metal, wood, and fiber. Highlights include:

• Portal Gates (1974) by Albert Paley (b. 1944)
• Game Fish (1988) by Larry Fuente (b. 1947)
• Bureau of Bureaucracy by Kim Schmahmann (a cabinet sculpture described by the artist as a "contemporary cabinet of curiosities")
• Ghost Clock by Wendell Castle
• Bancketje (Banquet) by Beth Lipman
• The Renwick 30th Anniversary Plate by Irma Starr

S. Dillon Ripley Center, International Gallery

Entered from a copper domed kiosk on Jefferson Drive between the "Castle" and the Freer Gallery of Art, the S. Dillon Ripley Center houses the International Gallery, The Smithsonian Associates and the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Service.

Exhibits:

Posy Holders

- Ongoing
Sublevel 3, Concourse, in alcoves between elevator and escalator
Two showcases contain approximately 80 one-of-a-kind posy holders made of precious metals and semi-precious stones, donated by Frances Jones Poetker.

Women and Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America

01/15/2010 - 04/25/2010
International Gallery
Rare artifacts and photographs from more than 400 communities are on view to explore the role of Catholic sisters in American life. From the time they first arrived in America nearly 300 years ago, sisters built schools, colleges, hospitals, orphanages, homeless shelters, and many other enduring social institutions. As nurses, teachers, and social workers, they entered professional ranks decades earlier than most other women. They shared common experiences of immigration and migration and endured the same national crises as other Americans. Despite being considered "weak women" by some, these sisters have made a lasting contribution to American life.

Panamanian Passages

10/14/2009 - 05/31/2010
Sublevel 3, Concourse
This bilingual (English/Spanish) exhibition traces Panama's human and natural history since the rise of the isthmus over 3 million years ago -- beginning with the isthmus' ancient geological history and culminating with the expansion of a Panama Canal and its challenges for the future -- and highlights key chapters in Panamanian history from early indigenous settlement to Panama's 20th-century struggle for sovereignty.

This is the 8th juried exhibition for emerging artists with disabilities organized by VSA arts.

Graphic Eloquence: Limited-Edition Prints from The Smithsonian Associates Art Collectors Program

- Ongoing
Concourse, near escalators
On view are limited-edition works on paper created by American artists -- including Sean Scully, Janet Fish, Wolf Kahn, and Elizabeth Catlett -- for the Art Collectors Program, which began in the early 1970's. The works are commissioned annually by the Art Collectors Program and many now hang in the permanent collections of national museums.

Related illustrated list of works

Smithsonian American Art Museum

The Donald W. Reynolds Center is home to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery

Food:

Courtyard Cafe
Featuring soups, sandwiches, salads, antipasti, desserts, ice cream, coffee, beer, wine, and soft drinks.

Hours
Daily, 11:30 AM-4 PM: See menu above
Daily, 4 PM-6:30 PM: Limited selection of menu above

Portico Cafe (seasonal and weather permitting)
Features pastries, sandwiches, specialty coffees and beverages. Wine, beer and cocktails are available in late afternoon and evening hours.
Hours: 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

Exhibits:

Renovating a Landmark: From Patent Office to Reynolds Center.

11/17/2007 - Ongoing
Historic Fabric Room, 1st Floor, S. of F St. Lobby, near lockers
This small exhibition commemorates the opening of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard, the final phase of a major renovation of the National Historic Landmark building that houses the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. It highlights aspects of the renovation with photographs, architectural artifacts from the building, and objects discovered during the excavation of the courtyard. Also included are historic images of the building, a 7-foot segment of one of the 19th-century cast iron fountains from the courtyard, and an architect's model of the building.

Related publication: Temple of Invention: History of a National Landmark by Charles Robertson, who is also the guest curator of the exhibition: $19.95 (paper)

Outdoor Sculpture: Vaquero by Luis Jimenez Jr.

- Ongoing
Outside at G St. entrance
Vaquero (1987): The colorful fiberglass sculpture of a Mexican cowboy on a bucking blue horse by New Mexico artist Luis Jimenez Jr. (1940-2006).

Outdoor Sculpture: Modern Head by Roy Lichtenstein

08/26/2008 - Ongoing
Outside on F & 9th Sts., NW
Modern Head (2008): This 31-foot-tall sculpture by pop artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) is made of stainless steel painted blue and weighs 13,000 pounds. The sculpture is part of a series Lichtenstein began in the late 1960s that explored the idea of creating images of human figures that look like machines; this concept pervaded the artist's work throughout his career. Lichtenstein created the first Modern Head in 1974 out of wood that was painted blue. In 1989, he produced an edition of four in brushed steel. In 1990, the artist painted one a vibrant blue making it a unique work.

