One of the last commissions from the office of McKim, Mead, & White, architects.
I was as an assistant curator helping to install the first exhibits this building as it was being completed in 1963-1964; the Division of Political History was and is responsible for the artifacts associated with our national story, ranging from Lincoln's top hat to buttons and badges from political campaigns, and much more. The First Ladies' Collection (famously, the inaugural gowns) is also part of the department. I helped install the First Ladies Hall here and, indeed, was working in the unfinished gallery when word came of Kennedy's assassination in November of 1963.
This was the third version of the First Ladies' exhibition since the founding of the collection in the 19-teens. Until the construction of this building, the exhibits about American history were all contained in the Victorian (and much beloved) Arts & Industries Building, or as it was more formally known, the U. S. National Museum, created in the 1880s.
americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/exhibition.cfm?key=38&...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_and_Industries_Building
Tags: firstladies americanhistory smithsonian NMAH facade architecture washingtondc WDC mystuart 1964 2012 mckimmeadwhite vignette
"Paradox of Liberty": an impressive Smithsonian exhibit, based on archaeology and oral histories at the site and deeply researched, about the history of the enslaved African Americans who lived at Monticello during Thomas Jefferson's lifetime and were owned by him.
This exhibit was produced by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, an entity that is awaiting construction of its own building on the Mall. In the meantime, they have produced this exhibit within the existing (1964) National Museum of American History.
This link takes you further into the story:
americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/exhibition.cfm?key=38&...
Tags: exhibit jefferson slavery history america museum NMAH NMAAHC washingtondc thomasjefferson mystuart 2012 africanamerican americanhistory sepia
A plant one usually finds in the forest, IF one is lucky and knows where to look. . . amazing to see it now being used in urban horticulture, but entirely appropriate here on the grounds of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. Constitution Avenue facade, corner of 12th Street, NW.
Interestingly, one botanist's description says it can occur in "both high quality and degraded woodlands". It DOES have big trees to shelter under here at the museum at the edge of the National Mall, Washington, DC.
www.illinoiswildflowers.info/woodland/plants/solomon_seal...
Tags: wildflowers solomonsseal nationalmuseum NMNH Smithsonian naturalhistory grounds spring windows Mall washingtondc WDC mystuart 2012 horticulture
It's heart-warming to see the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History using rustic and appropriate natural materials in the grounds that surround the 1912 building. These boulders, to me, seem to echo those found around the National Museum of the American Indian across the Mall. Those are called "Grandfather Stones". The grounds around Natural History were sadly ordinary for most of the years I've been acquainted with the building (since about 1955).
Asian and Amerian Art, the latter largely an amazing room revealing the work of James McNeil Whistler.
www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/current/peacockRoom.asp
The Freer is right AT the Smithsonian Metro stop, so it is very easy to access--and it is STILL FREE, like all the Smithsonian buildings.
Tags: formal BeauxArts Freer museum entry garden marble freize Smithsonian Asian Whistler American sculpture