A new Smithsonian exhibit opening Thursday maps U.S. history through 250 objects, including artifacts from politics, military life, pop culture, and science.
The story of America’s first 250 years is now on display in Washington in a way that feels both intimate and surprising: not through a timeline alone, but through 250 objects.
The Smithsonian National Museum of American History opened a new exhibit Thursday. “In Pursuit of Life. Liberty & Happiness. ” presenting the United States’ 250-year history through artifacts meant to represent what the nation has tried to become—and who has helped shape that evolution.. Curators say the selection process required reducing a vast collection down to a small, carefully chosen slice.
Among the familiar anchors are major museum mainstays. including the original American flag that inspired “The Star Spangled Banner. ” and the desk where Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence.. But the exhibit also brings forward items that visitors may not have seen before. including a nine-foot surfboard used by Duke Kahanamoku.
The surfboard, shaped in Southern California in 1928, was used by Kahanamoku, a Native Hawaiian surfer who helped popularize surfing worldwide. Theo Gonzalves, a curator at the museum, described the artifact as both striking and historically rooted, noting Kahanamoku’s wider profile as an Olympian.
The exhibit moves beyond biography into the texture of public life, using objects associated with political action and civic change.. It includes a sweater worn by a young woman during a school walkout during the Civil Rights Movement. as well as a Tea Party sign from the 2010s. placing modern political identity alongside earlier struggles over rights and participation.
Military history also appears directly. Visitors can encounter the Revolutionary War’s gunboat “Philadelphia,” alongside a uniform worn by Gen. George Washington, linking battlefield history with the personal gear of those who commanded it.
At the same time, the museum does not treat pop culture as a sideshow.. A Nintendo game set is on view. and Gonzalves said visitors are often struck by the idea that something associated with everyday entertainment can also belong to the historical record.. “I’m old enough to realize what Nintendo was for our generation. but it is part of American history. ” he said.
Some of the most personal artifacts in the exhibit are built from the seemingly ordinary.. Megan Smith. the museum’s head of experience development. said one of her favorite pieces is hidden inside what looks like a basic file cabinet.. Inside: more than 52,000 jokes written by Phyllis Diller, one of the first female stand-up comedians in America.
“The file cabinet” is the outward disguise of a full creative archive, Smith said, describing how the collection holds not only material but also the comedian’s process and knowledge.
The exhibit also highlights scientific and technological progress over time, including the first radiocarbon dating machine from the 1950s. Museum leadership has framed the show as an attempt to connect big themes—life, liberty and happiness—to the objects that helped people pursue them.
Anthea Hartig. the Elizabeth MacMillan director of the museum. said curators had to work down from nearly 2 million artifacts to just 250.. “To take 2 million to get down to 250, and the curators did a beautiful job.. The whole team did a lot of thinking about what are those objects that help show us in action as a people?. Help understand the dreams that we’ve put into the declaration. how it’s expanded. who it includes. ” Hartig told WTOP.
She said the exhibit is the result of more than three years of curation work. The museum, she added, plans for visitors to recognize themselves in the display—not only as spectators of history, but as part of its ongoing story.
The National Museum of American History is open every day except Christmas.
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a surfboard tho really
I took my kids to the Smithsonian back in like 2019 and honestly it was so overwhelming we barely saw anything. maybe this new one is more organized idk. my son only wanted to see the dinosaurs anyway which i dont even think is in that building lol.
why are they including a Tea Party sign in there like thats history now?? that was just a few years ago and it was basically just a bunch of people mad about taxes or obama or something. my uncle was at one of those rallies and even he said it wasnt that deep. feels like they just throwing anything in there to make conservatives feel included or whatever. also didnt they already have an exhibit like this like last year i feel like i saw something about it on the news. either way i doubt they include anything that actually shows the full story you know what i mean.
wait so this is a brand new museum or just a new exhibit inside the old one because the article keeps saying both and its confusing me. either way Jefferson’s actual desk is in there?? like the real one?? i thought that was in Virginia somewhere my history teacher told us that in high school. im not saying the article is wrong i just feel like i remember learning it was somewhere else. gonna have to google this later i guess.