The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History is a place to learn about and connect with the past. Its collections of historical artifacts preserve the memories and experiences of the American people, and each year its exhibitions bring those stories to life for millions of visitors. By choosing what objects to collect and what stories to tell, its curators have helped shape the ways we Americans understand and experience our nation’s history.
Over the years the museum has collected different objects for different reasons. As views of history change, methods of historical investigation evolve and improve, and the public’s understanding of the past matures, new ideas emerge about what is worth saving. Stories and artifacts once considered unimportant might be treasured by later generations, just as the value of once-precious things may fade with time.
The rich diversity of the National Museum of American History’s collections speaks to these changing perspectives. While museum objects tell stories about the people who made, owned, and used them, they also symbolize the interests and values of the people who collected, preserved, and donated them.
The men and women who have collected America’s history at the Smithsonian over the past 150 years have taken their jobs seriously. In their role as collectors, caretakers, and storytellers, they have reflected the hopes and dreams of their fellow Americans. As a result, the museum has become a place not just to discover the past but also to understand the present and ponder the future. As we contemplate the things that earlier generations have saved for us, we are inspired to think about what we are saving today and what might be worth saving in the years to come.
This book, which explores the history of the National Museum of American History’s collections, comes at an opportune moment. A new century offers new promises and possibilities as well as new challenges, both for the institution and the nation. As we chart a path toward the future, knowledge about the past can provide a sense of continuity and purpose. Through the lessons of past struggles and achievements, history can inspire us to take on new challenges and set new standards. It can remind us of what binds us together as Americans, the common and varied threads of experience that have shaped our national identity.
This book encourages all of us—museum professionals, museumgoers, Americans—to think about the legacies we have inherited from the past and those we will pass on to future generations. It also asks us to consider the institutions that look after these legacies and the vital importance of their work. History museums are not only keepers of the past; by investing old stories and old objects with new meanings, they keep the past alive. As places where legacies are continually created, preserved, and passed on, they symbolize the value Americans invest in our nation’s history.
East Hall, National Museum (now the Arts and Industries Building), about 1890. Visitors to the Smithsonian in the late nineteenth century encountered halls of cultural and technological artifacts from around the world, classified and ordered according to ideas of human progress. As views of the past have changed, museum artifacts have been arranged in new ways to tell new kinds of stories. (photo credit frd.1)