Smithsonian Institution 3 in the United States

See:

Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution 2
Smithsonian Institution 4
Smithsonian Institution 5

Renwick Gallery

The Gallery is dedicated to exhibiting crafts of all periods and to collecting 20th-century
American crafts. It offers changing exhibitions of American crafts and
decorative arts, both historical and contemporary, and a rotating selection
from its permanent collection. The Gallery’s grand salon is elegantly
furnished in the Victorian style of the 1860s and 1870s.

For further information, contact the Renwick Gallery, Seventeenth Street and Pennsylvania
Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20560. Phone, 202–633–1000. Internet, http://www.americanart. si.edu/renwick.

National Museum of American

History In pursuit of its fundamental mission to inspire a broader understanding of
the United States and its people, the Museum provides learning opportunities,
stimulates the imagination of visitors, and presents challenging ideas about
the Nation’s past. The Museum’s exhibits provide a unique view of the
American experience. Emphasis is placed upon innovative individuals
representing a wide range of cultures, who have shaped our heritage, and upon
science and the remaking of our world through technology. Exhibits draw upon
strong collections in the sciences and engineering, agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, political memorabilia, costumes, musical instruments, coins, Armed Forces history, photography, computers, ceramics, and glass. Classic
cars, icons of the American Presidency, First Ladies’ gowns, the Star-Spangled
Banner ﬂag, Whitney’s cotton gin, Morse’s telegraph, the John Bull
locomotive, Dorothy’s ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz,” and other American
icons are highlights of the collection.

For further information, contact the National Museum of American History, Fourteenth Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20560.
Phone, 202–633–1000. Internet, http://www. americanhistory.si.edu.

National Museum of the American Indian

The Museum was established in 1989, and the building on the National Mall opened September 2004. Much of the collection of the Museum is
comprised of the collection of the former Heye Foundation in New York City. It is
an institution of living cultures dedicated to the collection, preservation, study,
and exhibition of the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of the Native
peoples of the Americas. Highlights include Northwest Coast carvings;
dance masks; pottery and weaving from the Southwest; painted hides and
garments from the North American Plains; goldwork of the Aztecs, Incas, and
Maya; and Amazonian featherwork. The National Museum of the American Indian
also operates the George Gustav Heye Center at the Alexander Hamilton U.S.
Custom House in New York City.

For further information, contact the National Museum of the American Indian, Fourth Street and Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20560.
Phone, 202–633–1000. Internet, http://www.nmai.si.edu.

National Museum of Natural History

Dedicated to understanding the natural world and the place of humans in it,
the Museum’s permanent exhibitions focus on human cultures, Earth sciences,
biology, and anthropology, with the most popular displays featuring gem stones
such as the Hope Diamond, dinosaurs, insects, marine ecosystems, birds,
and mammals. In 2010, the Museum celebrated its 100th anniversary with the opening of a new permanent exhibition, the David H. Koch Hall of Human
Origins. An IMAX theater offers largeformat ﬁlms. The Museum’s encyclopedic
collections comprise more than 126 million specimens, making the Museum
one of the world’s foremost facilities for natural history research. The Museum’s
seven departments are anthropology, botany, entomology, invertebrate
zoology, mineral sciences, paleobiology, and vertebrate zoology. Doctorate-level
staff researchers ensure the continued growth and value of the collection by
conducting studies in the ﬁeld and laboratory.

For further information, contact the National Museum of Natural History, Tenth Street and
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20013. Phone, 202–633–1000. Internet, http://www.mnh.si.edu.

National Portrait Gallery

The Gallery was established in 1962 for the exhibition and study of portraiture depicting men and women who have made signiﬁcant contributions to the history, development,
and culture of the United States. The Gallery contains more than 19,000
works, including photographs and glass negatives. The ﬁrst ﬂoor of the Gallery
is devoted to changing exhibitions from the Gallery’s collection of paintings,
sculpture, prints, photographs, and drawings as well as to special portrait
collections. Featured on the second ﬂoor are the permanent collection of
portraits of eminent Americans and the Hall of Presidents, including the famous
Gilbert Stuart portrait-from-life of George Washington. The two-story American
Victorian Renaissance Great Hall on the third ﬂoor of the Gallery houses a Civil
War exhibit and is used for special events and public programs. The Gallery shares
a large library with the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Archives
of American Art. The education department offers public programs;
outreach programs for schools, senior adults, hospitals, and nursing homes; and
walk-in and group tours.

For further information, contact the National Portrait Gallery, Eighth and F Streets NW.,
Washington, DC 20560. Phone, 202–633–1000. Internet, http://www.npg.si.edu.