Installed in 1996 in Battery Park City, one block from the World Trade Center, the sculpture survived the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack with only surface scratches and was temporarily used by the FBI as a message board during the investigation. It has had several homes before coming to the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The museum acquired the sculpture in 2008.

Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg

07/02/2010 - 01/02/2011
Location TBA
Two of America's best-known modern filmmakers -- George Lucas and Steven Spielberg -- recognized a kindred spirit in the artist Norman Rockwell and formed in-depth collections of his work. Lucas, Spielberg, and Rockwell have perpetuated American ideals about love of country, personal honor, and the value of family through their work. With humor and pathos, they have transformed ordinary people and the quotidian incidents of everyday experience into stories that show us our better selves and the values that have sustained Americans through good times and bad. All three share an ability to communicate visually with mass audiences using popular media of their time. Telling Stories will reveal for the first time the connections between Rockwell's iconic images of American life and the movies.

This exhibition will showcase more than 50 major Rockwell paintings and drawings from these private collections that are rarely seen by the public.

See December 2009 Smithsonian magazine, pp. 8-10

Framing the West: The Survey Photographs of Timothy H. O'Sullivan

02/12/2010 - 05/09/2010
1st Floor, West Galleries
Timothy H. O'Sullivan (1840-1882) spent six seasons between 1867 and 1874 in the mountain and desert west as photographer for government-sponsored geological surveys and expeditions led by Clarence King and Lt. George Wheeler. His photographs go beyond mere documentation of newly explored landscapes; they show a forthright and rigorous style formed in response to the American West. This first major look at O'Sullivan's photographs in more than 25 years features more than 80 of his photographs and sterographs and explores the artist's images, the conditions under which they were made, the influences that shaped his work, and his continuing influence on American photography.

Graphic Masters III: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum

01/15/2010 - 08/08/2010
2nd Floor, South Wing, Graphics Gallery
On view are watercolors, pastels, and drawings from the 1960s to the 1990s to celebrate the extraordinary variety and accomplishment of American artists' works on paper. The works on view reveal the central importance of works on paper for American artists, both as studies for creations in other media and as finished works of art. Artists represented include such masters as Robert Arneson, Jennifer Bartlett, Philip Guston, Luis Jimenez, and Wayne Thiebaud.

Catalogue: $19.95

This retrospective, which features 88 works from the 1960s to the present, is the first full-scale look at Wiley's long career and explores important themes and ideas expressed in his work. His work ranges from traditional drawing, watercolor, acrylic painting, sculpture, and printmaking to performances, constructions of assorted materials, and, more recently, printed pins, tapestries, and a pinball machine. Many artworks in the exhibition are on public display for the first time, and the installation includes several of Wiley's avant-garde films of the 1970s, which are rarely screened.

Catalogue: $65 (cloth); $39.95 (paper)

See December 2009 Smithsonian magazine, p. 26

Thomas Moran Landscapes

05/08/2009 - Ongoing
2nd Floor, North Lobby
On view are three large landscape paintings by Thomas Moran, two on long-term loan from the U.S. Department of the Interior -- The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (1872) and The Chasm of the Colorado (1873-1874) -- and the museum's The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (1893-1901), along with a smaller Moran painting.

Sculptures by Paul Manship

07/15/2007 - Ongoing
1st Floor, North Corridors, near G St. entrance
From the museum's collection of nearly 500 works by Paul Manship (1885-1966) are 25 graceful sculptures -- including such mythological figures such as Atalanta and Europa, as well as a collection of gilded animal figures. As a young artist studying in Rome, Manship fell in love with both Roman and Greek sculpture and was captivated by animals and mythological figures. He also studied Egyptian, Asian, and Assyrian art. An exponent of Art Deco in the United States, he developed a style that was both representational and highly stylized.

Note: Additional works are on view in the Luce Foundation Center, 3rd floor.

With Liberty: Folk Art from the Smithsonian American Art Museum

07/01/2006 - Ongoing
1st Floor, West
These galleries serve as a reminder that not all artists are formally trained, and that the making of art is as much an act of passion as of intellect. Artists represented range from Mose Tolliver and Howard Finster to Felipe Archuleta and Thorton Dial, Sr. To provide the installation a particular point of view, the museum asked artist William Christenberry to curate -- choose the objects and provide the wall labels and quotes that express his deep regard for folk art.

Highlights include:
• James Hampton's The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millennium General Assembly (1950-64), a visionary work made from salvaged materials covered in gold and silver foil.
• Selected objects from the Rosenak Collection of American Folk Art

Modern and Contemporary Art

07/01/2006 - Ongoing
3rd Floor, East, in the Lincoln Gallery
Located in the Lincoln Gallery with soaring arches, this exhibition features modern and contemporary art.

Lunder Conservation Center

07/01/2006 - Ongoing
3rd Floor Mezzanine & 4th Floor, West
The Lunder Conservation Center -- shared with the National Portrait Gallery -- is the first facility that provides a unique opportunity for the public to view through glass walls conservators at work in several labs examining, treating, and preserving art.

Luce Foundation Center for American Art

07/01/2006 - Ongoing
3rd & 4th Floors and 3rd Floor Mezzanine, West
The Luce Foundation Center for American Art is the first visible art storage and study center in Washington that showcases more than 3,300 artworks from the museum's permanent collection: paintings densely hung on screens; sculptures, contemporary crafts, and art objects arranged on shelves; and portrait miniatures, bronze medals, and contemporary jewelry in drawers that slide open with the touch of a button. The space allows the museum to display five times the number of works on public view.

Highlights include:
• Selected objects from the Rosenak Collection of American Folk Art

David Beck's MVSEVM

07/01/2006 - Ongoing
2nd Floor, South Center
Commissioned by the museum, David Beck created MVSEVM, an exquisitely crafted world in miniature; the work reflects the neoclassical architecture of the building, from the 1840s when it was the U.S. Patent Office to the present day.

Art Since 1945

07/01/2006 - Ongoing
3rd Floor, North
On view is modern and contemporary art, including works from Color Field, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art; a room-size installation Megatron Matrix by Nam June Paik; and 20th-century paintings by such artists as Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and Helen Frankenthaler.

Related Book America's Art: $65 (cloth), $45 (paper)

American Experience

07/01/2006 - Ongoing
1st Floor, Southwest (near Main Lobby)
These introductory galleries feature paintings by Edward Hopper, 19th- and 20th-century landscapes from across the United States that convey a sense of place and the defining role of land in the American imagination, and 56 photographs from Lee Friedlander's series "The American Monument" (1963-2001) -- a new acquisition -- that offer his sometimes ironic, sometimes elegiac record of outdoor sculptures across the country.

American Art through 1940

07/01/2006 - Ongoing
2nd Floor, East, South, and North
This exhibition links artworks to major moments in America's past in nine thematic sections in 31 galleries. The introductory area features Frederic Auguste Bartholdi's model for the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of America as a place welcoming to all immigrants whose ingenuity and creativity plays a key role throughout America's art.

Celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Public Works of Art Program.

Smithsonian Institution Building, the Castle

The Castle, the Smithsonian's original home, is a Medieval Revival building designed by James Renwick Jr. and completed in 1855. Its nine towers, battlements and chimneys make it an easy landmark to spot on the National Mall.

Food:

Castle Cafe and Coffee Bar
Featuring an Espresso/Cappuccino bar, Argentinean Gelato, Panini, Antipasti, Organic salads, Specialty Sandwiches, Soups and Pastries.
Discount for Smithsonian Members
Hours: 8:30a.m.-5p.m.

Exhibits:

Cases: Scientific Illustrators: Artists in Residence in the Castle

10/30/2008 - 05/30/2010
Schermer Hall
Scientific illustration is one aspect of what makes a museum collection important; it enhances and supports scientific research by showing minute details and distinguishing characteristics of the specimens being studied. Joseph Henry, the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, established a program to publish scientific research -- with detailed scientific illustrations -- in 1848, a mere two years after the founding of the Smithsonian.

On view in these cases are works by four scientific illustrators who worked in the Smithsonian Institution Building between 1852 and 1898: William Stimpson (1832-1872), John H. Richard (1807-1881), Robert Ridgway (1850-1929), and his brother John L. Ridgway (1859-1947). These illustrations offer a glimpse of their lifetime devotion to the study of science and nature. Also on view are several plaster casts of fish painted by John H. Richard.

Smithson's Crypt

- Ongoing
First Floor, North Entrance (Jefferson Drive)
The final resting place of the Institution's benefactor, James Smithson (1765-1829), is a small chapel-like room located at the north entrance to the Castle. Exhibit cases contain a few of Smithson's personal effects as well as the Smithsonian's official Mace and Badge of Office. A panel exhibit explains how Smithson's remains came to the United States in 1904 and the Smithsonian's plans to build a memorial to him.

World View: Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

07/01/2009 - 04/11/2010
Great Hall
From over 17,000 entries submitted from the United States and around the world to the Smithsonian magazine for its 6th Annual Photo Contest, 50 finalists were selected. The images selected represent the following five categories: The Natural World, People, Americana, Altered Images, and Travel.

The Smithsonian Institution: America's Treasure Chest

05/08/2005 - Ongoing
The Commons (West Wing)
In display cases framing the walls of this historic room are selected objects representing all of the museums that offer a tantalizing sample of the breadth and depth of the Smithsonian's vast collections.

Note: The room is open to the public during regular hours except when it has been booked for a special event.

Featured Areas: Children's Room, The Commons, Schermer Hall

- Ongoing
First Floor
• Children's Room: (First Floor, South Entrance, Independence Avenue)
The Children's Room -- with the theme "Knowledge Begins in Wonder" -- was installed in the south tower of the Castle in 1901 and featured natural history exhibitions for children. The original decorative scheme by designer Grace Lincoln Temple was restored in the mid-1980s.

• The Commons: (First Floor, West Wing)
The Commons, in the 19th-century Gothic Revival architectural style, features a soaring, groin-vaulted ceiling, elaborate corbels, a ribbed-vaulted apse, and a rose window on the south wall. Encircling the room are 28 walnut exhibit cases built in 1871 and refurbished in July 2004 with selected objects representing the Smithsonian's collections (for details, see permanent exhibition The Smithsonian Institution: America's Treasure Chest). The room served as a dining facility for many years, closing in June 2004.

• Schermer Hall: (First Floor, West Wing)
Schermer Hall, named for Smithsonian donors Lloyd G. and Betty A. Schermer, is in the Romanesque Revival style with clerestory windows, rounded arches, and a barrel-vaulted ceiling. Furnishings from the Castle Collection include a pair of Rococo Revival gilded mirrors that belonged to Simon Cameron, Secretary of War (1860-1862) under President Lincoln; a pair of Renaissance Revival armchairs (c. 1860) that belonged to Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War (1862-1867) under Presidents Lincoln and Grant; and Georgian Revival tables (c. 1910) in mahogany and verdi marble with classically carved motifs, including anthemion and acanthus leaves and guilloche (running dog) borders. Also in this room is a small, 2-panel display on the history of the west wing; for details, see permanent exhibition The West Wing: A Chronology.

Garden: Enid A. Haupt Garden

05/21/1987 - Ongoing
Outside, south of the Castle (The Quadrangle)
A 4.2-acre rooftop park, named for its donor, features an embroidered parterre in a geometric design of plants and flowers rotated seasonally. Other features include an Asian-influenced garden adjacent to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, a Moorish-influenced garden adjacent to the National Museum of African Art, and garden furnishings from the Horticulture Services Division's Garden Furniture Collection.

Garden: Folger Rose Garden, including the Keith Fountain (seasonal)

10/07/1998 - Ongoing
Outside, Jefferson Drive between Castle and Arts & Industries
The garden features roses, annuals, perennials, and woody plants chosen for year-round interest, and was donated by the Folger family in honor of their mother, Kathrine Dulin Folger.

Exhibit Panels: The West Wing: A Chronology

- Ongoing
Schermer Hall, West Wing
This 2-panel exhibit reveals the history of the west wing of the Castle -- from its first use as the Institution's library to its use as The Commons dining room (through June 20, 2004) -- through images and text. The text is adapted from The Castle, An Illustrated History of the Smithsonian Institution Building by Cynthia R. Field, Richard E. Stamm, and Heather P. Ewing.

Smithsonian Information Center

- Ongoing

Highlights include:

• 2 information desks, serving the public and Smithsonian Associate members, which are staffed by volunteers from 8:30 AM-4 PM daily.
• 1 orientation theater (northeast wall) featuring an 10-minute video overview of the Institution (runs continuously, beginning at approximately 9 AM).
• 2 interactive "touch-screen" programs on the Smithsonian Institution in 6 languages.
• 1 scale model of Washington's monumental core.
• Smithson's Gift showcase (provides information on the history of the Institution).
• A tactile map of the Washington's monumental core with Braille labels.